Fuck Yeah, Black Widow

Tandy: They’re getting closer.
Bystander: What do they want with us?
Tandy: I don’t really want to know, do you?
Natasha: My grandfather was at the Siege of Stalingrad in nineteen forty-three. They held out against the Germans through two winters. It was a battle that the Soviets knew they could not win. But they held and they held and they held. They held to keep the Nazis busy and buy their comrades time to build new tanks and armies. That’s what we have to do. Buy time. Does anybody here know how to use a gun?

For context: they are trapped in a subway besieged by trolls!! And so Natasha makes a Captain Americesque speech (WW2 references are equal inspiring in dramatic speech-ese). Then, she arms some of the subway passengers and they help Shang Chi and Dagger fight off the giant army of trolls.

I tend to think Natasha’s leadership skills get undersold.

From Marvel Knights #3, by Chuck Dixon and Ed Baretto.

Shang: There is little hope of survival for any of us.
Natasha: Thanks for stating the obvious, Shang.
Shang: It is best to know where one stands.
Natasha: I know where I stand. I’ve had my back against the wall all my life.

From Marvel Knights #3, by Chuck Dixon and Ed Beretto.

Medusa: We don’t do it for any reward.
Tandy: It’s not to make a lot of money.
Natasha: Or to achieve fame.
Valkyrie: Though we can be legendary.
Rikki: We don’t do it because we’re exceptional.
Jessica: But we strive for excellence.
Neena: It’s not because we’re different.
Emma: Yet we are each unique.

From Girl Comics #1, by Colleen Coover.

Tandy: This is nice.
Natasha: You haven’t seen the apartment yet.
Tandy: I know. This building is beautiful, Black Widow.
Natasha: Please, call me Natasha. Is this nicer than your place, Dagger?
Tandy: I don’t really have a place.
Natasha: Where do you sleep?
Tandy: In churches, mostly. Cloak and I felt safe, there.

More from the ever-continuing saga of Natasha’s apartments. By the end of this series Natasha had invited both Dagger and Cloak to live with her, and she didn’t kick them out when the team disbanded in the final issue. (Obviously they moved out eventually, but there’s no how and why.) Marvel Knights also solved the issue of how Natasha was paying for her fabulous socialite lifestyle— SHIELD paychecks.

Though really, Natasha, this is a penthouse apartment on Central Park South, it is nicer than everyone’s place. I figure she knows that and was just needling out whether or not Dagger was really homeless, but that strikes me as kind of an asshole way of doing it.

From Marvel Knights #4, by Chuck Dixon and Ed Baretto.

Natasha: Now we shop for shoes!
Tandy: But we’ve already bought so many clothes!

While locating the ur-form of feminine bonding in the search for Manolo Blahnik is a bit Sex and the City for my tastes, there is something to be said for the power of accessorizing.

From Marvel Knights #10, by Chuck Dixon and Ed Baretto.

And there you are. This run wasn’t my favorite series— it never quite convinced me that Daredevil should be on a team, for one— but I thought the friendship between Tandy and Dagger was cute. She was a nice foil for Natasha’s natural cynicsm.