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Fuck Yeah, Black Widow

Fallaces sunt rerum species

Здравствуйте from FYBW, your one-stop tumblr shop for Black Widow news, no-prizing, and oversaturated .gifs. Some MCU, mostly comics. Often overwritten. Always overthinking.

Black Widow created by Lee, Rico and Heck & is © Marvel Entertainment.

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You might have heard— Marvel is doing a gigantanormous 700 issue free digital bonanza and this means for the first time I get to do a masterpost for some of my favorite Black Widow comics!!

Black Widow v6 #1 (url)
The kickoff to the 2010 ongoing is still my preferred intro point, because this is a kickass run of comics that mixes grade-A character study with the context of the wider Marvel universe. Again, this is the Natasha story I think everyone should read. This story arc continues with #2-5 of the same series.
Words by Marjorie Liu, art by Daniel Acuña
Black Widow v1 #1 (url)
The 1999 mini introduces Yelena Belova, a second Black Widow and mixes glossy international espionage with themes of identity and individuality. I still love this one, and it was my go-to rec before the 2010 ongoing came out. Continues in #2-3 of the same series.
Words by Devin Grayson, art by J.G. Jones
Black Widow v2 #1 (url)
This is a spiritual sequel to the first Grayson mini, and is a mean, twisty mindfuck of a story. I like this because it shows Natasha at her worst, and also shows what drives her there. Continues in #2-3 of the same series.
Words by Devin Grayson & Greg Rucka, art by Scott Hampton
Enter the Heroic Age #1 & CA and the Secret Avengers #1 (url & url)
Two linked one-shots by Kelly Sue DeConnick, involving copious ladysnark, over the top Bond-villainy, and an assortment of cute coats and puppies. Read Enter the Heroic Age, then the SA issue.
Words by Kelly Sue DeConnick, art by Jamie McKelvie and Greg Tocchini
Fear Itself: the Black Widow (url)
This takes place during the Fear Itself megacrossover but you don’t need to read the big crossover to understand what’s going on. I like how this one explores Natasha’s ruthlessness in the context of her vulnerability, and the art is lithe and elegant.
Words by Cullen Bunn, art by Peter Nguyen

These are all #1 issues, so they were written as starting points and should be easy for anyone to download and digest.

ETA: the demand on comixology’s servers caused them to pause the promotion, but fill out this form and they’ll let you know when you can get your free comics.

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Peter: You let him go… you had the Punisher, and you let him go.
Natasha: That is, of course, one way to look at it.
Peter: Here’s another way to look at it, Natasha: you let a mass-murderer go free.
Natasha: Yes. But I also saved 117 young boys and girls from lives of disease, depravation, starvation, exploitation, and war. So in the balance, I think I made the right choice. And we both know that you think so, too.

From Punisher: War Zone #3, by Greg Rucka and Carmine di Giandomenico.

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Bobby: Right then, Ms. Bannister… looks like your money just ran out.
Natasha: Oh, Bobby. Did you have to be so predictable? In a forest crawling with danger, from the Lord’s Resistance Army to M23 to beasts and disease and despair… you never realized the most dangerous thing here… is me.
Bobby: Shoo! Bloody shoot—

From Punisher War Zone #2, by Greg Rucka and Carmine Di Giandomenico.

Happy Birthday, Greg Rucka!

Interesting. And you orchestrated this yourself? Framing Romanov for your murder?
Why are you surprised? I’d hardly be worthy of the name Black Widow if I couldn’t do such a thing, General.

Sometimes, people ask me who I’d like to see write a Black Widow series. Sometimes I just tell people. “Greg Rucka.” “Oh yeah,” they say. “He’d be perfect.”

Rucka has done two Black Widow series. The first, Breakdown, he co-wrote with Devin Grayson, and it’s maybe the most challenging Black Widow story I’ve read. The second Pale Little Spider, is a MAX story starring Yelena Belova, the other Black Widow. Yelena is a character sometimes frustratingly dear to my heart, and the bulk of that is Rucka’s doing. He’s done a lot to add color and shadow to Natasha’s mythology, and he always keeps her smart.

Breakdown is collected in the Itsy-Bitsy Spider hardcover, which is a great introduction to Black Widow comics. It’s also available digitally. The Pale Little Spider mini is, unfortunately, much harder to find. I had to raid back-issue bins to find it. Greg Rucka says a lot of good things about women and comics and how that all goes so wrong so often, and I the sad but important but sadly important point of praise I can give is that he always writes Black Widow as a character, not a sexual punchline. And that means so so much to me, especially after the last Black Widow series Marvel published.

Right now, Rucka is writing Natasha again in Punisher War Zone. You should also check out Stumptown, his detective book that recently started its second volume. He has a tumblr, too!