Waid/Samnee Black Widow

Black Widow Vol. 7 1-7

What a way to start a first issue!  Natasha fights her way out of a SHIELD office building for five pages, doing the standard burst-through-a-window-with-an-explosion-behind-her escape.  Well executed by Chris Samnee, but nothing out of the ordinary.  Until I turned the page and see:

Natasha's one of those little dots on the right.

I literally gave a little inhale of surprise.  And it’s not like I haven’t read this issue before.  Nicely done.

My college film professor once told me that the best part of Star Wars comes in the opening sequence - First, the Tantive IV appears, and the audience is amazed by the detail and the size of it.  Then the tip of the Star Destroyer punctures the top of the shot and proceeds to first bisect, then swallow up the entire screen.  The sheer scope of the ship and shattering of expectations after the setup of the Tantive is mind-blowing.  (And the movie world would never be the same.)  

For my professor, it’s all downhill from there; Nothing else in the movie is nearly as interesting.  I agree with him on the sweetness of the shot, not about the rest of the movie (because Star Wars is the best thing ever), but I couldn’t think about anything else after reading the next six issues of Black Widow Volume 6.  Nothing else in the series lives up to the promise of that first splash page.  

I can’t put my finger on the reason; Widow is just as capable, and just as fallible.  The story, by Mark Waid, is perfectly fine.  It’s no worse than Edmondson’s in the previous volume.  Perhaps it’s the art - I love Chris Samnee’s work, but maybe Black Widow requires the more realistic style that Phil Noto brought to the title.  No, that doesn’t work; Bill Sienkiewicz’s work (checking to see if I spelled that right without looking...Yes!) is clearly stylized, and I liked that title more as well.  Maybe the more cartoony nature is too much at odds with the gritty ‘realism’ that I except from an espionage story.  Which is a shame.  The craft is clear and apparent, but it doesn’t click for me.  (I’m not crying too hard; Waid and Samnee are currently reunited on Captain America, and that’s been a ton of fun two issues in.)

Also, Waid has a lovely summary of Black Widow in the first issue. If Edmondson nailed her psychology with the cat line (read yesterday’s post), Waid encapsulates her physicality in lovely fashion:

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine