By Paul Thomas — While some sources identify Black Widow v.3 (2004) as the official beginning of the solo series featuring the character, the legacy numbering seems to begin with v.4 (2010). Yet, Black Widow v.3 is definitely a new beginning and a powerful one at that after two 3-issue runs in 1999 and 2001.

As I noted in the last post, the artwork of Scott Hampton on v.2 was a turning point for creative teams working on Black Widow. It seems perfect then that v.3 and Black Widow 2 (2005), the next 6-issue series featuring Black Widow, include Bill Sienkiewicz’s work, noted for Daredevil and Elektra collaborations with Frank Miller as well as Moon Knight and the New Mutants.

Further, issue 1 of v.3 provides the foundational motif for my entire series:

Sensing she is in trouble, Natasha thinks: “He’s young—younger than me, anyway. And he’s fast. And he has a knife he knows how to use. But like most men in the end, he underestimates me.”

 This post, then, examines the next two 6-issue solo series from 2004-2006 in that context—does Marvel continue to underestimate and hypersexualize Black Widow?

A New Start?

While the cover of the first issue maintains the classic tight-fitting Black Widow look, novelist Morgan seems determined to present a much more complex Natasha and situates her as deeply aware of the hostility of the world for women.

After the opening scenes of violence toward women, readers discover a retired Natasha seeking peace in her rock climbing hobby, which quickly deteriorates (see the scene above). Also different from the earlier solo series, Natasha remains alone with one brief nod to Matt Murdock and Yelena (cell phone contacts) before rejoining with a S.H.I.E.L.D. connection, Phil Dexter.

Natasha is forced to flee—“This is your past coming to call,” Phil decides—and is pressed into exploring the opening series of violent events targeting women. As Natasha and Phil drive, Morgan weaves together a strong characterization of Natasha with another vivid example of living as a woman.

Just as Natasha recognizes being underestimated, she also establishes the misogynistic world they are navigating: “Lack of options, Phil. It’s what most women are up against.”

Despite seeking to be undercover after her encounter with the man with a knife, the core scene of the issue is Natasha saving a young woman, Sally Anne Carter, hitchhiker from sexual assault. The argument about the limits of violence between Natasha and Phil seem to parallel similar arguments between Elektra and Matt/Daredevil.

Again, women have limited choices.

Morgan’s writing and Sienkiewicz’s art, dark and compelling, suggest that, yes, this is a new beginning worth following.

Issue two sees Natasha and Phil in Alabama for the funeral of Stacey Matheson, killed while advocating for abortion rights. Gordon Parlov joins Sienkiewicz as artists, but the look maintains the feel of the first issue.

One challenge for critically reading Black Widow is the juxtaposing of feminist themes, Natasha as a powerful woman, and Natasha’s sexuality—as the scene above reveals. Here, the tension seems purposeful and not exploitive, but making that call is a recurring problem with how creative teams portray Natasha/Black Widow.

The themes around the limits of violence and choice both for Natasha and for women (the hypocrisy of the pro-life movement, for example) are well crafted in this series, I think.

Natasha and Phil reunite with the young woman, Sally Anne, they saved from assault, who reinforces the series’ focus on the threat all men represent.

Earlier, Natasha explains that she has abandoned her widow’s sting, but throughout she continues to use her own body to entrap men, and uses objectification as one of her weapons. In some ways, this version of Natasha is a personification of reappropriation, when people without power reclaim elements used to marginalize them.

“Because I’m a woman and that’s what women are supposed to value above all else,” Natasha fumes, adding, “Cosmetic appearance.” This scene reminds me of Margaret Atwood’s use of reappropriated make up, butter as lotion, and even a Playboy outfit in The Handmaid’s Tale to complicate an overly simplistic view of what counts as being a feminist.

 Issue four sees Natasha return to Moscow and discover the reality of 27 Black Widows from Grigor Ivanovich. Natasha’s journey in Moscow leads, literally and symbolically, to her confronting the ravages of aging for women.

Here, Natasha learns about that biological clock referenced in Daredevil (v.2; see last post).

This series allows Black Widow as a character to explore womanhood—the false dichotomy of a woman as mother versus a woman as warrior (think Wonder Woman).

Issue six ends this series with Phil seriously wounded and Sally Anne missing, Nick Fury explains, when Natasha returns to the U.S. with Lyudmila Antonovna Kudrin. Natasha also discovers another disturbing secret—one that fits into the feminist motifs of the series; Black Widows are controlled by perfume.

The manipulation of women to be Black Widows highlights viewing procreation and emotions as weaknesses of women, weaknesses the Black Widow program had to eliminate.

One twist found in this series is while Natasha isn’t once again bound, a scantily dressed blonde is reduced to that role—even in a scene consisting of only women interacting (and thus, is Morgan complicating the Bechdel test?).

The series builds to a clash between Natasha and Vassily Ilyich Ulynov when she seeks to kill Ian McMasters. Immediately, Natasha recognizes she is under the pheromone spell she has just discovered is being used against her, identified as the last Black Widow.

Again, literally and metaphorically, the scene plays out the reductive ways women are assaulted in the world: “I feel slow, stupid. I start to understand how it must feel to be a battered wife.”

However, the battering leads to a broken nose, which frees her from the paralysis of the perfume, frees her to kill and recognize:

The Soviet Union’s finest turned pill peddlers and traveling salesmen. One faceless billionaire among a system of hundreds, trying to protect his investment…and a young girl somewhere bleeding out her life to pay for it all.

 

The series ended with a promise: “Coming soon: Black Widow vol.2 written by Richard K. Morgan.”

“The Things They Say About Her …”

And in 2005, Morgan and Sienkiewicz (inker) returned for Black Widow 2, adding Sean Phillips as penciller. As I detail above, the previous series certainly laid the groundwork for high expectations about this series; however, a quick overview of the covers gives pause.

While I do acknowledge the value of Sienkiewicz ’s contribution to the look of both series—and his overall importance to Daredevil, Elektra, and Black Widow—the return to hypersexualizing and bondage (see here related to Wonder Woman) feels like a step back.

 The cover of issue 1, in fact, now looks especially problematic after the 2014 controversy concerning the variant cover of Spider-Woman 1 (2015), as reported by Liam McGuire:

Marvel Comics once edited a Spider-Woman variant cover by Italian artist Milo Manara after it was deeper too controversial for its blatant sexualization of the character. In 2014, Manara's variant cover for Spider-Woman #1 was widely criticized for putting the character in a pose that was deemed wildly inappropriate. In response, Marvel Comics censored the cover and apologized for the "mixed messaging" of the image, adding a title that covered up Spider-Woman's backside.

However, in the world of superhero comics, we know that covers often do not tell the whole story.

Yet, in issue 1, Natasha is reunited with Yelena, another hint that this series falls back on the patterns in the early brief series. Once they are reunited, some of the themes from v.3 return—the conditions of being a woman, the tensions of any woman’s body and sexuality.

And then, of course, enters Daredevil.

 While Nick Fury scrambles to convince Daredevil that Natasha needs their help, Natasha agrees to do a job for Yelena—and throughout, Natasha maintains the gender motif contrasting how men and women navigate the world.

Interesting is Natasha’s criticism of the “man thing,” resulting in unneeded deaths, as that contrasts with her own seemingly cavalier use of violence in the previous series.

Issue 2 focuses on Natasha reaching out to Daredevil about the nature of crime fighting as she returns to saving Sally Anne Carter, abducted in the previous series. Morgan weaves together his motifs of justice (a standard focus in Daredevil) as well as the recurring examinations of gender—highlighted by the ineptitude of men and the consequences of violence.

The full reunion between Black Widow and Daredevil comes in issue 3, including a nod to the tensions among Natasha, Matt, and Elektra.

An important addition to the dynamic between Black Widow and Daredevil is Natasha sending Daredevil away with “Go home, Matt. You can’t help me with this stuff, it’s political. Whole other moral gradient—you wouldn’t like it at all.”

Morgan immediately animates that politics, with a nod to the importance of reading and knowing history as Sally Anne recovers and finds an ally.

One of the strengths remaining in this series is Morgan’s examination of women helping women as well as women working against women (another element found in Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale).

The consequences for women who are not compliant are highlighted through the Sally Anne storyline in issue 4.

A dramatic rescuing of Sally Anne ends issue 4, where we turn to issue 5 and the bondage cover. This issue opens with Matt being picked up by Yelena before we discover Natasha has been apprehended, and of course, bound and beaten.

Natasha is then tortured with drugs, hallucinating but resisting, only to gain consciousness and discover Sally Anne has been abducted again.

The final issue opens with Sally Anne being left alone with Natasha, both warned Sally Anne would be tortured in front of Natasha within an hour. The conversation turns to Natasha being framed as a mother figure for Sally Anne—again forcing us to reconsider the maternal urges from Daredevil (v.2) issue 2.

However, Yelena arrives, saving them both and allowing Natasha to seek her revenge on her captors. The final battle here includes another use of blood imagery (earlier with Sally Anne’s period in issue 3) to reinforce the motifs around womanhood.

The final scenes return to Natasha’s challenging Daredevil about the moral complexities of politics: “Welcome to the game, Matt. Politics, remember?”

The Morgan/ Sienkiewicz Contribution

These two series written by Morgan with Sienkiewicz throughout are undoubtedly a step in the right direction, efforts not to underestimate Black Widow while often stumbling with hypersexualizing her.

Morgan’s feminist motifs are commendable, and this narrative over two 6-issue series rises above some of the lazy efforts that have come before. There are several years before a new solo series returns to Marvel with Black Widow (v.4) in 2010, when Marvel begins legacy numbering and thus christening this series as the official first solo issue (after at least 5 previous solo Black Widow series).

With 8 issues and new creative teams (including a woman writer, Marjorie Liu), this series seems poised to fulfill a promise Morgan has established, which I will examine next month.

Read our parallel look at the history of Daredevil, Man Without Fear…By The Year!

Read more feature writing about comics!

P. L. Thomas, Professor of Education (Furman University), taught high school English for 18 years in South Carolina before moving to teacher education and teaching first-year writing. He is author of How to End the Reading War and Serve the Literacy Needs of All Students: A Primer for Parents, Policy Makers, and People Who Care (IAP). Follow him at http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/ and @plthomasEdD.