It’s a hell of a time to be a Black Widow fan. Scarlett Johannson is killing it* in the movies (and with Perlmutter out, there’s a very good chance we’ll get a solo film announced soon). Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto just ended a fantastic run in the comics. Hell, she’s got a YA novel about to hit stores. Now, another high-profile team is about to take over with an “All New All Different” relaunch.
Following an acclaimed run on Daredevil, Marvel simply shifted the whole crew (writer Mark Waid, artist Chris Samnee, colorist Matthew Wilson and letterer Joe Caramagna) over to Black Widow.
Waid had this to say about the new direction for the book –
I think what we can say, without giving anything really away, is that it’s one of the approaches that we’re taking — and one of the things you’re going to be seeing in the first arc — is a lot more old school spy. We have a reason why Natasha isn’t able in those first few issues to go super high tech. She can’t just call Tony Stark and say, “Give me the most recent stuff.” She can’t just call Maria Hill at S.H.I.E.L.D. and say, “What’s new with the world of spy business?” In fact, she has to turn to a lot of people, some of who we’ve never seen before but we’ll be introducing, who taught her spy craft at an early age. And in a weird way, that gives her a strange advantage over some of the people she’s facing because that’s the problem when you’re too reliant on technology: sometimes you miss the basics.
I love the idea of bringing Natasha back to her classic spy roots. This is definitely something to be excited for.
If you’re behind and haven’t read the Edmondson/Noto run, it’s ok. Waid says not to worry.
It’s similar to way we approached Daredevil, in that we’re not picking up specifically from the end of the previous issue or specifically from any one moment. But we’re acknowledging that, and making use of the fact that what happened in the previous series happened, and using some of that stuff as a springboard. And it is, by Marvel time, at least eight months later. It’s not the next day, anyway. Especially in issue 2 in particular, we’re sort of spring boarding off of some of the previous events, but not so specifically that anyone should feel like they’re missing anything if they didn’t read the previous run.
Samnee followed up –
It’s not a necessity to have read the previous series. Certainly, it wouldn’t hurt, but you should be able to jump right into this one.
Black Widow #1 comes out early next year.
* – pun not intended
