Marvel Knights Black Widow: The Complete Collection

Black Widow (1999) #1-3

by Devin Grayson, Greg Rucka, J.G. Jones (Art)

Natasha Romanoff has always led a life of adventure. A former Soviet spy, she defected to the West and became a super hero and Avenger. Natasha has earned a reputation as a consummate professional, coldly efficient and deadly as her namesake. But now, her time as Black Widow may be running out! Yelena Belova is the first student in the history of the Red Room to exceed Natasha's skills - and now she's gunning for the mantle she feels was stolen. And she's determined to put Natasha in the grave! Prepare for a war of the Widows that will rage from the Middle Easts deserts to New York's Upper West Side. And explore the history of the "pale little spider" in a never-before-collected tale!

COLLECTING: BLACK WIDOW: THE ITSY-BITSY SPIDER (1999) 1-3, BLACK WIDOW: BREAKDOWN (2001) 1-3, BLACK WIDOW: PALE LITTLE SPIDER 1-3

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 2002

About the author

Devin Grayson is an avid gamer, former acting student, and enthusiastic reader fortunate enough to have turned a lifelong obsession with fictional characters into a dynamic writing career. She has a B.A. from Bard College, where she studied creative writing with novelist Mona Simpson. Best known for her work on the Batman titles for DC Comics, Devin has been a regular writer on Catwoman, Nightwing, and The Titans, and contributed to the award-winning No Man’s Land story arc. With the publication of Batman: Gotham Knights in March of 2000, she became the first (and, sadly, only as of 2020) female to create, launch and write an ongoing Batman title.

Additional career highlights include the launch of the critically acclaimed series Omni for Humanoids, Doctor Strange: The Fate of Dreams, an original novel featuring Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme, and USER—a highly personal three-part, creator-owned miniseries about gender identity and online role-playing, originally published by Vertigo and newly available as a collected edition hardcover through Image. Devin is also the creator of Yelena Belova, a Marvel character staring in the upcoming MCU Black Widow movie (played by Florence Pugh), Damien Darhk, a DC character now appearing regularly in CW’s Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow (played by Neal McDonough), and Catalina Flores, a DC character recently featured as the super-villain Tarantula in The Lego Batman Movie.

Frequently cited for compelling character development and nuanced exploration of complex themes, Devin’s work has been showcased in mainstream media such as USA Today and Working Woman as well as in alternative press such as The Village Voice, The Advocate, and Curve magazine. Over the years, she has written in several different media and genres, from comic books and novels to video game scripts and short essays. She is currently working on an original graphic novel for Berger Books.

Devin lives in Northern California with her husband, step-son, devoted Early Alert Canines Diabetic Alert Dog, and somewhat less devoted cat. Openly bisexual, she is a passionate advocate for the GLBTQ community, as well as being a committed environmentalist, and a public speaker for T1 Diabetes awareness and Diabetic Alert Dogs. She is always happy to take on a new challenge, especially if it involves making some new fictional friends.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd already read two of the stories, The Itsy-Bitsy Spider & Black Widow: Breakdown, back in 2016.
The first one is Yelena and Natalia's first meet and greet, in which they proceed to try and kick the shit out of each other.



Breakdown is a ridiculous (but fun) face swap in which Nat tries to break Yelena by gaslighting her. It was weird.



But maybe still not as weird as Black Widow: Pale Little Spider.
Yelena's mentor is found dead and she's tasked with finding the killer. It starts off strange and ends up stranger when she discovers her father figure had a fetish room dedicated to her in an S&M house. That would be a lot to unpack for anyone, I think.
It's the weakest story out of the 3 and seems to be a thinly veiled attempt to get in a few leather jokes.



Still, not a bad collection if you're a fan of Black Widow and enjoy all of the wonderfully wacky storylines.
Which I did.
Thank you, Omnibus Man for talking me into buying this one.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I'm getting too old for this." -- Natasha Romanoff, our title character (I hear ya, Nat!)

Over the years I've read some great graphic novels focusing on the Black Widow. This, however, is not one of them, and may be my least favorite in the entire line-up thus far. While the initial story (of three somewhat connected narratives) was a serviceable enough action/espionage special mission - concerning a new chemical weapon falling into the hands of terrorists - the remaining plots fell flat. The middle tale seemed pointless and too derivative at times of director John Woo's flick Face/Off (remember THAT one, 90's action movie fans?), and the finale was a messily tasteless endeavor that did not even feature an appearance by our super spy. No, we get that annoying upstart Black Widow wannabe Yelena Belova working out her psychological issues while snooping around at a Moscow S&M dungeon. I had wondered why my copy had a 'Parental Advisory! Not For Kids!' warning on the cover, but upon reaching said depressing denouement is was then all too abundantly clear.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good!

It has multiple stories like first with both US and Russia sending their widows aka Nat and Yelena and what follows thereafter and them facing off against each other to prevent some bio-attack virus or something and its alright setting their duologies against each other and then a story of Nat stealing Yelena's identity and making her believe that she is Nat and its a twisted tale in order to take down the Russian general Stelyenko and a great Yelena story where she has to investigate the murder of her trainer/lover Colonel Starkovsky but its a very twisted tale and an even twist-ier ending.

Its a really good volume highlighting both the widows and showing their twisted relationship and their lethality and the way they feed off each other and all that and excellent art at that and I love the slow spy-ish nature of the story and yeah some parts can be boring and confusing but by the end its excellent and a must read thats for sure!

[nati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can’t wait to see the black widows on screen on may 1st 🥵

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was pretty decent. I’d say part 1 had the best artwork. Part 2s art was solid. A nice water color look. Part 3 had the least favorable art. As far as the story, all three were pretty good. Part one had Natasha going after this biological weapon that killed its user. Yelena, the latest trainee from the red room, shows up trying to thwart Nat to prove she is better. Some nice action here. Part 2 had Nat taking Yelena thru the paces to show her she is still naive and a rookie compared to the actual Black Widow. Puts Yelena they some real jacked up ish to let her know the spy stuff ain’t a game. Part 3 shows how far the red room will go to train their agents. Pretty F’d up what they did. All in all, definitely an enjoyable read.

[Faby Farao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume antologico con 3 storie indipendenti.
La prima a mio giudizio è la più debole ed appare in alcuni punti confusionaria.
Le altre due invece sono molto più chiare e coinvolgenti,anche a livello emotivo.
Senza dubbio si nota la capacità unica di rucka di saper tratteggiare donne al contempo forti ma consapevoli del peso del proprio passato.
In definitiva un ottimo volume dedicato alla prima e seconda vedova nera.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this Black Widow collection, especially since it features Yelena Belova’s early days, but unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. While it’s interesting from a historical perspective to see where Yelena’s character starts, the stories themselves are disjointed, chaotic, and honestly, kind of nonsensical. The plotlines feel like they’re trying to be twisty and full of double crosses, but they come off more bland than clever.

There's very little emotional engagement or tension, and the pacing is all over the place. What should be high-stakes espionage ends up feeling more like a confusing mess. It's hard to care about the characters or what’s at stake when the narrative keeps tripping over itself.

The art doesn’t help much either. It’s steeped in that very specific late '90s to early 2000s aesthetic, hyper-stylized and exaggerated in a way that hasn’t aged well. Anatomy is often inconsistent, and while there are a few solid panels, overall the visuals feel dated and detract from the storytelling.

I’ve read quite a few Black Widow runs, and this one stands out—in the wrong way. Unless you’re a diehard completionist or really curious about Yelena’s comic book origins, I’d say this is an easy skip.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised to find that I'd already read two of the three stories collected in this volume in a different Marvel Black Widow collection, The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, about which I said: "This volume collects two three-issue Black Widow stories, Breakdown by Devin Grayson and Greg Rucka illustrated by Scott Hampton and the title story by Grayson illustrated by J.G. Jones. Both feature Natasha and her would-be replacement, Yelena Belova. The Itsy-Bitsy Spider is a rather traditional adventure, with slick and shiny colorful art, whereas Breakdown is a more muted, philosophical piece, both in tone and appearance. Hampton does a very striking job of catching eyes and facial expressions. Daredevil appears in both, and Nick Fury guests in Breakdown. The nature of espionage versus super-heroing is examined to good effect, and the relationship of the two Black Widows is surprisingly poignant. It's a very good book; I enjoyed it very much." You'd think there's enough stuff out there that they wouldn't have to retitle and recycle the same old stuff under different titles so they could sell it twice, but Marvel and their Distinguished Competition do that frequently... I should learn to be more vigilant. Anyway... Unfortunately, this book adds a third story, Pale Little Spider, written by Rucka and illustrated by Igor Kordey. It's a misogynistic, exploitive, silly story that that portrays Yelena as weak, dumb, and incompetent. It has an uncomfortable sexual content and is not appropriate for younger readers. The art isn't good; think Richard Corben if he had a hangover and the flu and maybe a couple of other strikes against him. I did not like it at all. I gave Itsy-Bitsy Spider four stars but have to knock one off for this volume.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book via Kindle Unlimited.

This is a collection of three different Black Widow stories, each dealing with Natalia Romanov and Yelena Belova; their first meeting and how their lives are tied to one another in different ways. In the first story, we have Nat working for both the US and Russia in an attempt to gain a bioweapon from Afghanistan, not knowing that Russia have also deployed Yelena. Yelena attempts to stop Nat who soon teaches her you can't beat the best. In the second story, Nat messes with Yelena's mind and switches their identities to infiltrate back into the Russians for information. In the third, it is solely Yelena focused and we see her more vulnerable, in a way the other stories didn't quite paint. Overall, it was a nice collection. The art varied from story to story which was nice. The stories were good, interesting and held my attention well enough. Neither Nat nor Yelena are my favourite comic characters, but I did really enjoy this, but I did also enjoy seeing some Matt Murdoch in these stories too. He's a fave.

[clumsyplankton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[V.K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had to go and rate all of the issues in this separately because my ratings were VASTLY different

[Valentin Derevlean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antologie de povești dedicată fanilor Natashei Romanova și a Yelenei Belova, mici aventuri, jocuri duble și peripeții din lumea spionajului, cu toată violența și cruzimea industriei. Povești pentru un public mai adult decât de obicei.

Mi-a plăcut arta lui Scott Hampton din Breakdown, chit că printul în numere lasă de dorit (eu am citit majoritatea poveștilor de aici în numere individuale). Interesantă povestea din Pale Little Spide, nici arta nu e rea, dar lumea subterană a puterii moscovite, cu șantajele sexuale și ipostazele duble ale agenților secreți e destul de bine construită în doar 3 numere. Partea cu The Itsy-Bitsy Spider mi s-a părut mai banală, atât ca story, cât și ca desen. Însă e o mică părticică din biografia personajelor Black Widow, și cred că asta e mai important pentru fanii personajelor.

[FrontalNerdaty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story serves as the introduction to Yelena Belova aka The Black Widow. The first three issues, whilst somewhat rushed serve their purpose in introducing Yelena to the reader and Natasha. The second set of stories see Yelena out on her own missions for Russia. Whilst the stories are interesting they are somewhat of a relic given the lacklustre, needlessly sexual art work and overt eroticism. It’s decent spy stuff with strong art throughout but not quite a classic.

[Montana · Rating 3 out of 5]

All interesting stories, I'd never heard of yelena before so it was nice to be introduced to her. However I can't give this collection a high rating due to how sexual the female characters are drawn, especially yelena's uniform (why would any spy uniform have her abdomen exposed?) and it was VERY obvious neither wore a bra so we could see how perfect their breasts are.

[Tris · Rating 2 out of 5]

looks like something made by men, for men

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of stories. Smart, sexy, and full of psychological spy intrigue. This is how the Widow should be. Really enjoyed it. Great artwork. Definitely NOT for kids.

[mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Scott A. Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Yelana in the MCU and want to see how she got her start, this collects the first three mini series between here and Natasha.

[ｚｅｙ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black widow 1999 - solid story, it was fun but too short 3/5
Black widow 2001 - it was amazing, perfect in every way 5/5
Pale little spider - weak, just weak

[Shibosan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Довольно странный сборник из трех мини-серий про Елену Белову и ее сложное отношение к Наташе Романовой и титулу "Черной Вдовы" (так что я угадал, выбирая одну из двух доступных обложек). Местами неплохо, а местами эти комиксы конца 90-х - начала двухтысячных про женщин в обтягивающих кожаных костюмах состарились как молоко.

2,5*

[bri 🧸 · Rating 4 out of 5]

i would like to say thank u yelena belova

[Sofie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some elements were genuinely cool - doubled identities, corrupt politicians at the BDSM club, etc - but overall this was not what I expected. Sexist aesthetics and lame storyline.

[Lucas Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great title from the Marvel Knights's stuff.

A big, simple, spy movie, action packed, and with Natasha being a bad ass, as usual. But, actually, in the three stories on this book, i believe Yelena Belova is the main character on all of them.

The art on the first and the second stories are great. I've saw Scott Hampton's pencil on World Eaters and, here, is great as well. But J.G. Jones... c'mon, this man is a beast. On the third story, a very ugly, raw art that didn't get me.

The only two setbacks that i saw here: Yelena will never be like Natasha. And Matt Murdock on this one didn't get me as well. I don't know if his last runs made a personality for him, but i don't see him doing jokes that way, specially with sex, although trying to hide his identity on trials and everything.

Either way, for you that saw Black Widow's movie, this is the place to be.

[Kireth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has a lot of really cool spy moments, and feels very different from the mainstream Marvel comics. This is actually a collection of three comics featuring the Black Widow, a title now shared by Natasha Romanov and the new blonde Russian Yelena Boleva. I read this in anticipation for the latter's MCU debut in the upcoming Black Widow movie, and am keen to see how the film portrays their relationship. The first two stories work really well by playing off this rival/mentor relationship, but the third suffers from going to extreme darkness to try and build up just Yelena. Whilst the realism was definitely pushed, there were enough satisfying moments to justify a read. Just keep kids away from that last story, it definitely justifies the adult rating.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting choice - it's basically a Marvel NOW! kind of thing where they get a new Black Widow. But then the old Black Widow repeatedly rubs her face in how the new Widow is not a real spy and breaks her. It's completely the opposite of how I would have thought about the story. Conventionally, it would be the older, wiser woman who would show the naive recruit the importance of compassion. I would have thought the Red Room would have made the new Black Widow more machinelike. That's kind of the nature of that plot device.

At the end, I was surprised to find this book was written by a woman because there was a lot of gratuitous sex stuff that I thought was shallow.

[Kurt Lorenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Widow #1-3, The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, ☆☆☆☆
Black Widow #1-3, Breakdown, ☆☆☆☆☆
Black Widow: Pale Little Spider #1-3, ☆☆☆

[Jason Tanner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection features three Black Widow tales featuring Yelena Belova, the second Black Widow. The first was decent but forgettable, and the other two were Greg Rucka trying too hard.

[Nico D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that makes me wish we could add half-star ratings. I'd say it's a solid 3.5 out of 5, but if I had to lean closer to 3 or 4, I'd stick with the former. It's a totally good, enjoyable ride though perhaps not particularly exceptional.

Made up of a collection of three stories which primarily focus on the introduction of Yelena Belova, the second Black Widow, the overall package is a nice-- though not artistically consistent-- experience. The first tale follows Natasha Romanoff-- the famous Black Widow-- as she engages with Yelena for the first time as the younger woman attempts to usurp her name in a story about biological warfare and Cold War-reminiscent aggression on behalf of the Russian patriot Yelena and the primarily American-based (though not politically aligned with) Natasha. It's a good introduction to Yelena as a talented but emotional agent with a major inferiority complex. Yelena's frequent losses to Natasha in this first story start to become (unintentionally?) funny as she just can't. stop. getting. her. ass. kicked. But she's going against one of the most dangerous women on the planet, so it's at least justified.

The second story continues Yelena and Natasha's intertwined arc with a beautiful watercolor art style-- easily the best in the book. Yelena wakes up, seemingly in Natasha's body, and is then attacked by Natasha-in-Yelena's-body and is forced to "kill" her. It's bizarre but has a purpose, and we're given the how immediately but the why is the driving mystery of the narrative for both Yelena and the reader (and Matt Murdock aka Daredevil, who shows up as supporting cast) This Freaky Friday-swap (which, yeah, is totally a thing because Comics) is one long string of tortures inflicted on Yelena, and I found the revelation to the mystery to be well handled and in-character for those involved.

The final story is solely Yelena focused. The first two stories were good, well-written and interesting, but this one is easily the best of the bunch. Unfortunately, it also has the most grotesque artwork, which reminds me a lot of how some of Frank Quietly's work would look on New X-Men. It's especially egregious since a majority of this story takes place in a sex club and there's surprisingly not much to find sexy here. But anyway-- the story follows Yelena (sans Natasha's involvement) as she is tasked with investigating the murder of her mentor in a Moscow sex club. Though it's best read after being introduced to Yelena in the previous two stories, it effectively takes place prior to them in continuity. Still, I think knowledge of who Yelena is makes the story stronger in terms of comprehending Yelena's evolution. The ending is excellently done and reinforces the themes introduced earlier in the book, specifically the second story. Though the art waffles in direction between each story, the writing and theming are consistent, which is extremely welcome.

I imagine the (eventual) release of the new Black Widow movie with Yelena will inspire more people to pick this book up to learn more about her. This is the book to pick up, and though I don't think Yelena will be everyone's cup of tea, she is a character with a lot of potential for growth (or declination, it's pretty open ended on that front) in the future.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know what they're feeding their spies over in Russia, but their women sure turn out hot. We all love Black Widow for her sexyness. Well, how about having two of them in one story? The second story has a different creative team, but is more solid in terms of spycraft.

Natasha Romanova is being followed on a mission by Yelena Belova, a student of the Red Room where Natasha is still seen as a legend. Yelena wants the title of Black Widow for herself. Her skills as an action movie spy rival those of Natasha herself. Throw in a nerve serum and you got yourself a spy story. Or rather, an action movie.

Natasha's mission to secure a dangerous substance is disrupted by Yelena. The former reaches her target, the doctor that created the serum. Instead of killing him, she demands that he develop a cure as well. She is stopped by rival agents sent to take her out for her failing the mission objectives. Understanding its importance, Yelena continues the mission. Later Natasha returns to the fray. Her death was staged. Yelena flees, content that she has no allies around Natasha and has much to learn about being a spy at Natasha's level.

SHIELD has captured Yelena and exchanged her physical appearance with Natasha's. The purpose isn't clear just yet, but they are clearly messing with her head. Yelena still wishes to be Black Widow and they are showing her what that means. Her first mission is to kill Yelena, whose appearance is worn by Natasha. She shoots Natasha in a museum and goes on the run.

It's again a ruse planned by Natasha. She herself takes advantage of Yelena's appearance to get to a man named Stelyenko who is planning to sell nuclear bombs on the black market. She can't play Yelena's role to perfection, so she gets herself in their crosshairs. Meanwhile Yelena begins to crash psychologically. Daredevil helps her keep her sanity. In the end Yelena and Natasha reunite to take care of Stelyenko. They are still rivals, but have reached a kind of truce.

Fresh out of the Red Room, Yelena is looking for the one responsible for one of her instructors' deaths, a man named Starkovsky. It becomes personal because of their close relationship. She saw him as a father, but he developed an obsession for her that he could only satisfy in the S&M underworld. She must delve into this secretive world to find his killer.

Starkovsky visited the S&M place to carry out his fantasies about Yelena. The woman who played her role then began to identify as Yelena, even to want the title of Black Widow. The investigation into Starkovsky's death brought detectives to her doorstep. She had them killed, but Yelena's training was too much for her. With her mission completed, Yelena is content about avenging Starkovsky's death. What she doesn't know is that it was all an excercise set up by the Red Room.

[Pok Manero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anticipándome al estreno de la película de Black Widow (¡por fin!) el próximo mes, quise leer este comic que contiene las primeras apariciones de Yelena Belova. Incluye tres miniseries, la primera (Itsy Bitsy Spider) escrita por Devin Grayson y con espectacular arte de JG Jones, quienes ponen a la otrora agente rusa tras una toxina letal mientras que la aspirante a su reemplazo la confronta. Fuera de algunos aspectos un tanto ingenuos (en particular el esquema de vacunación para todo un ejército) es bastante disfrutable, principalmente por su arte.

Luego sigue Breakdown, co-escrita entre Grayson y Greg Rucka y con ilustraciones a cargo de Scott Hampton, quien recurre a un estilo realista similar al de David Mack o Alex Maleev. La historia toma la premisa de Face/Off (sí, esa horrible películande John Woo com Travolta y Cage) para intercambiar los lugares de las dos Viudas negras y jugar con la mente de la novata. De algún modo, el medio del comic hace que se sienta menos inverosímil la premisa y funciona bien, con una sofisticación mayor en la trama aportada, yo creo, por Rucka.

La colección termina con Pale Little Spider, escrito sólo por Rucka y dibujado por Igor Kordey. El arte no es malo, me recuerda a Steve Dillon o a Chris Burnham, pero en contraste con los dos anteriores ilustradores queda como el “peor”. Otro contraste drástico es que, en lugar de formar parte del sello Marvel Knights, como las dos miniseries anteriores, ésta se lanzó como parte de Marvel MAX, la línea para adultos, por lo que incluye desnudez, malas palabras y temas no aptos para menores. Entonces la historia es muy buena, para mi gusto la mejor de las tres, pero se nota demasiado la diferencia en el tono y como que no encaja muy bien con el resto de la colección. Aquí no vemos a Natasha Romanov, sino que la protagonista es Yelena y vemos cómo descubre secretos retorcidos y escandalosos relacionados con su entrenamineto.

En general, el libro es excelente, aunque para mí la inclusión de la tercera miniserie es la que eleva a la colección. De lo contrario, sólo me habría parecido buena.