Writer: Kelly Thompson / Artist: Elena Casagrande / Marvel Comics
I don’t want to hear nothing about a solo movie or how hurt you are about her Endgame death. Why? Because Kelly Thompson’s Black Widow #1 comic is so dam good, I don’t even know where to begin!
I guess I need to acknowledge and pay homage to the other half of this dynamic artist duo, Elena Casagrane. The panels in this book are YOGA FLAMESSS. In the metropolitan scenes, it feel like you’re looking at gorgeous photographs of modern day city life. Then Jordie Bellaire comes through and adds the bomb colors to complete Casagrande’s vision and everything is astounding. I love the aggressive use of red. It turns the assassin levels up to a level of gore your fav could never. I love when artists properly depict the hero’s progression in a fight so beautifully that you can spend minutes staring at sections of a page. This book is all of that and some!
I’m really feeling the direction Kelly Thompson is taking Nat in her world of Black Widow. There are obviously villains at play, but issue #1 forces the evil doers to take a back seat to impressive writing, so we can see how Natasha can flourish in a non-homicidal way. Dare I say, I loved it?!
Knocking out thugs with face tats, backslapping lackeys, and breaking dozens of bones in a 2-minute time span without leaving a trace is great and all. But commanding professional respect from men at a construction site, making impulse purchases on the sexiest looking midnight black bike, and dropping some of the most flirtatious hetero banter with bae when getting home? Serve me up a few more issues of assassin-less Black Widow because this was a story I never knew I wanted until Kelly Thompson hopped on the track!
Thompson is killing the game right now. From Captain Marvel and Star to Deadpool and Jessica Jones, she’s on fire and I can’t wait to devour more of her stories over the next couple of years. She doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to connectivity, too. The way that she utilizes both Hawkeye and Bucky is so on point. The way that she strips Natasha of her killer identity, while keeping her killer look, sharp tongue, and innate abilities is masterful. On top of all that, the way Casagrande backs up Kelly’s writing with these powerful images of our girl in plain slay clothes is life!
This book was an incredible start to a new and exciting Black Widow story, and ranks quite high on my list of #1s of 2020. Kelly Thompson is off to the races, and it doesn’t look like a dam thing will be slowing her down.Black Widow hits all the right notes in its inaugural issue and is setting up an enjoyable journey back to world of heroism for the Red Room survivor.
9.5 Batman Disappearing Acts out of 10
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