Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Sarah Gailey
Artist: Alessandro Miracolo
Color Artist: Matt Milla
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Release Date: 1st November 2023

Perhaps a little surprisingly, “White Widow” debuted as the twenty‑second best‑selling comic of November 2023, and its impressive opening – which sees the titular character face off against Captain America -certainly suggested the mini‑series was heading in the right direction. Yelena Belova’s initial clash with the First Avenger, coupled with the appearance of her mentee Marthe, appears to promise plenty of future skirmishes between the rogue agent and the finest super‑heroes the Marvel Universe can muster.

Disappointingly, this promise evaporates once Sarah Gailey’s storytelling settles into the somewhat sleepy town of Idylhaven. The American author inundates readers with more information about Yelena’s new neighbours than anyone could reasonably absorb in even a couple of passes. True, rattling off lists of ages, jobs, motivations, and the titular character’s own loves, likes, dislikes, and hates does establish a quick sense of context. But it also drags the book’s pace down to a snail’s crawl.

Any hope that Belova’s fans might see the Shadow of the Black Widow embroiled in international espionage — or even in a moral collision with the World’s Mightiest Heroes — is soon dashed when it’s revealed that the former Thunderbolt will instead be tackling a small‑time extortion racket in her own backyard: “I wanted someplace where things aren’t so much happening all the time, you know?” It’s an underwhelming plot development that must have frustrated readers expecting far more from a comic dedicated to “one of Marvel’s most enigmatic anti‑heroes,” and likely caused more than a few to skip pre‑ordering the second instalment.

Unhappily, Alessandro Miracolo’s layouts don’t quite live up to this “groundbreaking new chapter” in Yelena’s life either, despite the Italian illustrator showing real promise in the opening skirmish with Captain America. Much of this shortfall is undoubtedly due to the comic’s clunky script rather than the artist himself, as whenever Miracolo is asked to deliver a punch‑up or a pulse‑pounding panel, he ramps up the adrenaline‑fuelled violence with gusto.

The writer of this piece was: Simon Moore
Simon Tweets from @Blaxkleric ‏
You can read more of his reviews at The Brown Bag