There are a lot of comics out there, but some stand out head and shoulders above the pack. With ‘Don’t Miss This,’ we want to spotlight those series we think need to be on your pull list.
This week, the character that Florence Pugh brought to life in Black Widow, Yelena Belova, gets her own solo series in “White Widow” – – and we explain why it’s a series you can’t miss, since it’s just getting started.
Who’s this by?
Yelena Belova’s first solo series is written by Sarah Gailey, known for their BOOM! Studios series “Eat the Rich,” “Steven Universe,” and “The Vampire Slayer,” as well as several prose novels. Alessandro Miracolo provides artwork for the series, a name familiar to Marvel Star Wars readers from work on “Star Wars: Yoda,” and who has also done work for Dynamite and Dark Horse. Providing colors is color artist Matt Milla, another familiar Marvel name whose colors have been on “X-Men ’97,” “Night Thrasher,” and “Alpha Flight,” among other titles. Rounding out the creative team is letterer VC’s Travis Lanham, another House of Ideas stalwart.
What’s it all about?
Yelena Belova has the freedom now to choose her own path. And that path isn’t the structured super spy life, but a low-key suburban life in Idylhaven. She has the freedom to be an assassin consultant and the freedom to grow her sense of self.
But as The Jam once famously sang, “Better stop dreaming of the quiet life, cause it’s the one we’ll never know.”
Someone else moved into Idylhaven, the new tech company Armament. And they’re slowly taking over businesses and the fabric of town life. The threat is certainly sinister, but one at arm’s length for Yelena.
Until her neighbor Zelda finds herself at the wrong end of an Armament takeover, led by Yelena’s former mentee Marthe. Now the threat is personal, and Yelena finds she needs to step up and step back into her White Widow persona to save her community.
What makes it so great?
The story ideas and themes in “White Widow” – – corporate takeover, preservation of the character of a community, breaking free to discover your own path – – are not new. But what makes a fresh twist on them is the depth of characterization that Gailey brings within their script, not just to the title character, but to the supporting cast.
With the popularity of Florence Pugh’s portrayal of White Widow, it would be easy to just slip right into that persona for this comic and stop right there. And indeed, you do hear Pugh’s voice in Yelena’s wit, giving familiarity to those not familiar with the character past the film an easy entry. But what the film didn’t explore in depth was what is beyond the comic one liners, and that’s what Gailey does well in these first two issues. Yelena is using her downtime to figure out her personality, but within that retains her analytical strategic spy mindset in her new suburban world, scanning people, places, and situations. But instead of a threat matrix, it’s a preference matrix.
Farmer’s markets? “Like.”
Eiffel Tower? “Dislike.” (It was hard to climb.)
The Infinity Gauntlet? “Hate.”
You can the girl out of the spy, but you can’t take the spy out of the girl.
When combined with the right amount of anti-capitalist humor, you become more invested in Yelena’s journey. And that’s not just limited to her personal journey of self-discovery, but the journey of saving her new hometown from corporate takeover. That comes from the same love and care Gailey applies to the supporting cast that she does to her main character, from her neighbors to the town of Idylhaven itself. There’s spy dossiers on her building neighbors. A detailed afternoon at the farmer’s market that shows the close knit nature of the town that Armament wants to destroy bit by bit, block by block. Just as you become easily invested in Yelena, you become easily invested in Idylhaven – – and you want to see both succeed at their missions.
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If the script gives us the characterization, art and colors give us the action. “White Widow” is not just introspective character moments; there’s no shortage of punching and kicking. And those fight sequences show off Miracolo’s experience in the “Star Wars” realm: bringing kinetic action sequences that have a cinematic feel, but advance story and do not detract from the character building that remains key to the story. It’s not gratuitous in any sense of the word. Panel size and shape also lend themselves to emphasizing movement, breaking free of symmetrical geometric shape to showcase Yelena’s acrobatic skill.
That kind of attention extends to character design. Although we are a generation removed from the 1990s and their hypersexualized female form in comics, it’s still refreshing to see a female superhero drawn not solely for the male gaze in proper body proportions. It’s notable that the “Star Wars” series that Miracolo worked most on was “Star Wars: Yoda,” a tale of the oldest soul in the galaxy. You can see that translated into Yelena’s face, a mix of youth and hardened life experience. Much like the script also pays careful attention to its supporting cast, so does the art, with representation in skin tones and body sizes in Idylhaven. This is a town that looks like someplace you the reader would live – – and that, like the script, keeps you further invested.
How can you read it?
Issues #1 and #2 of “White Widow” are now available digitally or at your local comics shop, with issue #3 dropping this week – just in time to see how Yelena slips back into her old spy identity to take on this new mission.
