Romance in superhero comic books is a weird thing. On one hand, it’s a useful tool and side plot to help the reader explore some of the emotional complexities of being a hero while providing a nice break from the punching and explosions. On the other hand, the long form nature of the genre requires some pretty draining and unrealistic mental and relational gymnastics on the part of the characters and the genre’s roots as a power fantasy for young readers requires the creators to adopt a certain amount of emotional and physical restraint when talking about a superhero’s love life.
The heroes with successful relationships have developed some interesting work arounds. Superman and Louis Lane started out as a love the hero/hate the man relationship that has morphed into an effective and touching partnership, Batman and Catwoman have come to the understanding that they can only really work as on again/off again frenemies, and when Peter Parker and Mary Jane were a couple they had both decided to share the burden and responsibility of being Spider Man…until they get rebooted and have to start all over again.
I bring all of this up because I honestly believe that the relationship between Natasha Romanoff’s Black Widow and Clint Barton’s Hawkeye is one of the most nuanced, interesting, and believable romances in all of superhero comics, and it is on full display in “Web of Black Widow” #4
Written by Jody HouserCover by Jungguen Yoon
Illustrated by: Stephen Mooney
Colored by: Triona Farrell
Lettered by: VC’s Corey Petitt
SHOT THROUGH THE HEART!
Iron Man. Winter Soldier. Yelena Belova. The Widow is running down the names of her past – and few are more important than Clint Barton, A.K.A. Hawkeye. Natasha has always been Clint’s weakness. But this time, the femme fatale may find herself outmatched.
“Web of Black Widow” #4 continues the plot of a story that is very familar and fitting for Marvel’s premiere femme fatale super spy: someone is impersonating her while murdering important people, they have ties to Natasha’s mysterious past, and she’s the only one who can stop them. Unfortunately, Clint has placed himself firmly between Natasha and the next possible target and is willing to do whatever is necessary in order to bring her in.
Since the plot of the comic is pretty boilerplate for Black Widow, the devil is in the details and each part of the issue from the writing, artwork, and colors bring their own details to the party. I mentioned previously that Natasha and Clint’s relationship is one of the best romances in comics and it is definitely the focus of “Web of Black Widow” #4. It was a relationship that was really brought into the limelight with the banter between the two in the MCU movies, and it’s something that writer Jodi Houser understands very well. There’s a definite sense of history and a strange chemistry between the two based on mutual respect for each other’s skill set, an appreciation and acknowledgement of the countless times that they have saved each other in both a mental and physical sense, and an understanding that there will be no hard feelings when their jobs will require them to fight and possibly kill each other in the future. It’s a different kind of romance that a lot of people might not be used to, but “Web of Black Widow” #4 certainly makes it a well written and effective one. There’s even a full page in the comic that flashes back to Hawkeye’s first appearance way back in the 60’s and acknowledges their long standing friendship based around fighting each other and the many heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe.
If there’s one problem with the writing on “Web of Black Widow” #4, it’s that the issue gets a little too cute with the formatting. The book starts right in the middle of the action, showing an injured Black Widow struggling with one of Hawkeye’s arrows in her small intestine, which is certainly painful but definitely non lethal if treated quickly. It was probably done because Houser wants to engage the reader right away and signal that there is action in the book, which is a perfectly understandable move but makes the issue just the tiniest bit difficult to follow. While it may be the biggest problem with the comic, it’s still a very small nitpick born out of some of the long standing expectations and understandings of how individual issues should be written and presented.
Continued belowThe artwork on “Web of Black Widow” #4 mirrors the writing, mostly in that it’s solid with a few small nitpicks here and there. Artist Stephen Mooney has a good style for this kind of book, his heavy use of shadows and realistic body proportions are great for the kind of semi realistic story centered around the morally grey area in the Marvel Universe where conflicts are small and the violence is personal, bloody, and nasty. The nitpicks, and again these are very small in the grand scheme of things, come when the comic has to get close up to the characters and have them emote. Mooney is at his best when the characters are at an arm’s length away from the reader and each other and he is great at using body language to draw the reader into what the character is feeling and what they might do next. It’s just when the script calls for some sort of extreme emotion or outburst that things start getting a little bit weird. A specific example would be the look of pained agony on Black Widow’s face seen in the second page of the issue when she’s breaking off one of Hawkeye’s arrows. It’s tiny, but the face just seems a little bit off.
As for the colors on “Web of Black Widow” #4, artist Triona Farrell does a great job of making a world of washed out greys, blacks, and reds interesting. The colors do a great job of giving the book a feeling of wear and exhaustion. This is a book about a character with a crap load of emotional baggage that is bubbling to the surface and the colors do a great job of presenting a version of Black Widow who is extremely capable and dominant, but is just so incredibly tired.
“Web of Black Widow” #4 is a solid book about a great character with a solid creative team who all bring something to the table. The writing highlights a fantastic relationship between two of the slighly less popular, but still awesome, characters in the Marvel stable, the artwork gives a great sense of murkiness and personal brutality that would probably make up the majority of a super spy’s life, and the colors show a bleak and faded world that takes a huge emotional toll on the people that have to live and work in it. While there are a few tiny things that prevent the book from being perfect, they are easy to understand and are mere distractions to brush aside from an otherwise great book.
Final Verdict: 8.5 -A great bit of comparatively quiet character work that would make great inspiration for anyone who might want to work with the Black Widow character, no matter what form of media she might appear in. A great bit of relatively quiet character work for one of the greatest couples in Marvel history.
