REVIEW: ‘Black Widow,’ Issue #8

Black Widow #8 is published by Marvel Comics, written by Kelly Thompson, with art by Elena Casagrande and Rafael de Latorre, inks by Elisabetta D’amico and Rafael de Latorre, colors by Jordie Bellaire, and letters by Cory Petit. With their raid on Apogee’s gathering bringing little results other than seeing one scared young person reduced to sand, the Widows are seemingly back at square one of their investigation.

This month’s story opens with Natasha and Yelena hanging out in a public park as they await a meet-up with Anya to exchange intel. While they wait for their compatriot to arrive, Natasha observes a woman and her young son by a pond, feeding ducks. This triggers Nat’s memories of her recently separated son Stevie. Seeing Natasha’s generally sharp eyes lingering, Yelena quickly deduces what is happening and attempts to get her teammate to open up to her.

Yelena’s inquiring leads to Black Widow #8′s strongest moment, as Natasha launches into a far more complicated confession about her feelings than I was prepared for. Writer Thompson clearly put a lot of thought into just how tangled up and painful the many conflicting emotions Natasha carries with her surrounding her family are. The moment is further strengthened by Yelena’s genuine attempts to help her fellow Widow, even though this sort of thing is clearly not her expertise.

Once the two Widows pass what they learned from the last issue’s raid to Anya, the bulk of Black Widow #8 sees our team of spy-der ladies continue their investigations of Apogee. With Anya still learning the ropes of the spy game, she quickly finds herself in a tight situation that requires a more active hand than what surveillance and intelligence gathering generally go for. But sometimes, you just gotta intervene.

The last portion of this story catches up with Lucy as she tries to process what might await her due to the powers that have been forced on her by Apogee. Once more, Thompson takes a moment to flex her character writing muscles as Natasha tries to help Lucy process her situation.

The art in Black Widow #8 provides all the visuals needed to fully deliver both the emotional and the danger of the book’s story. Artists Casagrande and Latorre work together beautifully to deliver a seamless visual presentation between them. Though I cannot help but once again praise the poetry in motion Natasha becomes during this month’s double-page fight panel from Casagrande.  Building on the pair of artist’s linework is Bellaire delivering the book’s signature color scheme with all the skills the experienced veteran always brings to the book.

Rounding out the book is Petit’s wonderful letter work. Along with their excellent placement of the dialogue, Petit also delivers some wonderful sound effect designs that help some of the book’s action land with that extra pop.

When all is said and done, Black Widow #8 builds the current storyline well as the trio of heroes continues to search for information concerning their elusive query.

Black Widow #8 is available now wherever comics are sold.