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The movie From Russia with love (1963), is the second in the 007 series starring Sean Connery. James Bond is sent to help the escape of Tatiana Romanova, a Soviet spy and employee of the USSR consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
Months after the premiere of this film, Natasha Romanova debuted in the comics, sharing her surname, profession and country with the Bond girl. It was at the head of Iron Man, Tales Of Suspense nº 52 (1964). Natasha is a Soviet spy sent to assassinate Tony Stark, whom she captivates with her beauty. It did not take long for her to switch to the other side of the Iron Curtain, to be Agent of SHIELD and Avenger, as well as a sentimental partner of Daredevil and Hawkeye.
In the late 1990s, Marvel founded the label Marvel Knights to publish stories of urban characters with a more adult character. The series Spider-Man, Punisher, Daredevil, etc., quickly gained the favor of the public on this label. How the play came out, they decided to get the seal Marvel MAX, with even fewer restrictions. Between these two seals, the Black widow received a trilogy that put it back in the limelight, and Panini Cómics, the licensee of Marvel Comics in Spain, brought the trilogy together in a single volume to celebrate the premiere of the first individual film by this Avenger, directed by Cate Shortland and starring Scarlett. Johansson as Natasha Romanoff and Florence Pugh, playing Yelena Belova; both black widows.
Natasha Romanova appears in two of the three stories in this volume that serves to define the character and place him in the Marvel Universe. But the novelty is Yelena Belova, the young woman who becomes the new Soviet Black Widow. An impulsive spy who needs to eliminate the veteran Avenger to occupy the title.
The first story, which gives the volume its title, is Witsi Witsi Spider. Originally released under the seal Marvel Knights and written by Devin Grayson. Beginning with a cameo by Matt Murdock, Daredevil’s alter ego, it introduces a more human-than-ever Natasha, who is tasked with a mission in Rhapastan, a fictional Middle Eastern state, to retrieve a new Super Soldier serum. However, she realizes that she is not the only one who has been given this task: a new and younger Black Widow, Yelena Belova, enters the scene with the intention of surpassing her predecessor. Natasha no longer serves Mother Russia, which makes this new Black Widow work very well as a counterpoint to the veteran, and that the characters of both are well differentiated. He draws JG Jones with cinematic-style movements, which contributes to the tone of a typical James Bond plot.
The second story, Collapse, was also originally released under the Marvel Knights label and in it the two widows meet again, this time in a much more psychological story and with less action than the previous one. With a debtor starting point from the movie Face to face (1997) directed by John Woo and starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, we witness the exchange of faces between Yelena and Natasha. Scott Hampton contributes to the mastery of the plot written by Devin Grayson and Greg Rucka by drawing with his high-quality watercolor spot color style, full of contrasts and a classic aesthetic. This story features cameos from Daredevil and SHIELD director Nick Fury as guest stars.
The third story is Pale spider, framed in the stamp Marvel MAX, due to the inclusion of a certain sadomasochistic component in the plot. Greg Rucka, in charge of the script, takes us back to the early days of Yelena’s spy career, when she was entrusted with her debut mission: investigating the person who took her in when she was orphaned and has supported her ever since, Lieutenant Colonel Starkowsky of the Foreign Intelligence Service, who has been found dead in a Moscow hostess club, and is suspected of having leaked information about the Black Widow Project. We know Yelena’s past, with an ugly drawing carried out by Igor Kordey. This story is a prequel to the previous ones and focuses on Yelena’s training as a spy in the Red Room.
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