{"id":35683,"date":"2026-06-09T16:13:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=35683"},"modified":"2026-06-09T16:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:13:39","slug":"black-widow-epic-collection-volume-1-beware-the-black-widow-1964-1971-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/06\/09\/black-widow-epic-collection-volume-1-beware-the-black-widow-1964-1971-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Widow Epic Collection volume 1: Beware the Black Widow (1964-1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Stan Lee<\/strong>, Don Rico<\/strong> & Don Heck<\/strong>, Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Gary Friedrich<\/strong>, Mimi Gold<\/strong>, Gerry Conway<\/strong>, Jack Kirby<\/strong>, John Buscema<\/strong>, John Romita<\/strong>, Gene Colan<\/strong>, Bill Everett<\/strong>, Chic Stone<\/strong>, Dick Ayers<\/strong>, George Roussos<\/strong>, Vince Colletta<\/strong>, Jim Mooney<\/strong>, John Verpoorten<\/strong>, Sal<\/strong> Buscema<\/strong>, Jack Abel<\/strong> & various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-1-3029-2126-2 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times. <\/em><\/p>\n

Natasha Romanoff <\/em>(sometimes Natalia Romanova<\/em>) is a Soviet Russian spy who came in from the cold and stuck around to become one of Marvel\u2019s earliest female stars. The Black Widow<\/strong> started life as a svelte, sultry honeytrap during Marvel\u2019s early \u201cCommie-busting\u201d days, targeting Tony Stark<\/em> and battling Iron Man<\/strong> in her debut (Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #52, cover-dated April, 1964 and on sale from January 10th<\/sup>). She was subsequently redesigned as a torrid, tights-&-tech supervillain before defecting to the USA, and romantically entwining with an assortment of Yankee superheroes – including Hawkeye<\/strong> and Daredevil<\/strong> – before finally enlisting as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., setting up as a freelance do-gooder and joining and ultimately leading The Avengers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Throughout her career she has always been considered ultra-efficient, coldly competent, deadly dangerous and somehow cursed to bring doom and disaster to her paramours. As her backstory evolved, it was revealed that Natasha had undergone experimental processes which enhanced her physical capabilities and lengthened her lifespan, as well as enduring assorted psychological procedures which had messed up her mind and memories.<\/p>\n

Traditionally a minor fan favourite, the Widow only really hit the big time after Marvel\u2019s Movie franchise was established, but for us unregenerate comics-addicts her print escapades have always offered a cool, sinister frisson of delight. This expansive l compilation gathers the contents of Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #52-53, 57, 60, 64; Avengers<\/strong> #29-30, 36-37, 43-44; Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #86; Amazing Adventures<\/strong> 1-8 and Daredevil<\/strong> #81, plus pertinent excerpts from Avengers<\/strong> #16, 32-33, 38-39, 41-42, 45-47, 57, 63-63 & 76, cumulatively spanning April 1964 through November 1971.
\n\"\"
\nThe action opens as a sexy Soviet operative Natasha and her hulking sidekick Boris<\/em> (yes, I know: simpler times) are despatched to destroy recent defector and top-ranking electronics boffin Anton Vanko<\/em> and his new Yankee protectors Tony Stark and Iron Man. \u2018The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again!\u2019<\/em> (drawn by Don Heck and scripted, like the next issue, by \u201cN. Kurok\u201d – actually veteran creator Don Rico) sees the hero quickly dispose of the armoured Russian heavy while underestimating the far greater threat of the insidious Femme Fatale.<\/p>\n

With Tales of Suspense <\/strong>#53, she became a headliner. In \u2018The Black Widow Strikes Again!\u2019<\/em> Natasha steals Stark\u2019s anti-gravity ray yet ultimately fails in her sabotage mission, fleeing Russian retribution until resurfacing in ToS<\/strong> #57.<\/p>\n

Black Widow returned to beguile disgruntled budding superhero \u2018Hawkeye, The Marksman!\u2019<\/em> (Stan Lee & Heck) into attacking the Golden Avenger in #57, with no appreciable effect. Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #60 featured an extended plotline with Stark\u2019s \u201cdisappearance\u201d leading to Iron Man being \u2018Suspected of Murder!\u2019<\/em>. Capitalizing on the chaos, lovestruck Hawkeye and the Widow strike again, but another failure leads to her being recaptured by Russian agents and sentenced to re-education…
\n\"\"
\nAbruptly transformed from fur-draped seductress into a gadget-laden costumed villain, she returned in #64\u2019s \u2018Hawkeye and the New Black Widow Strike Again!\u2019<\/em> (Lee, Heck & Chic Stone). Her failure led to big changes, as pages from Avengers<\/strong> #16 here depict her punishment and Hawkeye\u2019s reformation and induction into the superteam. Jump forward more than a year and Avengers <\/strong>#29 as Quicksilver<\/strong> and The Scarlet Witch<\/strong> prepare to retire: returning to Europe to reinvigorate their fading powers even as \u2018This Power Unleashed!\u2019<\/em> brings back Hawkeye\u2019s lost love as a brainwashed nemesis resolved to destroy the team.<\/p>\n

Recruiting old foes Power Man <\/em>and The Swordsman<\/em> as cannon-fodder, The Widow is foiled by her own incompletely-submerged feelings for Hawkeye, after which \u2018Frenzy in a Far-Off Land!\u2019<\/em> observes dispirited colossus Henry Pym<\/em> embroiled in a futuristic civil war amongst a lost South American civilisation while a temporary d\u00e9tente between archer and inamorata seems set to fail…<\/p>\n

Extracts from Avengers <\/strong>#32-33 (with Heck providing raw, gritty inks over his own pencils in \u2018The Sign of the Serpent!\u2019 <\/em>and concluding chapter \u2018To Smash a Serpent!\u2019<\/em>) sees her own recovery begin as Natasha independently infiltrates a racist secret society before joining the Avengers to destroy the hatemongering snakes.<\/p>\n

Her international credentials are exploited when long-missing Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver return, heralding an alien invasion of the Balkans in (Avengers<\/strong> #36-37\u2019s) \u2018The Ultroids Attack!\u2019<\/em> and \u2018To Conquer a Colossus!\u2019<\/em>. Newly cured, programming-free and reformed, Natasha is the crucial factor in repelling an extraterrestrial invasion: a sinister, merciless Black Widow whose willingness to apply lethal force ultimately saves the day and the Earth…<\/p>\n

Extracts from Avengers<\/strong> #38, 39, 41 & 42 detail how she then forsakes her newfound heroic reputation to go undercover for S.H.I.E.L.D.: infiltrating a Communist Chinese super-weapon facility as a supposed Soviet agent. In #43\u2019s complete tale \u2018Color him…the Red Guardian!\u2019<\/em> (Roy Thomas, John Buscema & George Roussos) her origins and reason for the title \u201cwidow\u201d are exposed before – reacting to a world-threatening superweapon – the Avengers storm in for the fight of their lives as the saga climaxes in \u2018The Valiant Also Die!\u2019<\/em> (Vince Colletta inks): a blistering all-out clash to save humanity from mental conquest…<\/p>\n

The fracturing relationship between Hawkeye and the Widow plays out in snippets from Avengers <\/strong>#45-47, #63 and 64 as her growing ties to Nick Fury<\/strong> lead to an heartbreaking split with the Amazing Archer in #76 and the prospect of a new beginning for the Russian renegade. It comes in Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #86 as \u2018Beware… the Black Widow!\u2019<\/em> affords John Romita & Jim Mooney a chance to redesign, redefine and relaunch the super-spy in an enjoyable if formulaic Lee-scripted misunderstanding\/clash-of-heroes yarn with an ailing webspinner never really endangered. The entire episode was actually a promotion for the Widow\u2019s own soon-to-debut solo series.
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\nBlack Widow<\/strong>\u2019s first solo series appeared in \u201csplit-book\u201d Amazing Adventures<\/strong> #1-8: mini-epics paying dues the superspy\u2019s contemporary influences: Modesty Blaise <\/strong>and Emma Peel<\/strong> (that lass from the other Avengers<\/strong>). It all begins with \u2018Then Came… The Black Widow\u2019 <\/em>(AA <\/strong>#1, August 1970, by Gary Friedrich, John Buscema & John Verpoorten) as Natasha emerges from self-imposed retirement to be a socially-aware crusader defending low-income citizens from thugs and loan sharks. One charitable act leads her to help activists \u2018The Young Warriors!\u2019<\/em> as their attempts to build a centre for underprivileged kids in Spanish Harlem are countered by crooked, drug-dealing property speculators…<\/p>\n

Gene Colan & Bill Everett assume art duties from #3\u2019s \u2018The Widow and the Militants!\u2019<\/em> with her actions and communist past drawing hostile media attention, more criminal attacks and ultimately precipitate an inner-city siege, before the \u2018Deadlock\u2019<\/em> (scripted by Mimi Gold) comes to a shocking end…
\n\"\"
\nRoy Thomas steps in for a bleakly potent Christmas yarn as \u2018…And to All a Good Night\u2019 <\/em>sees Natasha and faithful retainer\/father figure Ivan<\/em> meet and fail a desperate young man, only to be dragged into a horrific scheme by deranged cult leader The Astrologer<\/em> who plans to hold the city\u2019s hospitals to ransom in \u2018Blood Will Tell!\u2019 <\/em>(art by Heck & Sal Buscema). Convinced she is cursed to do more harm than good, the tragic adventurer nevertheless inflicts \u2018The Sting of the Widow!\u2019 <\/em>(Gerry Conway, Heck & Everett) on her ruthless prey and his child soldiers, after which the series wraps up in rushed manner with a haphazard duel against Russian-hating super-patriot Watchlord<\/em> in the Thomas-scripted \u2018How Shall I Kill Thee? Let Me Count the Ways!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The formative tales conclude here with \u2018And Death is a Woman Called Widow\u2019<\/em> (Daredevil<\/strong> #81, by Conway, Colan & Jack Abel), which sees infamous defector Natasha Romanoff burst onto the scene to save the Man Without Fear from ubiquitous manipulator Mr. Kline<\/em> and deadly predator The Owl<\/em>, consequently exposing the manipulative mastermind behind most of DD and the Widow\u2019s recent woes and tribulations…<\/p>\n

Rounding out the comics experience here are bonus pages including a stunning Black Widow pinup by Bill Everett; house ads and a huge gallery of original art pages by John Buscema, Verpoorten, Heck, Colan & Everett – including restored artworks edited for overly-salacious content that apparently revealed a little too much of the sexy spy, before being toned down for eventual publication.
\n\"\"
\nThese beautifully limned yarns might still occasionally jar with their earnest stridency and dated attitudes, but the narrative energy and sheer exuberant excitement of the adventures are compelling delights no action fan will care to miss…
\n\u00a9 2020 MARVEL.<\/p>\n

Today in 1928 Archie<\/strong> and Little Archie<\/strong> writer\/artist Bob Bolling<\/strong> was born. Others birthday boys include French auteur Andr\u00e9 Juillard<\/strong> (Les Sept Vies de l\u2019\u00c9pervier<\/em>, Arno<\/em>, Chasseurs d\u2019or<\/em>, Blake and Mortimer<\/strong>) in 1948 and Puerto Rican American George P\u00e9rez<\/strong> (everything, but especially Crisis on Infinite Earths<\/strong>, Wonder Woman<\/strong>, New Teen Titans<\/strong>, Avengers<\/strong>, Justice League of America<\/strong>, Fantastic Four<\/strong>, Superman<\/strong>, Black Widow<\/strong> and more) came along in 1954.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee, Don Rico & Don Heck, Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, Mimi Gold, Gerry Conway, Jack Kirby, John Buscema, John Romita, Gene Colan, Bill Everett, Chic Stone, Dick Ayers, George Roussos, Vince Colletta, Jim Mooney, John Verpoorten, Sal Buscema, Jack Abel & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-1-3029-2126-2 (TPB\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Black Widow Epic Collection volume 1: Beware the Black Widow (1964-1971)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[335,191,94,427,237,75,85,247,120,117,79,174,148,219,107,39,169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-adventure","category-avengers","category-bill-everett","category-black-widow","category-crime-comics","category-daredevil","category-hawkeye","category-iron-man","category-jack-kirby","category-marvel-superheroes","category-nick-fury","category-romance","category-s-h-i-e-l-d","category-science-fiction","category-spider-man","category-spy-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9hx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35690,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35683\/revisions\/35690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}