What do you think?
Rate this book
Black Widow (2016) (Collected Editions)
Black Widow, Vol. 2: No More Secrets
Now that Natasha knows the Weeping Lion's secret, she's in control of his very particular skills. Natasha plans to use him to destroy the Red Room's reincarnation, the Dark Room. But she'll have to face Recluse, daughter of the Red Room's headmistress, who's fixated on killing Natasha to prove her worth.
Collecting: Black Widow 7-12
Collecting: Black Widow 7-12
136 pages, Paperback
First published April 26, 2017
13 people are currently reading
648 people want to read
About the author
Mark Waid
3,181 books1,270 followersMark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
October 3, 2019
This is a familiar refrain for poor Natasha, as another Marvel character travels down the rocky rutted road to redemption. Really.
She has that creepy mind-reading kid from last volume and le Bucky heeling behind her.
But it comes down to trying to save a bunch of murderous, little girl assassins from the life that she once led.
It’s not easy, because stabby, killer, pre-teen girls, just want to have stabby, lethal fun.
Good on you, Natasha!
Bottom Line : Give Waid/Samnee props. The Black Widow can’t be an easy character to bring to life in the funny books. Trying to wipe away a “ledger of red” has been a theme for the past few iterations of this character; at least this one’s a quick read. Still, the journey can be puzzling and the ending way to pat.
July 13, 2022
Natasha on the road to redemption after her past life of assassin--ing, abusively raised to do this by the Headmistress of The Red Room, who trained many mindless weaponized assassins. Now it's the daughter of the Headmistress, Recluse, who assumes the role her mother held. In order to get this two volume run wrapped up in six issues Natasha has to take care of Recluse and Weeping Lion, and free the girls. It's less a superhero story than a thriller story. It's not a great or surprising story, but the action-oriented artwork of Chris Samnee remains terrific.
August 31, 2017
Natasha deals with the Weeping Lion and Recluse and everything returns to the status quo.
The Good: I like the focus on espionage and the step away from superheroes.
The Bad: The story was muddy and confusing in several places. Felt at times like it was in a hurry to tidy everything up in 12 issues. Chris Samnee's art is always fantastic, but there were times it was unclear what was happening storywise from the art.
The Ugly:
The Good: I like the focus on espionage and the step away from superheroes.
The Bad: The story was muddy and confusing in several places. Felt at times like it was in a hurry to tidy everything up in 12 issues. Chris Samnee's art is always fantastic, but there were times it was unclear what was happening storywise from the art.
The Ugly:
August 17, 2022
This was good too I guess but felt like a step down from the last volume.
Here we have Widow using the Weeping Lion in her missions to hunt down Recluse/Anya and her assassin girls and protecting people, fighting Anya and then we explore more of their rivalry, teaming with Winter Soldier and meeting Unseen (Nick Fury) and then whatever happens with that and then a final fight between her new-old enemy Anya and I like the way Waid explores her and sort of evolves her into "headmistress" and really creating an amazing villain for Nat!
The only thing I found negative in this volume is that it felt a bit rushed trying to wrap up things and so can get confusing but still good read overall with solid art yet again by Samnee and Waid uses less text and lets the art tell most of the story which is awesome! So yeah another recommend from me!
Here we have Widow using the Weeping Lion in her missions to hunt down Recluse/Anya and her assassin girls and protecting people, fighting Anya and then we explore more of their rivalry, teaming with Winter Soldier and meeting Unseen (Nick Fury) and then whatever happens with that and then a final fight between her new-old enemy Anya and I like the way Waid explores her and sort of evolves her into "headmistress" and really creating an amazing villain for Nat!
The only thing I found negative in this volume is that it felt a bit rushed trying to wrap up things and so can get confusing but still good read overall with solid art yet again by Samnee and Waid uses less text and lets the art tell most of the story which is awesome! So yeah another recommend from me!
March 25, 2022
A step down from volume one, it loses the charm of the first with a more cramped story and less focus on the spy element. Going for a more generic action piece, it suffers a little with pacing. Due to the short nature of the run, Waid seems to be rushing somewhat to wrap up all of the lose ends and tie it up in a nice bow. It's still worth a read if you enjoyed what came before, but expect less from this entry.
May 11, 2017
I don't understand why I didn't enjoy this more. Mark Waid. Chris Samnee. Matt Wilson. That's a recipe for great comics, right? Apparently not.
I'm not sure if it's because this run was cut short. You can tell that Waid is tying off loose ends very quickly by getting rid of characters that were very important in the first volume to make way for the final villain, so it could be that. There was possibly more story to tell, but no real estate to tell it.
It just doesn't feel like this story is doing anything for Black Widow that hasn't been done before. Haunted by the ghosts of her past, trying to deal with their effects on the present, etc. etc. is the go-to for Black Widow, and I'd rather have seen her explored in a different way.
The art is of course lovely, because Samnee is great. But even that doesn't save this series, and it's also a little hard to follow at times. There are some fight scenes that you'll need to look at twice to work out who's doing what, due to the similar silhouettes of the heroes and villains.
I did really enjoy the two middle issues set on the moon that reintroduced Bucky back into Nat's life and touched briefly on the dangling plot thread from the Winter Soldier ongoing where Natasha's memories of being in love with Bucky were wiped, but these two issues don't get time to explore that as much as I'd like.
So in the end this series leaves Black Widow basically exactly as we found her. The villain is vanquished, the day is saved, and things go back to normal. It's not revolutionary, or even particularly exciting. It just feels safe, and that's a word I didn't think I'd use for any of the creators involved here.
I'm not sure if it's because this run was cut short. You can tell that Waid is tying off loose ends very quickly by getting rid of characters that were very important in the first volume to make way for the final villain, so it could be that. There was possibly more story to tell, but no real estate to tell it.
It just doesn't feel like this story is doing anything for Black Widow that hasn't been done before. Haunted by the ghosts of her past, trying to deal with their effects on the present, etc. etc. is the go-to for Black Widow, and I'd rather have seen her explored in a different way.
The art is of course lovely, because Samnee is great. But even that doesn't save this series, and it's also a little hard to follow at times. There are some fight scenes that you'll need to look at twice to work out who's doing what, due to the similar silhouettes of the heroes and villains.
I did really enjoy the two middle issues set on the moon that reintroduced Bucky back into Nat's life and touched briefly on the dangling plot thread from the Winter Soldier ongoing where Natasha's memories of being in love with Bucky were wiped, but these two issues don't get time to explore that as much as I'd like.
So in the end this series leaves Black Widow basically exactly as we found her. The villain is vanquished, the day is saved, and things go back to normal. It's not revolutionary, or even particularly exciting. It just feels safe, and that's a word I didn't think I'd use for any of the creators involved here.
February 15, 2018
This was fine. Not great but decent.
August 29, 2019
Great stories!
These are some good Black Widow thrillers in here. Think I will check out her new upcoming series. Good old Widow type action.
These are some good Black Widow thrillers in here. Think I will check out her new upcoming series. Good old Widow type action.
November 3, 2019
Black Widow tries to save children being trained to be like her while also fighting old enemies.
MY GRADE: B.
MY GRADE: B.
April 22, 2024
Gostei bastante do fechamento dessa serie da viuva negra. Quanto mais leio sobre ela mais eu fico chatiada pensando em como a marvel desperdiçou o potencial da personagem no MCU, eu ia adorar ver essa historia aqui sendo contada num filme da viuva negra por exemplo. É uma historia bem de espionagem, tem muita conexao com o passado dela, entao daria pra gente conhecer mais da historia dela tambem. Tem ela e o bucky sendo fofos e ela sendo mt foda a historia toda. E é uma historia densa, meio pra baixo mesmo, com varios momentos da Natasha segurando mt a barra do passado dela nas costas.
Gostei muito, e adorei a arte tambem. As capas das issues todas sao lindissimas. Recomendo muito pra quem quer ver um pouquinho da historia da personagem numa serie até que curtinha e bem fechada em si, tem muita espionagem e misterio no primeiro volume e tambem muita açao, que continua pra esse volume dois. Bom demais, uma leitura bem rapida.
Gostei muito, e adorei a arte tambem. As capas das issues todas sao lindissimas. Recomendo muito pra quem quer ver um pouquinho da historia da personagem numa serie até que curtinha e bem fechada em si, tem muita espionagem e misterio no primeiro volume e tambem muita açao, que continua pra esse volume dois. Bom demais, uma leitura bem rapida.
May 23, 2017
NATASZA ZRYWAJĄCA Z KRĘGIEM PRZEMOCY, W KTÓRY ZOSTAŁA WCIĄGNIĘTA.
NATASZA STAJĄCA W OBRONIE INNYCH OFIAR RED ROOMU.
NATASZA MAJĄCA WSPARCIE PRZYJACIÓŁ.
NATASZA I BUCKY. WSPÓŁPRACUJĄCY.
Wiem, że to dużo entuzjazmu, ale czułam się, jakbym znowu czytała "Name of the rose", najlepszy komiks o Wdowie jak dotąd.
Używali Red Roomu, aby pokazać, jak Natasza rozwija się i dojrzewa jako człowiek, jak walczy o swoje człowieczeństwo, jak nie pozwala, aby innych spotkało to, co ją.
Jestem zachwycona. Dużo lepsze niż seria z 2015, całkowity zwrot i zerwanie z tym idiotycznym "wdowa to socjopatka" motywem. Zachwyt. Nie sądziłam, że jeszcze kiedyś uznam, że Marvel jest wart moich pieniędzy, ale ta seria i "World of Wakanda" trafią na moją półkę.
NATASZA STAJĄCA W OBRONIE INNYCH OFIAR RED ROOMU.
NATASZA MAJĄCA WSPARCIE PRZYJACIÓŁ.
NATASZA I BUCKY. WSPÓŁPRACUJĄCY.
Wiem, że to dużo entuzjazmu, ale czułam się, jakbym znowu czytała "Name of the rose", najlepszy komiks o Wdowie jak dotąd.
Używali Red Roomu, aby pokazać, jak Natasza rozwija się i dojrzewa jako człowiek, jak walczy o swoje człowieczeństwo, jak nie pozwala, aby innych spotkało to, co ją.
Jestem zachwycona. Dużo lepsze niż seria z 2015, całkowity zwrot i zerwanie z tym idiotycznym "wdowa to socjopatka" motywem. Zachwyt. Nie sądziłam, że jeszcze kiedyś uznam, że Marvel jest wart moich pieniędzy, ale ta seria i "World of Wakanda" trafią na moją półkę.
February 4, 2020
El estilo de dibujo me sigue pareciendo mejor que el de los otros cómics de Marvel que he leído. Es bastante equilibrado y estilizado dentro de lo que cabe, y las escenas de acción, que es con lo que más problemas suelo tener, me han resultado bastante claras.
Aquí el argumento creo que ha perdido un poco respecto al volumen 1. Más que nada, la historia de fondo de León me ha parecido algo caótica, me ha faltado alguna explicación sobre cómo acaba en la posición que acaba y sobre sus habilidades.
Además de eso, aquí ha aparecido un aspecto de la trama que hace que no se puedan leer estos dos volúmenes de forma independiente, porque falta toda la historia de fondo de Nat con Bucky, por qué aquí tienen esa relación, que no es la que se ve en las pelis, por ejemplo, y todos los acontecimientos entre ellos a los que se alude pero que no se explican. Y la verdad, era una relación de la que me gustaría saber más, y no séen qué otros cómics puedo leer sobre ella.
Aquí el argumento creo que ha perdido un poco respecto al volumen 1. Más que nada, la historia de fondo de León me ha parecido algo caótica, me ha faltado alguna explicación sobre cómo acaba en la posición que acaba y sobre sus habilidades.
Además de eso, aquí ha aparecido un aspecto de la trama que hace que no se puedan leer estos dos volúmenes de forma independiente, porque falta toda la historia de fondo de Nat con Bucky, por qué aquí tienen esa relación, que no es la que se ve en las pelis, por ejemplo, y todos los acontecimientos entre ellos a los que se alude pero que no se explican. Y la verdad, era una relación de la que me gustaría saber más, y no séen qué otros cómics puedo leer sobre ella.
November 22, 2022
Natasha tries to atone for hef past sins by rescuing little girls from the Red Room 2.0.
Let’s face it: the plot is as basic as they come, the issue as predictable as can be. Still, enhanced by the Samnee/Wilson duo, this action-packed volume is definitely entertaining.
Let’s face it: the plot is as basic as they come, the issue as predictable as can be. Still, enhanced by the Samnee/Wilson duo, this action-packed volume is definitely entertaining.
December 2, 2025
"You don't have a story, little one. You're simply a footnote in mine."
August 17, 2022
Una historia sencilla, entretenida y que cualquier persona puede leer sin saber casi nada de Marvel
May 22, 2022
Total banger. We follow Natasha as shuts down a Red Room 2.0 and tries to save the room's latest young assassins. Meanwhile the daughter of the Red Room's headmistress named Recluse is fixated on killing Natasha to prove her worth.
This was hella enjoyable and had great action. It was less spy thriller and more action thriller but I'm not complaining. There was a good amount of Winter Soldier and Black Widow content and that's really all I need to go absolutely feral and foam at the mouth.
I love this art and this style in general is my favorite. It's so nice to look at and I love seeing Natasha not tits out. The colors are also just very nice.
I honestly don't even have much to say about this one like it was so fast paced and good?? Idk, I wish there was more though instead of this being the end of this run.
This was hella enjoyable and had great action. It was less spy thriller and more action thriller but I'm not complaining. There was a good amount of Winter Soldier and Black Widow content and that's really all I need to go absolutely feral and foam at the mouth.
I love this art and this style in general is my favorite. It's so nice to look at and I love seeing Natasha not tits out. The colors are also just very nice.
I honestly don't even have much to say about this one like it was so fast paced and good?? Idk, I wish there was more though instead of this being the end of this run.
January 16, 2018
More Natasha beating up most of the world. She's determined to take down the newest incarnation of the Red Room where she was trained and to do that she must go up against the Recluse, a woman from her past. This really read as more a rogue spy story rather than anything superhero, despite an appearance by the Winter Soldier, which was great. I think Natasha shines best when she's gone a little rogue.
September 28, 2022
This volume deals with the legacy of the Black Widow program, and the difference between someone who falls inline with their programming, and someone who rises to find their true self. That's kind of been the story of Black Widow for a while now, and especially in this series - which closes with this final volume.
Mark Waid is - in my opinion - a modern day master of writing good, solid comics. And you can really see that in full effect here, especially in certain issues, with the pacing. The 22-or-so pages fly by because he just paces the story beats so well. The plot flows nicely and logically, propelling you towards the next page and the next. He did a great job of making this book fresh and lively even when dealing with a lot of backstory and flashbacks.
Now, there was some problems with things that don't make sense or are not conveyed in the clearest way. But it didn't detract from the overall story, for me at least.
And while Waid is fantastic, the other half of why the book works well is Chris Samnee. His artwork is fantastic in this, as it lends itself well to the more grounded reality of Natasha. His clean line and dark shadows bring out her world to great effect, especially when dealing with nefarious details of backstory or villainous attacks. I will admit though, there are times where I did lose the plot a bit during the last major fight(s) as there was a lot of shadows and a lot of moving parts. But again, not enough to hinder my enjoyment of the book.
Overall, this was a fun series and I'm sad to see it go. I was hoping for more spy thrilling adventures for Black Widow but... maybe in the future. I would recommend this for fans of more spy based adventures.
Mark Waid is - in my opinion - a modern day master of writing good, solid comics. And you can really see that in full effect here, especially in certain issues, with the pacing. The 22-or-so pages fly by because he just paces the story beats so well. The plot flows nicely and logically, propelling you towards the next page and the next. He did a great job of making this book fresh and lively even when dealing with a lot of backstory and flashbacks.
Now, there was some problems with things that don't make sense or are not conveyed in the clearest way. But it didn't detract from the overall story, for me at least.
And while Waid is fantastic, the other half of why the book works well is Chris Samnee. His artwork is fantastic in this, as it lends itself well to the more grounded reality of Natasha. His clean line and dark shadows bring out her world to great effect, especially when dealing with nefarious details of backstory or villainous attacks. I will admit though, there are times where I did lose the plot a bit during the last major fight(s) as there was a lot of shadows and a lot of moving parts. But again, not enough to hinder my enjoyment of the book.
Overall, this was a fun series and I'm sad to see it go. I was hoping for more spy thrilling adventures for Black Widow but... maybe in the future. I would recommend this for fans of more spy based adventures.
August 13, 2024
Llega el momento de resolver y Samnee y Waid se desenvuelven bien. Muy en la línea del tomo anterior, más apegado a la continuidad (resolver el bloqueo mental de Natasha sobre ciertos asuntos por arte de magia), excelsamente dibujado... Venía a ver acción y de qué manera me entregan esa acción. Sí que me pilla fuera de juego ese viaje a la Luna (WTF!) para encontrarse con Nick Furia (WTF!!) que es una especie de Vigilante (WTF!!!), pero apenas es un número.
September 30, 2017
Suspense awaits at every turn! Weeping Lion finally meets his match on the moon! 😁Is this the final Black Widow graphic novel by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee???
April 10, 2017
This was a really good run. My favourite part was how it stayed out of all the big cross-over garbage and just did its own thing. It was really enjoyable to read. I would like more runs like this, please.
March 8, 2018
*Read for Library YA Reading Challenge*
This volume was more interesting than Vol 1, but I wanted this to be better. I'm also saying that as someone who now has inflated expectations on a Waid/Samnee book. I really like the idea of a Black Widow book where she's struggling to be "part of the team" and stop all the lone wolf spy stuff, but shouldn't that book exist already? Like, she's an Avenger, a Secret Avenger, probably several other teams... is this premise really new?
This book was good by a lot of standards, but I wanted it to be more than the sum of it's parts. That isn't fair to the book, character, or creative team, but are also the same who gave me these expectations in the first place. No regrets about reading these, but have a hard time not recommending other Waid/Samnee titles first or other Black Widow runs.
This volume was more interesting than Vol 1, but I wanted this to be better. I'm also saying that as someone who now has inflated expectations on a Waid/Samnee book. I really like the idea of a Black Widow book where she's struggling to be "part of the team" and stop all the lone wolf spy stuff, but shouldn't that book exist already? Like, she's an Avenger, a Secret Avenger, probably several other teams... is this premise really new?
This book was good by a lot of standards, but I wanted it to be more than the sum of it's parts. That isn't fair to the book, character, or creative team, but are also the same who gave me these expectations in the first place. No regrets about reading these, but have a hard time not recommending other Waid/Samnee titles first or other Black Widow runs.
December 30, 2017
I am so glad I gave comics another chance, I loved this collection even more than the first! This continues the story from Black Widow, Volume 1: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted and I loved the way the story went. I wasn't as surprised by the plot twists in this one, but it introduced a character I love!
The art in these is absolutely amazing and I love the way it includes poster size pages and art by different artists throughout. It's interesting to see the different ways that people imagine Black Widow. I can't say much more as I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm so glad I picked these up!
The art in these is absolutely amazing and I love the way it includes poster size pages and art by different artists throughout. It's interesting to see the different ways that people imagine Black Widow. I can't say much more as I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm so glad I picked these up!
June 15, 2017
I don't know who's more confused, Waid or the reader. This book has no idea what it wants to do. It jumps around randomly between genres which could be fun if done well...it isn't. Things rarely are given weight or tonal gravity and so payoffs feel undeserved or lackluster.
If Waid had settled on a single concept, say rounding up the students or Recluse slowly becoming an actual threat or Lion plotting his revenge, and let it stew for 12 issues or so, it would have been much better and not the confusing, unfocused mess we ended up with.
If Waid had settled on a single concept, say rounding up the students or Recluse slowly becoming an actual threat or Lion plotting his revenge, and let it stew for 12 issues or so, it would have been much better and not the confusing, unfocused mess we ended up with.
January 22, 2020
I so wanted to love this more, but unfortunately I feel like the story itself was a little too hectic. I think it was trying to tell shorter, interconnected stories but the way it was paced it came off more like one larger story with strange gaps and timeskips. Overall decent and HEAVILY bolstered by the incredible art.
December 1, 2017
This amazing conclusion shows how much Black Widow is such a bad ass and how much she secretly cares.
http://nicolewbrown.blogspot.com/2017...
http://nicolewbrown.blogspot.com/2017...
May 8, 2019
This picks up faster than the first volume. I love the art, I love Nat, and you know I'm a sucker for Bucky always.
August 22, 2022
AHH!! This was so so good. I loved this conclusion so much. Natasha is such a badass in here, and I really loved Anya. She’s easily my favorite Black Widow villain. And the reunion of Buckynat was MY FAVORITE THING EVER!! I’m a Winterwidow stan till I die and I was so happy we got more winterwidow content. This was amazing!! I loved this series so much.
January 12, 2024
I find this book as a lot of potential because Chris Samnee art is fantastic but the story here is a pretty bog, standard black widow plot, and I think because they had to finish early certain antagonist got the short end of the stick now this was an enjoyable, black widow story, but I wouldn’t say it’s the best
June 7, 2017
A great follow up to Volume 1. I really like how the Black Widow solo titles focus on espionage rather than the typical superhero/supervillain storylines.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews