Widowmakers: Red Guardian and Yelena Belova #1

Black Widow: One-Shots

by Devin Grayson, Mike McKone (Cover Art), Michele Bandini (Artist)

Devin Grayson, one of the creators of Yelena Belova — the Red Room recruit who once nearly killed Natasha Romanoff — returns with a brand–new story drawn by rising star Michele Bandini! Yelena has spent years trying to figure out who she is. Once she thought the Black Widow mantle was her destiny, but fate had other plans. Now the past is catching up with her — and with Alexi Shostakov, a.k.a. the Red Guardian! Alexi has worn many titles, including husband to Natasha, but while the Widow played her avenging games, the Red Guardian waited in the shadows. Now a new day is dawning — and this time, no one will stand in his way.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes

32 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 15, 2020

About the author

Devin Grayson is an avid gamer, former acting student, and enthusiastic reader fortunate enough to have turned a lifelong obsession with fictional characters into a dynamic writing career. She has a B.A. from Bard College, where she studied creative writing with novelist Mona Simpson. Best known for her work on the Batman titles for DC Comics, Devin has been a regular writer on Catwoman, Nightwing, and The Titans, and contributed to the award-winning No Man’s Land story arc. With the publication of Batman: Gotham Knights in March of 2000, she became the first (and, sadly, only as of 2020) female to create, launch and write an ongoing Batman title.

Additional career highlights include the launch of the critically acclaimed series Omni for Humanoids, Doctor Strange: The Fate of Dreams, an original novel featuring Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme, and USER—a highly personal three-part, creator-owned miniseries about gender identity and online role-playing, originally published by Vertigo and newly available as a collected edition hardcover through Image. Devin is also the creator of Yelena Belova, a Marvel character staring in the upcoming MCU Black Widow movie (played by Florence Pugh), Damien Darhk, a DC character now appearing regularly in CW’s Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow (played by Neal McDonough), and Catalina Flores, a DC character recently featured as the super-villain Tarantula in The Lego Batman Movie.

Frequently cited for compelling character development and nuanced exploration of complex themes, Devin’s work has been showcased in mainstream media such as USA Today and Working Woman as well as in alternative press such as The Village Voice, The Advocate, and Curve magazine. Over the years, she has written in several different media and genres, from comic books and novels to video game scripts and short essays. She is currently working on an original graphic novel for Berger Books.

Devin lives in Northern California with her husband, step-son, devoted Early Alert Canines Diabetic Alert Dog, and somewhat less devoted cat. Openly bisexual, she is a passionate advocate for the GLBTQ community, as well as being a committed environmentalist, and a public speaker for T1 Diabetes awareness and Diabetic Alert Dogs. She is always happy to take on a new challenge, especially if it involves making some new fictional friends.

Reviews

[L. McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

SUPER FAST REVIEW:
“Most in my profession work for governments— large collections of organized cheaters sanctioned to be getting rich off of subjugation of very people who vote them in.”
My expectations were kinda low but that actually perhaps made me enjoy this more. So this one-shot pretty much exists to build hype for the Black Widow movie (the one that should have been out in May, not something we’re still waiting for in November) but it still manages to be a fun read. It’s fluff but fun.
So pretty much if you just want action, cool art and a light story this is pretty damn good! If you want a masterpiece in literature, this isn’t quite it, it is predictable and has a very basic plot (plus the ending feels a bit more like the end of an issue, not a one-shot) but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth giving a read.

4/5

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every time I pick up a Black Widow comic written by a man, I groan a little because I don't trust men with Natasha. And I'm not sure I trust them with Yelena either. To be fair, Devin Grayson mostly seemed like he knew what he was doing. And Michele Bandini keeps Yelena out of sex bomb territory (mostly). Did it feel very 90s? Yes. Is Yelena's "Russian" dialect being portrayed by broken English bad? Yes. But there was glimpses of great. I would love to see the Red Guardian's relationship with both the Black Widows explored further. Good for die-hard Black Widow fans. Otherwise, you can skip it!

[bri 🧸 · Rating 4 out of 5]

yelena really said eat the rich ❤️

[carolina ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

yelena my belova(d)

[Liz.Loki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good short story featuring Yelena! I love her so much.

[morgyn west · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first comic book I’ve read and I actually enjoyed it for the most part. It’s a new story so this is the first issue of the series. If you’re interested in learning about Yelena who will be in the new Black Widow movie, this is definitely a good and short issue to read. But, there wasn’t any Black Widow action in this one so that was disappointing. But, overall, pretty good! Also, you don’t need to have any real previous knowledge beyond general Black Widow information (most of which you get in the MCU films).

[Francesca]

really liked it, Yelena seems pretty cool.

I get that I'm probably not used to how comics operate, but why have an issue 1 of something if there are no issues that follow? it's confusing to me.

[ana (taylor’s version) ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

oh nat come back home yelena and i need you

[morgan ☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmmm... interesting

[Nat · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You are this game field. These people, they play for control over you."

"That's from the Bible right?
Lenin." IM HOWLING 😂😂😂

AHAHAHAH the Ratatatata sound for shooting

"To be good at this work you are needing certain moral flexibility"

At first I liked how subtly the show Yelena's not so good grammar in English but it became too much after a bit I think

"There is value in that, don't you think my friend? Sometimes we are needing people to light the way... But sometimes we are wanting someone to - how you say?- take out trash."

"They are not so hard to find. They come often right to me seeking service. So all that I'm having to do is let them."

"So you gentlemen must be warden's experiments yes? Sorry to be disproving hypothesis."

"There has been some question, maybe, about which team it is I'm playing for. The black widow I was training to replace... She is what may would call defector. Once russian, now American. Once loner, now "team player". Once villain now hero. For me though no matter where it is that I'm living im still russian. And like many Russians though I am welcoming what it is our leaders do to make us strong I am not wanting to take orders from them. My loyalty is to russian people."
There were some political tones I'm sceptical about but I love her determination when it comes to her ideology.

"You are a widow , yes? Red Room?
By training but I'm trying something new."

" So yes stopping that one percent , this will be my work.
They will come to me, and I will use the access they are giving me to destroy them."

THE BLACK WIDOW EARRING😭😭😭

"I go now but thank you for listening my friend. Oh and should you be seeing more of these cheaters? You tell them I am coming." GOOSEBUMPS

[Mariah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up from my local comic book store. Since the delay of the Black Widow movie, I wanted a comic to give me my Black Widow fix. I thought this was an okay comic, but I wasn't overly impressed.

Yelena Belova (who I believe is played by Florence Pugh) has an internal monologue as she breaks into a prison to break out the Red Guardian. From reading the brief intro synopsis, I didn't realize the Red Guardian used to be married to Black Widow! The action was fine, the art wasn't bad, but I didn't read this issue and feel blown away by the story.

This wasn't bad, but it's not my favorite issue I read this year.

[Rylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty solid one shot featuring Yelena and Red Guardian. As far as shameless promotional comics made to cash in off the success of their movies this one is actually very good. Yelena’s creator Devin Grayson returns to evolve the character she created and move her in a new direction. Yelena becomes an anti-hero who’s willing to do what she thinks is best for the people. I really like the direction they are taking Yelena and hopefully it’s picked up by another writer. The art was fantastic, my only issue is Yelena talking in broken English considering she’s a spy trained in espionage she would probably have vast knowledge of many different languages.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun one shot. But the book in one aspect is just a rambling preachy Leftist interior monologue by Yelena in which she condemns Communist Russia but just proves she is herself a Communist. In other words, this is the author expounding his own confused, hypocritical and un-self aware ideology through Yelena. It’s a great example of just how clueless the Left is. Radicalism, no matter under what branding, is all the same.

[Jason]

3.25

[Tri · Rating 2 out of 5]

5

[Velhala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always like Grayson’s writing, wish this had been a full series, it was good!

[margaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

her little spidey stickers on her computer i'm gonna cry

[mercwithamouth · Rating 1 out of 5]

this was so hard to read and i mean that literally– the grammar here is awful and i’m not sure what the writer was trying to do here. i get it was probably written this way because yelena is russian but she literally knows english fluently and we’ve seen this before? what the hell is going on