Black Widow Epic Collection, Vol. 2: The Coldest War

Black Widow Epic Collection

by Ralph Macchio, Gerry Conway (Contributor), Jim Starlin (Contributor)

The Black Widow sets out on her own in a series of solo adventures that defined her as one of Marvel's greatest heroes! Writer Ralph Macchio begins with a tense secret-agent tale stunningly illustrated by Paul Gulacy. Then, with artist George Pérez, he spins one of the most beloved Black Widow stories of all time for MARVEL FANFARE. Next, a series of graphic novels explores the darkest corners of the Marvel Universe. A revelation regarding the Red Guardian draws Black Widow back into the web of Russian spymasters; she teams with the Punisher to take down a rogue former government agent; she reunites with Daredevil to investigate the murder of SHIELD agents; and she returns to post-Soviet Russia with Nick Fury. COLLECTING: BLACK WIDOW: THE COLDEST WAR (1990), PUNISHER/BLACK WIDOW: SPINNING DOOMSDAY'S WEB (1992), DAREDEVIL/BLACK WIDOW: ABATTOIR (1993), FURY/BLACK WIDOW: DEATH DUTY (1995) & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (1996) 517-519 AND MATERIAL FROM BIZARRE AVENTURES (1981) 25, MARVEL FANFARE (1982) 10-13, SOLO AVENGERS (1987) 7, MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS (1988) 135 & DAREDEVIL ANNUAL (1967) 10

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Espionage, Comic Book

457 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 6, 2020

About the author

For the Karate Kid actor, click here: Ralph Macchio

Ralph Macchio is an American comic book editor and writer, who has held many positions at Marvel Comics, including executive editor. Macchio is commonly associated with Daredevil, the Spider-Man line of comics and the popular Ultimate Marvel line. In Macchio's words, he "made probably the longest run on Daredevil of anyone."

Macchio is not related to the actor Ralph Macchio, but is nicknamed "Karate Kid" after that actor's famous role.

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I’ve previously read most of the stories in this collection, there a few that I have not yet gotten to over the years. Some of these really deserve a higher rating, but there are some that are not of the same caliber, this is the problem with anthologies. Still it’s wonderful to have these stories of the Black Widow finally collected together in a volume which showcases this interesting character. Also, while this is listed as “Volume 2” it only gives a passing summary of the Black Widow’s entire partnership with Daredevil and her time with the short-lived west coast team, The Champions, not to mention numerous appearances in Marvel Team-Up & Marvel Two-in-One (although a lot of those team-ups are collected in Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up). As for what is included?

Bizarre Adventures #25: From Marvel’s black & white magazine experiment. This is a stunning and gorgeous looking story with art from Paul Gulacy, unfortunately the narrative itself suffers from too many espionage clichés to be really effective.

Marvel Fanfare #10-13: A much better story, very reminiscent of classic SHIELD stuff and the spy era stuff featuring Shang-Chi. Artist George Pérez delivers some really nice art in these issues. Yeah, it’s all rather typical espionage comics of the time, with an over reliance on “super-heroics,” but then it is a comic book and Pérez makes it look sooo nice. Nick Fury and Jimmy Woo (a favorite of mine) also appear in this story.

Solo Avengers #7: It’s too bad that the writers didn’t reunite Hawkeye and Black Widow in this issue, they could have combined both shorter stories into a book length look at these two and their previous (and bizarrely inconsistent) romance from their earliest appearances. It could have been nice. Instead they give us just another cliched Soviet defector story looking back at what was left behind. Not terrible, but there is certainly not much to it either.

The Coldest War: Originally published as a Marvel Graphic Novel, the first of 4 included in this volume. This one gives a nice overview of the Black Widow’s complicated past, but does not really go into much detail. Unfortunately, the story gets bogged down in more typical spy-thriller clichés. And again we’re left with what the vast majority of Black Widow solo adventures deal with: Russia desperately trying to get revenge on the Black Widow. Over and over. Basically it comes down to: “Oh, I’ve got this really great Black Widow story that deals with Russia trying get revenge.” Wow, really original. Not heard that one before.

Spinning Doomsday’s Web: Well, that was ... dumb. The art flips, in equal parts, between attempts at being bodacious-babes-pin-ups and Rob Liefeld abominations and Mike Mignola neo-gothic (yeah, this is the good part) and Todd McFarlane splash-page-pin-ups-that-can’t-tell-a-story-to-save-a-life. Testosterone injected, the whole thing is exhausting and tedious.

Abattoir: A very dark tale that pits Daredevil & the Black Widow against a serial killer who's targeting telepaths. While DD gets top billing, this is really a Black Widow story. While it’s nice to see a story that doesn't hold back and shows a darker side to the Marvel Universe, a lot of what makes this story interesting is lost in what was a trend of the 1990s to make superheroes as dark and twisted as possible. The seeming need to plunge into the dark inner crevices of the human psyche in order make comics relevant had become an obsession with many writers and artists from that era. The successes of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen drove the industry for 20 years to just add violence and degeneracy for the sake of titillation. There is some good stuff in here, but there are also layers of cliché and easy shots that haven’t aged as well. In any case, this is still an entertaining story and the art works pretty well, and was certainly something special for its time.

Marvel Comics Presents #135: And there we go, right back to the totally predictable Black Widow takes on former Soviet agents. And the art is, to be polite, pretty terrible. Rushed framing, disjointed choreography from panel to panel. Pretty much a mess. Yeah, it’s only 8-pages, but that’s a lame excuse for uninspired drivel.

Daredevil Annual #10: And another Black Widow versus the former Soviet Union thugs story. Yawn. Nothing remarkable or interesting going on here. It will never end, will it?

Death Duty: Well, it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it might be (based on some reviews I’d read). And it left me wondering if I’d actually read Night Raven: House of Cards, I thought I had, but maybe I haven’t. Nothing of the character in this graphic novel reminds me of anything (except the name and the mask). But this one has very little Nick Fury even though he got top billing over Black Widow. There’s actually more of Night Raven than Nick Fury. And it’s just back to the old clichés of Black Widow dealing with problems in Russia. Sigh.

Journey Into Mystery #517-519: This is kind of an anti-climatic ending to this volume. The story is nothing but overused espionage spy-thriller clichés. Backstabbing, double-crosses, unrepentant Nazi agents and absurd disguises all wrap up in a fabricated story told as the “truth” just to catch the bad guy. Please, come on, these plots of layers under layers under layers become absurd. And the art isn’t any better, it’s from the oversized shoulder pads and huge rivet screws to make things look tough and cool. It only comes across as dorky and juvenile.

All-in-all, it’s a fun collection. But only a couple of contributions really stand out in positive ways. They rest are just cliché espionage fluff and filler.

[clumsyplankton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it

[Marcelo Soares · Rating 2 out of 5]

Como eu já disse, não sou fã, mas a teoria do vintão é maior que isso.
Continuando a saga da Viúva Negra, chegamos aos anos 80 até a fase mais "todo mundo de armadura" dos anos 90. E é bem meia boca.
As primeiras histórias valem pela arte; Paul Gulacy desenha uma história terrível sobre espiões enganando espiões que enganam espiões, meio que o padrão da maioria das histórias dessa edição, em P&B; depois temos umas quatro edições com o grande George Perez desenhando, talvez, a Natasha mais bonita de todos os tempos enquanto ela enfrenta vários inimigos tirados do livro "Estereótipos Culturais e Você: Como Ofender Todo Mundo" numa história sobre espiões que enganam espiões que são enganados por espiões e por aí vai.
Acho que vale a pena falar sobre os inimigos: temos o grande caçador branco com jaqueta de safaria e tudo mais, a chinesa sedutora e especialista em venenos, o africano de lança, escudo e tanga, o japonês lutador de sumô e a fria e mortal russa. Sério, são todos os inimigos dos filmes do Van Damme numa única cena.
Depois temos uma história bem meia boca em que a Viúva Negra precisa se unir ao Justiceira para impedir um cientista maluco de explodir o mundo ou coisa parecida, é bem meia boca. Uma história sobre assassinos em série com o Demolidor, com uma bela arte do Joe Chiodo, a história até é interessante, estão assassinando telepatas da Shield, mas, sei lá, falta alguma coisa. Carisma, acho que é isso.
Temos também The Coldest War, a história que vale a edição, obviamente, espiões enganam espiões e aquela coisa toda; e essa história foi publicada no Brasil numa Marvel Graphic Novel, lá por 91, com o titulo A Mais Fria das Guerras, eu lembro de ler isso na época. A capa é um clickbait daqueles, porque os Vingadores não aparecem, mas a história expande um pouco a mitologia da Viúva e do seu relacionamento com o Guardião Vermelho. É a única história em que a Natasha parece ter emoções, ela não é só a super espiã fria e mortal, ela gente como a gente, tem um coraçãozinho meio esquecido e mal tratado pelas intempéries da vida, mas segue ali, como diz a máquininha, a luz não acende mais, mas seguimos funcionando.
E claro, no meio dos anos 90, na última história de espiões enganando espiões que são enganados por espiões que enganaram espiões, Scott Lobdell dá uma armadura com ombreiras, manoplas, joelheiras e sei lá eu o que mais para a Viúva Negra.
Os anos 90 não foram fáceis para ninguém.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the end of Black Widow Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Beware the Black Widow to the start of this one, the compilers completely jump over a lot of material (the majority of her appearances in Daredevil and all of her appearances in Marvel Masterworks: The Champions, Vol. 1) with just short recaps.

While this volume is a bit longer than the first, and doesn’t speedrun several years of The Avengers (the only Avengers showing here is Solo Avengers #7) it suffers from being a bit of a mish-mash of very variable releases including several from the Marvel Graphic Novels line. The writing throughout is highly variable, too — stories include attempts at down-to-earth espionage (The Coldest War), crime thrillers, gorn/horror (Daredevil/Black Widow: Abattoir) and spy-fi (Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty), but none of it really manages to gel, and sone of it is just a mess.

On the art front, this collection is *extremely* variable — there’s George Perez art that momentarily turns Nat into Chesty Morgan’s younger sister, the awful hatchet-faced art of The Coldest War, more prettified/pneumatic art in the closing Journey Into Mystery arc, the bulbous art of the baffling Marvel Presents story where Nat has the hairstyle of an Old English Sheepdog. The art highlights come from Paul Gulacy in the weird Bizarre Adventures story and a Black Widow art portfolio at the end.

Overall, then, not a great experience as a collection. Plus, like the first book it misses out things, including all of her Avengers appearances and a variety of team-ups (as collected in Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up) so the experience is certainly incomplete.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some thoughts on Black Widow Epic collection Vol 2: The Coldest War.

Quick version: some pretty art, mostly bad stories. Now the slightly longer version:

This is definitely a volume that looks better then it reads. It starts out with Paul Gulacy and George Perez doing their thing in the early 80’s, both at the top of their game. So at least they look pretty, even if the stories (both scripted by Ralph Macchio) are largely forgettable.

That’s only the first 100 or so pages. Then we get a tour of Widow through the 90’s, and we are subjected to a punch of forgettable one shots and graphic novels. The art ranges from a high okay (Larry Stroman pre mutants) to ugly. The stories are almost unreadable in how bad they are. The book ends a bit stronger with Natasha’s three issue run in Journey into Mystery post-onslaught. And while it is the best story in the book from the 90’s, it’s still pretty much a C story.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a mixed bag of stories. Big problem with this Epic Collection is that Black Widow did not have an ongoing series, so we just see a collection of one-shot stories and appearances in other books. The absolute best here is the 4 issue run in Marvel Fanfare, with art by George Perez and a perfectly campy story by Ralph Macchio. Also, the black and white story in Bizarre Adventures is great, but far too short. The painted Joe Chiodo story by Jim Starlin is also beautiful, but the story is very simple. The mid-range stuff would be stories drawn by Larry Stroman and Charlie Adlard. They are good, but their story telling and panel layouts can be underwhelming. The worst stuff is 90s issues where Black Widow wears some kind of armor and the dull Coldest War book by Gerry Conway. Both are well presented, but not too well written.

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had trouble finishing this. The George Perez Marvel Fanfare issues were the best and is Black Widow done right. But the problem with Natasha is she never had her own series so we get a lot of different takes on her character and that is jarring as you read through this collection. A lot of these are mini-series or graphic novels so bad I never even knew they existed.

If you can get hold of the George Perez issues another, cheaper way, do so but the rest isn't worth your time unless you are a huge Black Widow fan...and again - how can you be? She is a different person every time a new writer gets their hands on her.

[luciddreamer99 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly good stories with a few subpar ones thrown in, this volume is ultimately worth a read, mainly for fans of Black Widow who want to experience some of her solo adventures. Spanning the decades of the 80s and the 90s, the comics reprinted in this volume come from monthlies, anthologies, and original graphic novels. The Marvel Fanfare comics are maybe the best, with solid art from George Perez, though there are some other solid efforts therein, too. Overall, though not consistently excellent, Epic Collection Vol. 2 is a decent graphic novel.

[Brannigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a random mix of appearances Black Widow makes. The early stories are the best in the collection as they deal with her as a spy. The. She goes through a horrible costume change and some bad artists. There’s a punisher story that I really wanted to love as in a fan but it’s bad. Only for the true die hard fans.

[Holden Strausser · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects the Black Widow solo adventures across 10+ years. While the character is interesting by herself, not all of the stories do her justice and many have a throw-away feel. As she didn't have a recurring series, the artists and writers also vary considerably. 

[Xroldx · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Black Widow miniseries from over the years. Some better than others but overall another nice Epic Collection.

[Terrance · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixed bag of good and bad stories, good and bad art. More proof that the 90s was a low point in the comics industry.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of a mish mash but still reasonably entertaining.

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real mixed bag, both of writers and artists.

[Steve Howells · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some decent stories and good artwork. Black Widow always a fun read.

[Kaitie · Rating 3 out of 5]

some are hit, others are a miss. paul gulacy’s natasha is very good.

[David Waweru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Window's Cry

A uneven tale of despair. One of the bright spot is a tale about her late husband's miraculous return to life. The worst is a tale about a home grown terrorist organization. The art work for that story is horrible. Overall it's slightly good, but only if you get it at a reduced price.

[Troy-David Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best part of this compilation are the parts illustrated by Paul Gulacy and the parts illustrated by George Perez. The remainder is largely sub-par. I love the art of Larry Strohman; this is simply not his best work.