Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Black Widow 7, originally released June 4th, 2014. 

Shelby: Sometimes it takes other people to really see something about a character.  Seeing a character’s actions and internal monologue when it’s separate from others can almost numb you towards that character’s actions. It’s with the inclusion of another point of view that you suddenly realize the character is not all right, or that they need more help than even they realize. If there’s any character out there who needs more help than they realize, it’s gotta be Nathan Edmondson’s Black Widow.

The issue opens with a flashback to the last time Natasha was in San Francisco for S.H.I.E.L.D. business. She had just killed a man for reasons unknown when she was confronted by Daredevil, who could tell by her heartbeat she was lying about doing good work, being one of the good guys. Back in the present, Natasha is back in San Fran posing as a computer virus buyer when her cover is blown. She chases down the sniper who tried to kill her and is in the process of beating the crap out of him for info when she is again stopped by Daredevil. Concerned that he can’t read her heartbeat anymore, he tells her it means she’s either perfected lying or can no longer tell the difference between lies and the truth, and tells her to leave. She heads off to her next mission, as alone as ever.

Edmonton has devoted a lot of time in this title to exploring Natasha’s solitary lifestyle, and this issue is no different. The inclusion of Isaiah and Daredevil, though, shifts the focus somewhat; as much as she might like to pretend otherwise, Natasha does have other people in her life. There’s a nice moment between Isaac and the cat, whom he has agreed to feed, that highlights this idea.

We actually learn a lot about Isaiah in this issue, as he talks to his sister on the phone. Apparently, he used to work for the mob, and he owes Natasha a great deal. He says later that Natasha needs him because, “She needs people she can trust, because the world is full of people she can’t.” He’s defending her solitary behavior while at the same time claiming she can never be as alone as she thinks she can be. The role he plays is that of the support system for someone who “doesn’t need” a support system; Natasha can claim over and over she needs to be alone, but Isaiah knows better and is there for her regardless. It’s a sweet, sad moment for the both of them.

Speaking of sad, I think this is the first issue we see Natasha really suffering from her lifestyle. I don’t mean physically; we’ve seen her get the shit kicked out of her multiple times. We’ve all had those jobs where just dragging yourself out of bed is an effort, where you know going in to work is going to weigh on your soul. I think we see that here with Natasha, except the effect is made more grisly by the inclusion of the man as whom she is posing for the buy.

I love Phil Noto’s action scenes, don’t get me wrong, but his more mundane scenes really shine for me as well. The page proceeding these panels is just nine small panels of Natasha getting ready for her day. She’s washing her face, brushing her teeth, putting on mascara, all while ruminating on how tired she is. Even though they’re depicting someone being fairly non-emotive who is performing mundane tasks, there’s nothing flat about these images. And then we get the reveal that, the whole time, there was a dead body in the tub. It’s a shocking, rather upsetting reveal; I went back and re-read the previous couple pages of Nat getting ready for work because the knowledge that there’s a corpse in the bathroom completely changes the scene. Suddenly, she’s not just burned out on her job, she’s so burned out she can’t even be bothered to show any sort of concern over the dead man she shot in the head in the next room.

That apathy is highlighted by Daredevil’s role in the book. It’s just another layer of heartache I feel for Natasha to see someone who used to be her ally (and more *wink*) tell her she needs to leave his city. It’s the self-fulfilling cycle of her solitary lifestyle; she drives people away with her “I’m fine on my own,” attitude, and then when people finally leave she can say, “see, I don’t have anyone anyway.” Honestly, this Black Widow might be one of the more quietly tragic characters I’m reading right now. Drew, what did you think of Natasha’s latest assignment? Do you get the feeling that’s she’s on the verge of falling apart? I know I do.

Drew: She’s absolutely on the verge of falling apart. She’s basically held together with bobby pins and spit at this point. Her relationship with the truth is so tenuous, she can no longer tell when someone is telling the truth — a key skill when you’re a spy.

For me, this is the heart of Edmondson’s characterization of Natasha: it’s not just that she’s ruthless, but that she’s lost any perspective on what it means to be ruthless. She’s out of touch with the truth, and suspicious of everyone else because of it. Being convincing, even cheating Daredevil’s polygraph doesn’t matter to her — she’s all too aware of how those things can be faked.

That makes Daredevil the perfect choice for this issue (you know, beyond their history together) — he’s still very much in touch with the truth, and can tell when someone is lying. That he can’t tell for her represents not only the decay in their relationship, but perhaps the degradation of her very soul. Either she’s mastered deceit, or she can’t even tell what are lies anymore, but either way, the truth no longer holds that special place in her heart that makes it speed up when she lies. That she could forsake the truth on this physiological level simply demonstrates how unfamiliar she is with it emotionally.

That point hadn’t fully sunk in when I finished the issue the first time, making Isaiah’s pledge to be her shepherd feel a bit patronizing, but this isn’t about her being not good enough — this is about the cost of being too good. She’s burnt herself out on distrust, effectively frying her ability to trust anyone. The emotionally distant spy is a pretty familiar character type, but Edmondson adds an interesting wrinkle in bringing back a past lover — one who used to trust her. That he no longer can speaks to the loss of that piece of humanity that allowed her romantic relationships — or really interpersonal relationships of any kind. She used to trust/be trusted enough to have these kind of relationships, so the fact that she can’t now is the result of nurture. Effectively: her line of work has forced her to always think and act like a spy.

It’s a profound sacrifice, one made in dribs and drabs over her many jobs over the years, but seems to be the cost of being the world’s greatest spy. And what a spy! Shelby highlighted Noto’s deft hand with the quieter moments of this issue, but that chase scene is one of the most thrilling I’ve ever seen. Noto manages the page breaks in that sequence particularly well, making it difficult to find a characteristic passage, but one of my favorites is the page of action bookended by leaps off of roofs:

It’s a marriage of clarity and excitement that makes this passage really sing. The motion lines convey movement as a way of heightening the action while also clarifying that action. The layout itself — particularly panels 3-7 — subtly creates the sense of perspective that emphasizes both the height of the drop Nat almost takes and the growing gap between her and the sniper. It’s a breathless sequence, but only a small part of the chase.

This issue’s focus on Natasha’s spy skills and the emotional costs of cultivating them makes for a surprising statement of purpose for this seven-issue-old series. Edmondson and Noto have been playing with these ideas from the very start, but this is the first to tie them together quite so explicitly. It’s an idea pairing of character, creative team, and themes, and I can’t wait to see how things develop from here.

For a complete list of what we’re reading, head on over to our Pull List page. Whenever possible, buy your comics from your local mom and pop comic bookstore. If you want to rock digital copies, head on over to Comixology and download issues there. There’s no need to pirate, right?