Black Widow by Friedrich/Thomas/Colan/Heck (1970-1971)
Sept 13, 2016 15:22:15 GMT -5
shaxper, wildfire2099, and 3 more like this
Post by RikerDonegal on Sept 13, 2016 15:22:15 GMT -5
Black Widow
Gary Friedrich/Roy Thomas/Gene Colan/Don Heck
8 stories in “Amazing Adventures” (1970-1971).
Writer: Gary Friedrich (3 credits), Mimi Gold, Roy Thomas (3 credits), Gerry Conway.
Pencillers: John Buscema, Gene Colan (3 credits), Don Heck (3 credits).
Inkers: John Verpoorten, Bill Everett, Sal Buscema.
Editor: Stan Lee.
Average: 4.3/10
Then Came the Black Widow (#1)
The Black Widow decides to try life as a superhero.
Fine. Nothing spectacular. It’s simplistic. But like most Marvel Comics from the ‘60s and early '70s there is a considerable charm to that crudeness of form. And it certainly doesn’t detract from enjoyment. Especially here where - although simple - the story is good.
6/10
The Young Warriors (#2)
Oddball mixture.
The Black Widow helps a gang of well-meaning teens run some gangsters from a building.
The oddest part is probably when a teenager shows up at her home, and she puts on her Black Widow costume and does a work-out for him. Um…??!!
5/10
The Widow and the Militants (#3)
Black Widow easily over-powered? Check!
Unbelievable situations? Check!
Faux social commentary? Check!
Of all the things I didn’t like, it was the portrayal of Black Widow that really bugged me. She’s a fairly unimpressive ‘hero’ here. And 'The Don’ and his bunch are lame.
3/10
Deadlock (#4)
The disappointing Black Widow story reaches it’s dismal ending.
Once again, the heroine is overcome by some bad guys. Luckily, a friendly (male) journalist is able to, uh, create lots of smoke with his pipe and she escapes…
The standoff between the street gang and the police is brought to an end with several implausible events that could - just as easily - have happened early in the story and prevented the standoff happening.
Also: it’s not really clear why the gang relies on the Black Widow so much. The writer tells us that they do but BW has accomplished nothing except get overpowered by lame bad guys.
3/10
And To All a Good Night (#5)
A very bleak story.
It opens with an attempted suicide and ends with a - very shocking/surprising - death.
This issue continues the trend of BW being ineffectual. At one stage, her driver heroically deals with attackers while she stays back to question a kid. Huh?! Nothing particularly heroic about that.
Roy Thomas’s script tells us that BW is great but never actually shows us. Instead we are shown panels of BW emerging from a bath. Nothing particularly heroic about that either…
5/10
Blood Will Tell (#6)
Haunted by the deaths she’s ‘caused’ Black Widow isn’t quite herself.
Angst + Indecision = 3/10
Lots of other stuff - like the bad guy’s plan and the police captain’s treatment of Black Widow at the end - didn’t make much sense, or ring true.
And BW spends a few panels in each issue getting dressed/undressed!
All very ho-hum.
3/10
The Sting of the Widow (#7)
A mixed-bag.
Most of the heroic stuff is (once again) done by her ‘sidekick’ while 'Tasha (a) feels sorry for herself, and (b) changes clothes.
On the plus side, once she actually goes into battle… it’s well done and enjoyable.
5/10
How Shall I Kill Thee? Let Me Count the Ways (#8)
The final Black Widow story is just like all the others: Disappointing.
There’s lots of action, though.
The entire Black Widow run in Amazing Adventures can be summed us as follows: BW feels sorry for herself a lot, spends a lot of time semi-undressed and gets bested by bad guys frequently. Meanwhile her sidekick (Ivan) is the more proactive of the two. He’s always out and about chasing leads and he handles himself much better in a fight. Also: we NEVER see him semi-undressed
4/10
Black Widow - Friedrich/Thomas/Colan/Heck (70-1) 4.3/10
Captain Marvel - Thomas/Colan (67-8) 5.5/10 - Drake/Heck (68) 4.8/10 - Friedrich/Thomas/Kane (69-70) 4.1/10 -
Daredevil - Conway/Colan (71-2) 6.7/10 - Gerber (73-4) 6.5/10 -
Deathlok - Moench/Mantlo/Buckler (74-6) 8.8/10
Doctor Strange - Fox (71-2) 9.3/10 - Englehart/Brunner (73-4) 8.9/10 - Englehart/Colan (75-76) 8/10 -
Ghost Rider - Friedrich (72-3) 2.6/10 - Isabella (74-6) 5.4/10 - Shooter/Heck (77) 6.7/10 - McKenzie/Perlin (78) 8.9/10 -
Iron Man - Brodsky/Heck (70) 7/10 -
Living Mummy - Isabella/Mayerik (73-5) 7.6/10
Luke Cage - Goodwin/Englehart/Tuska/Graham (72-3) 7.1/10 -
Night Nurse - Thomas/Mortimer (72) 6.3/10
Tales of the Zombie - Gerber/Marcos (73-4) 6.5/10
Gary Friedrich/Roy Thomas/Gene Colan/Don Heck
8 stories in “Amazing Adventures” (1970-1971).
Writer: Gary Friedrich (3 credits), Mimi Gold, Roy Thomas (3 credits), Gerry Conway.
Pencillers: John Buscema, Gene Colan (3 credits), Don Heck (3 credits).
Inkers: John Verpoorten, Bill Everett, Sal Buscema.
Editor: Stan Lee.
- Then Came the Black Widow - GF/JB - 6/10
- The Young Warriors - GF/JB - 5/10
- The Widow and the Militants - GF/GC - 3/10
- Deadlock - MG/GC - 3/10
- And To All a Good Night - RT/GC - 5/10
- Blood Will Tell - RT/DH - 3/10
- The Sting of the Widow - GC/DH - 5/10
- How Shall I Kill Thee? Let Me Count the Ways - RT/DH - 4/10
Average: 4.3/10
Then Came the Black Widow (#1)
The Black Widow decides to try life as a superhero.
Fine. Nothing spectacular. It’s simplistic. But like most Marvel Comics from the ‘60s and early '70s there is a considerable charm to that crudeness of form. And it certainly doesn’t detract from enjoyment. Especially here where - although simple - the story is good.
6/10
The Young Warriors (#2)
Oddball mixture.
The Black Widow helps a gang of well-meaning teens run some gangsters from a building.
The oddest part is probably when a teenager shows up at her home, and she puts on her Black Widow costume and does a work-out for him. Um…??!!
5/10
The Widow and the Militants (#3)
Black Widow easily over-powered? Check!
Unbelievable situations? Check!
Faux social commentary? Check!
Of all the things I didn’t like, it was the portrayal of Black Widow that really bugged me. She’s a fairly unimpressive ‘hero’ here. And 'The Don’ and his bunch are lame.
3/10
Deadlock (#4)
The disappointing Black Widow story reaches it’s dismal ending.
Once again, the heroine is overcome by some bad guys. Luckily, a friendly (male) journalist is able to, uh, create lots of smoke with his pipe and she escapes…
The standoff between the street gang and the police is brought to an end with several implausible events that could - just as easily - have happened early in the story and prevented the standoff happening.
Also: it’s not really clear why the gang relies on the Black Widow so much. The writer tells us that they do but BW has accomplished nothing except get overpowered by lame bad guys.
3/10
And To All a Good Night (#5)
A very bleak story.
It opens with an attempted suicide and ends with a - very shocking/surprising - death.
This issue continues the trend of BW being ineffectual. At one stage, her driver heroically deals with attackers while she stays back to question a kid. Huh?! Nothing particularly heroic about that.
Roy Thomas’s script tells us that BW is great but never actually shows us. Instead we are shown panels of BW emerging from a bath. Nothing particularly heroic about that either…
5/10
Blood Will Tell (#6)
Haunted by the deaths she’s ‘caused’ Black Widow isn’t quite herself.
Angst + Indecision = 3/10
Lots of other stuff - like the bad guy’s plan and the police captain’s treatment of Black Widow at the end - didn’t make much sense, or ring true.
And BW spends a few panels in each issue getting dressed/undressed!
All very ho-hum.
3/10
The Sting of the Widow (#7)
A mixed-bag.
Most of the heroic stuff is (once again) done by her ‘sidekick’ while 'Tasha (a) feels sorry for herself, and (b) changes clothes.
On the plus side, once she actually goes into battle… it’s well done and enjoyable.
5/10
How Shall I Kill Thee? Let Me Count the Ways (#8)
The final Black Widow story is just like all the others: Disappointing.
There’s lots of action, though.
The entire Black Widow run in Amazing Adventures can be summed us as follows: BW feels sorry for herself a lot, spends a lot of time semi-undressed and gets bested by bad guys frequently. Meanwhile her sidekick (Ivan) is the more proactive of the two. He’s always out and about chasing leads and he handles himself much better in a fight. Also: we NEVER see him semi-undressed
4/10
Black Widow - Friedrich/Thomas/Colan/Heck (70-1) 4.3/10
Captain Marvel - Thomas/Colan (67-8) 5.5/10 - Drake/Heck (68) 4.8/10 - Friedrich/Thomas/Kane (69-70) 4.1/10 -
Daredevil - Conway/Colan (71-2) 6.7/10 - Gerber (73-4) 6.5/10 -
Deathlok - Moench/Mantlo/Buckler (74-6) 8.8/10
Doctor Strange - Fox (71-2) 9.3/10 - Englehart/Brunner (73-4) 8.9/10 - Englehart/Colan (75-76) 8/10 -
Ghost Rider - Friedrich (72-3) 2.6/10 - Isabella (74-6) 5.4/10 - Shooter/Heck (77) 6.7/10 - McKenzie/Perlin (78) 8.9/10 -
Iron Man - Brodsky/Heck (70) 7/10 -
Living Mummy - Isabella/Mayerik (73-5) 7.6/10
Luke Cage - Goodwin/Englehart/Tuska/Graham (72-3) 7.1/10 -
Night Nurse - Thomas/Mortimer (72) 6.3/10
Tales of the Zombie - Gerber/Marcos (73-4) 6.5/10
