I haven't gotten to read the intervening issues, unfortunately, but this has addressed all the problems I had with the more deliberate pacing of first two Read Full Review

BEST BLACK WIDOW ISSUE EVER!

Sidenote first: what is it with writers putting female hero/spy naked and restrained after being kidnapped? Also happened to Jessica Drew in Avengers 24.1, which is a weird choice because, when do you see male heroes naked and restrained? Listen, I'm a straight male, I see the appeal of Natasha being nude un any scene. But like is it necessary? You can answer that I guess....

With that out the way, this issue was the peak of this arc and pretty much the new standard of what a black widow story should incorporate:

-False sense of security: Natasha allowing the enemy to feel in control when they're not. Like never, even when it can seem hopeless for her. She had plan everything way ahead making everyone look stupid.

-The Violence: the action here was the best I've seen for Black Widow in this series so far and pretty much anywhere else. She's conning, she's acrobatic, fight to her strengths and utilizes every single thing possible, gadgets, the opponent's size and even the environment. Also, she decides if she wants to kill or not.

-Attention to detail: Daniel Acuña had me go back a couple of pages to confirm what was being said. (Spoiler) she says to Champion that he's sick cause she saw his medicine. Flip the pages back and sure enough, when she landed on a pile of stuff, she peaks with the corner of her eyes a medicine bottle and in that split second, she knew he was sick. That's the type of attention to detail I like my spy hero to have.

-The Lessons learned: the reasons why Natasha is still kicking and fighting the good fight after outliving wars, friends, lovers, family etc., is because she's learned to be more than a mindless heartless spy, she's learned to open up. To love and let herself live. Forgiveness of the self, what an easy thing to say but such a hard thing to do.

If you ever need 1 issue to understand what Black Widow is capable of and what she's about, is this one! more