Sean Clarke :: Bill Everett

Madame Natasha

Artist: Bill Everett (All)

12 Comments - 2,640 Views - 9 Likes

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Additional Images:

no color

WANTED: Black Widow pin-up from Daredevil #81

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Artwork Details

Title:	Madame Natasha
Artist:	Bill Everett (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Pin Up
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	2,640
Likes on CAF:	9 10
Comments:	12
Added to Site:	1/17/2016
Comic Art Archive:

Description

I've always lived a very quiet life. I ain't never did no wrong... except for that triple negative just now. But, until last year, I always had an uneasy feeling that something was missing, and I could never quite articulate what it was.

It was this Black Widow pin up by Bill Everett, rendered in india ink on 14" x 21" day-glo red posterboard. I didn't realize that I "needed" it because I didn't know it existed. It's unpublished, as far as I know. Maybe it appeared in a fanzine?

During a fourteen month period in 1970 and 1971 Bill Everett inked 71 pages featuring the Black Widow, and created one pin-up himself, published in Daredevil #81 (see additional images). I've been seeking the DD #81 pin-up for years. This red Madame Natasha is thus a second, and heretofore unknown all-Everett Black Widow. My guess is that Wild Bill created it in the spring of 1971. But, who knows?

Given the freedom of penciling and inking these two pin-ups, Everett created some quirky artwork. Maybe Bill created it for his own pleasure (it had a thumbtack hole prior to conservation), or to offer to Jim Steranko for his "Steranko History of Comics." We may never know. But, I have an unsupportable theory: Everett created this Madame Natasha to get it out of his system.

Bear with me here. My guess is that Stan Lee, or perhaps Everett's one-time roommate Roy Thomas asked Bill to sexy up his rendering of the Black Widow in Amazing Adventures. Maybe it was Bill's idea, but hoo boy... he drew a sexy Black Widow in those comics. Too sexy for the comics code, as Everett's sensuous Natasha was slathered with white-out prior to publication, to protect concupiscent youngsters from moral depravity (I am living proof that IT DIDN'T WORK). This is also tragic in a historical context, as printing the panels with curvy Russian Natasha Romanoff as rendered might have ended the cold war two decades earlier.

So, what do you do when your impossibly alluring Black Widow pages keep coming back censored, and you have a fresh bottle of india ink and a spare piece of 14" x 21" day-glo red posterboard hanging around? Damn right.

One night I was layin' down,
I heard mama 'n papa talkin'
I heard papa tell mama,
"Let that boy draw boobies,
It's in him, and it got to come out"
And I felt so good,
Drew some boobies just the same.
~ "Boobie Chillen," John Lee Hooker

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About the Owner

	Sean Clarke Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	January 2005
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Premium Member Q&A Sean's Classifieds Sean's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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Comments on this Artwork

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Dan P
Member Since 2009

Posted on 1/17/2016

I flipped for this pinup when it hit the auction block. Congratulations from a jealous underbidder!

Brian Peck
Member Since 2003

Posted on 1/17/2016

WET THE WIDOW TITS!!!!!

steve roden
Member Since 2011

Posted on 1/17/2016

oh man... i am so glad you got this.... i think there were a lot of us out there wondering where this would go... and well... it went exactly where it was supposed to be... congrats...!!!!!!

Mark Levy
Member Since 2004

Posted on 1/18/2016

I am not surprised this made it to your CAF! Quite a special piece!

Lars Teglbjaerg
Member Since 2005

Posted on 1/27/2016

This is simply a mirror image of the Natasha head by Heck/Everett from AA #7, page 2. Nice though.

Sean Clarke
Member Since 2005

Posted on 1/28/2016

Lars Teglbjaerg wrote:

Nice though.

You are of course correct, Lars! If the first girl you invite to the dance turns you down, you have to settle for one that will say yes!
Well there's a page in a fisted glove
And the eagle flies with the dove
And if you can't be with the one you love, honey
Love the one you're with
~Stephen Stills

Robert Jaquier
Member Since 2010

1 - Posted on 9/3/2020

She wore reeeed veeeelvet wha wha wha...

redder than velvet were her eyes...

softer than satin were her thighs...

love was ours, but when she left gone was the glow...

LB Jefferies
Member Since 2003

Posted on 12/18/2020

I remember being blown away when this came up for auction. Kudos for landing it.

Bill J
Member Since 2009

Posted on 3/6/2022

Wow! Gorgeous pinup by the incredible Bill Everett! Congrats!

Peter Sullivan
Member Since 2006

Posted on 6/7/2022

Hmmmm...'Natasha was slathered with white-out ' I often wonder what salacious desires Puritans are trying to cover up? "Yea, The Lord sayeth you cannot hide your sins with white-out. The Lord sees all. The Lord uses his super vision to see through your lustful denials"* Ah, the good old comic code days. Strange how there are so many wars during such periods.

*Makey up quote of the day.

Al Simpleton
Member Since 2013

Posted on 12/21/2024

Actually, the bug is bugging me a bit... But the whole piece is nothing but spectacular! Nice find!

Peter Sullivan
Member Since 2006

Posted on 12/23/2024

Al Simpleton wrote:

Actually, the bug is bugging me a bit... But the whole piece is nothing but spectacular! Nice find!

It's not bugging, it's hugging her ample charms.

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