Daredevil #81, page 8

What can I say about Gene Colan's Black Widow that Paris didn't say about Helen, that Tristan didn't declare about Isolde, that Robert Browning didn't inscribe about Elizabeth Barrett Browning? Gene's Natasha sings in my blood, and finding Colan pages from her brief solo outing in Amazing Adventures is my quest that spans decades and continents.


But, there are only thirty of those, and many more wonderful Black Widow pages from her co-starring run in Daredevil #81-124. This issue begins the Natasha/Matt saga that gave us many cool stories, and abundant opportunities for Gene Colan to apply his considerable penciling talents to depicting the Black Widow.


This page was an objet de désir for years before finding its way to the collection that loves it, and checks a number of collecting boxes.


See: Natasha toweling off and changing, included in the narrative for no particular reason (a callback to Amazing Adventures #5, and an established trope by this point)!


See: Natasha saying "Eyes front" to her chauffeur and foster father figure, Ivan Petrovich (a callback to Amazing Adventures #3)!


See: Young writer Gerry Conway's unfledged, inelegant yet well intentioned lurching early attempts to acknowledge the social reality of second-wave feminism in his characterization of Natasha Romanoff. Fifty years later, it's easy to forget that this was a big step in the process of building a unique, three-dimensional character with depth, personality, and clear motivations.


Thanks, Lars!