Black Widow: Pale Little Spider #2

Posted: Monday, May 20
By: Jason Cornwell

Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Igor Kordey

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Plot:
The book opens with the police officer who was taken off the murder investigation last issue, has decided that he's not ready to give up the case, and as such he makes a second visit to the club where the man was murdered. Meanwhile inside the club we see the Black Widow is finding the owner of the club highly uncooperative, as the woman bears a highly antagonistic view of the Black Widow. However, after the club owner manages to cause the Black Widow to nearly break down, we see the owner comes to the conclusion that the Black Widow couldn't have killed the man, and we see her suddenly become a great deal more cooperative. However during the ensuing conversation we see the Black Widow learns what acts her mentor was having performed upon him in this club, and after we learn that the man was also the Black Widow's father, her shock turns to disgust. We also learn that the female employee who was acting out the murdered man's fantasy, has become obsessed with the idea that she is the Black Widow, and we see her attack the police officer from the opening pages.

Comments:
There's a scene in this issue where I personally feel Greg Rucka tips his hand a bit too early in the story regarding who the killer is. However, the scene leading up to this scene is a wonderfully chilling moment where we see a killer in action. Plus, if this police detective does manage to survive this attack, and there's every possibility that he could, then his statement would directly implicate the Black Widow, and in order to clear her name she likely would have to reveal a rather disturbing secret about her mentor/father's feelings for her. Nevertheless, even if Greg Rucka doesn't take the story down the path I've so neatly envisioned him for him, the reveal scene does offer up a pretty solid reason for why Starkovsky was killed, and it also nicely sets up a situation where we see the Black Widow is in grave danger. Plus, unlike Natasha this version of the Black Widow looks far more vulnerable, as while she's been trained for this role since she was a child, she can be manipulated rather easily, and does seem to fall into a submissive role when confronted with a more domineering personality.

I'm not fully convinced that Yelena is a better character than Natasha, as if she were done away with at the end of this miniseries, I don't think I'd be overly upset, but the opposite is not true, as Natasha has found her way onto my top ten favorite character list many times over the years. Still, Greg Rucka has managed to come up with a story that nicely plays upon the Yelena's more interesting aspects, as I'm always a sucker for the flawed characters, and while I have little doubt that she's a formidable fighting machine, she's also a fairly troubled young woman who is putty in the hands of a party who knows which buttons to push. I mean there's a scene in this issue where we see Yelena get into a heated argument with the owner of the club, and with a few well placed comments Yelena is reduced to an emotional wreck. This character flaw does make Yelena a fairly unique character, as most characters of her type are almost overly professional, and emotional detached while on the job, but this is clearly not the case with her.

Igor Kordey is turning out better work on this miniseries than we've seen on his high-profile guest-shots on the "New X-Men", but given that book was racing to get back on schedule, I guess it's understandable. In any event the art does a very nice job capturing the ugliness of the world where this murder investigation is taking place, as the double-page shot of Detective Golitsyn walking into the basement of the club, is like something out of a horror film. The scene later in the issue where Detective Golitsyn has a run-in with the killer is also worth a mention, as the art makes great use of the shadows to play up the idea that the Black Widow is in grave danger, as one can almost believe that Yelena is the one who knifed him. There's also the little details like the sequence outside the club where Detective Golitsyn gets himself an eyeful, thanks to the suggestion of the john who is taking the lady home, and the look of almost utter bliss on the owner's face as she is beaten by Yelena is nicely captured by the art. Oh and of course there the absolutely stunning cover by Greg Horn this issue is sporting. I mean wow!

Final Word:
A fascinating character study of the new Black Widow, as Greg Rucka uses the rather disturbing elements of the S&M club to take out one of the pillars that made up the Black Widow's rather fragile personality. I mean to learn that your father was acting out sexual fantasies that involved you in an S&M club has to be profoundly disturbing, and given she wasn't exactly the most stable of personalities before this discovery, I imagine next issue is going be one full of raw emotion. Now I do feel that Greg Rucka reveal the killer's identity a little too early, and the reasoning behind the killer's actions feels like the type of scenario one finds in a cheap, grade B thriller. However, this issue does offer up a very creepy encounter between the killer & a character I had rather liked in the opening issue. It also set us up for a pretty solid final issue.