Canon, sharing.
WELCOME, one and all or more likely just one, to the first of my amazing canon sharing posts. The goal of these posts is not to drown you in hundreds of issues various and sundry, but rather to showcase specific arcs and issues that I deem noteworthy and/or merely awesome. So, for each issue or set of issues I give you the rundown and explain what is neat therin, or possibly give some context. I also want people to be able to browse and download selectively based on what looks good to them. FINALLY, I'm hoping that interested persons can get a pretty thorough canon grounding without needing to wade through years of events. As such, I've arranged the issues in the order they take place in, with some PREVIOUSLY blurbs filling in the gaps.
Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm and Logan #1-3
This is a bit of a prequel to the Marvel Universe, featuring a human Ben Grimm and Wolverine (like you'd guess from the title), but also ace pilot Carol Danvers, on a top secret Cold War mission to Russia, where they must outsmart one Natalia Shostakova. I'm including this mainly because it's a fun little mini by Larry Hama, but also because it's an interesting contrast to her original appearances as a supervillain. In this she's very much the noble adversary, as you'll see, she was first portrayed as more of a femme fatale.
Tales of Suspense 52, 53, 57, 64
Natasha's first appearances were as an Iron Man foe, a non-costumed communist spy sent to steal the secrets of Tony Stark. She was a pretty effective foe constantly thwarted by incompetent male lackeys!! For while she was non-costumed she was also a noncombatant, forced by her gender and lack of powers to do combat only with her wits and her looks. Gradually, they added gadgets and fighting skills to the mix. Soon, she acquired the services of a random archer called Hawkeye, who has no importance to Marvel continuity whatsoever. Tales of Suspense 64 marks the appearance of her first costume. There were two more Tales of Suspense issues she appeared in I'm omitting, but this comprises the entire career of Natasha as a supervillain. (Not to mention Clint's even more weaksauce evil.) This is why it's so boggling that "Natasha the traitor" has become such a huge trope!!
Hawkeye eventually decided he'd had it with the villain life and was going to become an Avenger. His plan was for his parter the Black Widow to join him, but she had disappeared, kidnapped by Soviet agents. At some point off-panel she developed genuine feelings for Clint instead of just horribly manipulating him, and when we next see her, her love for Clint breaks through the evil commie brainwashing. She became a recurring Avengers ally.
Avengers 36, 37, 40-44
FIRST: Natasha saves all of the Avengers through the power of murder. If you think that wussy no-kill code wasn't being challenged from the very beginning, well, I give you these issues of Avengers. NEXT: Hawkeye wants to sponsor Natasha's membership in the team, but she abandons him cruelly for the BAMBOO CURTAIN, on a secret mission for Nick Fury that she must not betray. It all comes to a head with the first explanation of her origins, and the TALE OF THE RED GUARDIAN (which will not make much sense in context of future tales of the Red Guardian.)
After this, Natasha gave up being a super-hero for a while, and insisted on being just Natasha. This (plus all the lies, and the sudden appearance of her dead husband) put a strain on her relationship with Clint, and eventually, she left him, swearing she never really loved him. (This was a lie.)
Amazing Spider-man 86
NEXT STOP, SPIDER-MAN apparently!! In this issue, which sets up her first ongoing feature, Natasha shows up with red hair and designs a new outfit to better fit the "swinging seventies." I'd include it because it features the first appearance of her classic look, but it's also a nice recap of everything she's been up to so far and a fun single issue.
Amazing Adventures 5
Natasha was given an ongoing co-feature alongside the Inhumans in 1970. It's themes were not unlike those of Daredevil today, with a focus on street crime and social justice. I uploaded Amazing Adventures 5 because it's a nice one-shot story that shows pretty well what the series was like. Beautiful artwork, lots of stories about disenfranchised youth, a bit of tragedy. This was cancelled after 8 issues, when Natasha next appeared in...
Daredevil 81-82
This is Natasha's introduction to the Daredevil franchise and a fun two-part arc. Soon after, Matt quit his life (and supporting cast) in New York to move with Natasha to San Francisco. They were the first unmarried couple in comics to live together, I think!! Daredevil used to be a much more up-beat book and Matt was kind of a wisecracking swashbuckler of a character. How that changed. Oh yeah, for some reason Natasha is a countess during this time period. Uh...
Daredevil 99, Avengers 111-112
Clint is rejected by the Scarlet Witch and decides to show up in San Francisco to beat up Daredevil for "stealing his girl"!! Natasha finally actually joins the Avengers, to re-appear for those "finding a new line-up" issues sporatically in the decades to come. HIJINX.
Eventually, Natasha would leave Matt because she didn't feel he treated her as an equal. Because Natasha was the one bankrolling their nice expensive San Francisco house, this left her broke and in Los Angeles persuing a professorship at UCLA. Of course, right before her interview, the god Pluto attacked the campus!! You know what this means.
Champions 5-6
THE CHAMPIONS are a strange but fondly-remembered punchline of a super-team. Featuring the odd line-up of Black Widow, Hercules, Ghost Rider, Iceman, and Angel, this was the first attempt at some kinda West Coast hero organization. I've uploaded the whole series previously, here I'm just focusing on the recession-born super-villain who could be you!! Because I think Rampage is just quintessential Champions, and most of the actual Black Widow centric arc just features on how much younger and prettier Darkstar is. Mmmnnooo.
After this, Natasha and Hercules started dating, the Champions broke up, but Natasha and Hercules were still dating, they both rejoined the Avengers for a time (the Korvac Saga), then they broke up, there were some guest appearances in Daredevil, blah blah blah. NEXT: Black Widow goes to work for SHIELD. Yes, she hasn't been working for SHIELD at all since that Red Guardian mission, but when the eighties rolled around Natasha Romanov: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. became a big feature. So, where to next?
Daredevil 187-190
YES, more Daredevil. One of the first comics introducing Natasha's new SHIELD status-quo, haircut, and awful grey suit that I happen to despise, is part of Frank Miller's classic Daredevil run, dealing with Elektra and the Hand and all that fun stuff. Wait, don't look at the words Frank Miller and just think crazy. This is part of one of the greatest Marvel super-hero runs of all time. (OF ALL TIME!!) Daredevil was Miller's breakthrough comic, and in a way, Miller was Daredevil's breakthrough creator.
Marvel Fanfare 10-13
This is basically a four issue mini-series done with superskintight George Perez pencils. FEATURING: Natasha's very own Terry Long, Nick Fury, and Asian sensation JIMMY WOO. It's actually a pretty fun totally over-the-top espionage/superhero extravaganza with evil cowgirls I think. Yes, her old costume and haircut are back, FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY.
Natasha appeared in various places as a SHIELD agent and Avengers reservist throughout the eighties. Of special note is Streets of Poison where she beats up a literally crack-addled Steve Rogers. But I won't upload that unless you ask, just know that it is out there.
Black Widow: the Coldest War
The late eighties and early ninties saw the rise of the "graphic novel" prestige format: complete stories published in a single volume, often with more adult themes than most of the ongoing series they were publishing. There were a whole slew of these relased. Black Widow/Daredevil: Abbatoir, Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty, Punisher/Black Widow: Spinning Doomsday's Web, all of which really feature Nat more than her co-stars except the Daredevil one, which was more...I don't know, random lesbian bondage. BUT ANYWAY, I felt I should represent this era of her history somehow so here you go, a nice story featuring Alexei Shostakov.
In 1991 Natasha joined the Avengers fulltime (while still going out on SHIELD solo missions) and shortly after becoming a full-time member, Captain America left the team due to murder-related disagreements and ironically left Natasha in charge. She, uh, still went on SHIELD solo missions, but also served as Avengers chairperson for fifty issues or so. I'm not including any issues here because they were nineties issues and convoluted and difficult to follow, but it happened! This was also the time period where she had a one-night stand with Tony Stark. MOVING ON.
So, in 1996, something called Onslaught happened, which basically had most prominent characters dying (but really being transferred to a parallel dimension inside Franklin Richards' head) and being reborn. Heroes Reborn, that is. Basically, this led to the Avengers shutting down and Natasha regarding it as her personal failure as their chairperson (it wasn't really her fault so much as editorial's for thinking this was a good idea) and a new heroic team called the Thunderbolts becoming the new top dog with the Avengers out of action. Wait a minute.
Thunderbolts 9, Daredevil 361, 368-71
After the Avengers died, Natasha went a bit crazy and started thinking of herself as the last Avenger, hunting down and possibly killing old Avengers foes one by one, schooling the Thunderbolts, etc etc. It was a pretty awesome character arc, one that saw her shooting Daredevil and some king fu fighting vs a giant communist bear. Yes, I did type that out right.
Iron Man 6, 8-10
This is the Heroes Return relaunch of Iron Man, by Kurt Buseik. I wanted to include some kind of non-villain appearance in an Iron Man comic, but arcs in Iron Man featuring Natasha almost universally suck. This one doesn't!! Buseik actually wanted her to be a longterm supporting character (something that's never happened in IM) but she got yanked away to appear in Kevin Smith's Daredevil relaunch. (Which I haven't uploaded, but sort of worth checking out.)
Hawkeye 7-8
Every so often they try to give Clint solo features. It's usually a bad idea. Sometimes it has resulted in man-wolf sidekicks. But, you know, I liked this little arc from his most recent ongoing and Clint is still one of the most important relationships Natasha's ever had. People just remember Daredevil because she can guest in his comic. But see! You give another one of her exes a series, and she will always show up.
Black Widow 1-3
The launch of the Marvel Knights imprint brought a lot of attention to Black Widow, as she's a "street-level" character, or, er, something. I guess they included Doctor Strange in Marvel Knights, too. Well. She's one of those characters who isn't part of the X-men, Avengers, or Spider-man franchise. Except when she is, but whelp!! This is the first three-issue Black Widow mini by Devin Grayson and J.G. Jones. (His breakout work!!) It's also our introduction to Yelena Belova. There was a Grayson/Rucka follow-up to this that was also pretty good, and a Rucka MAX mini featuring Yelena, but after that Yelena's characterization just went totally bonkers. BUT WE DON'T NEED TO DEAL WITH THAT HERE, DO WE.
Marvel Knights 13-15
"Marvel Knights" was the title of two books that actually featured some Teams Without a Name. The first series was written by Chuck Dixon and featured Daredevil/Black Widow/Dagger/Shang Chi/Moon Knight/Luke Cage. (Yeaaah.) The second was a more focused team, lead by Natasha, also comprised of Daredevil, the Punisher, and some random SHIELD agent. This is the last arc of the first Marvel Knights series, which features Natasha and Dagger versus a ton of LMDs. One of my favorite things about the team was the friendship that developed between Nat and Tandy, so here you go.
Daredevil 61-64
NEWSFLASH: Matt Murdock's life is sucky. In this installment, he's just been dumped by the woman he married in the middle of a nervous breakdown. He's torn up about this. And then Natasha just kinda shows up in his bed. This isn't the strongest arc of Bendis and Maleev's run on Daredevil, but it's not bad and it's entirely focused on Natasha, who pops up a lot in this run. Bendis's run is probably the most significant after Miller's, and again, even though people hate him now, his work on this title was outstanding.
Black Widow: Homecoming
Richard K. Morgan's work with Natasha is somewhat frustrating. On the one hand, his stuff is intelligent, provacative, and has none other than Sienkiewicz on art. On the other, it doesn't fit into continuity at all and he seems to want to create a Dark Knight Returns vibe that you just can't get when you ain't in an alternate future. There's also a looot of feminism, and it's feminism as written by a dude, so it kind of has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Still, Homecoming is worth a read, even if it's a bit too killhappy for my tastes. There's a lot of good stuff here.
THIS IS WHERE CIVIL WAR HAPPENED. Just, you know, if you were keeping track.
Mighty Avengers 1-6
I enjoyed the Mighty Chovengers, asshots and all. This run was plagued by delays, but the opening arc (which features Tony Stark losing his penis) is a lot of fun, if a bit silly. Natasha is also pretty kickass in it, and I wanted something that showcased her strengths as an Avenger. So here we go!!
Incredible Hercules 114
Remember what I said about giving her exes ongoings?! Natasha shows up here as part of the pro-reg Avengers squad comprising of her, Ares and Wonder Man, sent to stop Hercules. Guess who proves team MVP? This is a great single issue showing Natasha's leadership skills and smarts, CHAMPIONS FLASHBACKS, and also her ability to kill small furry animals. The entire arc this issue is part of is worth looking at. Also of note is that Natasha seems prepped to guest star in upcoming Hercules specials.
Captain America 34-36
In addition to being an Avenger and SHIELD's highest ranking agent, Natasha was the secret SHIELD liaison to the new (and unregistered, off-the-books etc) Captain America. These three issues are part of a wider eighteen issue (!!) long arc, but because #34 was the first appearance of the Newer, Shinier Cap, this is also a decent jumping on point. If you don't know that I really like this series by now, you, uh, haven't been paying much attention, but Brubaker writes an excellent Natasha and I have no complaints about her characterization here. This almost never happens!!
SECRET INVASION HAPPENS HERE, Natasha actually got one kickass scene in issue #4 but I'm not uploading a single issue of a giant skrullstory arc just 'cause.
Thunderbolts 132
I have mixed feelings about Diggle's Thunderbolts. There was a lot of potential, there, but the end seemed rushed and kind of a let down. (Certain aspects also were rage-inducing bs to me as a fan, but I'll try to keep that out.) The momentum the book was gathering was sort of killed midway through with a Deadpool crossover that only sort of suited the tone of the book. But, there was a lot of potential, and some definite good things, and it's relevant to what I'm doing at C&C anyhow. So here's Thunderbolts 132, a single issue that shows what, I feel, the run did well. Espionage plots and inter-teammate interaction. Yes, even though it says her name is Yelena, you're just going to have to trust me that this is a Natasha issue. Honestly, this was where I figured that whole ruse out: Yelena was never a ballet dancer.
Captain America 46-48
It's a Bucky/Namor teamup co-starring the Black Widow. It's like Ed Brubaker looked into my mind and produced this comic especially for me. No more really needs to be said.
----
And that's all I've got. I dislike Deadly Origin more than I like it and so I'm not uploading it here, b/c I am trying to keep this short. She's still appearing in Captain America and spin-off titles as Bucky's partner, and she also recently started showing up in Invincible Iron Man as well as various Wolverine titles, idk. She has a new ongoing starting in April which everyone should buy!!
Also of note: Black Widow and the Marvel Girls, which was her recent Marvel Adventures style mini, was quite A+ througout and featured some fun team-ups. Out of continuity, but definitely the best solo title she's had in a while.
You can download everything in a single file here.
Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm and Logan #1-3
This is a bit of a prequel to the Marvel Universe, featuring a human Ben Grimm and Wolverine (like you'd guess from the title), but also ace pilot Carol Danvers, on a top secret Cold War mission to Russia, where they must outsmart one Natalia Shostakova. I'm including this mainly because it's a fun little mini by Larry Hama, but also because it's an interesting contrast to her original appearances as a supervillain. In this she's very much the noble adversary, as you'll see, she was first portrayed as more of a femme fatale.
Tales of Suspense 52, 53, 57, 64
Natasha's first appearances were as an Iron Man foe, a non-costumed communist spy sent to steal the secrets of Tony Stark. She was a pretty effective foe constantly thwarted by incompetent male lackeys!! For while she was non-costumed she was also a noncombatant, forced by her gender and lack of powers to do combat only with her wits and her looks. Gradually, they added gadgets and fighting skills to the mix. Soon, she acquired the services of a random archer called Hawkeye, who has no importance to Marvel continuity whatsoever. Tales of Suspense 64 marks the appearance of her first costume. There were two more Tales of Suspense issues she appeared in I'm omitting, but this comprises the entire career of Natasha as a supervillain. (Not to mention Clint's even more weaksauce evil.) This is why it's so boggling that "Natasha the traitor" has become such a huge trope!!
Hawkeye eventually decided he'd had it with the villain life and was going to become an Avenger. His plan was for his parter the Black Widow to join him, but she had disappeared, kidnapped by Soviet agents. At some point off-panel she developed genuine feelings for Clint instead of just horribly manipulating him, and when we next see her, her love for Clint breaks through the evil commie brainwashing. She became a recurring Avengers ally.
Avengers 36, 37, 40-44
FIRST: Natasha saves all of the Avengers through the power of murder. If you think that wussy no-kill code wasn't being challenged from the very beginning, well, I give you these issues of Avengers. NEXT: Hawkeye wants to sponsor Natasha's membership in the team, but she abandons him cruelly for the BAMBOO CURTAIN, on a secret mission for Nick Fury that she must not betray. It all comes to a head with the first explanation of her origins, and the TALE OF THE RED GUARDIAN (which will not make much sense in context of future tales of the Red Guardian.)
After this, Natasha gave up being a super-hero for a while, and insisted on being just Natasha. This (plus all the lies, and the sudden appearance of her dead husband) put a strain on her relationship with Clint, and eventually, she left him, swearing she never really loved him. (This was a lie.)
Amazing Spider-man 86
NEXT STOP, SPIDER-MAN apparently!! In this issue, which sets up her first ongoing feature, Natasha shows up with red hair and designs a new outfit to better fit the "swinging seventies." I'd include it because it features the first appearance of her classic look, but it's also a nice recap of everything she's been up to so far and a fun single issue.
Amazing Adventures 5
Natasha was given an ongoing co-feature alongside the Inhumans in 1970. It's themes were not unlike those of Daredevil today, with a focus on street crime and social justice. I uploaded Amazing Adventures 5 because it's a nice one-shot story that shows pretty well what the series was like. Beautiful artwork, lots of stories about disenfranchised youth, a bit of tragedy. This was cancelled after 8 issues, when Natasha next appeared in...
Daredevil 81-82
This is Natasha's introduction to the Daredevil franchise and a fun two-part arc. Soon after, Matt quit his life (and supporting cast) in New York to move with Natasha to San Francisco. They were the first unmarried couple in comics to live together, I think!! Daredevil used to be a much more up-beat book and Matt was kind of a wisecracking swashbuckler of a character. How that changed. Oh yeah, for some reason Natasha is a countess during this time period. Uh...
Daredevil 99, Avengers 111-112
Clint is rejected by the Scarlet Witch and decides to show up in San Francisco to beat up Daredevil for "stealing his girl"!! Natasha finally actually joins the Avengers, to re-appear for those "finding a new line-up" issues sporatically in the decades to come. HIJINX.
Eventually, Natasha would leave Matt because she didn't feel he treated her as an equal. Because Natasha was the one bankrolling their nice expensive San Francisco house, this left her broke and in Los Angeles persuing a professorship at UCLA. Of course, right before her interview, the god Pluto attacked the campus!! You know what this means.
Champions 5-6
THE CHAMPIONS are a strange but fondly-remembered punchline of a super-team. Featuring the odd line-up of Black Widow, Hercules, Ghost Rider, Iceman, and Angel, this was the first attempt at some kinda West Coast hero organization. I've uploaded the whole series previously, here I'm just focusing on the recession-born super-villain who could be you!! Because I think Rampage is just quintessential Champions, and most of the actual Black Widow centric arc just features on how much younger and prettier Darkstar is. Mmmnnooo.
After this, Natasha and Hercules started dating, the Champions broke up, but Natasha and Hercules were still dating, they both rejoined the Avengers for a time (the Korvac Saga), then they broke up, there were some guest appearances in Daredevil, blah blah blah. NEXT: Black Widow goes to work for SHIELD. Yes, she hasn't been working for SHIELD at all since that Red Guardian mission, but when the eighties rolled around Natasha Romanov: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. became a big feature. So, where to next?
Daredevil 187-190
YES, more Daredevil. One of the first comics introducing Natasha's new SHIELD status-quo, haircut, and awful grey suit that I happen to despise, is part of Frank Miller's classic Daredevil run, dealing with Elektra and the Hand and all that fun stuff. Wait, don't look at the words Frank Miller and just think crazy. This is part of one of the greatest Marvel super-hero runs of all time. (OF ALL TIME!!) Daredevil was Miller's breakthrough comic, and in a way, Miller was Daredevil's breakthrough creator.
Marvel Fanfare 10-13
This is basically a four issue mini-series done with superskintight George Perez pencils. FEATURING: Natasha's very own Terry Long, Nick Fury, and Asian sensation JIMMY WOO. It's actually a pretty fun totally over-the-top espionage/superhero extravaganza with evil cowgirls I think. Yes, her old costume and haircut are back, FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY.
Natasha appeared in various places as a SHIELD agent and Avengers reservist throughout the eighties. Of special note is Streets of Poison where she beats up a literally crack-addled Steve Rogers. But I won't upload that unless you ask, just know that it is out there.
Black Widow: the Coldest War
The late eighties and early ninties saw the rise of the "graphic novel" prestige format: complete stories published in a single volume, often with more adult themes than most of the ongoing series they were publishing. There were a whole slew of these relased. Black Widow/Daredevil: Abbatoir, Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty, Punisher/Black Widow: Spinning Doomsday's Web, all of which really feature Nat more than her co-stars except the Daredevil one, which was more...I don't know, random lesbian bondage. BUT ANYWAY, I felt I should represent this era of her history somehow so here you go, a nice story featuring Alexei Shostakov.
In 1991 Natasha joined the Avengers fulltime (while still going out on SHIELD solo missions) and shortly after becoming a full-time member, Captain America left the team due to murder-related disagreements and ironically left Natasha in charge. She, uh, still went on SHIELD solo missions, but also served as Avengers chairperson for fifty issues or so. I'm not including any issues here because they were nineties issues and convoluted and difficult to follow, but it happened! This was also the time period where she had a one-night stand with Tony Stark. MOVING ON.
So, in 1996, something called Onslaught happened, which basically had most prominent characters dying (but really being transferred to a parallel dimension inside Franklin Richards' head) and being reborn. Heroes Reborn, that is. Basically, this led to the Avengers shutting down and Natasha regarding it as her personal failure as their chairperson (it wasn't really her fault so much as editorial's for thinking this was a good idea) and a new heroic team called the Thunderbolts becoming the new top dog with the Avengers out of action. Wait a minute.
Thunderbolts 9, Daredevil 361, 368-71
After the Avengers died, Natasha went a bit crazy and started thinking of herself as the last Avenger, hunting down and possibly killing old Avengers foes one by one, schooling the Thunderbolts, etc etc. It was a pretty awesome character arc, one that saw her shooting Daredevil and some king fu fighting vs a giant communist bear. Yes, I did type that out right.
Iron Man 6, 8-10
This is the Heroes Return relaunch of Iron Man, by Kurt Buseik. I wanted to include some kind of non-villain appearance in an Iron Man comic, but arcs in Iron Man featuring Natasha almost universally suck. This one doesn't!! Buseik actually wanted her to be a longterm supporting character (something that's never happened in IM) but she got yanked away to appear in Kevin Smith's Daredevil relaunch. (Which I haven't uploaded, but sort of worth checking out.)
Hawkeye 7-8
Every so often they try to give Clint solo features. It's usually a bad idea. Sometimes it has resulted in man-wolf sidekicks. But, you know, I liked this little arc from his most recent ongoing and Clint is still one of the most important relationships Natasha's ever had. People just remember Daredevil because she can guest in his comic. But see! You give another one of her exes a series, and she will always show up.
Black Widow 1-3
The launch of the Marvel Knights imprint brought a lot of attention to Black Widow, as she's a "street-level" character, or, er, something. I guess they included Doctor Strange in Marvel Knights, too. Well. She's one of those characters who isn't part of the X-men, Avengers, or Spider-man franchise. Except when she is, but whelp!! This is the first three-issue Black Widow mini by Devin Grayson and J.G. Jones. (His breakout work!!) It's also our introduction to Yelena Belova. There was a Grayson/Rucka follow-up to this that was also pretty good, and a Rucka MAX mini featuring Yelena, but after that Yelena's characterization just went totally bonkers. BUT WE DON'T NEED TO DEAL WITH THAT HERE, DO WE.
Marvel Knights 13-15
"Marvel Knights" was the title of two books that actually featured some Teams Without a Name. The first series was written by Chuck Dixon and featured Daredevil/Black Widow/Dagger/Shang Chi/Moon Knight/Luke Cage. (Yeaaah.) The second was a more focused team, lead by Natasha, also comprised of Daredevil, the Punisher, and some random SHIELD agent. This is the last arc of the first Marvel Knights series, which features Natasha and Dagger versus a ton of LMDs. One of my favorite things about the team was the friendship that developed between Nat and Tandy, so here you go.
Daredevil 61-64
NEWSFLASH: Matt Murdock's life is sucky. In this installment, he's just been dumped by the woman he married in the middle of a nervous breakdown. He's torn up about this. And then Natasha just kinda shows up in his bed. This isn't the strongest arc of Bendis and Maleev's run on Daredevil, but it's not bad and it's entirely focused on Natasha, who pops up a lot in this run. Bendis's run is probably the most significant after Miller's, and again, even though people hate him now, his work on this title was outstanding.
Black Widow: Homecoming
Richard K. Morgan's work with Natasha is somewhat frustrating. On the one hand, his stuff is intelligent, provacative, and has none other than Sienkiewicz on art. On the other, it doesn't fit into continuity at all and he seems to want to create a Dark Knight Returns vibe that you just can't get when you ain't in an alternate future. There's also a looot of feminism, and it's feminism as written by a dude, so it kind of has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Still, Homecoming is worth a read, even if it's a bit too killhappy for my tastes. There's a lot of good stuff here.
THIS IS WHERE CIVIL WAR HAPPENED. Just, you know, if you were keeping track.
Mighty Avengers 1-6
I enjoyed the Mighty Chovengers, asshots and all. This run was plagued by delays, but the opening arc (which features Tony Stark losing his penis) is a lot of fun, if a bit silly. Natasha is also pretty kickass in it, and I wanted something that showcased her strengths as an Avenger. So here we go!!
Incredible Hercules 114
Remember what I said about giving her exes ongoings?! Natasha shows up here as part of the pro-reg Avengers squad comprising of her, Ares and Wonder Man, sent to stop Hercules. Guess who proves team MVP? This is a great single issue showing Natasha's leadership skills and smarts, CHAMPIONS FLASHBACKS, and also her ability to kill small furry animals. The entire arc this issue is part of is worth looking at. Also of note is that Natasha seems prepped to guest star in upcoming Hercules specials.
Captain America 34-36
In addition to being an Avenger and SHIELD's highest ranking agent, Natasha was the secret SHIELD liaison to the new (and unregistered, off-the-books etc) Captain America. These three issues are part of a wider eighteen issue (!!) long arc, but because #34 was the first appearance of the Newer, Shinier Cap, this is also a decent jumping on point. If you don't know that I really like this series by now, you, uh, haven't been paying much attention, but Brubaker writes an excellent Natasha and I have no complaints about her characterization here. This almost never happens!!
SECRET INVASION HAPPENS HERE, Natasha actually got one kickass scene in issue #4 but I'm not uploading a single issue of a giant skrullstory arc just 'cause.
Thunderbolts 132
I have mixed feelings about Diggle's Thunderbolts. There was a lot of potential, there, but the end seemed rushed and kind of a let down. (Certain aspects also were rage-inducing bs to me as a fan, but I'll try to keep that out.) The momentum the book was gathering was sort of killed midway through with a Deadpool crossover that only sort of suited the tone of the book. But, there was a lot of potential, and some definite good things, and it's relevant to what I'm doing at C&C anyhow. So here's Thunderbolts 132, a single issue that shows what, I feel, the run did well. Espionage plots and inter-teammate interaction. Yes, even though it says her name is Yelena, you're just going to have to trust me that this is a Natasha issue. Honestly, this was where I figured that whole ruse out: Yelena was never a ballet dancer.
Captain America 46-48
It's a Bucky/Namor teamup co-starring the Black Widow. It's like Ed Brubaker looked into my mind and produced this comic especially for me. No more really needs to be said.
----
And that's all I've got. I dislike Deadly Origin more than I like it and so I'm not uploading it here, b/c I am trying to keep this short. She's still appearing in Captain America and spin-off titles as Bucky's partner, and she also recently started showing up in Invincible Iron Man as well as various Wolverine titles, idk. She has a new ongoing starting in April which everyone should buy!!
Also of note: Black Widow and the Marvel Girls, which was her recent Marvel Adventures style mini, was quite A+ througout and featured some fun team-ups. Out of continuity, but definitely the best solo title she's had in a while.
You can download everything in a single file here.