Yelena is ready for the suburban life. It’s unclear if suburbia is ready for her. Your Major Spoilers review of White Widow #1 from Marvel Comics, awaits!
WHITE WIDOW #1
Writer: Sarah Gailey
Artist: Alessandro Miracolo
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Editor: Alanna Smith
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: November 1st, 2023
Previously in White Widow: Yelena was raised to be the best assassin in the world just like her sister Black Widow, but unlike her more famous sister, Yelena doesn’t have much interest in heading down the hero route.
ASSASSIN VS. GENTRIFICATION
White Widow #1 starts off in the past. White Widow and her protégé Marthe are in the middle of carrying out a hit when they’re interrupted by Captain America. They skirmish a little before Yelena makes an escape as Marthe is injured. Things then move into the present day with Yelena deciding that she wants to make some changes in her life and move somewhere she feels she can determine her own life. She chooses a suburban town called Idylhaven and changes her profession from being an assassin to being an assassin consultant. During one of her consulting sessions, she is introduced to a company called Armament. The next day she tries to go to her favorite coffee shop only to find that it has been bought by Armament, she storms off to a local candy store to get information from the owner there. As they talk an assailant shows up with her sights set on the candy store owner, Zelda. Yelena and Zelda manage to fend off the attacker, but the mystery of why she was targeted remains.
GOTTA LOVE YELENA
The line between the comic book Marvel Universe and the MCU has been in a constant state of blurring since the very first Iron Man movie, with mixed results. This characterization of Yelena is overtly inspired by Florence Pugh’s depiction of her and it’s a good choice. The way she bounces between taking everything literally and mixing up idioms is lovable. What makes it really work in this issue is that it feels like her personality and not just some sort of persona that she wears. This makes all of her actions and interactions feel earnest and, in a way, innocent, even when she’s in the middle of trying to assassinate a mob boss. This is why her foil in this series is a perfect match for her. Seeing Yelena take the buying out of her favorite coffee shop by a corporate overlord as personal is pretty funny and it creates excitement for further interactions. It’s good that the characters in this issue are so enjoyable to read, because the plot is a bit on the thin side. Nothing here feels particularly interesting on a beat-to-beat basis, everything feels like setup just to put Yelena in positions where she has a fun interaction with someone, which is fine, but only because the dialog is so well done. Also, shoutout to Yelena’s dog Bint Clarton.
LEAVE NO MIDRIFF COVERED
The look of White Widow #1 feels like it comes right out of the early 2000s. The characters are all lean and bendy-looking. For the most part, this works just fine, especially in fight scenes, which emphasizes Yelena’s mobility. One thing that stuck out was the aversion all the characters seem to have towards covering their abdomens. With the exception of Captain America (a possible missed opportunity), every character at one point or another wears a crop top both in the middle of combat situations and lounging situations. What really makes this stick out though is that they all look like the same midriff, which emphasizes the lack of body diversity here.
BOTTOM LINE: GREAT LEAD CHARACTER, WEAK PLOTLINE
White Widow #1 is appropriately the White Widow show. This is all about taking her personification from the movies and shows and giving it the spotlight in comic book format and it’s fun to see. Her dialog and actions are enough to carry this issue, but the plot definitely lacks nuance and depth. 3.5 out of 5
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White Widow #1
White Widow #1 is all about bringing the MCU version of White Widow into the comic book world and it’s a fun transition to see. Some plotting issues and weird artistic choices pull this one down a bit.
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At a young age, Jonathan was dragged to a small town in Wisconsin. A small town in Wisconsin that just so happened to have a comic book shop. Faced with a decision to either spend the humid summers and bitter winters traipsing through the pine trees or in climate controlled comfort with tales of adventure, horror, and romance, he chose the latter. Jonathan can often be found playing video games, board games, reading comics and wincing as his “to watch” list grows wildly out of control.