Black Widow #20

by Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto

With issue number twenty, this fantastic series comes to a close. It’s no surprise – Marvel is releasing a bunch of new titles in the fall, so of course all of the amazing books it had on the go were going to have to end sometime. It is bittersweet, though. Black Widow has been great for its entire run. This last issue is, of course, no exception.

The way Nathan Edmondson has written the close to this series is perfect. Nothing happens to leave you hanging and waiting for another issue that’s not coming, but at the same time, it’s not an issue with nothing in it either. The story wraps everything up in a neat little package. It’s probably the ideal way to bring a series to its end.

It comes off of the previous issue, which was a flashback into Natasha’s past, and finishes the story that took place then. It’s a little bit shocking at points too – you can sort of get a sense of why Natasha is the person she is in the present. It does come back to present time for the first page and the very last page, which brings the series up to the start of the Secret Wars events, and wraps everything up for a nice finish.

There isn’t much to say about Phil Noto’s art in this book that hasn’t already been said (over and over). It’s perfect. He’s one of the best artists in comics right now, hands down. He has a different style than other artists have, and it very much suits the Black Widow story. The way he does faces are by far the best part – it seems so simple, with his sketchy lines, but the emotions are very clearly there, which is not something that all artists can manage to do.

Right from issue number one, Black Widow has been one of Marvel’s best titles – probably even one of the best comic book titles out there in general! The story and the art constantly meshed together perfectly, and kept people coming back for more. And it was definitely one of Marvel’s best portrayals of a female character, especially one with her own title. This has really been a title for Marvel, as well as Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto, to be proud of.

It is never easy to say goodbye to a series that has been amazing from the start. But nothing can last forever! It could have been wonderful to see these two continue to put out amazing issue after amazing issue of Black Widow, but all good things must come to and end. Hopefully there are wonderful things on the horizon from both Edmondon and Noto.