Natasha is being attacked. Really. It’s okay. She’s used to it by now. She’s had her pocket picked as well. She knows how to deal with that too. She’s an assassin. One of the best. She’s up against a mystery enemy in Black Widow #6. Writer Kelly Thomspon carves out a clever, little personality for Marvel’s greatest super-spy in an issue drawn by guest artist Rafael de Latorre. Natasha is clearly better than every one of her opponents this issue. Thompson and Latorre keep her mastery interesting throughout the chapter, making for a really fun 20+ pages of action. 

Natasha is beating the hell out of some towering bruiser in San Francisco. On first glance, she’s way overpowered, but she’s got skill, experience, and training he doesn’t have. She’s still got to be careful, though. Her experience with the guy might have something to do with a little encounter she had at the San Francisco Flower Mart. (It’s evidently a nice place. 4.7 stars on Google.) Natasha had her wallet lifted by a girl there. She offered the pickpocket a deal: her wallet for everyone the pickpocket had stolen. The girl might not have expected to get the wallet of a super-spy. She might not have expected that there would have been a tracker in that wallet either...

Thompson is fun. The narration is almost entirely from Natasha. Her thoughts are simple and clever. She’s got style and wit. Thompson’s Natasha knows what she’s doing and is clearly the one in control of nearly every situation she runs into. Her personality and her inner monologue make the time spent with her this month a great deal of fun, though. There’s a brisk movement from one panel to the next as she glides from one threat to the next. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable trip into the shadows with Marvel’s greatest spy. 

Rafael de Latorre dances with Natasha. There are slow moments. There are fast moments. There is a gentle rhythm and a fluid motion from one scene to the next. Natasha’s unflappable certainty looks slick and heroic throughout the issue as she dives into a strange, little mystery in southern California. Natasha’s cool certainty is seasoned with real emotional joy over doing what she does best. She’s enjoying every challenge, and Latorre is there to capture that joy with the beauty of slightly upturned smiles and the intrigue of masterful gazes.

The villain in question is a figure named Apogee. Black Widow is set to track down this figure in the issues to come. Thompson is doing a good job of making the time with Natasha fun and breezy without compromising the intensity of the action. It’s a delicate balance that is brought cleverly to the page by Rafael de Latorre. Thompson manages some really sharp moments in a very stylish issue, but there isn’t a whole lot of mystery lurking around the edges of everything. Minor subplots can be a bit of a distraction, though. Thompson seems to know how to put exactly enough on the page to keep the story moving. 

Grade: A