Marvel presents Yelena Belova's first-ever solo series in White Widow #1, the fan-favorite anti-hero debuting in her own long-overdue comic, having played key roles in New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Winter Guard, and multiple volumes of Natasha Romanov's story in Black Widow. Last featured in the dramatic conclusion of Kelly Thompson's incredibly popular Black Widow (2020) run, Belova cemented herself as one of Romanov's most central allies and played an important role in the climax of the series. Since then, she has been conspicuously absent from print, returning with characteristic aplomb to finally have a chapter of her own story told, with her as the undisputed focal point.
White Widow #1 is written by Sarah Gailey, a Hugo award-winning novelist who has also been nominated for the Nebula Award. Gailey has been making their forays into the comic book world over the past few years, writing numerous comics for BOOM! Studios, starting with the Steven Universe spin-off series, and eventually taking the helm of the flagship 2022 Buffy revival, The Vampire Slayer. Gailey's creator-owned projects, Eat the Rich (2021) and Know Your Station (2022), both also published by BOOM!, have been met with massive acclaim in the indie scene. Gailey continues to push into the mainstream, penning the Black Cat short story in this year's annual Marvel Voices: Pride, but White Widow #1 is their debut writing an ongoing miniseries for an established comic book character.
Illustrated by Alessandro Miracolo, a key artist for Dynamite who has worked across signature characters as iconic as Red Sonja, Dejah Thoris, and Vampirella. Initially, in his time at Marvel, Miracolo worked on multiple Star Wars lines, contributing to issues of Star Wars: Yoda and Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, among others. In parallel to Gailey, Miracolo's first major Marvel release within its comic universe is forthcoming in the 2023 X-Men Annual, with White Widow #1 being his first role as a miniseries' regular artist at Marvel. Colorist Matt Milla brings a veteran's touch to this young and ambitious creative team, boasting a career of over twenty years at Marvel and long tenures on legendary runs such as The Amazing Spider-Man, X-Factor, Daredevil, and Captain America. Letters are provided by VC's Travis Lanham, who has a similarly seasoned career, having worked across major properties for Marvel, DC, Vertigo, and BOOM! Studios, proving stunningly prolific in his talents.
White Widow #1 begins with a recent flashback into Belova's past, carrying out an elaborate assassination with the help of her murder-mentee Marthe. Their plans are foiled by none other than Steve Rogers, giving Belova the inspiration to change her life into something new, defined by nobody but herself. In the present day, out in the small town of Idylhaven, Belova cultivates a quiet life in an apartment complex – but her past is colliding with the future, and the peace cannot last.
White Widow #1 is engaging and well-written. Gailey nails all the fundamentals of structure, dialogue, tone, and character building to deliver a polished and thoroughly enjoyable debut for the series. Gailey does an excellent job of imbuing their dialogue with a playful edge and wit, creating animated and dynamic relationships that have a host of laugh-out-loud moments nestled between introducing and developing the characters. They also write with deliberate consideration for rhythm and meter, occasionally dropping pronouns to draw out the distinctiveness of Belova's voice and her accent in a subtle way that isn't tacky or overplayed and remains easy to parse. Belova is the centerpiece of the book, and this issue spends a rewarding amount of time building her a complex and interesting internal world, creating an incredible foundation for the tale of self-discovery and self-actualization that Belova is striving for. Her narrative voice, acerbic and confident, rings with a wonderful amount of authenticity and sets a tone that resonates throughout the comic, alive with her characteristic deadly playfulness. The narrative symmetry between Belova outside the text as an under-explored and often instrumentalized character in the Marvel universe and her own internal journey for identity within the text is really poignant, creating fertile ground for exploration in this frequently utilized character who is so rarely given genuine depth.
There are also some great structural choices made in White Widow #1 both in the micro- and macrocosm. By moving from high-intensity conflict to deflating the tension with a long expository section in Idylhaven, Gailey gives the opening of the comic an exhilarating kick-start to draw in readers and places the comic within the context of the wider Marvel story. It also gives the story space to organically build toward a new sense of stakes. Within the story, the use of Belova's collecting and curating of her own Opinions (ranging from Love to Hate) works as a great framing device for elements of the story, marrying the storytelling to her personal perspective, as well as being funny and deeply charming. The supporting cast is fleshed out with a varying amount of investment. Some of the original characters feel quite well-rounded, whereas others are still waiting to be given enough dimension to feel engaging, particularly the emerging antagonist. Gailey's excellent writing and great understanding of their central character is the linchpin that makes this comic sing in a way that is both memorable and entertaining.
The art of White Widow #1 is very impressive. Miracolo works in thick angular lines that stridently carve out their subjects, shifting to a more slight and delicate approach to add details. This dichotomy creates a bold style that is rich with texture and intricacy, lifting each panel so that they are visually striking and have a real sense of depth, drawing the eye with boldness and holding it with complexity. Miracolo also has a profoundly commendable inventiveness with panel design, crafting pages so that they flow with a dynamic energy. The full-page spread is also an awesome showcase of his skills, gory and atmospheric and brimming with motion. All of the action sequences in White Widow #1 are excellently conceived and executed, making great use of White Widow's acrobatic combat style and rapid-fire panel design to create a sense of momentum and impact that gives the fights a sharp undercurrent of danger, as well as showing off how lethal Belova can be.
The design of the characters as a whole is excellent, especially the new original characters debuted in White Widow #1. Miracolo has developed a cast that is distinctive and varied, making strong choices that give individual characters an inherent sense of identity through their visual punch. Although physical anatomy is well considered throughout, there are some odd moments in terms of character expressions that don't feel deliberately stylized, just somewhat ill-proportioned and underbaked in their execution. These moments trip up the flow of the comic a little, breaking the immersion with how unnatural and out of place they look.
Milla's colors in White Widow #1 are pitch-perfect, adapting to each new setting and development with flair. The contrast between the shadowy pallet of darkly-tinged primary colors of the introductory section and the airy, pastel tones of the small town of Idylhaven is powerful, doing a lot to infuse both settings with a compelling sense of atmosphere. A lot of the tense action sequences are punctuated by theatrical washes of red, orange, and purple, elevating the drama of the scene as well as the violence. Lanham's letters are extremely well formulated, with a solidity and clarity that draws the eye across the page. His choices regarding emboldening and italicization are measured and well-utilized, shaping dialogue into natural stresses and flows that mimic speech patterns with impressive acumen. The use of extra, almost slab-like emboldening for Russian text adds weight to the multilingual moments of White Widow #1, distinguishing them tonally in a creative way.
White Widow #1 is a plucky, passionate comic that practically reverberates with its own potential, reflecting the young and ambitious principal creative team pouring their efforts into the comic with almost poetic directness. Filled with energy and intrigue, White Widow #1 has a rare vitality to it that is often missing from mainstream superhero comics – it has set out with a clearly transformative mission to develop a new vision for Yelena Belova rather than reconstruct any previous status quo. Bursting with comedic beats, rip-roaring fight scenes, and thoughtful character insights, White Widow #1 is an incredible debut to this pioneering series, which will hopefully maintain its momentum and reach new heights as the miniseries continues.
White Widow
Yelena Belova returns! Superspy. Rogue agent. Shadow of the Black Widow. Yelena Belova has been many things, but striking out as a hero in her own right is new to her. Now that she's finally free to choose her own path, who will she become? Sarah Gailey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Eat the Rich) joins forces with Alessandro Miracolo (Obi-Wan, Yoda) for a groundbreaking new chapter in the life of one of Marvel's most enigmatic antiheroes.