White Widow is a character Marvel has had trouble cracking. She’s had her fair share of appearances in comics, mostly as a supporting character, but as the lead? That’s tricky, but this week, you can read her latest solo series in the White Widow: Welcome to Idylhaven TPB.
Something true of this collection is how it has taken the usually darker and more violent version of Black Widow and softened her edges. She’s still ruthless and a bit edgier, but she’s also making friends in Idylhaven. She’s fighting for people who need fighting rather than just taking orders.
Sarah Gailey has a good handle on the character from her dialogue–somewhat broken English due to her Russian–to her surefire way of connecting with her neighbors.
Customary of a title like this, Gailey kicks off the issue with a flashback. This helps build our expectations of who she typically is in the field while setting up a new “sidekick” character that matters later on. This scene reminds us that White Widow kills her targets without remorse but also trains younger assassins, seemingly out of the kindness of her heart. The scene involves Captain America and a few barbs from Yelena to Steve that probably hurt more than her strikes.
Much of the opening issue takes place in the present in a small American town called Idylhaven. Yelena is attempting to figure out who she is via things she loves, likes, dislikes, is neutral on, and hates via a chart. We’re reminded much of her personality is simply due to her not having an identity when being trained and used by the Red Room. She’s trying to find herself but isn’t necessarily regretful about what she’s done. That’s an interesting place to explore and take this character who wants to learn more about herself.
Hey, it’s Wolverine!
Credit: Marvel
There are a few creative ways Gailey and Miracolo punch up the visuals, be it the chart mentioned above, or how Yelena catalogs her dislikes even when she’s being attacked. A threat has come to the town that’s attempting to buy up all the property and it seems they’re willing to murder people who aren’t selling. Yelena has grown accustomed to and truly fallen in love with shops and shopowners–who are also cataloged via some nifty profile cards–and won’t allow it.
The story isn’t dedicated only to Idylhaven, with some well placed familiar faces popping in. A sequence with She-Hulk is a fun time, as well as the appearance of rival assassins and even Wolverine. Largely, though, the story is about Yelena taking on a big corporation near town.
The biggest weakness of this collection is the lengthy dialogue scene. Some pages zip along with efficiency, like when Yelena goes to a farmers market, and we get her ratings on various vegetables. In others, the exposition and back and forth is so heavy the story bogs down. In the first issue, there are such dialogue scenes that take place after Yelena saves the candy store owner. The dialogue spends a great deal of time fleshing out one of the townsfolk Yelena saves while setting up the enemy and also detailing how a town person sold their business.
White Widow has a lot of charm, so we are introducing a version of Yelena that’s open to growth and warmth. She’s open-minded to being a hero, and this story builds on Yelena’s character in a natural way. She’s not rejecting her killer lifestyle but embracing it. At the same time, she seems to be finding that inner, purely good hero thanks to small-town America.
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