A review by siria
Black Widow: The Name of the Rose by Nate Piekos, Marjorie Liu, Daniel Acuña

4.0

This was the first comic I've read about any of the Avengers—in fact, it might be the first Marvel comic that I've read—and I came to it with only the knowledge I'd gained from watching the Marvel movie 'verse and skimming some Wikipedia articles. While I think that some more background knowledge might have made parts of this hit a little harder for me, Black Widow: The Name of the Rose is still a very enjoyable read. Liu's writing at times is a little melodramatic (particularly when it comes to the internal monologues), but I really liked the version of Natasha whom she created here. Natasha is competent, self-aware, and focused—she is not afraid to acknowledge her attachment to other people but equally is not going to let that attachment stop her from doing what has to be done. My favourite couple of pages, however, were those in which Liu gloriously subverts the Women in Refrigerators Syndrome, in an actual refrigerator! So satisfying.