Review - Black Widow: Deadly Origin

After the apparent death of her mentor Ivan Petrovich, Black Widow uncovers a decades-long plot known as the Icepick Protocol. This protocol initiates a series of events that could kill everyone Natasha has ever cared for if she doesn’t save them on time. To do so, she must look into her past and question the veracity of her origins.

Black Widow: Deadly Origin is a four-part mini-series, written by Paul Cornell and illustrated by John Paul Leon and Tom Raney.

At its core, Deadly Origin is a standard espionage thriller that feels remarkably like an old school James Bond film. It starts off fairly grounded, with Natasha investigating the death of Ivan Petrovich and searching for clues about what the Icepick Protocol is. She learns that she was injected with deadly nanotechnology decades ago and she’s been slowly infecting everyone she’s come into contact with. The Icepick Protocol activates this technology and turns the infected into murderous drones. As the narrative progresses, it becomes a little more outlandish as our titular heroine ends up facing off with the mini-series’ big bad on an abandoned space station above Earth. In terms of tone, it basically goes from From Russia With Love to Moonraker. It’s a bit jarring since writer Paul Cornell had kept much of the story within the realm of espionage, but abandoned that for a more traditional superhero style finale.

Despite what its title may imply, Deadly Origin is not an accessible retelling of Black Widow’s origins. While we do get glimpses into her past through flashbacks (gorgeously illustrated by John Paul Leon), they’re mostly filtered through the perspective of Ivan Petrovich. As such, there’s a bit of a disconnect between Black Widow and the reader. It’s not quite as character driven as some other Black Widow stories because of this. The brief vignettes set in the past do an adequate job of detailing some of her past relationships, but they don’t provide much depth. The events set in the present similarly lack the layers necessary to endear the reader to Black Widow and give us a clear sense of who she is as a character. At just four issues, the story wasn’t given enough room to breathe and had rushed pacing that didn’t allow for adequate development.

As mentioned previously, this mini-series straddles a line between spy thriller and superhero adventure. There’s no greater example of this than with the art. As mentioned previously, John Paul Leon handles the flashbacks. His work is moody and emotive, beautifully capturing a Cold War era aesthetic. Tom Raney illustrates the present day events, which take up a bulk of the narrative. Raney’s work has an edge to it, but it’s still very much within the realm of what you’d expect of a superhero comic. In fact, his art has a bit of a ‘90s vibe to it. The difference in style between the two artists creates a schism that may be disappointing to some readers. For me, I’d have preferred it if John Paul Leon had been the sole penciller.

Black Widow: Deadly Origin is an entertaining read, though not one I’d actively recommend to anyone looking for a great Black Widow story. The covers by Adi Granov are gorgeous and iconic, but the contents don’t quite live up to that level of quality. I’m not particularly a fan of the direction Cornell took the characters in (especially Ivan Petrovich) and Raney’s art isn’t especially impressive.

RATING: C+