However, the issue's most notable achievement is its deft and elegant reconciliation of the many different (and often contradictory) Black Widow origin stories, acknowledging all of them and somehow managing to combine them into a single origin without invalidating any of these past stories by simply ruling them out of continuity. Instead, Cornell adopts a more ambiguous approach that's a little reminiscent of Alan Moore's Joker origin in Killing Joke (I couldn't help but think of the Joker's "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" when I realised how Cornell was choosing to handle the Widow's mysterious past). It's the perfect way to treat a complicated character like this one, allowing all of the previous stories to stand whilst offering a possible explanation that simplifies their apparent contradictions considerably. Combined with the reasonably compelling present-day plotline, it makes for an intrig Read Full Review