Devin Grayson, one of the creators of Yelena Belova - the Red Room recruit who once nearly killed Natasha Romanoff - returns with a brand-new story drawn by rising star Michele Bandini! Yelena has spent years trying to figure out who she is. Once she thought the Black Widow mantle was her destiny, but fate had other plans. Now the past is catching up with her - and with Alexi Shostakov, a.k.a. the Red Guardian! Alexi has worn many titles, including husband to Natasha, but while the Widow played her avenging games, the Red Guardian waited in the shadows. Now a new day is dawning - and this time, no one will stand in his way.
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Widowmakers #1 gives readers a look into the motivations, beliefs, and abilities of some co-stars of Black Widow. Read Full Review
WIDOWMAKERS: RED GUARDIAN AND YELENA BOLOVA #1 isn't going to blow your mind with any amazing plot twists but at its heart, it's an excellent well-drawn character study of two interesting characters with long-standing ties to Black Widow. Read Full Review
Widowmakers: Red Guardian and Yelena Belova is a great action and espionage story with a killer premise. It's a modern spy drama for modern times. Read Full Review
Fans of Devin Grayson and Yelena Belova will want to pick this up, but there's little to recommend it to anyone else. It's a good, but not great comic, which doesn't seem to hold much significance except to those mapping out the current history of Black Widow and everyone tied to her. A blurb at the end suggests Red Guardian and Yelena will be showing up soon in Kelly Thompson & Elena Casagrande's new Black Widow title, which may retroactively make this comic more relevant. Read Full Review
When all is said and done Widowmakers: Red Guardian and Yelena Belova #1 delivers a story that is equal parts action and sociological musings. This is a significant amount more than I honestly expected when I started reading this book. Read Full Review
Widowmakers throws Red Guardian into the mix as Yelena Belova handles a prison break and formulates an egalitarian plan to go after the sort of billionaires who think they have the right to solve their problems by hiring a Black Widow. Thanks to a naturalistic voice and beautiful, action-packed art, this one-shot is a compelling read. It doesn't have much to do with the current run of Black Widow, but it's a good story in its own right. Read Full Review
A relatively low stakes super spy thriller whos flaws are mostly negated by solid action and great character work. Read Full Review
Perhaps future issues will be able to capitalize on Yelena's versatility and her new relationship with Red Guardian now that the foundation has been set. Read Full Review
On the one hand, I like the voice of the main characters, but this issue ends up being all setup for something that's happening down the line in 'Black Widow', which is frustrating for a five dollar book. Read Full Review
Yelena Belova takes a freelance prison break gig from a billionaire. They're both playing each other, and within the prison, Yelena frees the Red Guardian as a happy byproduct of her bigger mission. I really like that mission and I'd be down for an ongoing "Yelena vs. one-percenters" series. The storytelling in this one-shot is slightly glitchy, though, with Yelena's narration drifting a bit too far away from the action in the panels.
This was pretty good. I wasn't expecting much of anything beyond some MCU mandated synergy, but it wasn't a bad read.
The broken English thoughts were a little irritating! But otherwise this was fiiiiiine.