Black Widow - Marvel Team-Up!

There were times when Marvel Team-Up was my favorite Spider-Man title. Many of those times were when his co-star was the Black Widow. But it was not limited to MTU, the Widow made guest-star appearances in many comics over the years and the collection Black Widow Marvel Team-Up gathers most of the classic ones together into a very handsome and readable volume. 

The first story is from Marvel Two-In-One ten in which the Widow works with the Thing to stop a world threat. It's the usual superhero shenanigans but it turns out this adventure in which she worked without Daredevil by her side was instrumental in helping her decide to finally break off their partnership and strike out again on her own. 

She first teamed up with Spidey in Marvel Team-Up with the fifty-seventh issue in which she and the Web-Slinger come up against the nigh unstoppable Silver Samurai. The Samurai had only just been introduced in the pages of Daredevil as an ally of the Mandrill and here he is working for powers unidentified to gather some strange object. But while he's doing it he nearly wrecks a building and nearly kills our heroes before they drop him. 

Later we get one of the real highlights of Marvel Team-Up's long run when Spidey and the Widow are together again. This time she has suffered some sort of amnesia and thinks she's a teacher named "Nancy Rushman". But that doesn't explain the Widow costume in her purse nor the SHIELD agents intent on killing her. 

SHIELD seems to be fighting itself as Nick Fury tries to find out why his agents have turned against their oaths and his leadership. The Widow is still suffering from bouts of amnesia but her fighting skills sill respond to danger, and she, Spidey and Fury battle against the Boomerang and the Silver Samurai. The big boss though is the murderous Viper, once known as Lady Hydra. 

Shang-Chi joins the battle as the quartet try to invade the SHIELD helicarrier and prevent Viper's plot to attack Washington and kill the President and all the other elected leaders of the United States. The battle is furious and slowly the Widow's old personality and skills reassert themselves. 

It's a wild finale and I won't spoil it, save to say that this four-parter by Chris Claremont and artists Sal Buscema and Steve Leiloha was a real highlight of the entire Marvel Team-Up run. 

Will Meugnoit, an artist in the "Good Girl" tradition gets a chance to draw the Widow in this nifty little adventure which has Spidey and her battle the obnoxious Owl. As always he's seeking revenge for his past defeats. The plot is from Marv Wolfman and the script is supplied by Roger McKenzie. 

Next up is a significant two-parter in which both Daredevil and the Widow join forces to help Spider-Man delve into the mystery of a murdered Pawn shop owner. In the first part featuring art by Ron Frenz Spidey and the Black Widow look into a street gang and seemingly solve the case before Spidey pops into a weird machine to disappear from NYC to fight the Secret Wars. DD takes over the lead when in the next issue Spidey is gone. The Widow sporting her short hair and new gray costume (thanks to Frank Miller fashions) is along for the ride in both issues. The new black-suited Spidey returns to wrap up the case. Bill Mantlo and Ron Frenz handle the first part while Tom DeFalco, Jim Owsley and Greg Laroque and Mike Esposito wrap it up in the second half. 

Sadly this collection closes out with three Black Widow stories from various issues of the weekly Marvel Comics Presents. The first is from issue eighty-three and has the Widow and Silve Sable on the prowl for the same culprit. The only thing to recommened about this blip of a story is the surprisingly attractive Rob Liefeld artwork. Fabian Nicieza supplies what little script there is. 

Form the seventieth issue we get a somewhat more substantive story in which the Widow has a small reunion with Darkstar, who now works for her Russian homeland. The madman The Presence sends his slave/mate Starlight (also called Red Guardian in this story) to collect these two for his impromptu harem of the flower of Russian womanhood. This despite the fact that  Darkstar might be his daughter. The story ends with Starlight failing her mission and thank goodness. The art for this one is a neat but uninspiring effort by Larry Alexander. 

This small but entertaining collection wraps up with a small story from Marvel Comics Presents issue ninety-three in a story written by Dan Slott and drawn by the late Dwayne Turner, in which the Widow teams up again with Daredevil and the two bring down some Hydra terrorists and defuse their bomb. They seem intent on doing the hard way. This story and the other MCP is less than impressive. Dwayne Turner's art always left me a bit disinterested I'm sad to say. I know he has his fans. 

The highlight of this collection is the four-part Marvel Team-Up tale with some of Sal Buscema's best work as inked by Steve Lehiloa. It was a highlight of the MTU run and for the Widow as well. More Black Widow tomorrow. 

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