Natasha Romanoff is an ex-KGB assassin, an E.L.D., and a sometime . She has tried to use her unique skill tone for her past, but atonement i not erasure. Sooner or later, the past comes prowling back. Nya After overcoming the Weeping Lion, a telepath who was blackmailing Black Widow, she used POC oma oo eu on amc who once trained her. Before Natasha was able to extract information, the Headmistress killed herself, leaving little clue as to: how to find the children already dispatched on deadly missions. With a telepath in tow, Black Widow must save the girls and their targets. CO TLR ht WRITERS aay | POT AE celta) ty LETTERER Hee UAL OTs Sm LLU URN JOEQUESADA vA EN ESSN sy biel’ EDITOR, Poe Seem eae ead Tag EXEC. PRODUCER, (©2016 Marvel Charactors, In. Al rghts reserved Al characters featured inthis issue and the distinctive names and likenesses thereof and all related indicia are trademarks of Marvel Characters Ine. No similarity between any ofthe names, characters, persons, and/or institutions in this magazine with those of any living or dead person or institution i intended, and any such similarity which may exists purely coincidental WWW.MARVELCOM= in ST. JOSEPH'S ACAD!E Wee B \watkine..»IW Makers, ng ago, I stepped h happened to be a day or two after the fi issue He ‘nowi 1g abs LACK says is cout. | loved that Iron Man was amazing story! Ava R. ‘Aval We were your FIRST COMIC EVER?!7!?! Amazing! Boy howdy, did you pick a Ido say so myself. So od fy and hopefully you'll like where we're going! r the write ny knowledge of w's history before concocting this story. Black Widow has been hed as having been when X-MEN #268, 1990). In BLACK BREAKDOWN #2 Nata: been and wiDow: (2001), Perememe\a rele time she worked with the , and had an encounter ith Lo: (WOLVERI 1997), and also THE FANTASTIC (2000). When Alexei was recruited 0 be the Red Guardian, he contact with Nai umably the m: nulled (AVENGERS #44. history, it. is inconceivable Natasha, as a child still Nick, thanks for writing rll warn you up front, this answer's going to get fairly long and involved, and still probably won't be very satisfying, but it's the best I've got for you. In the issue where we see Natasha involved in the Ho Yinsen kidnapping she's obviously not a. child, @ grown woman pretending to be an actual widow (the Headmistress’ calling her “child” is part affection, part power lay). So the real question show long was Natasha involved with the Red Room? Given that the Red Room was first mentioned in 2005 (and in a Marvel Knights book, no less!), there are decades of Black Widow stories ‘to retrofit with this addition. For instance, if the Red Room 9, then was it the Red Room that reconditioned her in AVENGERS #29, 1966? Obviously that wouldn't be mentioned in that comic, but it makes a compelling story if that were the case. And if we say that WAS the case, then the Red Room would certainly have been active, and Natasha possibly active with them, When Ho Yinsen was captured. if Fy want to get super technical about the timeline, where we most. blatantly fudged was with Natasha as a young girl killing the uncle jon was a kid. By our strict timeline rules that would make Lion, like Natasha, nearly 90 years old. Now, Chris, Mark, and 1 COULD concoct an explanation wherein we say the his cousin have gained long life through the use of his powers, unl eH) some secret with their endocrine system or some other comic book nonsense science to explain their not looking like 90-yearolds, but that’s not what the story is about, so we didn’t bother. We've only got 20 pages per issue and 12 issues or so a year. Space is tight, you have to triage. As creators and stewards of these characters we must weigh what makes the best stories against militant adherence to the timeline. There's also what “feels” right to the character, In the comics people joke all the time about Steve Rogers being “old,” but given that he was frozen for decades he's only been consciously alive for 30-some years, Technically, Natasha's been fully alive for almost 90 years, but no one ever talks about her or treats her as being old. When Natasha dates someone in their 30s, the 50-year age difference is never mentioned. | can't necessarily speak for Chris and Mark, but as e editor, | prefer this. 1 enjoy Black Widow as a character who seems very in the moment. To heavily invest in her being an 88-year-old, to my mind, really bogs down both the character and the story. So we play a bit fast and loose. We're more concerned with the “truth” of the story than the “facts,” if that makes sense. It doesn't mean we aren't aware of them.Or, we could also give you the short answer that we hear oh so frequently around these parts: Hey man, that's comics! WIDOW Makers! 1 wanna start off with ng that | am from the MCU fandom part of Marvel and thi fi Marvel comi my hands on *collecti from longtime comic book readers* (I'm a 15-year-old girl, calm down). Black Widow has always been my favorite in the MCU (even if a lot of people don’t think she’s of use or anything), mainly because she's badass. So when | saw the first issue of this storyline, rally begged my dad to get it for me. He was so happy was gonna finally read book, so he did AND :}W MY MIND. And the absolute favorite so far. This started my enjoyment for reading comics (my dad has a whole collection so I'll catch up fast), so thanks very much to Waid, Samnee, and Wilson. I'm so pumped for the next issues (especially #9). Keep doing what you're doing-you guys are great. Louise Ceguera PH, MNL LOUISE! You and Ava should start_a “BLACK WIDOW en eee conacels Him ‘re yi the book. “ae ¥m 00 r you to begin your journey into comics! And if | may take a moment, never let anyone roan at you about your new herndom. Anyone who dosert get excited about new fans- whose heart doesn't oy three sizes when they, ear about someone of Al je, gonden, religion. seule etc., reading a comic for the first time-isn't a REAL fan in my book. We're thrilled to have you in the chub, Louise! Keep on reading, and keep on nding in letters Quite possibly one of the coolest, most action-packed introductions to a series | have ever seen. Chris Samnee is knocking it out of the park with this book on art duties. Barely catching up on this series since I'm six issues late, but just from the first issue I'm already in love. Why can’t all Marvel books be this much fun? Thank God it’s not tied into current r events either-that always makes a Perfect 10 book like this quickly drop to a dud for me. This is THE book to right now at Marvel and you guys want to start making ‘easy money I'd suggest taking notes from this book. Keep on keeping on, you y goons, Ricky Castro Tucson, AZ Ricky, on behalf of my fellow crazy goons, welcome! And keep on keeping on we shall! If you dig that first issue you've got a lot more great stuff coming! AND the next few issues...hey man, | don't want to tell you your business, but | think you're going to love ‘em. Write back and let us know what you think? Hi, Black Widow is AWESOME!!! Love her in the comic books and in the movies. Is there any way you guys can convince the movie studios to do a Black Widow movie? PLEASE!!! I love her in Marvel's The Avengers, in Iron Man 2, and in Captain America: Civil War. Maybe if there was a Black Widow movie, we could see more of Sharon Carter in action, as well as Hawkeye and Shang-Chi. I enjoyed how in this issue (#6) Natasha tricked Tony Stark to get what she was looking for. | hope to see Tony Stark be upset and go after Black Widow as Iron Man. It would be a very interesting storyline. S.H.LE.LD. is after her and, at the moment, she isn'ta member of the Avengers either, so I'd love to see Black Widow join the Thunderbolts. She would fit in really well, and it would be i g to see how Natasha and Moonstone would dlash and to see Black Widow and Winter Soldier reconnect slowly as lovers again. I'd love to see a storyline like the movie The Vow done between Natasha and James. They were an incredible couple together. She doesn't remember what they once shared. It would be really cool if she fell in love with Bucky all over again. True love can be brought back to the heart. How about it? | would love to see these other characters show up as this book: Shang- Wing, Sharon it would be really cool to see Claire who was once called Black Widow back i ‘60s. She was last known under her new codename-Shadow. It would be really cool to see Natasha use her beauty to get to places undercover. Love to see her dress up more often and be places where only money can get you in. We know she is a badass combat fighter, so I'd love to see her cut loose in fighting situations, maybe even clash against the Hand in one of her missions. King Jason San Francisco Hey, King Jason! | concur, Black Widow IS awesome, hopefully cone of these we'll to see her in full force on the hig screen! That Tony Stark ment was Intense, right? When Chris and Mark me what they were planning on doing literally said ‘Oh, man!" out loud. 1 would guess we haven't seen the last of Tony Stark... As for our very vocal BuckyNat _ contingent, allow me to direct your eyes towards our next issue cover. That bri a close. this letters page to ‘ep sending in your letters and we'll see you again ina month? Until then, stay weird! Jake T.