"BEWARE...THE BLACK WIDOW!"
Writer: Stan Lee/Penciller: John Romita Sr./Inker: Jim Mooney/Letterer: Sam Rosen/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: John Romita Sr.
Synopsis: The Black Widow is on a mission to reinvent herself, and so crafts a new costume along with new weaponry, with the aim of taking on Spider-Man...
Review: This issue is little more than a shameless plug for a Black Widow feature that was about to debut in Marvel's Amazing Adventures, something that Stan himself admits to towards the end. It's not a bad story necessarily, but it wears its true intentions on its sleeve, and I think that this is ultimately to its detriment.
The Black Widow's scenes are largely expository, with her giving a cliff-notes version of her comic book history up to this point, and if you weren't already a reader of Iron Man, The Avengers or Nick Fury, I'm sure that this whole recap was pretty baffling. I know a fair bit of the lore anyway, and even I was left scratching my head at points; God knows what the uninitiated would make of it. Obviously, the most significant development for the Widow in this issue is the debut of her new look, a sleek black catsuit that has remained her iconic outfit ever since, and it's all down to Romita's talent for drawing beautiful women; despite my generally negative impression of how Black Widow is implemented in this story, I have to admit that Romita makes her an immediately striking figure.
My biggest problem with the character is not so much the expository dialogue, but the total lack of explanation for her actions. Why does she feel that she has to find out the secret to Spider-Man's powers? Why does she randomly decide to model herself on him when the two have absolutely no history prior to this issue? What is she even trying to achieve? We know that she wants to leave the past behind her and reinvent herself, but as what? A hero? A villain? We get absolutely no explanation for anything, and it makes her involvement in the issue feel even more like an advert for another comic. To top it all off, she runs away from her fight with Spider-Man at the slightest sign of trouble, even though she had managed to gain the upper hand. What kind of a badass protagonist does that? Not exactly the best way to show off your cool, kickass new comic, by having the main character look like a total pushover.
So, the Black Widow stuff's a bust, but the scenes with just Peter are pretty great in all honesty. We get some nice drama between him and Gwen, who tells him that he needs to stop putting himself in danger for Bugle photos, or they're finished. It's around this time that Peter's life gets more and more out of control with each issue, to the point where he reaches his lowest ebb yet seen, but more on that when we get to it. There's also the beginning of a potentially intriguing new development, as Peter seems to be losing his spider powers; I absolutely adore the final scene with Peter questioning whether after all these years of wishing he had a normal life, perhaps a normal life is what he fears most. Romita manages to evoke some classic Ditko-hysteria vibes from these panels; it's brilliant stuff, and easily the best thing about the issue.
ASM #86 feels very much like a stop gap, a vibe that will continue into the next issue, but it's not without its good points. The scenes with Peter and the supporting cast are all solid, and I love to see some good old-fashioned Peter Parker angst on the last page. Where the issue falls flat for me is all the Black Widow stuff...so, kind of...the plot. It makes no sense and is clearly just a way of plugging a new comic that only lasted eight issues anyway.
Rating: 2.5/5
Next time, Peter Parker finds himself unmasked at last...
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