I kind of dig the writing but hate the (editorially mandated) direction, personally.
I think editorial is really dumb in the way they're handling the character, they're not familiar with her history at all, and they keep on pushing stories based on vague ideas of what she's supposed to be like. Her main thing isn't that she's a ruthless killer, it's that she has a unique perspective on life and death. Pic related is from an iconic Claremont story in Marvel Team-Up that I think defines how she thinks about this. She doesn't kill all of her enemies -- she can't. Her life is defined by her outliving everyone she's grown close to (the ultimate irony behind the Black Widow codename) so she's trying to save everyone.
Writers like Warren Ellis and Al Ewing kind of get this intuitively because they're familiar with the way Natasha was developed in the 70s and the archetypes she's supposed to be pulling from, and as a result, they wrote two little one-shots that felt a lot more accurate to the character than all her self-titled books since. Editorial needs to be pulling people who pitch ideas like theirs.
I don't have an issue with her killing here, exactly, but the crazy levels of grindhouse brutality and the joy she takes in murder are pretty uncharacteristic imo, she's never had any sort of bloodlust.
And I hate the fact that for the billionth time in recent decades, the latest series is ignoring the supporting cast and even the character direction of her previous stories. I hope we get another series that has more substance to it before the movie comes out.
The showdown with Masque and Zemo at least seems like it'll be exciting.
>>106057638I really get hung up on the spy/assassin distinction bc spy stories have more intriguing plots. Velvet/Queen & Country/Mind MGMT/Super Spy are all more interesting than something like Punisher to me. Spy drama is great if done well.
