Black Widow Vol 3: Last Days by Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto

Black Widow Vol 3: Last Days written by Nathan Edmondson and illustrated by Phil Noto is the final volume of the Black Widow sequence that ended just before Secret Wars. It contains issues #13–20 of the 2014 Black Widow run with no need for random extra issues to bad out the volume (yay). I have previously read and reviewed volumes 1 and 2.

The world has turned against Black Widow. Her web is broken. How will she deal with this? The final path to Chaos is at her feet, but will her own demons keep her from finally taking it? What happened to Isaiah? Can Black Widow still turn to the Avengers, or even to S.H.I.E.L.D.? Natasha wants answers about Chaos and now she has a list of people who have them.

This volume of Black Widow had a lot of flashbacks. On the one hand, they were interesting because we got to learn more about her past, but on the other hand, they didn't necessarily move the main story forward. The main story being the one that the first two volumes were leading up to: Black Widow versus Chaos. Given how much trouble Chaos caused earlier on, especially in the first two volumes, I did feel that the final confrontation with a representative of Chaos was over too quickly and too easily. Not to mention that I wouldn't've minded a bit more explanation of the weird stuff going on with Chaos anyway (but there was a hint that we might be seeing more of that later, I suppose...).

I didn't dislike this volume, but it didn't grab me as much as the earlier ones. I ended up reading over a much longer period of time than I usually do, almost an issue at a time, until I got to the last few. There was also much less of an actual "Last Days" storyline, especially when compared with Ms Marvel's and Silk's corresponding volume and issue. Which isn't a bad thing, and probably makes sense given that Black Widow ended the earliest before Secret Wars, but was a bit of a surprise.

I recommend this volume to fans of Black Widow. I didn't love it — the art is still nice though — but I do intend to keep reading Black Widow in the future (is there a post-Secret Wars version? I'm not actually sure). Last Days does conclude the stories started in the earlier volumes and gives us more back story on the character. And we get to see the cat again. (Superheroes with cats are the best, as we all know.)

4 / 5 stars

First published: 2015
Series: Black Widow (2014) Vol 3 of 3, containing issues #13–20.
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Purchased from some meatspace comic book shop or other