The first issue of White Widow took us into Yelena Belova’s idyllic new life. But when Armament is threatening her life in Idylhaven, she doesn’t take kindly to their interference in her new living situation.
The second issue of the Sarah Gailey comic, with art from Alessandro Miracolo, still has Yelena learning what life is like in a small town, which means going to a farmers’ market and learning all about the socialization aspect of meeting her neighbors. What works about White Widow is just how sassy and fun our Yelena is. One of the reasons I love Yelena Belova as much as I do is that younger sister energy that she exudes.
Watching as she is forced into being the “neighbor” to those in Idylhaven and dealing with all their normal neighbor activities, including going to their market and doing the basic things like saying “hello” and just buying veggies, is just fun to see—mixed with, of course, Yelena finding Griffin LaChance, her non-binary neighbor who is an eleventh grader and who happens to be brilliant with technology.
Griffin is talking with their mother about trying to get into a school for tech when Yelena sees a chance to figure out some answers about who is coming for her. But that question might not come easy when Griffin’s mother Sabine won’t let them help Yelena any further because of Armament’s hold on the town.
The issue as a whole gets us set up for the future of the run, which puts Yelena in an exciting place: as the White Widow and ready to fight against Armament for what they are doing to her and to Idylhaven, as a town, after she is attacked by assassins.
The White Widow is here
While it is a nice change of pace to see Yelena trying to live a nice little life in town being neighborly, seeing her as the White Widow in her own comic run is what I’ve been waiting for. Part of what we love about standalone comics for heroes like Yelena Belova is the chance to see her shine without the looming shadow of her sister, Natasha, over her or without being part of another hero’s storyline.
The first issue she had an Avenger, the second, she had Wolverine in the beginning, but now she is here as the White Widow. Not that Yelena hasn’t been kicking ass in each of these issues, she has. But I’m very excited for where the second issue of White Widow has left off because seeing that anger that Yelena had in the end, ready to fight back because of what Armament tried to take away from her? That’s the Yelena I know and love and she isn’t going to quietly leave Idylhaven without a fight or just let them take from her because they can.
The White Widow is here and she is ready to defend what she thinks is hers and godspeed whoever is in her path!
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
