Widowmaker #2

I must not have been paying attention. It seems that this limited series is actually a couple of regular issues of recently cancelled Marvel titles. Issue 1 was the next issue of Hawkeye & Mockingbird, and this issue is a new issue of the recently cancelled Black Widow. Boy, do I feel dense.

In any case, Duane Swierczynski does a great job picking up the cliffhanger from last issue. I guess these are "fake" Supreme Soviets (although really, who can tell at this point). I'm disappointed, I liked Vostok, Fantasma, and Perun, I would have liked the Soviets to still have a pretty expansive roster of their own heroes.

The coolest development in this chapter is personal; exes Hawkeye and Black Widow are left on their own while Mockingbird and Dominic Fortune go their own way. Both sides seem to have some chemistry that could make things difficult for Hawk & Mock. And how funny is it that they seem like the top couple of Marvel now? (They are on Valentine's Day on the new Marvel 2011 calendar!)

Manuel Garcia's art is fine, but I love David Lopez's stuff so much I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

Good