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October 31, 2004
Subway Reading: Black Widow
Black Widow #2 - I am a huge fan of Bill Sienciewicz' art. As a youth, I remember seeing it in the pages of The New Mutants, and being the unappreciative know-nothing little punk that I was, I couldn't stand it. Where were the muscles, for goodness' sake? Instead of clean hatching and ninth-generation Jack Kirby knockoff figures, the pages were covered with frenzied scribbles, out of which you might be able to discern the occassional bald Professor X head. Anyway, like I said, I was a young punk. At some point, however, I came across Elektra: Assassin and by the time I finished I was singing a completely different tune. Nobody has ever come close to creating the kind of stylish energy that Sienciewicz does when his pen scratches against the board.
A few months ago, there was an announcement that Sienciewicz would be drawing one of the Batman titles, and that it would be written by David Lapham. Awesome! Not long after that, I went to a convention where Sienciewicz was appearing. He was seated at a table, happily signing the monstrous stacks of New Mutants books that his fans lugged up to him, chattering away about his work on the Dark Knight. I overheard him excitedly explain how he imagined the architecture of Gotham to be like that of Prague. He described a splash page he had drawn where Batman and a swarm of bats were silhouetted against the moon, with the ends of the caped crusader's unfurled cape seeming to transform into the shapes of the flying rodents. This page was tacked up along with a handful of others behind him, and they looked amazing.
Sadly, it was not to be. For some reason the Lapham-Sienciewicz collaboration was scrapped. As a consolation prize, we get this Black Widow limited series from Marvel. Sienciewicz isn't even handling all of the art chores on this one; Goran Parlov is credited with "Layouts." The result is sort of a watered-down Sienciewicz-lite affair. Eager fans like myself will drink up every scrap, though. You should have seen these Batman pages. Seiciewicz has an amazing sense of design, and it was on display in the imaginative Batman layouts. Parlov does a workman-like job with the layouts in this book. His breakdowns are a little conservative and tame, though they the story very clearly. Most of the time, that is. There is a transition in this book that just seems... wrong. Page 4, panels 3 and 4, at the end of the semi-gratuitous underwear scene. Natasha and Phil are having a conversation, which flows very smoothly across both panels. But Natasha jarringly goes from undies in panel 3, not even holding clothes, to fully clothed and jacketed in panel 4. Wha?
Richard K. Morgan is delivering a well-written script in ths series. A mysterious killer is hunting down ex-KGB agents, and Natasha is trying to simultaneously unravel the mystery and stay alive. Strong spy-story thrills keep the action moving. Ex-SHIELD agent Phil Dexter is a good addition to the cast; he acts as a rough-edged foil to Natasha's strict buttoned-down professionalism. All in all I'm enjoying this book, though I wish we were getting Sienciewicz' layout skills along with his line-work. 3.5 stars.
One more note about Bill Sienciewicz. He was the illustrator of one of my favorite album covers of all time, 1998's "Bobby Digital" by The RZA. I have included a pic below both for your enjoyment and as evidence of Sienceiewicz' exceptional design skills.
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at October 31, 2004 09:19 PM
Comments
I need a New Layout.
Posted by: Jon R at April 17, 2006 02:20 PM