Striking a blow for feminism back in 1970, the Black Widow reveals a universal truth. Marvel should probably have marketed this image as a T-shirt. It would’ve surely looked good on all women carrying a copy of Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch under their arm, or perhaps waiting in line for the Wonder Woman collected edition with the introduction by Gloria Steinem wherein she decries DC’s de-powering of the character.
I suppose one could make an argument for dialogue like this being in keeping with the general trend for “relevance” in comics in the early 1970s, though I doubt writer Roy Thomas had that in mind. Relevance tended to be somewhat heavy-handed and grafted on—especially over in DC comics—while this arises much more naturally as a sign of the Black Widow’s strong character. Indeed, I think the Black Widow series was Marvel’s first to feature a solo female lead. It paved the way, less successfully, for the likes of Shanna, The Cat, and, er, Night Nurse a few years later.
Interestingly, a similar comment to Natasha’s was made in the 1974 Doctor Who story The Monster of Peladon. There, a young princess is heard to proclaim that she can’t manage her political responsibilities as she’s “only a girl.” Outraged, the Doctor’s then-companion Sarah Jane Smith retorts, “There’s nothing only about being a girl!”
Hear, hear!
Art by Gene Colan and Bill Everett, from Amazing Adventures #5.
Image ©2012 Marvel Characters, Inc
But “You ought to TRY it sometime!” ? Is she recommending gender realignment? That’s taking things just a little too far.
I was going to comment on that and did a bit of research to see when the first gender reassignment surgery occurred—but it was a long time before 1970. It’s a fun bit of dialogue though.
Yeah, but the Black Widow series also featured lots of skin; it seemed like every issue had a scene with her getting into her fighting togs or taking a shower that, shall we say, did not seem required by the plot.
And I’ll admit it, that’s why I kept buying the issues at age 15; Marvel certainly knew their market.
True — and I’ve featured at least one of those panels before. The combination of Colan and Everett and a dripping wet Natasha works for me! And, yes, those gratuitous shots occurred in most issues of Amazing Adventures — the series as a whole was certainly not a feminist tract.