| Title | : | Marvels Black Widow: Bad Blood |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published April 28, 2020 |
As Natasha Romanoff follows the trail across the globe, she discovers she wasn’t the only target. Whoever is responsible stole Bucky Barnes’ blood, too. And one thing is certain: anyone who wants the blood of the Widow and the Winter Soldier needs to be taken down, and fast. Despite a tangled web of shared history stretching back to their Red Room days, Barnes and Romanoff must join forces, confronting the demons of their past as they race to protect their future. A single drop of blood could be all it takes to save the world—or destroy it. © 2020 MARVEL
Marvels Black Widow: Bad Blood Reviews
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"despite what appears to be a valiant effort to break yourself into as many pieces as possible, you are whole, mostly healthy and safe."
Season 1 just finished and I... was absolutely blown away by this. I was looking for something to fill the void since Black Widow's theatrical release got pushed due to this pandemic. I had an old iTunes gift card lying around and figured I'd check out SerialBox and WOW this went above and beyond! I listened to the audio book and every sound, every detail was so carefully thought out- you can tell a lot of love and hard work went into the production of this.
As a die-hard Black Widow fan I'm always looking for new ways to explore Natasha's character and I think this did a beautiful job of showing her core values and what drives her. This story gave me the same awesome MCU-level action and suspense but also managed to present Natasha in a much more intimate light. The plot of this season was fantastic and each episode ended with perfect cliffhangers that left me wanting more. The main reason I loved this season's story line was because it was about Natasha taking control of her identity and reclaiming what's rightfully hers. We're so used to hearing about her dark past of being manipulated in the Red Room and the Black Widow constantly being seen as everyone's sidekick, finally for once it's her in charge of her own destiny (with the help of a certain super solider, of course). This story had parts where Natasha was totally badass and independent and parts where she allowed herself to be vulnerable and open to her emotions. I really appreciate that she wasn't just portrayed as cold and stoic because she is so much more! She's deadly smart, compassionate, and a force to be reckoned with. She's got heart, and ambition and Black Widow: Bad Blood really did a perfect job of showing us that.
I think this review has gone on long enough but seriously if you're a Marvel fan or just looking for a great spy story then I highly recommend Black Widow: Bad Blood! Praying for a season 2 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 -
I was so happy to hear good Russian pronunciation in the audio version!
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this story started with such exciting chapters, it was a fresh storyline for natasha that finally didn’t revolve around the red room, and i deeply enjoyed how beautifully and carefully written was her relationship with bucky as it is finally seen from her perspective. the last couple of chapters didn’t live up as they were in the beginning, and the ending felt kinda flat but hopefully this gets a sequel.
ps, loved the addition of nat and her friends (even as in undercover work) but it shows that nat deeply cares for people and it’s nice to see her interact with *normal* people. -
The updates for this book were the highlight of my week. Serial Box right now is doing a great job with Marvel property on this medium, I think I’m going to jump onto the Jessica Jones ‘Playing with Fire’ train.
I just love this story so. much. Everything was so well thought out, no corner cutting to be seen. Allen Holt, in my opinion, is the best kind of villain. The logic that to save the human race he must eliminate a percentage of it strikes similarly with Thanos, who ask did not understand that the ends do not justify the means. The way Holt’s corporation had weaved its way across the world was sinister and having the characters of Kesha, Maria etc really solidified its threat. Sometimes when you don’t know anyone related to the protagonist the threat will affect directly, it’s difficult to comprehend the scope.
I also liked how the book started with Viscose, and ended with Viscose, really coming full circle.
And of course, the Bucky/Natasha content. I love them so much, and I feel this story did a great job of nailing down the parameters of their relationship, with memories of the Red Room and the tension and mixed feelings that neither know how to express. The Geneva episode was everything. Personally, I was really holding out for some kind of confession/kiss scene in the final chapter, but I understand why it didn’t happen. He did sneak into her hospital room to see her, despite the fact that he should be arrested on sight, and make her borscht, so I crown those gestures the height of romance.
The fact that after every episode it would say ‘season 1, episode...’ is what’s giving me hope for another adventure. -
You can also find this review on my blog at:
https://graphicnovelty2.com/2020/07/2...
I belong to the Goodread’s group, I Read Comic Books and entered a contest to win a free podcast about the Black Widow. I was pleased to find out I won a free subscription to the premium digital audio and reading platform Serial Box for the fourteen episode series Black Widow: Bad Blood. While I am familiar with her through the Avenger movies and am looking forward to the delayed solo movie about her, I actually have not read any graphic novels about just her.
Warning- some spoilers
Episode One: Blackout Protocol
We are introduced to Natasha Romanoff, who as a freelance spy, is wrapping up a job in Chicago in which she was tasked with catching online espionage. She fights a modified villain Viscose, contacts Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D. to report in, and then plans how to disengage from her undercover job that had lasted months. During her time as a mild-mannered IT employee, she had made friends with several other women and heads out for the last night out with them, as she has told them she is moving for another job opportunity. But the night ends badly…
Episode Two: Something Stolen, Something Red
Waking up from her mysterious attack, Natasha is weak and unclear as to what happened. She barely remembers what happened or how she escaped, but she knows she needs answers. She makes her way to Bruce Banner aka the Hulk, a scientist who she hopes will help her discover what was done to her. There she finds out her blood was removed for some sinister reason. But why?
Episode Three: Bury Me Face Down
Natasha realizes that if she is being targeted, another enhanced human would be too- Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier. She has a history with Barnes, as he was loaned out from Hydra to trains future widows in the Red Room. She heads to Albania where Barnes is hiding out and tracks him down.
Episode Four: Sleep When I’m Dead
Natasha finds Barnes’s hideout, but not him, but clues lead her to believe he was attacked. Banner lets her know there have been other thefts of biological data, and she heads to the VECTOR Institute for more answers.
Episode Five: Flashback City
Novosibirsk, Russia, is her next location and it brings back memories of her training in the Red Room. On the outskirts of the Institute, she encounters Barnes and he attacks her. But he seems off, as he seems not to remember her and physically he isn’t in top form, which allows her to escape him. She is able to bring him back to reality and convinces him to partner with her so they find out what happened to them both.
Episode Six: A Trap with a View
Natasha relives her shared experiences with Barnes, as they both deal with the trauma of their training and the guilt they carry for their past actions when they were part of evil organizations. She decides not to let S.H.I.E.L.D. in on her plan and starts to pull together the threads of her Chicago job together with what is happened to her and Barnes now. Are they being led towards something?
Episode Seven: Of Monsters and Men
Leaving Barnes briefly to recuperate from his ongoing illness, Natasha explores the area and is disappointed with herself when she falls prey to two thugs. But she quickly turns the table on them, and during her interrogation of them is pointed to a female scientist from VECTOR who might have some answers she is looking for.
Episode Eight: Old Friends
Utilizing several costume changes to gain access to the VECTOR compound, Natasha infiltrates the government building. But she doesn’t get all the answers she is looking from, despite finding the scientist she was clued into by the thugs from the previous episode.
Episode Nine: Black Tie
This was a bit of a filler episode- Natasha and Barnes head to Geneva, Switzerland, to infiltrate a black-tie event that the philanthropist that might be behind the stolen blood will be at. They get fancy duds, look great and the chemistry between the two is obvious. That’s it.
Episode Ten: White Nights
This episode made up for the last one, with Natasha and Barnes meeting Holt, who was waiting for them despite all their precautions. Turns out he has been leaving breadcrumbs for them to follow so he could meet them, along with a certain associate that Natasha had dealt with earlier. A second wave of sickness prevents her from learning more.
Episode Eleven: The Carrot and the Stick
Scheduled to meet with Holt the next day, Natasha recovers enough for her and Barnes to head to his laboratory. Holt’s pleasant demeanor masks his ulterior methods as he leads them deep into his bunker to reveal his reason for taking these two soldier’s blood. Although they are wary, Natasha and Barnes want answers, but are they putting themselves at the mercy of Holt?
Episode Twelve: A Rock and a Hard Place
Bleh, it was the typical crap villain plot in which an evil leader wants to create a master race just minus the race and religion aspect of it. But then another villain gets into the action and chaos erupts.
Episode Thirteen: Fast and Dirty
Natasha and Barnes escape and use Holt’s state-of-the-art helicopter to chase down the parasite from being unleashed on the world. Of course, they know how to fly the helicopter- don’t all good spies and assassins know how to? They grudgingly agree to let Nick Fury in on the details and ask for his help.
Episode Fourteen: Friends in High Places
Natasha and Barnes locate the two trucks carrying the parasite in the Alps, and fight Viscose to prevent the parasite from being released into the world. While dealing with a realistic recovery afterward, the ending hints at further adventures…
This was a highly enjoyable podcast that I looked forward to weekly as new episodes dropped. Natasha was fleshed out, she wasn’t just some unrealistic superhero hottie who could win any battle and had a quip for every comment. Barnes was as much an unknown character to me as Natasha, so his involvement gave me some additional insight into him too. One thing that I very much appreciated in this story was the emphasis on Natasha’s friends in Chicago. Typically a loner because of her spy status she had allowed herself to make friends during her undercover job and missed them. A problem with so many books and movies is the lack of authentic female friendships, so their inclusion in the story was indeed refreshing (although the depth of their friendship in just two months was unrealistic). That these friendships were brought up in the last minutes, make me wonder what is in store for them, if and when a second season is produced. (Actual review 4.5/5) -
This review is for both Black Widow itself but also the Marvel Serial Box/Realm product in general.
For starters, the story on it’s own is fine. You could’ve cut out a few chapters and it probably would have been a little better but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It is a caper and it turns out to be what you’d expect. I thought it was cool to hear a story involving some familiar marvel characters being told in this fashion. The plot is a tad repetitive but wasn’t really my focus while I was listening. I wanted to imagine myself listening to a comic and picture it in my head in each scene, which brought a whole different feel than a typical audiobook. And I’d say that audio-comic style of execution was Black Widow’s biggest success.
From an audio production and sound design perspective, this story was actually very impressive. Action scenes have sound effects for punches and crashes and there are little atmospheric touches like distant sirens that convey more feeling and information than your typical audiobook. And it persists, but does not get in the way when, for instance, an entire section of a chapter takes place on a helicopter you hear the blade noise and are still focused on the story.
Black Widow was pretty good, but the potential for amazing stories in the Marvel universe to be told or adapted this way is my biggest takeaway here. They include some fun cameos but it is by no means a cast comprised of Marvel’s heaviest hitters. If they maintain this level of voice acting and audio work Marvel could literally dump out huge swaths of their catalog and I’d tune in for a lot of them. As it is now, this is a promising start, but I’d be much more excited to see some of their other characters get the Serial Box/Realm treatment. 3.5 stars -
Serial Box is doing a great job with these Marvel serials. They're using a great selection of diverse authors - two black women wrote about half of this one - and creating stories that feel like they could be part of the MCU without requiring the reader to have a ton of background information on the characters. These stories expect that you know who the characters are, but you don't have to have seen any of the movies or read their comics to enjoy them.
A lot of this one is Adventures of Bucky and Natasha, and I loved it. And I know a lot of people who really like the Winter Soldier who would probably also really like it. More Bucky and Nat, please. -
Marvel's Black Widow: Bad Blood is the third (but thankfully, not final!) Marvel series to hit Serial Box. I'm not ashamed to admit that I squealed a little bit when this series was announced, as I just knew that this format would do justice to her character.
Natasha Romanoff is no stranger to undercover jobs. But this time, the job has gotten into her head. So has somebody else. Something previous has been stolen from her – her blood – and now Natasha is determined to get it back.
Okay, she's also determined to make those that stole her blood pay. It's only fair, after all, there's no way they had good intentions in mind when they took her blood.
“For two months now, it had been home - or at least, home to Melanie Ardonia, the shy, quirky IT girl who was her cover - while Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, hunted.”
I cannot recommend Marvel's Black Widow: Bad Blood enough. I fell in love with this series from the very first episode, and found myself waiting eagerly each week for a new update. If you're a fan of Black Widow, then you're going to enjoy this story.
Having finished the season, all I can say is that I really hope that this was merely the first of many seasons. Because I am hooked. I love how human they made Natasha sound and feel over this adventure, all while presenting an adventure that felt larger than life.
There's a lot to enjoy from this adventure. There's action, tension, human elements, and even a fair amount of humor. It's all balanced in such a way as to make for a thrilling read (or listen, depending on your preference).
It all perfectly captured the character known as Black Widow, while creating something that is accessible to any and all fans. I'll confess that while I've adored each of the Marvel series that hit Serial Box (Thor, Jessica Jones), Black Widow will always hold a special place in my heart. Also, here's hoping that we'll get another season!
Check out more reviews over at
Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks -
She had always thought herself the spider at the center of a web.
Now she was the fly.
When I first heard of this book, I immediately got excited. A book about my beloved Natasha? and there was also an amazing audio version? I was in.
The book starts very strong. Natasha is undercover, and soon realizes that someone's stolen her blood. And whoever has it -her highly enhanced and modified DNA- is up to no good.
I liked the first moments, when she's not sure of who or why her blood was taken, until she finds Bucky, that helps her in her mission. But I wasn't sure why he was included, he added little to the plot.
The climax wasn't what I was expecting. In a way, I thought the villain was too simple for Natasha. That they had to power her down just to make her fit into this story.
Overall, it was a fun and short story that I would recommend to Black Widow fans, but also, Natasha's gotten better arcs in her comics. -
Black Widow is one of my favorite Marvel characters (after Captain America, of course), and this was a fun adventure through her point of view. The authors do an excellent job of writing the Black Widow's adventure so that the style itself seems as action-packed as the storyline.
While I'm a Romagers fan all the way, Natasha and Bucky's relationship was dynamic and touching at the same time. Natasha has always been an enigmatic but empathetic character, and seeing her with the equally mysterious Bucky who is dealing with something of a split personality between James and the Winter Soldier.
The 'season' ends in a cliff-hanger, and I look forward to picking up the adventure to see what happens next to our beloved characters- and hope that I get to see more cameos.
Note, there is some bad language and mature issues. I would rate the story PG-13.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, and the views and opinions are my own.
Review first published on my blog:
https://agencyofbooksandspies.blogspo... -
Black Widow is one of my favorite Marvel heroes, and I am glad she gets her own series through Serial Box. The acting was phenomenal, and the storyline fit right into the Marvel universe. What I enjoy is having the other Marvel characters show up without making it forced. The ones that do come into the storyline make sense and are used for the purpose of the storyline.
I hope that a season 2 comes out because there is so much you can do with this character! I also would suggest making the episodes a little longer if possible. I highly recommend! -
Oh, I really really enjoyed it! I always loved the idea of reading a comic story in the way of a novel (I took the ebook and not listened to the podcast, which I could also do now) , if it makes sense, and this one really delivered. It was equal part fun and heartbreak, the characters were carefully written and the action was well balanced. I wish there was more! ❤️
Also Nat and Bucky together are the absolute purest thing. Ever. -
Not bad, but the best parts are left in the periphery - I want more of Natasha interacting with her friends and juggling actual friendships while maintaining a cover identity. Which would really just be the best seasons of Alias I guess, but that wouldn't be a bad thing.
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Of the Serial Box (now Realm) marvel stories, i think this one has been the most bland. A spy thriller with Marvel themes. I did enjoy learning more of the back story between Black Widow and Winter Solider. They did leave it open for a sequel should be intersting.
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What the shit, Marvel? Couldn't you have cast a goddamn man for the male voices? This has so many bad voices🙄. Last 3 episodes are a huge mess. You do realise Marvel, that there is no CGI to lure mfs in here?😒
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This is 200% Natasha and Bucky angst. I loved this so very much.
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I liked it a lot more than I thought I would! Can't wait for season 2!
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I want more!
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DISCLAIMER: I was given a free season 1 pass from Serial Box
This was so so good!!! I listened to the last four episodes while either commuting to work or trying to fall asleep at night(to which caused me to not be able to sleep because it was so good!)
Really brought back all the winterwidow feels and absolutely dictated which of my funko pops I brought to my desk at my new job.
I wish the MCU gave us more Winter Soldier and Black Widow content but this helps loads.
