Marvel's Black Widow from Spy to Superhero

“Ginn’s collection of nine excellent essays explores the comic book and cinema portrayal of Black Widow of the Avengers franchise by showcasing a superheroine who uses her language as a weapon, inverts gender roles, and combines both masculine and feminine character traits in order to exemplify a woman who is brave, brazen, and ‘badass.’”—Richard J. Gray II, Associate Professor of French, Ashland University; “Until Marvel finally makes a Black Widow movie, Sherry Ginn gives fans the next best thing: compelling, historically grounded essays that examine the character over 50 years of comics, film, merchandise, and fandom.”—Tara Prescott, editor of Neil Gaiman in the 21st Century; “Ginn has made Black Widow central to the entire Marvel project and has done so in an insightful and readable fashion. Black Widow has long been among the more important superheroes, and Ginn brings together essays that assess the character’s significance that all popular culture scholars will relish. Marvel has been guilty of underplaying the character of Black Widow...one can only hope they read this book as Ginn brings together essays that convince the reader of her importance.”—Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, Exploring the Next Frontier: Vietnam, NASA, Star Trek and Utopia in 1960s and 1970s American Myth and History.