Natasha has decided to start fresh in San Francisco. She's really good at moving around and blending in. Being a super-spy in the highly dangerous Marvel Universe, she HAS to be good at that. Being a spy, though, nat's not terribly good at keeping a stable lifestyle. She learns a bit more about this in Black Widow #9. Writer Kelly Thompson continues Black Widow's adventures in San Francisco with art by Elena Casagrande. The struggle to keep everything together begins to falter as the thralls of the sinister Apogee emerge. Natasha has done much to attempt to build a new life for herself. Now she must defend that life.

Natasha's protégée Lucy is dealing with issues stemming from entanglements with the dark guru named Apogee. The super-spy and her associates are working like hell to try to figure out the origin of the powers of Olio, but time is running out. Natasha and Apogee directly clash for the first time, with the fate of San Francisco hanging in the balance. Struggling primarily on her own in a city that she's mostly foreign with, Black Widow is in over her head in a life and death struggle that will put her stability to the test.

Thompson gives the story huge bursts of percussive energy that give the super-spy a real physical challenge. The opening fight between Natasha and a horde of well-dressed thugs happens over the nearly dead body of Yelena the White Widow. It's a very dark scene on which to open the issue. Still, Thompson does an outstanding job of modulating the energy from sweeping action scenes to more intense moments of interpersonal drama. The flow of action from one scene to the next feels very organic and well-conceived, even if the overall substance of the conflict remains shrouded in mystery. Apogee still has yet to become terribly clear as a villain.

Casagrande brings the action to the page with greater clarity than she has in issues past. There's a greater focus on the precision of kinetic movement in physical conflict. Allowing the panels to deliver more of the movement than she has in the past couple of issues. It makes for a much more dynamic experience with the action. The drama feels as intense as it ever has with Casagrande, as the subtlest changes in Natasha's expressions speak way more than she does in any dialogue balloon or caption box. 

Thompson and Casagrande are delivering a lot of story in this issue, but the balance between detail and action is a bit difficult to come to terms with. It's hard to feel much of what Natasha is fighting for as so little of her current life has really been brought to the page. Granted, it IS only starting to assert itself. Still, the breakneck pace of the action compromises the power of what's going on...and it's causing issues that might be serious further down the line if some level of stability isn't brought to the page.

Grade: B