*Marvel: The latest sensation in our weekly Mighty Marvel Firsts event! In 1964, the adventures of Iron Man were enlivened by the appearance of the lovely but lethal Natasha Romanoff, code-named the Black Widow, one of the Kremlin’s deadliest operatives. Originally an appealing but unoriginal femme fatale in modern dress, inspired by Caniff’s Dragon Lady and other Mata Hari wannabes, Natasha proved surprisingly adaptable, allying herself first with the second Crimson Dynamo (also premiering in this issue) and later Hawkeye, and trading her cocktail dress and veil for the first of many costumed ‘looks’ as she switchbacked from villainess to heroine, culminating, of course, in her on-screen embodiment by Scarlett Johansson in the Avengers and other Marvel movies. This issue is where ‘Tasha’s career kicked off, and it’s a beauty; cents copy with no pence stamp or overprint, flexible white interiors, firm staples at cover and centrefold, deep cover colour and gloss, minimal corner and edge wear. The only flaw is a sadly unremovable label with the previous owner’s name and address at the upper left corner, so David R. Ward of Lebanon, Connecticut, if you’re still out there, shame on you. If it wasn’t for that, this would be an easy VF or better, but as it is, we are grading it as FN-, with a price of £225.