Creative Staff:
Story: Ales Kot
Art: Marco Rudy
What They Say:
Following the death of the Watcher, what becomes of Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier? Find out in this new ongoing adventure!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Bucky Barnes has not had an easy history. Starting off as Captain America’s teen sidekick during WWII, he was killed in duty and stayed that way for the better part of 60+ years. Then, in 2005, Ed Brubaker penned what became one of the most popular and renowned Captain America story lines (Captain America Vol. 5) and introduced comic audiences to the Winter Soldier, Soviet super assassin who always happened to be a brainwashed Bucky Barnes. Since his reintroduction, Bucky had his memories restored, took up the mantle of Captain America as a result of events in Marvel’s Civil War, became Winter Soldier again this time fighting for good (as close as Bucky can anyway), and in the last year of comics was reunited with the love of his life, Natasha Romanoff, only to lose her when an old enemy resurfaced and erased all memories of him from her mind. We last left off with Bucky in Marvel’s Original Sin event, where he has inherited the title of Man on the Wall from the now deceased Nick Fury.
Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier picks up where Original Sin left off, with Bucky recruiting former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director on the run Daisy Johnson to be his partner in protecting Earth from intergalactic and extra dimensional threats. The issue opens with Bucky about to be transfigured into a harmless creature by the leaders of Syro for being the only person on the planet with killing thoughts. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t check the dark side of their third moon, where Daisy is hiding out with one impression gun. She takes out the leader of the planet, surmising that Syro posed an unknown threat to Earth. The book then flashes back to Bucky recruiting Daisy as a partner and eventually the two help Namor take down underwater drug smugglers in the Marianas Trench, leading to some cheeky dialogue on Bucky’s part when confronted with the fact that Namor has more than one lady friend.
Marco Rudy’s art is dream-like and bordering on a gentle acid trip. Heavy on watercolor imagery and a lot of panels in monochromatic coloring, it adds to the otherworldliness of the book’s settings and adds to a hazy feeling, not unlike Bucky’s current status. He doesn’t know what he wants to do in life, so he throws himself in taking up Fury’s work, trusting his legacy completely. Emotionally, Bucky often seems to walk in a sunken dream, with his connections to the world slipping away and always never quite settled in one place or one team, but he muddles on and focuses on his missions, still carrying a sense of humor coupled with the weariness and sadness.
In Summary:
It’s a common sentiment amongst Bucky fans that he’s one of the most operatically tragic Marvel characters and doesn’t really seem to get happy endings these days, so it’ll be interesting to see where this run goes now that Bucky is operating on the intergalactic level. Will he continue to cut all ties to Earth? Will he and Natasha ever be reunited or is that door closed for good? Will he find his place in the universe?
There are no answers yet, only questions right now but this series is off to a good start getting us there, and it’s nice to see the Winter Soldier have a solo title again after last year’s Winter Soldier run ended woefully too soon and Winter Soldier: The Bitter March was far too short of a limited run. Let’s hope this one isn’t cancelled after nineteen issues.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: October 1st, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
