Captain America #47

Overall- I'm going to review this comic book now. I won't be able to do it full justice, because I'm just not that skilled a writer and this comic was amazingly good. Before I start, allow me to re-emphasise what I've been saying for over three years now, Ed Brubaker is THE best writer Marvel has working for them. Why the people who run Marvel give BRIAN BENDIS the keys to the kingdom, I'll never know, because to be perfectly honest with you, and I mean this deep down to my core, Ed Brubaker is 100 times the writer BENDIS is. I'm not saying that to throw more dirt on BENDIS, I truly mean that.

Alright enough of the love fest, here's the review. Last issue we discover that several years ago, while Bucky was still under the thumb of his Soviet masters, he murdered the wife of a Chinese scientist in a botched assassination attempt on the scientist himself. Now, the same scientist, Prof. Chin, who is easily pushing 80, has captured the remains of Bucky's old World War II ally, the original Human Torch. Chin is pretty much the embodiment of a mad scientist, as he has pretty much dedicated his long life to creating bio-weapons and such. Bucky dresses as the Winter Soldier and runs around Taipei City(which is where Chin is based), basically trying to get Chin's attention.

Chin is somewhat puzzled as to why Bucky is dressed as the Winter Soldier, as opposed to his current Captain America identity, but sends practically every man he has available after Bucky to capture him, which is actually Bucky's plan. Allow me to explain. Bucky isn't alone on this mission, he has brought Namor, another old WWII ally with him to act as back-up. Bucky figures Chin would want to personally dispose of the Winter Soldier. When Bucky gets captured, Namor can then make the save, rescuing both Bucky and the Human Torch's remains. Sounds like a great plan right? Well it would have been, had Namor not gotten captured as well!

So, Chin now has both Bucky and Namor trapped, and Bucky discovers why Chin wanted the remains of the original Torch. Chin was able to use the Torch's remains to create a virus that when inhaled by a human causes them to burst into flames, which I would imagine is quite the painful way to die. With Bucky and Namor captured, the Black Widow, Bucky's "best friend", is left trying to figure out a way to free the both of them while destroying this Torch virus.

Whew. What a wild ride this comic was! There was so much about it that I really enjoyed. In particular, the scene where Prof. Chin visits the imprisoned Bucky was just excellently done. Chin's reaction to Bucky's apology was masterfully done, and proves once again why Ed is one of the best writers in the comic book industry today. Once again, Ed had Namor's personality down perfectly, unlike certain other writers, and the scenes with the Black Widow were also extremely well done. The only complaint I had about this comic was that Namor was captured off panel, but other than that, this comic book was flawless. For a score, I'm happy to give this issue a 10 out of 10. I hate to throw out too many 10 scores around, but this issue really deserved it. Buy this comic book. Read this series. You'll thank me for it.