Captain America and Bucky #620 & Mighty Thor #4

Next up on the comic reviewing caravan, the first issue of the retitled Captain America series(now called Captain America and Bucky), and the Mighty Thor #4. I still don't get the title of that Cap book, but I'll get into that during the review...

Captain America and Bucky #620:

Summary: This issue is more or less a full-on origin story for Bucky. Bucky's father was in the army all his life and after his mother died, Bucky went on to live with his dad and his sister on various military bases. Bucky was constantly getting into fights, maybe because of his genetics(his father was a brawler when he was younger), maybe because he lost his mother at an early age, maybe both. The constant fighting would always leave Bucky's father disappointed, and Bucky would always promise he'd stop, although something would naturally get Bucky fighting again. One day however, Bucky's father didn't come back from maneuvers, and Bucky was told an accident had taken his old man's life. With that, Bucky's sister was sent away to a boarding school, while Bucky remained at the army camp where his father's friends could look after him. The fighting continued, but Bucky had managed to make friends with practically the entire base with his uncanny ability to score cigarettes and magazines for the soldiers. Eventually Bucky's brawling came to the attention of a general, who decided to send Bucky to England for some extensive hand-to-hand and weapons training. By then, Bucky was 16 and an expert fighter and marksman. It was then that he was introduced to Corporal Steve Rogers, you know, that Captain America guy. The general tells Bucky he'd be becoming Cap's partner, which is met by a resounding “Sir, yes sir!”. From there, Steve and Bucky head to Bucky's old childhood home where Steve gives Bucky his uniform, which Bucky quickly dons, ending this issue.

Thoughts: I really like Bucky. I mean A LOT. A lot as in he'd have an outside shot of breaking into the list of my top 5 Marvel characters. So now you have some idea as to just how much I like Bucky. With that said, this issue was a treat. I mean I've read the origin of Steve Rogers probably over a dozen times by now, but I think this was the first time I've ever read a comic book solely documenting Bucky's origin. I'd consider myself an expert in Captain America history, but I honestly didn't know Bucky had a sister! I wonder what ever became of her... So if you were to ask me if I enjoyed this issue, I'd respond with a hearty “YES!!” But there was a problem... It was kind of hard to read this issue with Bucky's apparent death still so fresh in my mind. As I was reading about the kid who'd wind up becoming the sixth official Captain America(Rogers, Naslund, Mace, Grand Director, US Agent, Bucky), I couldn't stop thinking about his totally senseless and needless death... This issue made me miss Bucky even MORE than I already did, which sucks, since he seems to be gone... Again. I'll definitely be picking up each and every issue of this series, but I must admit, I'll be reading it with a bit of a heavy heart...

Score: 9 out of 10.Poor, poor Bucky...


The Mighty Thor #4:

Summary: This issue gets underway with Loki heading to the three Weird Sisters to ask for assistance in saving Thor's life. The Weird Sisters ask for a lock of Sif's hair, which Loki provides them with(he stole it last issue), and after a day they produce three items that will, supposedly, save Thor. As for Thor, Odin and the rest of Asgard's warriors, they've confronted Galactus and the Silver Surfer in space. Galactus wants the seed from the World Tree, since it would be able to sate his appetite for hundreds of years, saving untold trillions, while Odin refuses to give it up. While the Asgardians battle cosmic demons created by Galactus, Odin and Galactus battle each other mentally, forcing each other to face painful memories from their respective pasts. As for Thor, he gets to take on the Surfer. Eventually Thor manages to lay a clean shot on Galactus, which angers the Surfer, who slams into Thor, crashing onto Mars with him. Thor shouts various threats at the Surfer, as Asgardians tend to do, and that's about it for this issue.

Thoughts: First things first, I want to say that I did like this issue... See, if I say that I'll save myself from people deriding me for NOT liking it. This comic was, as they say, a perfectly acceptable comic book, no more, no less... But see, that was kind of my problem with this issue... After the first three issues of this series, I was expecting more than an average comic book. Yes Thor and the Surfer battled. Yes the Asgardians battled Galactus's little demons. Yes Odin and Galactus fought... In a way... My problem was that nothing really happened here... This was more like a placeholder issue. I kind of get the feeling if you completely skipped this issue and read Mighty Thor #3 and then Mighty Thor #5, you wouldn't be all that confused. So yes, this was a good issue, but I would have liked some more story advancement.

Score: 7 out of 10.Thor has some nerve telling anybody else to shut up!