Captain America & Bucky #623

Next up, the only comic book where I can get myself a Bucky fix... Sure, it's great that even though he's currently dead I can still read about Bucky, but what I'd really like is to read about Bucky starring in a current Marvel book, you know, not dead... But Marvel has done right by me these past several months, so I'm still holding out hope that Bucky returns soon.

Captain America & Bucky #623:

Summary: As this issue gets underway, we find Bucky and Toro listlessly roaming around an army camp since Captain America and the Human Torch had been called back to the States to speak to the president. Bucky and Toro wind up spying on an army meeting where they learn that an American spy had been captured and was being held in a Nazi “prison camp”... Bucky decides that he wanted to go and rescue the captive spy, while Toro doesn't exactly like the idea of rushing off without their older partners. Ultimately Bucky gets his way and the two boys manage to sneak up on two Nazis, beat them up and swipe their uniforms. Bucky tells Toro to stay outside the camp since a) he couldn't speak German like Bucky could, and b) he'd serve as Bucky's getaway. Bucky manages to gain access to the camp with little trouble and after some sneaking around finds which building the American was being held. Unfortunately the Nazi guarding the door doesn't believe Bucky's story, so Bucky has to deck him before entering. Bucky manages to take down the Nazis guarding the American, but ends up getting trapped in the building since some Nazis had seen what he did to the guard outside. Bucky manages to blow up one of the walls in the building and gets outside with the American spy, but ends up coming face to face with several famished looking figures, which shocks Bucky. By now the Nazis have arrived at Bucky's position which forces Toro to take action and rush to Bucky's aid. While fighting the Nazis, Bucky comes across a mass grave filled with dozens of half decayed corpses, at which time Bucky finally realizes just how inhuman the Nazis were. Now in a rage, Bucky begins to tear through the camp, slaughtering Nazis left and right, wiping out every Nazi at his location. Toro implores Bucky to leave, since the Nazis would have reenforcement at that location in no time, and that they had completed their primary mission, rescuing the American spy. Bucky looks back at the occupants of the concentration camp and promises to return to liberate them, but things don't quite work out that way as Bucky is eventually blown up on Baron Zemo's experimental aircraft and fished out of the sea by the Soviets.

Thoughts: This was a pretty powerful story. I mean as Bucky and Toro approached what they believed was a simple POW camp, they were confused by the fact that it was raining ash in that area... Immediately that told me what kind of a camp the two were really approaching, but for Bucky, he naturally would have no idea where the ash originated from... Bucky's reaction to what he saw in the camp, as his horror/shock/disgust/rage grew was perfectly captured here, both in story and pictures. I mean seriously, I can't imagine what one would think when faced with something as monstrous as the inside of a concentration camp, but I'd have to say that Ed Brubaker and Marc Andreyko did a great job of depicting how Bucky would react in such a situation. Another thing I really want to mention before I forget is how awesome Chris Samnee's artwork was in this issue. His art gave this issue the PERFECT retro/Golden Age of comics feel, so I tip my hat to Samnee's work here. The aftermath of Bucky's trip to the camp was well done too, as he was haunted by nightmares of the people he was forced to leave behind. This issue ended the “Bucky in WWII” portion of this series, as the next issue takes us to Bucky's early Winter Soldier days. After that, I'm not sure where this series will go... Maybe Bucky's days as Cap? Or maybe, just maybe, it will be revealed that Bucky is alive and well in the present(thus explaining how Bucky was narrating these stories) at which point this series can switch over to a Bucky in the present series... Hey, a guy can dream, right? Let's face it, the narration by Bucky can only mean one of two things, a) that Bucky IS alive and telling these stories, or b) that he is dead and somebody is listening to recordings he made detailing his early days... Here's hoping we find out some time VERY soon that “a” is the answer...

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Here's hoping you see this picture... Damn Blogger...