Captain America and Bucky #624:
Summary: This issue gives us a glimpse into the early life of Bucky as the Winter Soldier and his relationship with Black Widow. Bucky helped train Widow and others who were meant to infiltrate America as Soviet spies, but he took a special interest in Widow, and vice-versa. Although Widow was married to the Red Guardian, it didn't stop her and Bucky from becoming romantically involved, which was something the Kremlin was not happy to see. The breaking point came when Bucky was sent to West Berlin to assassinate a Soviet defector. Bucky was ready to snipe the defector, but was taken by surprise when the man's young daughter ran over to hug him, which caused Bucky to pull the shot and hit the defector in the shoulder. The man and his daughter naturally run, with Bucky in pursuit. Bucky is soon joined by Black Widow, who was on the scene as back-up if need be. The two wind up cornering the man and his daughter in an alley, and while Black Widow took the girl away, Bucky finished the assassination. Back at the Kremlin, Bucky yelled at his superiors for not giving him all the information concerning the case, such as the fact that the defector had a daughter. After dismissing Bucky, the Soviets realize Bucky was slowly breaking through the mental conditioning they did to him, and decide to put him in stasis between missions, figuring that would keep him under their thumb. From there we get a quick version of how Bucky was freed from his Soviet conditioning thanks to Captain America and a Cosmic Cube, and discover that all of the stories from the past few issues were actually coming from Bucky himself(!). Before heading away with Black Widow, he stopped by to see his sister, who had Alzheimer's, and told her all about his life, wanting to let her know what he'd been up to since he hadn't seen her for so many years, as well as knowing that she'd forget everything he said to her in the end. With that, Bucky leaves the hospital with Black Widow and this issue ends.
Thoughts: This was a pretty good comic. I enjoyed the Winter Soldier stuff, and liked seeing that Bucky and Widow always had an attraction... It does make me wonder if she ever suspected who he really was(I mean she's not stupid), and if she did, why she never pulled Cap aside to tell him his thought to be dead sidekick was possibly working for the Soviets. The reveal at the end that Bucky was telling all of these stories to his sister was a nice touch, and was the last thing he did before hitting the road for the upcoming Winter Solider series. With all of this out of the way though, I wonder where this series goes from here... I guess I'll find out next issue.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Ah... So that's who Bucky's been telling these stories to!
This was a pretty solid issue. I am excited to get a new artist though. I don't hate the art by any means, but Bucky looks diferent in every other panel it seemed. Hoping the winter soldier art is stellar in 2012 though!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually more worried about the story itself than the art, Cap! At least in this series. We know Winter Soldier is in the best hands it can possibly be in, but with Brubaker stepping back and taking a consultant role with this series, I'm hoping it doesn't suffer too greatly from the switch.
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