Fear Itself: Captain America #7.1:
Summary: We get things started with Nick Fury entering the apartment of Steve Rogers(Captain America), who was preparing the eulogy for Bucky Barnes. Nick tells Cap that he had something important to tell him, but he wasn't exactly sure how to go about it... With that, we have a flashback to right after Bucky was killed by Sin in Fear Itself #4. As Bucky is being flown away from the battlefield on an army aircraft, the army medics manage to get a slight pulse in Bucky, and tell Black Widow that if she had any last words to say to him, now would be the best time for them. Fury, who was also aboard the plane, says nuts to that and tells the pilot to fly to a secret SHIELD location. Once there, Fury shows Black Widow a Bucky LMD(that would be a Life Model Decoy, which is something that looks exactly like a person), and tells her that he was willing to give Bucky the rest of his Infinity Formula, which could possibly bring Bucky back to life... Fury tells the Widow that if they were to go through with this, nobody could know, since what the world needed during the Fear Itself events was Steve Rogers as Captain America, rallying the troops and taking the fight to the Serpent, and Bucky's “death” would be a sure way to get that to happen. Widow agrees to not tell another soul and Fury orders his doctors to administer the Formula to Bucky. Two days pass and Bucky wakes up, much to the Black Widow's relief(and mine as well!!). And that brings us back to the present. After hearing this story from Fury, Cap attacks him and begins to beat the hell out of him for lying to him about the fate of his best friend. Cap finally pulls away from Fury when Bucky and Widow enter the room which quickly calms things down. From there, the quartet decide to keep Bucky's return to life a secret, since that would take care of the whole “Bucky as a fugitive” troubles that Bucky was going through before Fear Itself began. Fury tells Cap that Bucky would be working in the shadows again, which angers Cap, but is what Bucky needs right now. With that, Cap heads off to Bucky's memorial service, and Bucky heads off to take care of some business that was left over from his Winter Soldier days.
Thoughts: Wooooooooooo!!!!!!! Yes, Bucky is BACK! What other thoughts could I possibly have about this comic book? Bucky never should have “died” during Fear Itself in the first place, but now that he's back, and Steve is back as Cap, I guess all is right in the world again. I'll be honest with you, I did NOT expect Bucky to come back here... I was always hoping that he'd come back, but I figured Marvel would string things out for a while first. So imagine my surprise, and yes, elation when I read this comic and Bucky came to in Fury's secret hospital. What more can I add? One of my top five favorite comic book characters came back from the dead, in a story that made sense and is getting an ongoing series in a few month's time... This comic, for me, was perfect.
Score: 10 out of 10.
Yes.
hope black widow stays a consistant presence in buckys life in the coming series
ReplyDeleteOMG what if down the road bucky/winter solider becomes a member of the secret avengers
and with remmnider gonna be writing it i can say without chuckling that that is a good thing
Totally agreed with BW. I really like their relationahip. They fit together so damn well. As for Bucky on the Secret Avengers, I seriously wish it would happen, but with Bucky now being in the background and with only three people knowing he was alive, idk if it'll happen... But man, Remender writing Bucky in SA would be sweet.
ReplyDeleteThis made my day. He has risen to be one of my favorite characters ever.
ReplyDeleteHow could you not know Bucky was not dead? Seriously. It is Marvel. I knew from the time he was 'killed' that he wasn't dead. It is Marvel Comics. Common guys.
ReplyDeleteAgreed all the way, Godwell. I know a lot of Marvel fans were angry about Bucky's death when it went down(myself included), so now is a time for all of us fans to breathe a sigh of relief.
ReplyDeleteOookay then my anonymous friend... It's kind of understood that any character in any company(let's not just paint Marvel into THAT boat, they ALL do it) is not really dead, since any fictional character can always come back. But until THIS issue came out, Bucky was indeed dead(or as dead as a fictional character could get). This issue just fixed that little misstep. So for fans of Bucky, this was a good comic.
One of the best comics I have read in a long time. I can't say that I was in love with Bucky being Cap at first, as I am a big Steve Rogers fan. But he really grew on me, so much that I didn't even realize how much I liked Bucky until he was killed in Fear Itself. This was a fantastic issue and a great direction for the character.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could have put it better myself, JK. This here was the Ed Brubaker I can't get enough of. I mean when I first got into the Captain America comics, naturally Steve was the Cap I read about. I hated when Steve died, and was lukewarm about Bucky taking over the Cap mantle, because really, how could anybody replace Steve? As the months rolled on and Bucky continued as Cap, he just seemed to fit the role... So much so I was glad to see Steve leave the Cap mantle with Bucky upon his return(I'd have been fine with a Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier ongoing and a Bucky Cap series). And then Bucky died... In a terribly inglorious fashion... And all of the Avengers kind of shrugged their shoulders and were like, "Meh, Bucky's dead, but at least Steve's Cap again!" That's why I loved this issue so much, it undid that horrid death... If I had one complaint though, it's that Bucky is going to use the Winter Soldier name, which is pretty tarnished... I'd have gone with something like Nomad, but hey, so long as Bucky's back I don't care WHAT he calls himself!
ReplyDeleteYES YES YES! I hope he wears the winter soldier unifrom with some slight modifications. Will be pulling this immediately! Buck is so cool! Rumor has it that the cap and bucky series is supposed to tie-in to present day too!?! who knows?! hopefully some sweet background stuff. Also, I told you brubaker would NOT let bucky die wihout even so much as a send off!
ReplyDeleteGoing into this issue, Cap, I figured THIS was going to be the send off! You know, Brubaker saying good-bye to Bucky and firmly re-establishing Steve as Cap. I don't know if you saw it, but Movieartman sent me a link in the Avengers Academy post that has an interview with Brubaker where he talks about Bucky and the upcoming Winter Soldier series(which is set for FEB!!!). Yes, come Wednesday, the first words out of my mouth upon entering the comic shop will be: "I have a new series I need to add to my pull list..." :D
ReplyDeleteOMG, I immediately went to Midtown Comics' website to put this subscription on my list. SO FREAKIN' EXCITED. I can't believe how great of an issue it was. I had guessed from Internet chatter that Bucky returned, but I'm so impressed with the way Brubaker makes it happen. He really made me belive that they killed Bucky on purpose to set up the "Winter Soldier" series that we all knew was coming at the end of "Gulag." If "Fear Itself" was what Marvel needed to bring us the "Winter Soldier" series, than I can live with it! Thank God we don't have to wait until "Captain America" #700 for him to return, which is what I was expecting!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you finally got your hands on this one, JW. You were one of the few big Bucky fans who I hadn't heard from either on this post, my e-mail or some other post. When this issue dropped, and I read it, I was SO excited I had to post something about it BEFORE I even posted the review for this comic. In over three years of doing this blog, that's like the first time I did that... THAT'S how excited I was by this comic!
ReplyDeleteSame. From what I read from Brubaker(in some interview) first off, he seemed so happy that he didn't have to keep this a secret any longer, which made me chuckle a bit, and like you said, he seemed to have planned this all along to get to a Winter Soldier series. Bucky was going to "die" at the end of the Gulag, but he simply shifted it to Fear Itself to add some extra drama to Marvel's "big" event, which was pretty cool of him to do.
And you KNOW that when I stepped in the comic shop last Wednesday, the FIRST thing I did after picking up my new books was to add Winter Soldier! Seriously, out of the two characters who died in the Fear Itself event, Bucky was the one who I could see drifting off to Limbo for some time to come. So him coming back already? That made my month!
Interesting stuff about Brubaker, thanks for sharing. I just remember thinking at the end of "Gulag," "OMG, the 'Winter Soldier' series they're clearly establishing here is going to be SO COOL." Hence, my rage over "Fear Itself" #3. I'm glad we now all get to forget about that debacle and find ourselves where we should've been all along!
ReplyDeleteI'm also hoping they don't make the whole "How long will Bucky survive on the Infinity Formula?" question part of the series. I've found the "How long will it be before Flash goes crazy?" schtick in "Venom" got old really, really fast, and I hope Brubaker avoids that trap entirely. Fingers crossed. I cannot WAIT for this series.
Yep, if nothing else, I'll be able to read my Fear Itself back issues without flying into a rage when I get up to FI #3! :D
ReplyDeleteI didn't get the impression that the Infinity Formula was going to make Bucky go crazy or anything, but yeah, I definitely hope that doesn't happen... I can't see Brubaker pulling that, we've already had crazy/brainwashed Bucky, we really don't need crazy Bucky to return in the pages of Winter Soldier. Feb can't get here soon enough if you ask me!