Best of the Rest! April 3rd edition.

Hey X-Maniacs, X here to start another Best of the Rest post.  As always, I'll toss a few reviews out there, and then my erstwhile lackey, JT, will add a few reviews.  JT's reviews will have blue text.  And yeah, enough talk, let's knock these reviews out.

Indestructible Hulk #6: Bruce and his science crew use some uru Thor lent SHIELD(that's weird...) to find some mysterious element in Jotunheim(where the Frost Giants lurk).  Thor from the past shows up(wha?!) as do Frost Giants.  Bruce hulks up, and all of this leads to Hulk lifting Thor's hammer...  Yeah, under no circumstances should Hulk ever lift Thor's hammer.  So I'm guessing either a) the hammer rose because it was heading back to Thor, or b) this is a wacky alternate dimension where anybody can lift the hammer.  Regardless, this issue seemed kind of average-ish to me.  With Mark Waid and Walter Simonson, I was expecting more than this.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Stormwatch #19: What the HELL happened to this comic?!  Ugh...  This issue was horrible, and nearly impossible to figure out...  Some aliens kill Adam One at the beginning of time(?), which alters reality(you'd think DC would shy away from doing THAT...), leading to Stormwatch being called Skywatch. with (some) different members.  It was a mess and it ended with a Lobo appearance.  So yeah, I hated it and hope that Jim Starlin rights this ship really fast.  This used to be my favorite DC comic...  Score: 3 out of 10.

Hypernaturals #10: We seem to be inching ever closer to finding out that Sublime was right and that the Quantinuum AI may just be up to no good.  Or maybe it's just trying to protect humanity...  Regardless, Sublime has had more than enough of working with the Hypernaturals and takes off.  As for Evil Sublime, he's attacking Thinkwell's homeworld.  So yeah, I finally managed to read this series, from issue #1-10, and I liked it.  DnA doing a space tale is always a good thing, and this series is no different.  Sublime is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine too.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Venom #33: This issue revolves around Toxin(Eddie Brock) battling against the mysterious(still unnamed!) cannibal from last issue.  The cannibal escapes from Toxin and ends up running into Venom.  This one ends with Venom knocking the cannibal out and coming face-to-face with Toxin.  Which is what I've been waiting for!!  This issue proved something important to me...  If Cullen Bunn stays away from all the demonic and supernatural junk, he CAN write a good Venom series!  He proved it with the U-Foes and he proved it again here.  Eddie vs a cannibal?  Flash vs the cannibal?  Flash vs Eddie?  Yes, please!  Here's hoping Bunn stays away from demons and lets Flash face the types of threats you'd expect a spider-family member to face.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Winter Soldier #17: So yeah, some stuff happens and this issue ended...  *sigh* Fine, I'll try a bit harder than that...  Nick Fury's disembodied head tells Bucky to go after the Electric Ghost, who went all Super-Joker and committed like 57 terrorist acts in one day.  Bucky ends up going to the Ghost's satellite(wait, what?!) and is defeated by her.  Oh yeah, and Bucky's elderly sidekick, Robards, defeats a mini-MODOK off panel because why not.  Yep, I'm done with this series.  This comic was as bad as anything I've read all year, and I'm not gonna waste my money anymore.  Bucky, you deserve so much better than this...  Hopefully this book gets cancelled and a better writer gets a new series down the road.  Score: 0 out of 10.  The first imperfect score in quite some time...

Ultimate X-Men #25: Jean heads to Utopia because Kitty is an arrogant bitch in Jean's mind and shouldn't be leading the mutant people.  Amen, Jean!!!  Besides that, Jimmy is plotting with Warpath from Mach 2's crew and Psylocke is plotting against Mach 2.  So basically, we have a 4 way power struggle brewing between Kitty, Mach 2, Jean and Psylocke...  Um, couldn't there be ONE male character trying to take leadership of Utopia?!  I mean, FOUR women are vying for the throne!?  Very, very weird...  Needless to say, I'm in Jean's corner, because Evil Jean is awesome.  Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.

Green Lantern #19: We pick things up with Hal Jordan who now inexplicably looks exactly like Geoff Johns for some stupid ass reason still in Black Hand's ring as he contemplates his next move. Sinestro's returned to Korugar to get help from his people to take on the First Lantern, but he shows up and feeds off of their emotions. When Sinestro manages to save his people, the First Lantern changes it so he didn't, cause he can change time or something. Anyway, The First Lantern destroys Korugar, leaving Sinestro floating through space and his planet's debris when he finds himself in front of his Yellow Lantern. Also, Hal decides to kill himself while in the ring so he can wield the Black Hand's Black Lantern powers, so he flings himself off a cliff. Well, I hated this. I don't know much about the lantern because I refuse to follow GL Corps, New Guardians and Red Lanterns to keep up with this storyline. The way he changed it so Sinestro lost after winning was a giant screw you to the readers, and it looks like Sinestro will be wielding fear again. Plus, Geoff Jordan annoys me... how do you just randomly change Hal to a pudgy faced Geoff Johns? Ugh. Score: 2/10 only because Geoff Jordan killed himself.

Green Arrow #19: After the odd cliffhanger of Ollie falling to his death in the last issue, we see Ollie survives (SHOCKING!!!) and engages Komodo in battle. Surprisingly, Oliver manages to get the drop on Komodo, but Oliver is suddenly shot with an arrow by Komodo's daughter. Komodo's unhappy about her showing up and Ollie uses the distraction of her and the police to get away. The issue ends with Oliver being picked up by his newest tech guy and pulling an arrow out of his leg before blacking out in pain. This issue fell flat for me, the first two issues started out promising but Komodo and his daughter and the mystery of Oliver's longtime dead dad is not keeping me interested. I'll probably give this series one more issue and if things don't turn around I'll end up dropping it. Score: 4/10

And that's it for this week's Best of the Rest post! I had a few books I wanted to include but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, so ah well. Due to my busy schedule, X is going to post a scan or something tomorrow since the only two books I've read and planned on reviewing were better as blurbs than full reviews. Anyway, til next time, this is JT and his erstwhile lackey X, signing off!

Winter Soldier #16

One final review for ol' X and it's time for another New Comic Day.  Now, normally I try to do two reviews a night, but this week?  Man did I end up getting some sucky books!  And I'm not talking about books that were bad but fun to review/blast, but just plain bad...  So yeah, I'm gonna push this review out as quick as possible and then move on to next week and hopefully better books!

Winter Soldier #16: 

Summary: Bucky and his sidekick, Joe Robards, head out to an island to find a little girl who Bucky took in for the KGB back during his Winter Soldier days.  Meanwhile, a retired Nick Fury talks to Maria Hill about Bucky and does some fishing.  Bucky has Joe drop him off at the island, called The Orphanage.  The Orphanage was used to train children to be be soldiers and Bucky suspected the KGB sent the girl he was looking for there a few years back.  However, upon arriving, Bucky discovers that the children had overthrown The Orphanage's leaders and were running around Lord of the Flies style.  After some fighting, Bucky learns that the girl he was looking for had graduated from The Orphanage a while back but had recently returned, killing all of the "teachers".  So basically, Bucky is back to square one in his search for the girl, now called the Electric Ghost.

Thoughts: Bad, bad, bad...  That just about sums up my thoughts on this one.  I don't know why we're supposed to care about anybody in this series...  That's one of the things Ed Brubaker did such a magnificent job with here, he made me care about Bucky, and Black Widow, and hell, even Agent Sitwell!  Here though, I don't have any reason to care about Robards.  Or this Electric Ghost character...  The story is all over the place and I don't feel a connection to the characters...  That is a recipe for me dropping this series...

Score: 2 1/2 out of 10

Hey look, Bucky is beating up some guy!

Winter Soldier #15

And it's my final review day before it's New Comic Day!  Two reviews on tap for tonight, the first being the now Brubaker-less Winter Soldier.  Jason Latour is taking over from the incomparable Ed Brubaker, and has impossibly large shoes to fill.  Here's hoping Latour can keep at least half the magic Brubaker brought to this series.

Winter Soldier #15

Summary: This issue gets started with Bucky wallowing in a bar in Croatia.  It seems he went there to confess some of his crimes to a man the Soviet's had him screw over several years ago.  That went poorly and left Bucky as the only conscious person in the bar...  At least until Nick Fury walks in.  That's Nick Fury Sr, fyi.  Fury wonders why Bucky was drawing attention to himself when he was supposed to be playing dead, and Bucky says something about needing to confront his past before he can face his future...  Okay...  Bucky then says he didn't want to lose himself in somebody else's missions anymore, which is why he broke from SHIELD.  So Fury naturally tells Bucky he had a mission for Bucky...  And Bucky accepts it!  Basically, a deep undercover SHIELD agent has been working with Hydra for the past 30 some-odd years.  Bucky(back in his brainwashed Soviet days) killed the guy's handler, so he'd been on his own since then.  Except now he's finally had enough and walked into a Hydra-run casino and gunned down several high-level Hydra operatives.  Bucky's job is to extract him.  Bucky gets to the old guy with little trouble, but quickly discovers that the faction of Hydra that was trying to kill the old guy dabbled in black magic and just wouldn't die.  It takes some teamwork from Bucky and the old guy, but eventually they defeat the undead Hydra menace.  The old guy tries to sucker punch Bucky(because he's drunk or angry or old or something), but Bucky counters and knocks the old guy out.  The old guy vomits and passes out, and this issue ends with Bucky helping him away.

Thoughts: Well, that sure wasn't what I was hoping for...  Unlike some fans, I went into this comic with the highest of hopes.  I mean, yes I'm a huge Brubaker mark and all, but I was more than willing to give Latour a shot.  And so far?  I'm feeling a lot less optimistic...  So Bucky wants to do his own thing after working with SHIELD for a while.  Understandable.  If that's the case, why does he immediately take on Nick Fury Sr's list o' tasks?!  Weird...  And the main mission in this issue, with the old guy?  It just didn't click for me.  Here's hoping Latour just needed to get a bad issue out of the way before bringing his A-game...

Score: 4 out of 10.

Damn did Fury look OLD in this issue!

Winter Soldier #14... Ed Brubaker's final issue...

So this is it...  This is Ed Brubaker's final issue of Winter Soldier...  After I put this comic down, there will be no more Brubaker writing Captain America or Winter Soldier ..  That's going to hurt...  A lot...  To put in perspective how much I love Brubaker's Captain America run(which brought us the Winter Soldier), I consider Brubaker's Cap run the greatest run, by any comic writer, on any comic series, ever.  And just by taking a gander at the number of reviews I've done here at the blog should tell you that I've read A LOT of comic books written by A LOT of writers...  And Brubaker's Cap run is arguably my favorite.  And this is his swan song...  After this issue, Winter Soldier is being taken over by Jason Latour, who I only know from that abysmal A+X #4(review for that coming Saturday)...  Needless to say, I am going to desperately miss Brubaker's take on Bucky...  Probably more than I'll miss Brubaker's take on Cap himself!  I mean before Brubaker, Bucky was one of the Big Three...  Along with Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy, he was one of the characters I never expected to be brought back to life.  He had served his purpose, he was Cap's sidekick, he died.  What more was there to do with him?  Well, Brubaker showed us there was A LOT more that could be done with Bucky, and crafted one of the greatest comic stories I've ever read with his original Winter Soldier storyarc.  And then, he seamlessly worked Bucky into the mainstream Marvel U, after Bucky had been gone since the 1940's!!  AND turned Bucky into one of my favorite characters to boot!  Amazing...  So yeah, reading this comic is going to be bittersweet for me...  Ah well, I'll always have the back issues.  So without further ado, I should probably open this comic and end this era...

Winter Soldier #14: 

Summary: This issue gets underway with Captain America, Bucky, Wolverine and Hawkeye finding the weapon maker that Leo had been using, attempting to leave Washington DC before Leo detonated the bomb the weapon maker had built.  SHIELD gets the weapon maker to dish on what type of bomb it was, as well as it's blast radius, which leaves them with three potential locations for maximum damage.  The heroes split into three groups, with Cap sending Bucky to the least likely spot, since Bucky had been acting irrationally since Leo surfaced.  That spot?  Arlington National Cemetery.  As Bucky heads to the Cemetery, he knows deep down that THIS was the spot Leo and the brainwashed Black Widow would be, and he's proven right when he finds a dead guard at the entrance to the cemetery.   Bucky alerts Cap that Leo and the Widow were there, but disobeys Cap's order to simply watch and wait for back-up, instead confronting Leo and the Widow.  Bucky manages to take the Widow out of the equation and defeats Leo in hand to hand combat, leaving Leo down and in the cross-hairs of Bucky's gun.  However, even after all Leo has done, Bucky finds himself unable to pull the trigger.  At that point, SHIELD and Bucky's allies arrive, but Widow manages to get to Leo and tries to get him to safety.  Realizing that there was no getting out of this mess, but wanting to hurt Bucky as much as possible, Leo grabs Widow by the throat and puts a gun to her head.  Bucky tells Leo to let Widow go if he wanted to walk away, but Leo seems content with dying, and tells Bucky there'd be no deal.  Before Leo can pull the trigger, Hawkeye fires an arrow into Widow's leg, knocking both her and Leo off-balance, at which time Bucky shoots Leo a few times, taking him down...  But not out, as SHIELD manages to save his life.  From there, we learn that SHIELD is able to return almost all of the memories Leo had wiped from the Widow's head...  All except for her memories of Bucky...  Maria Hill and Cap tell Bucky that while they hadn't been able to get Widow her memories of him back yet, there were still other options, including telepathy and magic.  However, Bucky tells the two to just leave it be, since Widow had had her head messed with enough for ten lifetimes and that she was better off not knowing him.  With that, Bucky takes one last look at the love of his life, and leaves.

Thoughts: In it's own way, this was the perfect ending to Brubaker's portion of Bucky's life.  One final heartbreak...  Poor Bucky...  This issue was, pretty much the perfect comic for me.  If I had any gripes, it would be that Leo would leave such a large loose end in the weapon maker, since he knew so much of Leo's plan.  With how cagey Leo had been all storyline long, you'd think he would have killed the weapon maker after the bomb was created, depriving the heroes of the only lead they would have had on him.  Besides that little quibble though, no complaints here.  I actually read the final few pages twice because they were so powerful.  I felt for Bucky.  I really did.  Not only were Brubaker's words magnificent here, Butch Guice's artwork was perfect, especially that one final scene where all you see is Bucky's downcast reflection in the window of the Widow's door.  This was a great issue, written by a great writer, about a great character.  There's nothing left but to give Ed Brubaker a HUGE thank you for all that wonderful stories he's crafted over the past several years.  Marvel is undoubtedly worse off without him.

Score: 10 out of 10.

Poor, poor Bucky......

Winter Soldier #11

And we're sadly reaching the end of the Brubaker era at Marvel...  But instead of going with my initial response to that(sobbing hysterically), I'll just enjoy what we have left...

Winter Soldier #11

Summary: Leo and Black Widow are still several steps ahead of Bucky, who is teaming with Hawkeye throughout this issue.  The two chase after a bunch of clues left behind by Leo and ends up fighting their way through some AIM agents who were exploring an old Soviet weapon's cashe(that they were presumably led to by Leo).  Upon entering the weapon room, Hawkeye and Bucky find... Well, nothing.  Leo had been their earlier and cleaned the place out.  However, there is an old hard drive and Leo pops up on the screen and tells Bucky that the hard drive had a mission for the Winter Soldier on it.  And if Bucky doesn't have the programming put in his head?  Leo kills Widow.

Thoughts: This issue was a bit of a step backwards from the total awesomeness that was the last issue.  I mean it was okay, but it was also a whole lot of nothing...  Hawkeye and Bucky wandered around for a while, fought some AIM agents, and Leo told Bucky his nefarious plot.  Which was pretty cool actually...  With Leo living in the past, it makes sense he'd want both Bucky and Widow working with him.  Leo's interactions with the weapon's maker here were also pretty good, as he made it obvious that he wanted everything Bucky has, and wanted to earn it.  I'm still looking forward to the final confrontation between Bucky and Leo(in a HUGE way!), but this issue was a bit of a sidestep.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Um, I can't think of a caption for this picture...

Winter Soldier #10

Now here's a series that's been picking up some major steam the past few issues.  Even though I didn't review it due to my vampirism, I'd have given issue #9 a very high score, probably something between 9 and 10.  Let's see if we can keep that momentum going here.

Winter Soldier #10

Summary: We find out that Black Widow was indeed still brainwashed by Leo and that upon seeing Nick Fury(the old one, not the new one) on the Helicarrier, her brainwashing kicked in all over again and she went to kill Fury.  While she managed to wing Fury, Agent Sitwell sacrificed his life and saved Fury, who managed to shoot Widow, causing her to rabbit from the carrier before it went into full lockdown.  After learning all of this from Maria Hill(who is still acting SHIELD director), Bucky demands to speak to the scientist who brainwashed Widow for Leo.  The scientist admits that there was a second layer of brainwashing that Leo wanted inside of Widow(which is how she fooled everybody until she was on the carrier), and he also tells Bucky that Leo had all of Widow's memories of Bucky wiped out too...  Ouch...  With the Black Widow, one of the most deadly women in the Marvel U, working with Leo, SHIELD brings Captain America in to assist with the mission.  Cap takes Hawkeye and Wolverine along as well(since both men have a personal connection to Widow), at which time Hawkeye and Wolvie learn that Bucky was indeed alive.  From there the heroes plan, while Leo and Widow head to a weapons designer and tell him he was working for them now.  This issue ends with Hawkeye locating Bucky, who was deep in thought about his time with Widow, to tell him that Widow had been spotted in New York...

Thoughts: This was yet another really good issue of this series.  As usual.  Ed Brubaker is one of those writers who once he gets rolling is probably better than anybody else.  Sometimes it takes Brubaker's stories a little time to develop, but once they do...  Pure awesomeness.  This storyline is no exception.  The way Maria Hill went over Widow's attack in the beginning of this issue was fantastic, because you really had no way of knowing how the attack ended, which built up the tension.  Brubaker's pacing of those scenes were great.  Agent Sitwell's death was very well done, and I actually felt a pang of sadness for him since I'd been enjoying Sitwell in this series.  Hawkeye and Wolverine being brought in to hunt for Widow made 100% perfect sense due to their connections with her, and Leo continued being an evil bastard, and is rapidly climbing up the ranks of my favorite villains for 2012.  If I had any complaints it would be how underwhelming Wolverine and Hawkeye's reactions were when they saw that Bucky was alive, but then I guess in their line of work seeing somebody you thought was dead standing in a room probably isn't that jarring.

Score: 9 out of 10.

"Oh, so Bucky's alive.  Meh."

Winter Soldier #6

I don't have that much time to waste before heading off to work, so let's bust this review out post-haste!

Winter Soldier #6:

Summary: Bucky manages to track down the hidden base that was holding the third sleeper and is disturbed to find the lab in disarray. Bucky reasons that the sleeper had been woken up during an earthquake, which means he wasn't administered the proper mental conditioning and drugs upon waking up, and was therefore insane. Sure enough, the third sleeper IS insane! We learn the sleeper is a man named Leo Novokov, who had learned that he was a sleeper after 12 years or so of living life as a amnesiac bum, and that upon meeting the man who was supposed to be his hander, he murders the man, an action that no other sleeper had ever done before. After watching Steve Rogers eulogy for Bucky(after Bucky's “death” following Fear Itself), Leo feels Bucky isn't dead and decides to draw Bucky out... To that end he hunts down and murders Fred Davis(!!!), who was the second Bucky. That action does indeed draw Bucky out, who, along with Black Widow and SHIELD, investigate the crime scene. From a distance, Leo smugly watches, content that now HE could kill Bucky for real.

Thoughts: First off, I can't believe Fred Davis died here! He JUST starred in a storyline in the Captain America and Bucky series a few months ago, so he's a character who was still fresh on my mind. I never expected him to get offed like that. With that said, this comic? It was awesome. Ed Brubaker took Leo and made him into an ULTRA dangerous threat to Bucky. If given a good villain name, I can't see why Leo can't become Bucky's own personal Red Skull/arch-nemesis type of character. With Fred's murder and Bucky training Leo back in the day, it's already personal between the two, plus Leo is crazy and crazy people make for great foes! This was the prologue to the next Bucky storyline, and if it's half as good as this issue was, we're in for a treat!

Score: 9 out of 10.

No, not Fred!!

Winter Soldier #5

This series has been heating up lately, and this issue should bring everything to a head concerning Doom, Lucia Von Bardas and the sleepers.

Winter Soldier #5:

Story Points:
-Doom is working with SHIELD to reformat a teleportational device constructed by Reed Richards in order to get himself, Bucky and Black Widow into Latveria before Von Bardas launched her nuclear assault.
-Think about that last line for a moment... DOOM was working with SHIELD!!!
-Oh, and Doom and Nick Fury's banter here was absolutely suburb.
-Anyway, Doom is as good as his word and gets the trio near the missile base.
-Von Bardas, the Red Ghost and his super-apes and the Russian sleeper are no match for Doom and company, as Doom destroys the super-apes and Von Bardas, while Bucky is forced to kill the sleeper.
-The Red Ghost however, escapes.
-With the threat over, SHIELD takes Von Bardas to question her about the location of a third sleeper, and Doom promises to keep his knowledge of Bucky being alive to himself provided Bucky and SHIELD didn't mention his nuclear weapons program.
-SHIELD learns where the Red Barbarian(who sold the three Russian sleepers to Von Bardas) was located and Bucky assassinates him.
-This one ends with Von Bardas telling SHIELD that she was never given the third sleeper, meaning there was still one out there somewhere...

Thoughts: I LOVED this issue! Seriously! Doom + Bucky + Nick Fury = awesomeness to the third power! There's really not a bad thing I can think to say about this comic... I loved the set-up, I loved the fight scenes, I loved the dialogue, I loved everything! And you know what that means...

Score: 10 out of 10.

Winter Soldier #4

Next up, the last review I'll be posting for the night, Winter Soldier. Tomorrow I plan on posting two reviews(Wolverine and Journey Into Mystery), but I'll probably have them posted a little later than usual. But rest assured, they WILL be posted! Eventually...

Winter Soldier #4:

Summary: With Bucky managing to (barely)convince Dr. Doom that Lucia Von Bardas was trying to start a war between Latveria and the US, Bucky and Doom head to the location of the international incident Von Bardas was planning... The UN Building. As for Black Widow, she is still trying to track down Von Bardas's assistant, the Red Ghost. Doom manages to arrive at the UN Building and attacks his Doombot before it can carry out the orders Von Bardas had programmed into it, while Bucky is forced to fight one of the Soviet Sleeper agents Von Bardas had working with the Doombot to pull off her plan. Doom defeats his Doombot, while Bucky ends up defeating the Sleeper, but in doing so the Sleeper accidentally manages to kill himself. Before the Sleeper dies though, he tells Bucky that Von Bardas's plans were still moving forward since the attack at the UN was actually just some misdirection... This issue ends with Von Bardas and the Red Ghost entering Latveria and gaining access to the site of Dr. Doom's nuclear missiles(!).

Thoughts: I have to say, I found myself really enjoying this comic, but a lot of that had to do with Doom... I'm telling you, dialogue-wise, Doom is probably my favorite character in all of comics. It would be between Doom and Thor, but I think Doom would take the prize. Anyway, Besides the awesomeness that is Victor Von Doom, the story moved along nicely here. I liked that Von Bardas's plan wasn't simply to stage an assassination at the UN, but was to actually gain access to Latveria's nuclear arsenal and use it against America. Sure, her plan banked on a lot of events outside her influence occurring(such as Doom not being in Latveria), but overlooking that, I liked where Ed Brubaker took this story. The next issue is apparently the final part of this storyline, and it should go without saying I'm REALLY curious to see what happens and how Bucky and/or the Black Widow manage to prevent Von Bardas's nuclear attack.

Score: 8 out of 10.

The insults Doom hurls at his Doombot in this issue are just plain epic.

Winter Soldier #3

Last review for the night? Winter Soldier. So far the first three comics I've read this week have been pretty damn good. Here's hoping this comic continues that trend.

Winter Soldier #3:

Summary: Putting together the pieces of the puzzle they've managed to acquire thus far, Nick Fury, Bucky and the Black Widow deduct that Lucia Von Bardas was the one working with Red Ghost, and that she was doing so in an attempt to create a war between the US and Latveria. The Doombot Von Bardas managed to get her hands on would be used by her to attack the US, which in turn would think Doom had sent it in retaliation for the attempted assassination Von Bardas set up against Doom on US soil, which would lead to an all-out war... Huh, that actually explains everything... To prevent this, Bucky and BW have to sneak into Castle Doom and try to convince Doom that Von Bardas was trying to frame him... Yeah, that'll be easy. Anyway, Bucky and BW manage to make it through much of Doom's security, but are eventually discovered and attacked by Doom himself. Doom manages to take both heroes down and recognizes Bucky as, well, as Bucky. With Doom's hands around his throat, Bucky has to try to convince the good doctor why he shouldn't kill him. This issue ends with Von Bardas Doombot waiting in a van outside the UN Building.

Thoughts: First things first, the cover of this issue? Seven different shades of awesome. As for this comic? It too was seven different shades of awesome! I have to say that I really liked that Ed Brubaker actually came right out and told us what was going on, who the bad guys were and what they wanted. The little recap about Von Bardas and her relationships with the US and Doom was a nice, smart touch. I don't know about other people, but I like knowing what's going on in a comic and Brubaker smartly filled us in on everything going on here. Besides that, the Doom/Bucky & BW fight was great. Doom SQUASHED the heroes, as he should have. First off, he's DR. DOOM! He should beat just about anybody! Secondly, Bucky and Widow confronted him in his own castle, giving Doom the home field advantage. So yeah, Doom went over strong here, as he should have. Besides that, the rest of the story is falling nicely into place as Brubaker begins to find his groove in this series... I can't wait to see how much better things get next issue.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Woooo, now THAT'S an ass-kicking!

Winter Soldier #2

First review of the new week is my Pick of the Litter, Winter Soldier #2. The first issue was quite good, and I'm expecting Ed Brubaker to continue building this story towards greatness.

Winter Soldier #2:

Summary: Picking up from last issue, Bucky and the Black Widow are unable to capture the Red Ghost's super-ape, as it has a jetpack and manages to fly to safety... Yes, really. Widow and Bucky head back to SHIELD to reveal what they discovered(that the Red Ghost was obviously involved with the Soviet Sleepers), and learn that one of the Sleepers made an attempt on Dr. Doom's life in front of the Latverian Embassy in Manhattan. Needless to say, Doom is not pleased, and after some discussion, Bucky and the Widow realize that the attempt on Doom's life was so crude that it was meant to fail, which means whoever was behind the hit wanted Doom good and angry first. Meanwhile, Nick Fury learns the location of the auction where the three Soviet Sleepers were sold, which is where Bucky and Widow head to(in disguise naturally). The two sit through the auction for a while to see who was around and what was being sold, before springing into action and capturing the auctioneer. Bucky demands to know who brought the activation codes for the Sleepers, and is told an older Russian(presumably the Red Ghost). The auctioneer also reveals that the person who brought the activation codes also brought a Doombot... This issue ends with Lucia Von Bardas(the woman responsible for the hit on Doom) and one of the Sleepers looking over the Doombot.

Thoughts: This comic wasn't bad or anything... But it's obvious we're still in the building stages of this story. Bucky learned a few little crumbs of information this issue(such as the Red Ghost's involvement, the Doombot being purchased, etc), but is still ways away from being able to put the entire puzzle together. Thus far nobody has any idea Von Bardas is involved here in any way shape or form. And I doubt anybody will know of Von Bardas's plot against Doom until Bucky and the Widow are able to get their hands on the Red Ghost. So while this wasn't the most exciting comic I've ever read, it did do a good job laying the groundwork for the future.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Yup, once the monkey's start flying away, I think it's safe to say this is the worst mission ever.

Winter Soldier #1

There's really no need for a long-winded intro here. This is Bucky's first solo series, and is also my Pick of the Litter. I'm expecting good things here... Let's see what we get!

Winter Soldier #1:

Summary: There are three Soviet sleeper agents on US soil. The sleeper agents, much like Bucky was, are in stasis tubes awaiting their next missions, which they would carry out in an unwavering fashion, regardless of the mission. Bucky and the Black Widow have discovered that somebody was buying the sleepers, probably to use them for some sort of nefarious purpose, and working with SHIELD, are trying to track down the three sleepers and stop their release. Upon reaching the first sleeper facility, they find some ex-KGB agents, but an empty stasis tube. The duo follow a tip from SHIELD up to Minnesota where they discover another ex-KGB agent and after some intimidation, the ex-KGB agent gives up the location of the second sleeper agent. Bucky and the Widow sneak into the facility holding the tube, but end up getting discovered, and are forced to fight their way through an army of angry gunmen. Bucky manages to get eyes on the tube, but is fired upon by... a talking monkey?! What the hell is this, a DC comic?! Widow manages to knock Bucky clear of the monkey's bullets, but the ape winds up escaping with the tube. From there we head to a hotel room where we find the Red Ghost(thus explaining the super-ape) and Lucia Von Bardas, the former leader of Latveria. It turns out Bardas was the one purchasing the sleepers for the express purpose of assassinating the longtime leader of Latveria, Dr. Doom!

Thoughts: Not bad... This comic was pretty good. I mean it wasn't great, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting greatness right off the bat. One thing Ed Brubaker does better than most writers is building up a story, so this was just the first step in what should be a long, winding and ultimately fulfilling story. The premise here is interesting, with Bardas trying to kill Doom, with Bucky stuck in the middle, I'm just a bit confused by why she wants Doom dead... Last I knew, Kristoff was the ruler of Latveria and Doom was a member of the FF... But maybe that's changed since I dropped FF. Besides that, it's Bucky and the Black Widow, written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Bruce Guice, which gives the whole comic a great Captain America feel to it. So while not perfect, this was a good first issue featuring fantastic characters and a stellar creative team, that should continue to gain momentum as we move forward.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Since Bucky's supposed to be dead and all, shouldn't he be wearing something a bit less... I don't know, Bucky-ish?