Captain America: Winter Soldier
I actually hadn’t read this comic, which came out in 2005-2006, before seeing the 2014 movie they made of the same name that was loosely based on it. I remember liking the movie but honestly can’t remember a thing about it now except for the return of Bucky Barnes as a Russian killing machine with a cyborg arm. Which was all it really took from the comic, as it turns out.
Apparently bringing Bucky back from the dead was a big deal, as writer Ed Brubaker tells us in an afterword to this collected edition that recounts how Winter Soldier came to be. “There are several constant truths in Marvel Comics, or unwritten rules, if you will. And one of them was, no matter what else you did, Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy . . . and Bucky Barnes all stayed dead.” So, leaving aside the long, phantasmagoric afterlife of Gwen Stacy, coming up with a storyline where Bucky didn’t die in that midair explosion but fell into the sea and was flash frozen, to be picked up by the Russians and turned into a super Cold Warrior, was pretty radical.
And it works. I thought Brubaker crafted a detailed and complex story with plenty of moving pieces and WW2 flashbacks. It really sucked me in. Indeed, the only problem I had with it is that it wrapped up too quickly, with the aid of that laziest of all plot devices the Cosmic Cube. Otherwise I was on board with all of it, which I wasn’t expecting given that Bucky Barnes was one of those teenage superhero sidekicks I dislike so much. Robin. Rick Jones. Bucky Barnes. I can’t stand them.
But Bucky, who was Brubaker’s “favorite character” as a comic-loving kid, is all grown up here and he’s quite the bad-ass. The thing is though, he’s not really that important a character in this story arc. He’s mostly kept in the shadows until the end, and the main story line has to do with Cap trying to figure out what’s going on with the Russian general and the Cosmic Cube. I found all of this quite engaging though, both in terms of the plot and the characters. The art wasn’t quite my thing aside from the somber palette, but overall I think this is a comic that deserves its high reputation in the Captain American canon.
Alex Good 
Most of the storylines from the mcu that were based on comics I hadn’t read either (except for Infinity War) and I felt that I enjoyed the movies more for that.
I hadn’t realized that Bucky was one of the stay dead group, but obviously, if he came back in ’05, well, THAT rule got tossed right out the window 😀
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A lot of the MCU movies were very, very loosely based on ideas that were in the comics I think. Like this one. They didn’t stick very close at all to the sources though.
The only rule is that there are no rules!
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Do you have any rules for you blog? Do I need to worry about necroposting or not saying certain things?
Because I’m here to break those rules if it will make you feel better.
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You have to take your shoes off at the door. That means YOU!
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Mud covered work boots aren’t shoes….
clump clump clump
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I was afraid of that.
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See, I’m helping already.
Rules Broken +1
Bookstooge Triumphant +1
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Bootstooge!
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The One and Only!
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What is a Cosmic Cube and did they steal it from Pinhead?
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Not related to the Lament Configuration. Basically it’s a cube about the same size that has the power to change reality in any way whatsoever to grant a user’s wishes. So as a writer if you need something to happen to resolve the plot in some way it’s just *presto!* done.
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Dammit I’ve been looking for one of those!
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Keep looking! They apparently turn up in the oddest places.
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Back when I was a more avid comic reader I had wanted to collect this one. Came right at the end of my big peak in interest unfortunately.
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Yeah, I missed it entirely when it came out. Happy to be catching up on some of the big titles I missed.
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I only know Cap from the MCU and have never circled back to see the differences between the source material and the movies, but this sounds like a good read. One of my favorite Marvel movies.
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This is definitely a comic you can read for its story. It’s quite well written, with an involved plot that really grabs and holds on to you for the full arc.
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