Story Title: The Winter Soldier: Part 1
Reviewer: Paul Sebert
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artists: Michael Lark, Steve Epting
Colorist: Frank D’Amata
Letterer: VC’s Randy Gentile
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: The Toy-Biz Subsidy
To say Captain America is having a bad day is Donald Rumsfield saying we had
Unrealistic Expectations going into Iraq. In other words it’s a massive understatement. AIM goons have set off a WMD in the city of Philadelphia. Jack Monroe the superhero formerly known as Nomad is dead. Rogue Soviet General Aleksander Lukin has the Cosmic Cube in his possession. And at the center of all this chaos lies the Winter Soldier. A deadly Cold War assassin who’s been periodically put in and out of cryogenic slumber to do the USSR’s dirty work, this Cold War relic has been leaving a path of death and destruction in his path.
For all appears for all intents and purposes that the Winter Soldier just might possibly be Cap’s old side-kick Bucky. Steve Rogers doesn’t want believe this, but Nick Fury certainly makes a convincing argument. However flashing back in the Philadelphia fallout, Captain America not only has to deal with A.I.M thugs, he’s also got the survive the onslaught of the all new, all deadly M.O.D.O.C Corps before his first encounter with the Winter Soldier.
Jumping back and forth between the present and flashback Writer Ed Brubaker spins a tale that keeps even veteran comic fans guessing, while Steve Epting’s pencils paint a stark world of good and evil locked in a dark murky battle.
It is ironic this take on Captain America comes after several flawed takes in the ultimately ill-fated Marvel Knights title. Ed Brubaker’s writing ironically does everything the M.K. series promised: it makes Captain America relevant in the modern world, while remaining true to the character’s roots.
