1. Captain America and the Black Widow capture the new Beetle, agent of Baron Zemo, only they don’t realize who she’s working for during most of the issue until the twist at the end (see #9).
2. The Beetle fight is dynamic as all get out with awesome panels and really cool moments and makes the issue fun all by itself, but are they really having this much trouble with the Beetle? This is the freaking Winter Soldier and Black Widow!
3. While the action is great, the facial expressions aren’t. They look … flat and strange. Still, for Captain America, I think if forced to choose I’ll take the former over the latter.
4. The new Beetle’s taunting is well handled, as she really comes off as one-step-ahead and slightly psychotic.
5. The Fixer being in with Zemo is foreshadowed too heavily and revealed way too early for it to really work.
6. Zemo’s casual use of those around him and master plan are well within character, but I still don’t think I like what they’re doing with him since he really shouldn’t care about Bucky after “Born Better.”
7. The Nomad backups remain a good read, if not quite as good as Young Allies by Comics Nexus friend Sean McKeever
8. Butch Guice is an awesome name.
9. Zemo’s casual reveal of Bucky’s identity to the media and that he was Winter Soldier adds a really cool twist to the standard “villain reveals hero” plot and gives us a ton of new stuff for Bucky to do, though the identity itself shouldn’t affect much since almost everyone Bucky knew before is dead or a superhero. The Winter Soldier thing? There’s potential in that.
10. Rating: 6/10 – For the first time since Steve Rogers returned, Bucky has been given a compelling plot. If Zemo has good motivation, this could really build momentum for the book.
