Book Review: Captain America: Winter Soldier

Book: Captain America: Winter Soldier (issues #1-9 and #11-14) by Ed Brubaker

Illustrations by Steve Epting, Michael Lark, John Paul Leon, Tom Palmer and Mike Perkins

Color by Frank D'Armata and letters by Virtual Calligraphy's Randy Gentile, Chris Eliopoulos and Joe Caramagna

Description:

For more than fifty years, the Soviets employed an undercover agent - an unstoppable, untraceable killer known as the Winter Soldier. His suspected identity? Bucky Barnes, Captain America's one-time partner, thought to have died in World War II. Now, the Winter Soldier is back, working for the ruthless General Lukin - who has obtained a functional Cosmic Cube, a weapon of limitless power that can bend reality itself. Vowing to end Lukin's reign of terror and destruction, Captain America relentlessly tracks the Cube - only to find himself face to face against the Winter Soldier. Will Cap be forced to batt le his resurrected partner so soon after finally learning the astonishing truth?



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

A few weeks ago, I thought about doing a Captain America Read-a-Thon well more like a Re-Read-a-Thon of Ed Brubaker's run. At the time, I really didn't have the extra time to start a read-a-thon so I pushed that idea to the side. However, since then I decided to re-read a book whenever I can.

Today, I found a little extra time to give Captain America: Winter Soldier a read. There is a reason why this book is considered a classic among us comic book fans. It's so well written with all the espionage and intrigue mixed with twists and turns surrounding the dramatic build up of General Lukin's plan. And not to mention the mystery of the Winter Soldier. Who is he? Is it really Captain America's old friend and sidekick James "Bucky" Barnes or is it a trick designed to throw Cap off guard?

I enjoyed everything about this book from Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to uncover Lukin's plan to reading Steve's backstory as well as finding out about the Winter Soldier. There is even an interesting interlude showing the tragic downfall of one of Steve's former sidekicks (with Dr. Jane Foster having a brief cameo). I love that Director Nick Fury, Agent 13 (Sharon Carter) and Falcon (Sam Wilson) were great additions to the story with Iron Man also getting a small cameo in this.

After re-reading this I couldn't help thinking about the Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie. I was disappointed in the way Sharon Carter was shown in the movie. Instead of being shown as this amazing full-fledged S.H.I.E.L.D. agent she was shown as a lackluster "junior" agent. I couldn't help comparing her movie introduction to Sam's. Where he was introduced as not only as a friend but also as someone who could hold his own in a fight meanwhile, Sharon's role was diminished and all her importance in the book was given to Black Widow. Sharon should have been introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe just as Sam was. They are both important characters in the Captain America books yet she was brushed aside to make way for Black Widow who was wrote into the story. I guess they figured fans were already familiar with Black Widow so on some level it probably made since to use her in a key role instead of Sharon. Too bad it came at Sharon's expense.

Although, I still love watching the movie, it is one of my favorites (I could watch it a million times and never get bored), however it's all the complexities in this story that I enjoy so much more. I could spend hours talking about what I like about this book because even the beginning with the Red Skull almost feels like it's misleading but it sets up everything so perfectly.

To wrap this up, I will just say that Captain America: Winter Soldier was an excellent start to Brubaker's run. I feel like even if you have never read a Captain America book before or have only watched the movies you can pick this up and read it without feeling lost. It's a good read.