Captain America #8-14
Originally released in 2005
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Steve Epting (#8, 11-14), Michael Lark (#9, 12), Mike Perkins (#10), Lee Weeks (#10)
I had started Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America, which seems like it heavily inspired the movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier, before starting this blog, and given how highly praised it is, I feel like I should read it for this blog at some point. (I can't read every single highly praised run, but I feel like I haven't focused on Captain America much over the past year) Also, it's getting close to winter, so it seems appropriate to read the run that introduced the Winter Soldier.
In previous issues, a rogue former Soviet general who has been using a mysterious hitman known as the Winter Soldier as his attack dog sacrificed a large portion of Philadelphia to power a Cosmic Cube, a reality warping device. Sharon Carter, Steve's ex, caught a glimpse of the Winter Soldier close up, and she's pretty sure that he's Bucky Barnes, who was believed to have died in the same incident that left Steve frozen until a few years before the present day. (An old saying about comics was "nobody stays dead except for Bucky Barnes, Jason Todd, and Uncle Ben" - I'm pretty sure both Bucky and Jason were resurrected in the same year)
As Nick Fury briefs Steve and Sharon on who the Winter Soldier is rumoured to be, and how his past assassinations weren't able to be tracked until recently due to limits of technology, we find out that Steve did catch a glimpse of the Winter Soldier the previous night in Philadelphia, leading to an exchange that's more-or-less repeated whenever any adaptation uses the Winter Soldier storyline (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and presumably other cartoon versions, trimmed out the profanity):
The Winter Soldier is a myth from the Cold War days - allegedly, the Soviets had a top secret assassin who would be cryogenically frozen for years, unfrozen to commit assassinations over a few months before being frozen again once his task was completed. This justifies how Bucky has aged up from the World War 2 era without being a senior citizen.
I felt like Steve Epting's art really fit the darker conspiracy-laden tone of this series, whereas with Michael Park's art (seen above), something consistently feels off with how he draws Steve Rogers, particularly the head. I'm not sure if the head's too large, the face is too small, or the hairline is the issue, but it took me out of the book at first.
Lukin runs the Kronas Corporation out of land between Mongolia and China, which basically means that he runs his own country. He has connections with higher-ups in the US government, so he basically has diplomatic immunity, and in issue 10, this entire plotline is jarringly interrupted by a House Of M tie-in where Wanda Maximoff rewrites reality so that mutants are the dominant species.
In this timeline, Steve Rogers still became Captain America, but he was never frozen, Bucky never died (or "died"), and they both aged normally to the point where Steve's an old man in the present day. (Bucky died in what Steve figures was a SHIELD operation gone wrong) I'm assuming it's to explain why Captain America wasn't involved in the House Of M plot. Still, it makes for an interesting change to see Steve's involvement in historical events like the McCarthy hearings or to see him take place in a moon landing that happens over a decade early.
Issue 11 returns the series to its regularly scheduled programming as the Winter Soldier storyline continues. The Cosmic Cube, which was previously being used by the Red Skull before the Winter Soldier shot and killed him, seems to be influencing Lukin and causing him to hear voices in his head. I'm guessing the Red Skull put his mind/consciousness/what passes for a soul into the Cube to cheat death, and that's the voice that Lukin is hearing.
The Cosmic Cube seemingly teleports Lukin's top secret dossier on the Winter Soldier into Steve's apartment, giving him and the audience a clearer look into the Winter Soldier's backstory, including the fact that Bucky has amnesia and was basically a blank slate when the Russians found him, though with his combat and language skills intact. It also speculates that Bucky had some of the Super Soldier Serum in his blood, which allowed him to survive, though this is later proven false to the dismay of the Russians.
Throughout the fifties, the Winter Soldier is responsible for a string of assassinations that look like accidents or were blamed on other groups, though his mind starts to rebel against the programming and fill in the gaps in his memory, leading to him being frozen. (And creating hope that his memory can be restored)
As Lukin abuses the Cube for personal gain (and suffers physical and mental side effects as a result), Fury plots to go after Lukin, and he's willing to kill the Winter Soldier if necessary. Thinking back to Bucky's reaction to some Nazi experiments in the war, Steve is worried that he's starting to agree with Fury.
Talking things over with the Falcon helps Cap to focus on what he wants and how to get it, leading to the two of them working with Iron Man to track down a rogue AIM cell (who go by AID) to figure out how to track a Cosmic Cube. It's kind of sad to see this team up with Civil War on the horizon, and how it will lead to Iron Man and Captain America being bitterly divided for roughly a decade of real time.
Tony barely fought off a corporate takeover by Kronas Corporation, so he has to sit out any direct action against them or else he could lose his company. Terrified of what the Cube is doing to him, Lukin has the Winter Soldier take it to a vault in an underground bunker, where Steve and Sam find the Soldier as they track the Cube.
Issue 14 kicks off the conflict between Steve and Bucky. As Sam fights off the soldiers that the Winter Soldier had as backup, Steve pursues Bucky. The bunker has a series of tunnels that lead in just about every direction, so if Bucky gets away, it's unlikely that he or the Cube will be found any time soon. As a result, time is of the essence.
A well-placed shield toss causes Bucky to drop the Cube, which falls out of its holding container. Cap picks it up and uses it for one simple reason: to make the Winter Soldier remember who he is.
Overcome with horror at what he did, and with his memories restored, Bucky grabs the Cosmic Cube and disappears. Sharon and Sam think he died, but Steve knows that Bucky would never kill himself like that; he's a survivor.
This was a well-written storyline - not as conspiracy-focused as the Winter Soldier movie, but it was still tense and gripping throughout. Even the House Of M interruption was well-done, and it was great to see Captain America fighting for equality both when the world is against mutants and when it slowly turns against humans.
It also got me to rewatch Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as by the halfway point, the story was so good that it reminded me of how great the movie was. The resurrection of Bucky felt natural, given that a body was never found originally, and Lukin proved to be a more interesting antagonist than I thought at first glance. I'm curious how much of Bucky's plotline was planned out in advance - I know he becomes Captain America in the aftermath of Civil War, and I'm assuming that Brubaker was aware of Cap's fate at the end of Civil War. (Since the title character of your book getting killed off midway through your story seems like something that you'd have to be made aware of well in advance) While I'm only fourteen issues in, I can already see why this is considered one of the best Captain America runs, or even the best one.
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