By Ed Brubaker (writer), Butch Guice (art), Bettie Breitweiser (colors), VC’s Joe Caramagna (letters)
The Story: Bucky and Steve Rogers try to deal with the fallout of Bucky’s impending trial. His friends work to find exculpatory evidence, while Sin and Master Man pull a jailbreak and begin to put a plan of their own into action.
What’s Good: It’s only been two issues, but I’m already liking this more than any of the other BuckyCap storylines to date. I’ve had more than one person mention the overuse of ‘talking heads’ and legalese, but I personally find that aspect of the story quite intriguing. (Although, full disclosure, I’m also a big Law & Order fan.) It also adds a bit of verisimilitude to the whole story, recreating an O.J. Simpson-esque media storm that Bucky must weather. It makes the stakes feel suitably high, without feeling forced or exaggerated.
Another positive effect of this method of storytelling is that it allows Bucky to deal with his past in a far more…‘real’ environment than the last storyline. He dealt with his time as the Winter Soldier with Zemo of course, but it was far more isolated and personal than this. Having Bucky publically outed not only forces him to deal with that part of his past again, it allows Brubaker to hash out—via the (Marvel universe) media and American public—the apparent contradiction of an ex-Soviet assassin bearing the superhero equivalent of our nation’s standard. It also allows him to address some important questions that some readers may have as well: does Bucky, given his past, even have the right to wear the Captain America uniform? Does he even want that responsibility now that everyone knows what he once was? Even if he is acquitted, how will he react to the people who hate him for his history, regardless of what a judge and jury says? These are important questions to address if Bucky is to continue to carry Cap’s mantle into the foreseeable future.
What’s Not So Good: Brubaker has sure fit a lot of story into a single issue. Between Bucky and his lawyers, Steve Rodgers, the Falcon, Sin and Master Man, and all of the media scenes, I felt like I was channel surfing. The strings that Brubaker is going to pull to bring everything together are readily apparent, but a little more cohesiveness, or perhaps saving one of the secondary plotlines for a less packed issue, would have helped focus things a little better.
Conclusion: A decent issue. Nothing particularly special, but I dig the conflicts it’s setting up. If they deliver as I hope they will, this setup will have been well worth paying attention to.
Grade: C+
-SoldierHawk
Grade
Conclusion