Winter Soldier

Highly Recommended!

We are now into a full fledged story of espionage and villainy. If there were any questions posed in the last issue, they were answered here. It is like being presented with the usually untold aspects of a spy story as they unfold. This reader perspective is a nice change to a lot of books that just keep piling on mysterious cliffhangers.

There are a lot of things going on in this issue. There are many global destinations with many different characters being introduced or appearing in cameos. The best part is, the story still makes sense - the creative team has done a fantastic job at ensuring we are not lost in the mix.

With this cast of characters you are sure to find something in this book that you like. I enjoyed every last bit, and cannot wait until the next issue is released. It is sad that they won't be keeping with the fortnight release cadence, because it sure would have been nice - especially with the cliffhanger on the last page of this issue!

My only complaint would be that some of the images are hard to make out. In many of the "battle" scenes, I found it difficult to identify the intention of the illustration. Initially it was distracting, but you either ignore the enigmatic panels or stare at them long enough to figure them out. Gladly, none of them contain major plot points, rather added detail to various aspects of the ongoing action.

An assassination attempt on Doctor Doom has him furious. Bucky and Black Widow gets a lead on the auctioneer who sold the activation codes to wake up the three Sleeper Agents.

Plus

The artwork is still uncanny and the unconventional layout was properly utilized to highlight all the action that happened for this issue. Readers that weren't completely satisfied with the limited action in the previous issue will have their need filled in this one. The pace for this comic changed twice and the transition in speed was done properly. The creators are now showing their loyalty to a darker theme which is necessary to properly feature a storyline that revolves around spies. Things are picking up and readers will be excited to pick up the next issue after this comic. Superb job on the cover once again!

Minus

It looks like the Bucky Barnes-Black Widow combo is staying for good which might be misleading to a small amount of new readers if they are looking for Bucky to destroy everyone. The cover shows a very confident duo on the cover which might cushion that disappointment a little bit. If there is a grain of dissatisfaction left, the great teamwork shown by the two inside this comic will kill all that.

Final Score

There's really not much to say except that this comic has great art, plot and action. Also, a surprise appearance of a prominent figure in the Marvel Universe makes this comic a must buy. 5/5 stars.

- Innate (Twitter)