You can be an excellent shot, but what of the expense of your soul? Being a good soldier what Bucky was taught!
Taking place during the Cold War, join Winter Soldier and his cold creative team on this adventure going way back before W.S. was sane and along the side of Captain America again. Written by Rick Remender with artwork by Roland Boschi and colors by Chris Chuckry.
The Good
Winter Solider in this series is not the kind Winter Soldier we know and love today. In this series, he's a merciless programmed killer [again] -- which in my mind is really awesome! Once again, we get an opportunity to see W.S. in action just following orders blindly. However, as that is great and all, we get (the usual) twist of him having conflicting morals with his programming and the memories he had as Bucky Barnes; especially all the morals he was taught by Cap! I love how Remender places these little subtle parts of Bucky's past that conflict with the Winter Soldier's programming, it shows how the two souls are conflicting with one another and how both sides are trying to destroy the other to take full control over Bucky's thought process.
Another point that makes this series a success is that it doesn't focus mainly on Winter Soldier and his mission to kill selected Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It instead has secondary protagonist Agent Ran whom acts as this series' hero. Ran's character is really complex and from this issue alone he acts more than a highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but also someone who knows the times are bad and sometimes the only solution is war. Rick Remender did an excellent job with his character.
My favorite part in this issue was Cap telling Bucky (in W.S.'s flashback) that "you never take a life you don't have to." That was really good and it really turned this issue from good to great! Good job Remender!
The artwork is so fantastic! Every time Rick Remender writes something he's always teamed up with an artist that has a very unique style of artwork! Roland Boschi and Chris Chuckry's work on this issue was top notch and it really hooked me into the story that Remender was telling. The cover art by Andrew Robinson was also good and it's art worthy of putting it on your wall!
The Bad
No complaints. W.S. is one of my favorite Marvel characters and this is one of my new favorite books!
The Verdict
If you loved, or are interested, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier I recommend this reading material. It's exciting and new, and there's no need to understand much about the character. This takes place in '66 during the Cold War and it's got a lot of cool things in it (story, characters, etc). Overall 5 out of 5. Definitely expect the next issue review for this series!
Winter Soldier: The Bitter March #3 review!
Last review -- Transformers: Robots in Disguise #27
Upcoming reviews:
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- Wonder Woman #29
- X-Men v4 #12 (2014)
- X-O Manowar #23
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