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doomfans2012-02-03 12:15 am
nomadicwriter) wrote in doomfans2012-02-03 12:15 am
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Winter Soldier #1 Review
So I picked up the first issue of the new Winter Soldier series. Doom only has a tiny cameo, but it's an important one, setting up bigger things for the next few issues, and it's an excellent comic regardless. I haven't really read much of the previous Winter Soldier stuff, but it's pretty new-reader friendly to my eyes; there's a bit of exposition on Bucky's background dropped in, but it's mostly all stuff I'd picked up by fandom osmosis anyway.
Quick summary:
Bucky and the Black Widow - who are sleeping together in this series, I don't know if they were before - are trying to track down a trio of Soviet agents who were shipped to America in stasis tubes during the cold war. When the war ended they were forgotten and left in stasis, but an ex-KGB general just sold their activation codes and locations on the black market. Now Bucky and Natasha are trying to get to them before the buyers who want to use them as living superweapons.
They go after one sleeper in Vegas, but find they're too late and the agent's already been woken from stasis and moved elsewhere. A second is being held by R.A.I.D., a splinter cell of the A.I.M. terrorist organisation. By they time they arrive at the base, the sleeper in the stasis tube is in the process of being moved. They give chase, but are thwarted by a gorilla with a machine gun shouting "Death to America!" in Russian. Which naturally leaves them a bit confused about exactly who they're up against here.
Cut to a room in New York City, where we see the explanation for the gorilla: long-time F4 foe the Red Ghost, who has super-powered ape helpers as a bit of a theme. He's meeting with Lucia Von Bardas, who comes from the 2004 Secret War mini. The US helped her to become Prime Minister of Latveria during the period while Doom was in hell, but she was secretly funding American supercriminals, so Nick Fury tried to assassinate her. She's now part cyborg.
We don't know yet if she has any personal connection to Doom, but she's clearly not too fond of him, because she's acquired one of the sleeper agents to try and assassinate him. As he comes out of the Latverian Embassy, a sniper with a rocket launcher sets sight on him, and... boom.
Fun! No real appearance from Doom yet, but the setup is very promising. Brubaker wrote the awesome Books of Doom, so I have high hopes for him tackling modern-day Doom in a multi-dimensional way, and it's great to see something dealing with Doom as a head of state and political figure instead of just as a supervillain.
It's interesting to see Von Bardas picked up again, since she came out of nowhere in Secret War and went back there pretty fast. Don't know much about her yet, but I am all in favour of giving Doom more antagonists who are neither superheroes nor American-based. Hope she comes out of this storyline alive.
The art is pretty great as well: very moody and stylish. The figures sometimes look a bit posed, but I don't know, it kind of gives it a bit of a pop art effect that I rather like. Haven't seen Butch Guice on anything before, but I like what I see here. And a hat tip must go to Bettie Breitweiser for the fabulous colouring job, which really elevates it.
All in all, too soon to rate this as a Doom appearance yet, but the signs look good, and as the first issue of a great-looking new espionage comic, I recommend it.
Quick summary:
Bucky and the Black Widow - who are sleeping together in this series, I don't know if they were before - are trying to track down a trio of Soviet agents who were shipped to America in stasis tubes during the cold war. When the war ended they were forgotten and left in stasis, but an ex-KGB general just sold their activation codes and locations on the black market. Now Bucky and Natasha are trying to get to them before the buyers who want to use them as living superweapons.
They go after one sleeper in Vegas, but find they're too late and the agent's already been woken from stasis and moved elsewhere. A second is being held by R.A.I.D., a splinter cell of the A.I.M. terrorist organisation. By they time they arrive at the base, the sleeper in the stasis tube is in the process of being moved. They give chase, but are thwarted by a gorilla with a machine gun shouting "Death to America!" in Russian. Which naturally leaves them a bit confused about exactly who they're up against here.
Cut to a room in New York City, where we see the explanation for the gorilla: long-time F4 foe the Red Ghost, who has super-powered ape helpers as a bit of a theme. He's meeting with Lucia Von Bardas, who comes from the 2004 Secret War mini. The US helped her to become Prime Minister of Latveria during the period while Doom was in hell, but she was secretly funding American supercriminals, so Nick Fury tried to assassinate her. She's now part cyborg.
We don't know yet if she has any personal connection to Doom, but she's clearly not too fond of him, because she's acquired one of the sleeper agents to try and assassinate him. As he comes out of the Latverian Embassy, a sniper with a rocket launcher sets sight on him, and... boom.
Fun! No real appearance from Doom yet, but the setup is very promising. Brubaker wrote the awesome Books of Doom, so I have high hopes for him tackling modern-day Doom in a multi-dimensional way, and it's great to see something dealing with Doom as a head of state and political figure instead of just as a supervillain.
It's interesting to see Von Bardas picked up again, since she came out of nowhere in Secret War and went back there pretty fast. Don't know much about her yet, but I am all in favour of giving Doom more antagonists who are neither superheroes nor American-based. Hope she comes out of this storyline alive.
The art is pretty great as well: very moody and stylish. The figures sometimes look a bit posed, but I don't know, it kind of gives it a bit of a pop art effect that I rather like. Haven't seen Butch Guice on anything before, but I like what I see here. And a hat tip must go to Bettie Breitweiser for the fabulous colouring job, which really elevates it.
All in all, too soon to rate this as a Doom appearance yet, but the signs look good, and as the first issue of a great-looking new espionage comic, I recommend it.