Captain America: Winter Soldier by Ed Brubaker
Series: Captain America, Vol. 5 #1-2
Published by Marvel on April 14, 2010
Genres: Graphic Novel, Comics, Superheroes
Pages: 304 : Paperback edition
Source: Checked out from my local library
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A midnight call to duty brings Captain America aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D Heli-carrier to identify the corpse of his most feared adversary: the Red Skull! The shocking murder of Cap’s oldest enemy may not be the end of the Skull’s plans, however, because whoever shot the Skull has stolen his final project: an unfinished Cosmic Cube with the potential power to alter reality itself. Adding to the imminent danger, a cadre of the Skull’s followers has already set in motion a plan to ignite bombs in the hearts of Paris, London and Manhattan – causing untold death and destruction. Racing against these bombs’ rapidly ticking clocks, the Star-Spangled Avenger must not only solve the mystery of his nemesis’ murder, but find the Cube before it can be used in the Red Skull’s malevolent plot against the United States! Then, the questions plaguing Captain America’s dreams and memories have been answered in the most brutal way possible. And in the wake of this brutality, General Lukin makes his first…
Warning: MAJOR feels ahead. Proceed with fangirl caution.
Let’s just preface this review by me pointing out that I’m a huge Captain America fan. HUGE. I once said to my mom, “No one understands my love for Captain America” and she responded “I know.” If you follow me on Tumblr or Twitter you may be sick of my fangirling moments/Stucky trash reblogs/general over excitement about a movie that is 119 days away (but, hey, who’s counting?). C’mon though, have you seen Chris Evans?
We are all Sam Wilson.
Sure, I’ve watched all the Cap movies (plus Avengers and the other various supers), so I figured what the hell, might as well try the comics. *distant laughing* Yeah, that was a challenge. I had NO IDEA where to start. Thankfully, I was pointed in the right direction by a fellow Tweeter (Twitter-er?), and dived right into this edition, as soon as it became available at my library.
A day later, I was finished and my feels were in shambles. The entire Captain America/Steve Rogers, Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes thing has always been really sad and tragic. In the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) their relationship, I have always felt, has been really downplayed, so to go into the comics and see the depth of how close they were, was really awesome.
I was talking to one of my friends while I was crying reading my way through this and I said at one point, “SERIOUSLY!? How are they not canonically gay?” He threatened me with sending me smutty fanfiction, and I said bring it on, I’ve probably read more than you. But we’re getting off topic here…
The point is, Ed Brubaker does a really excellent job of portraying Cap as this not perfect guy. He clearly has a ton of issues (ie. PTSD, he deals with a lot of loss, etc.) and the gritty drawings coupled with the very real dialogue is what sold me on Ed Brubaker’s talents with comics. God, I just can’t wait to pick up more of his stuff.
*deep sigh* If you are like me and are an avid fan of the MCU, I definitely recommend picking this up. It’s a great way to slowly break into the comic universe while also destroying what you thought was left of your sanity. Or if you’re just Stucky garbage, like me, and want to laugh/cry your way into oblivion, pick this up as well.
(me in the theatre during CA: TWS, and most likely during CA: CW too)