Captain America: Winter Soldier, Book One

The Basics

Red Skull, Captain America’s most notorious foe, is found murdered by a sniper. Through a flurry of flashbacks, Steve Rogers has to find out who is seemingly targeting him and why.

My Thoughts

This book had a flaw for me that couldn’t be avoided: I know who the Winter Soldier is. When you get into comic book culture, an osmosis takes place wherein you’re spoiled richly for things you haven’t even read yet. The magic of this story is clearly in discovering that the impossible has happened, by sharing the look that Cap wears when he discovers it. So as the story meanders its way there (and I imagine it wouldn’t feel like meandering if I didn’t know what was coming), it felt somewhat slow and “get it on with it” to show more me.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy delving into Cap’s history and seeing him faced with these memories, experiencing them as a reader for the first time. That’s also not to say that seeing how taken aback Cap is at the reveal didn’t have an impact. It did. It’s one of those moments that makes you realize why the next movie is going the route that it is.

Can I recommend it? Sure. As a novice as far as Captain America’s source material is concerned, it was easy to follow and didn’t contain a lot of confusing reference to things that might bog the story down. One of its greatest strengths is that this story concerns itself very closely with Steve Rogers, his friends and history, and works really well for newcomers.

Final Rating

4/5 show less

While the climax of this first volume of the WINTER SOLDIER story is predictable, the storytelling could not be better. Brubaker has envisioned a Cap that is both vulnerable and strong, presenting what is ultimately a more human hero without losing all those heroic elements that make him Captain America. The art is perfect, which again grounds this tale of fantasy in reality. This is the best Cap has been in a very long time.

I was really looking forward to reading Brubaker's run on Captain America (finally), and I was expecting to be blown away. The first trade is okay, but it's not the mind-splintering material I was expecting it to be, considering how people have been raving about this. Maybe it's the fact that I've never read much about Cap before this trade, or maybe it's the fact that most of the "surprises" have already been spoiled for me. Maybe it's more revolutionary to long-time followers of Captain America, or maybe it's better when you don't see the twists coming. I don't know. It won't stop me from reading at least a few more of the trades, though.

When the Red Skull is shot by a sniper, Captain America is called in to identify the body and verify that his longtime nemesis is dead. So it seems. However, there is some other enemy out there. Captain America has to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury to find who killed the Red Skull. And why are his memories coming back so strongly at this time? Excellent art brings this story to life. A good story overall. As this is the first volume, I will try to find the next volume. The only thing that kept me from rating it higher was the last interlude story at the end of the book, which deals with Jack Monroe. Just not as good as the rest.

This was essentially my first Captain America edition. I've read other single issues or one shots, but not an arc like this. The arc Brubaker sets up is clearly leading into a much larger story, essentially stamping his mark on the series. Others have referred to this as a classic series, I guess I'm one step into finding out how worthy that tag is.

Great, twisty, psychological stuff here (although as my first exposure to Captain America I think I might be a little bit in over my head).

Read it so I'd be up on the next movie. Solid story, good hooks.