Captain America #615: Bucky Barnes

A-story: Ed Brubaker // Jackson Guice
April 2011
A-story: ****

The Red Skull’s heir gives the Statue of Liberty a black eye; Bucky pleads guilty for his Manchurian Candidate crimes but gets a lenient judge. The mag has taken a while to get its rhythm back, but it does sound like the story Brubaker wanted to tell. And a few of Guice’s layouts channel Steranko!

last issue: Captain America #614
next issue: Captain America #615.1

also indexed for Apr. ’11
The Fantastic Four #588
Secret Avengers #9

Captain America #614: Bucky Barnes

A-story: Ed Brubaker // Jackson Guice
March 2011
A-story: ****

Brubaker revives Buck’s brainwashed backstory, a link to the early heyday of this run. #614 combines ‘street-level’ tropes (violence in the courtroom!) & supervillainy (rants & bombs), & offers a good perf by the manipulative Dr. Faustus. And many inkers on hand, which improves Guice’s pencils!

B-story: Rikki Barnes
last issue: Captain America #613
next issue: Captain America #615

also indexed for Mar. ’11
Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #4 of 9
The Fantastic Four #587
Secret Avengers #9
The Thanos Imperative: Devastation #1 of 1

Captain America #613: Bucky Barnes

A-story: Ed Brubaker // Jackson Guice
February 2011
A-story: ***

Sin (her burn-scarred skull matches Dad’s) sets a bomb on Liberty Island & sabotages the trial of Bucky Barnes w/ media leaks! As legacy characters go, she’s okay: her taste for hunky musclemen is vaguely kinky, while her sociopathy has matured from Natural Born Killers into real supervillainy.

B-story: Rikki Barnes
last issue: Captain America #612
next issue: Captain America #614

also indexed for Feb. ’11
The Fantastic Four #586
Secret Avengers #8

Captain America #612: Bucky Barnes

A-story: Ed Brubaker // Jackson Guice
January 2011
A-story: ***

Bucky, on trial for his un-American activity under mind control, realizes he likes being Captain America. ‘Cap in jail’ is a conflict w/ potential, as he’s a state-sanctioned masked man & not an urban vigilante. But JG’s art is abnormally sloppy: his Bernie Rosenthal looks like a man in drag!

B-story: Rikki Barnes
last issue: Captain America #611
next issu: Captain America #613

also indexed for Jan. ’11
Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #3 of 9
The Fantastic Four #585
Secret Avengers #7
The Thanos Imperative #6 of 6

Captain America #21

Ed Brubaker // Steve Epting
October 2006
*****

What more do you want from a Captain America comic? An epic battle for the skies of London involves a Nazi supersoldier, a crashing blimp, a giant robot, & the Red Skull vs. 21C Invaders… including Bucky! This fraternal bond threatens to trump Cap’s reignited romance with Kirby creation Agent 13.

last issue: Captain America #20
next issue: Captain America #22

also indexed for Oct. ’06
Annihilation #1 of 6
Astonishing X-Men #16
Civil War #4 of 7
Daredevil #88
Runaways #19

Captain America #20

Ed Brubaker // Steve Epting
September 2006
****

A three-tiered grid of exceptional widescreen comics over the skies of London! While the ex-KGB oligarch helps stage a giant robot attack at his own corporate event, his psychic lodger (the Red Skull) aims a blimp at Parliament & his proteges pilot a light aircraft into the Soviet’s skyscraper HQ!

last issue: Captain America #19
next issue: Captain America #21

also indexed for Sept. ’06
Annihilation: Nova #4 of 4
Annihilation: Ronan #4 of 4
Annihilation: Silver Surfer #4 of 4
Annihilation: Super-Skrull #4 of 4
Civil War #3 of 7
Daredevil #87
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #7
Runaways #18

Captain America #19

Ed Brubaker // Steve Epting
August 2006
****

The super-skullduggery gets a film of Londontown grime, w/ MI-5 butting heads w/ SHIELD, & seedy arms dealers, and dockland smugglers from Hamburg who turn out to be super-Nazis! Weirdest of all, the corporate spymaster spends teh ish in a mask of Cap’s archenemy (Epting draws an A+ Red Skull!).

last issue: Captain America #18
next issue: Captain America #20

also indexed for Aug. ’06
Annihilation: Nova #3 of 4
Annihilation: Ronan #3 of 4
Annihilation: Silver Surfer #3 of 4
Annihilation: Super-Skrull #3 of 4
Astonishing X-Men #15
Civil War #2 of 7
Daredevil #86
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #6
Runaways #17
Young Avengers #12

Captain America #18

Ed Brubaker // Steve Epting
July 2006
****

Cap returns to London (nice fusion of pencil & photo) on the trail of Bucky & his target. Neither hero knows that the ex-Soviet oil magnate has a voice in his skull: our favorite Nazi supervillain! The implication is that modern Russia’s oligarchy is a thin disguise for the same old totalitarianism.

last issue: Captain America #17
next issue: Captain America #19

also indexed for Jul. ’06
Annihilation: Nova #2 of 4
Annihilation: Ronan #2 of 4
Annihilation: Silver Surfer #2 of 4
Annihilation: Super-Skrull #2 of 4
Civil War #1 of 7
Daredevil #85
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #5
Runaways #16
X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #5 of 5