Ed Brubaker // Jackson Guice
November 2012
****
Black Widow has been kidnapped & mind-raped; regressed to her Soviet self (well, a 21C version of it); killed a longtime SHIELD agent, & had all memory of her romance with Our Hero erased. It’s all to torture Bucky emotionally, natch. But Guice’s art looks retro & contemporary all at once.
last issue: Winter Soldier #9
next issue: Winter Soldier #11
also indexed for Nov. ’12
Captain America #17
The Fantastic Four #610
FF #22
Ed Brubaker // Michael Lark
October 2012
****
Visually this arc matches the best of the run. Lark stages the SHIELD shutdown of a Lincoln Center ballet with urgency and clarity. Brubaker’s plot twist, however, doubles down on the Black Widow’s psychological violation. Brainwashed, she fakes lucidity till she’s on the helicarrier, then attacks.
last issue: Winter Soldier #8
next issue: Winter Soldier #10
also indexed for Oct. ’12
Captain America #16
The Fantastic Four #609
FF #21
Ed Brubaker // Michael Lark
September 2012
****
Brubaker has made Nat Romanov formidable in her own right, so why’s he casting her as the damsel-in-distress here? She’s made into a pawn in a duel btw Bucky & an ex-KGB sleeper agent. It’s perilously close to fridging: she’s not just another brainwashed character in the run, she’s a violated woman.
last issue: Winter Soldier #7
next issue: Winter Soldier #9
also indexed for Sept. ’12
Captain America #14
Captain America #15
The Fantastic Four #608
FF #20
Ed Brubaker // Michael Lark
late August 2012
*****
Lark stages an exceptional action sequence—a high-octane firefight on motorcycle & camper van—but also some narrative flashbacks that are artfully quiet. Note also how realistically Brubaker directs the action as a mission op, recalling the excellent indie Queen & Country as much as, say, Bourne.
last issue: Winter Soldier #6
next issue: Winter Soldier #8
also indexed for Aug. ’12
Captain America #13
The Fantastic Four #607
FF #19
Winter Soldier #6
Ed Brubaker // Michael Lark
early August 2012
****
My favorite of Brubaker’s artists takes a curtain call with this late-run arc about a KGB cryo-tube agent, an obvious foil for the title hero (he even kills an ex-Bucky!). Bru’s brought back to his hard-boiled, realistic side; take a sec to note how smoothy he shifts from last arc’s Doom & Apes!
last issue: Winter Soldier #5
next issue: Winter Soldier #7
also indexed for Aug. ’12
Captain America #13
The Fantastic Four #607
FF #19
Winter Soldier #7
Ed Brubaker // Jackson Guice
July 2012
*****
A two-fisted showdown in a rocket silo! Dr. Doom vs. Super-Apes! Not only does this arc give great spyfi action, it turns the villainess into the kind of super-terrorist Latveria would spawn, & a foe worthy of Doom. Guice draws great hand-to-hand, w/ surprising angles & distances adding kineticism.
last issue: Winter Soldier #4
next issue: Winter Soldier #6
also indexed for Jul. ’12
Captain America #11
Captain America #12
The Fantastic Four #605.1
The Fantastic Four #606
FF #18
Ed Brubaker // Jackson Guice
May 2012
****
A great match-up: Widow & the Winter Soldier vs. Dr. Doom! Doom wins on his home turf, the Latverian Embassy in NYC. It’s all a sequel to Bendis’ misfire Secret War, a mini that helped pioneer the Marvel vogue for post-9/11 superheroic espionage, a subgenre that this run epitomizes.
last issue: Winter Soldier #2
next issue: Winter Soldier #4
also indexed for May ’12
Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #9 of 9
Captain America #9
Captain America & Bucky #628
The Fantastic Four #604
FF #16
Ed Brubaker // Jackson Guice
late April 2012
****
Not content to continue the run’s Bourne-like action, this first arc pits our hero against a Commie gorilla with a jetpack & AK-47! It’s a ’60s Soviet hench-ape! But #2’s real story is Guice, adding maturity of layout to the Maleev photoref style. It’s gorgeous (except for his rubber-limbed Widow).
last issue: Winter Soldier #1
next issue: Winter Soldier #3
also indexed for Apr. ’12
Captain America #8
Captain America & Bucky #627
The Fantastic Four #603
FF #15
Winter Soldier #1
Ed Brubaker // Jackson Guice
early April 2012
****
Bucky finally gets his solo mag, hunting Soviet cryotube killers w/ GF Black Widow. I wouldn’t want to delete Buck’s tenure as Cap but this is what the character’s meant for: a throwback to Cold War superspy stuff rather than the watered-down War on Terror espionage of the concurrent Cap run.
continued from Fear Itself: Captain America #7.1
next issue: Winter Soldier #2
also indexed for Apr. ’12
Captain America #8
Captain America & Bucky #627
The Fantastic Four #604
FF #15
Winter Soldier #2
Kurt Busiek // George Pérez
November 2000
****
Pérez & Busiek put their all into GP’s swansong for an issue of old-school superheroics. An aristo aims to inundate the globe w/ “ionic energy”, killing millions & putting millions more under his control. Avengers & T-bolts can’t stop him, but his cracked daughter can. High stakes; deft dialogue; exuberant artwork; inspiring heroism; a huge cast: this arc exemplifies the duo’s superb Avengers run.
continued from Thunderbolts #44
continued in Maximum Security #1 of 3
last issue: Avengers #33
next issue: Avengers #35
also indexed for Nov. ’00
Thunderbolts #44
Maximum Security #1 of 3
Kurt Busiek // George Pérez & Paul Ryan
October 2000
****
KB has rarely written 1st-person narration in his Av run, so it’s a surprise that he anchors this issue w/ a villainess’ internal monologue. But it effectively shows Mme. Masque’s struggle to overcome paranoia & trust the team. Atop GP’s layouts, Ryan’s touch of realism adds to her inner conflict.
continued from Thunderbolts #43
continued in Thunderbolts #44
last issue: Avengers #32
next issue: Avengers #34
also indexed for Oct. ’00
Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet #1 of 1
Thunderbolts #43
Kurt Busiek // George Pérez & Paul Ryan
September 2000
***
Like the cover says, #32 unkinks the bent history of Madame Masque. On top of her daddy issues, the gold-masked Iron Man foe/ex-GF now has clones, a secret NV base, & a paranoid streak. Note that Pérez only provides breakdowns; Ryan, an inoffensive Marvel headliner in the early ’90s, pencils adequately.
continued from Thunderbolts #42
continued in Thunderbolts #43
last issue: Avengers #31
next issue: Avengers #33
also indexed for Sept. ’00
Thunderbolts #42
Brian Michael Bendis // Gabriele Dell’Otto
December 2005
***
It went semi-annual, but at least this mini got finished. And there’s a compelling tale that doesn’t quite get told: a comment on 9/11 (made clumsily explicit in one ugly, painted splash) & American foreign policy, embodied by Nick Fury. Problem is, Bendis can’t quite handle the ambiguity required to turn Fury from a heroic superspy into a spook whose activites are a form of moral blindness.
last issue: Secret War #4 of 5
also indexed for Dec. ’05
Daredevil #78
Drax the Destroyer #2 of 4
Young Avengers #9
Brian Michael Bendis // Gabriele Dell’Otto
April 2004
***
Nick Fury has evidence that supercriminals are funded by a post-Doom Latverian proxy—but he’s muzzled by the State Dept because Latv’s our ally! Bendis brings his hard-boiled espionage to the greater Marvel U but he may not be able to pull off the moral ambiguity. Jury’s out on D’O’s painted art.
next issue: Secret War #2 of 5
also indexed for Apr. ’04
Daredevil #57
Fantastic Four #510
New X-Men #153
The Pulse #1
Index Indigo 