Winter Soldier #1-3

Winter Soldier #1 (2012)
by Ed Brubaker & Butch Guice
cover be Lee Bermejo & Gabriele Dell’otto

Not a huge surprise to see Ed Brubaker working on Doctor Doom after the excellent Books of Doom miniseries, but nobody would’ve expected him to show up against Bucky.

In case you’ve been under suspended animation in the Arctic for more than a decade, during the Brubaker run on Captain America we learned that Bucky survived and was turned into an assassin with a cybernetic arm, but now he has his memories back and he’s trying to be a hero again.
It’s amazing that everyone was sure for DECADES that bringing back Bucky would be a terrible idea, but Brubaker managed to do it so well that the decision is basically universally praised (by me as well!).

Most of the first issue is outside the scope of the retrospective, but we eventually see a familiar face. Lucia Von Bardas, who we haven’t seen since the atrocious Secret War and now sporting a wicked cybernetic eye, has allied herself with the Red Ghost.

The connection with Bucky is that they’re using sleeper agents that are controlled exactly the way Winter Soldier worked.

And they use one to take a shot at Doctor Doom!!!

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Winter Soldier #2 (2012)
by Ed Brubaker & Butch Guice
cover be Lee Bermejo

Forgot to mention that Bucky is currently in a relationship with Black Widow, who co-stars in the book.
As they’re both former Soviet secret agents who rebelled against their masters, they definitely have something in common.

So this is a book about two gritty Cold War spies dull of angst going after cyborgs and gorillas wielding machine guns.
Comics, everybody!

I don’t know enough about the Golden Age Captain America stories, but it feels wrong that Bucky never fought a gorilla.

Admittedly the Super-Apes are among the weirdest Marvel concepts, but come on, Black Widow must have seen weirder stuff.

But let’s go back to the assassination attempt. Which, unsurprisingly, failed.

Yeah maybe, just maybe, shooting a rocket at Doctor Doom’s face wasn’t the best idea.

I’d watch that newsreel on loop.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the case, and they identified the shooter: one of the sleeper agents, which is why Winter Soldier is called in.

Considering the Red Ghost is basically the only Marvel supervillain who employs apes, it doesn’t take much to link him to the case.
If this was the DC Universe it’d be much harder, there are apes everywhere there.
Also, it turns out that the same program that brainwashed Bucky also employed the Red Ghost.

Which sounds like the usual “all scientists are interchangeable” thing, but it does make sense: Red Ghost was able to turn regular apes into astronauts!
I cannot believe that ANYTHING about Red Ghost makes sense, but here it kind of does.

However something doesn’t add up: Red Ghost is a super-scientist who fights the Fantastic Four, why would he ever think that a regular RPG could take out Doctor Doom?

I’ve always like the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. tends to leave Doctor Doom alone, since whatever he’s trying to do against superheroes is typically the LEAST dangerous thing he could do.

The investigation then moves to an auction selling high-tech weapons.

I always love to see how the underbelly of the Marvel Universe works, especially whenever we get the sense of a dark web of sketchy stuff going on in the shadows.

After beating up people at the auction, Winter Soldier and Black Widow learn that something important was purchased recently by the Red Ghost.

And we end the issue with the discover that Red Ghost and Lucia Von Bardas managed to buy something truly special at the auction: a freaking Doombot!!!

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Winter Soldier #3 (2012)
by Ed Brubaker & Butch Guice
cover be Lee Bermejo

Alright, enough with the preamble. Let’s get Doctor Doom involved!

The Red Ghost is an interesting case when it comes to villains that were directly linked to the Cold War. Most of them slowly transitioned to different causes, but Red Ghost really hasn’t changed.
I think it’s a combination of various reasons: he’s already weird enough that you don’t think too much about his motivations, and with all the super-science around him they’re not worried about making him too old.

This is a very well-thought trap for Doom. He can’t admit that someone stole his Doombot and he can’t ignore the problem after being attacked in public, so he’s only going to escalate.

Nick Fury immediately figures out that Lucia Von Bardas is behind this, and we even get an explanation for why she’s at large: Norman Osborn let her get away when he was in charge.
Which I’m counting as a huge failure on Norman’s part, because he could’ve have used her as leverage against Doom

Speaking of the stolen Doombot, now it looks like a regular one despite the weirder design of the last cliffhanger. And it’s been activated.

You will see that the series treats having a Doombot on the loose as a VERY serious thing, but it’s not above having some fun with the fact that the Doombots are inherently a bit silly.

If you’re wondering how Doctor Doom managed to lose one of his Doombots… he kind of didn’t, because Von Bardas just sold one off.

Back to Winter Soldier, he’s going to infiltrate the Latverian Embassy to get some intel. And this is one of those times where getting there uninvited is treated as VERY difficult.

Of course having Black Widow at his side helps, but I think they’re going a bit overboard with all these gadgets. It makes sense that he has them, but it’s detracting from his abilities.

I’m pretty sure Doom is taking a nap during all this.

But OF COURSE he spots the intruders and wipes the floor with them.

I’m a bit surprised Doctor Doom didn’t already know about Bucky’s return, he tends to be up to date on this sort of stuff.

Of course Bucky and Black Widow are not crazy enough to think they can defeat Doom: in fact, they’re just asking for his help.

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Doom significance: 4/10
Lucia Von Bardas is rescued from limbo for this, and will become a minor recurring annoyance.

Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Gorillas with machine guns and jetpacks!!!

Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Stellar writing, interesting characters, tight plot, amazing artwork… this one has everything.
It’s also BY FAR the best Lucia Von Bardas story to date, and it even manages to make the Red Ghost a nuanced and threatening villain.

It was a Doombot all along
I think the one attacked at the Embassy is probably a Doombot. I’m a bit uncertain about the one meeting Winter Soldier: he doesn’t do anything that makes me think this could be the real Doom, unless he went to the Embassy in person after it was attacked.

Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 116
They’re technically going to be allies next, but Bucky does briefly fight Doom so it counts.
Black Widow was already in the count from her days in the Champions.

Crazy tech
The Embassy’s security is tight enough that infiltrating it requires a ridiculous amounts of gadgets.