Review: Winter Soldier #4 (2012)

Sometimes it is difficult to write month-to-month reviews based on a sole serial, especially when considering that I want to be able to straddle that ambiguous line of informative but not spoiler heavy.  I want to give you enough of a review that you would like to purchase a copy for yourself, or borrow one from a friend, so that you can dive headlong into an amazing, well-written story.

I try and lace pop culture references and bits of meta-humor in order to make the ambiguity relatable and concrete; however, this newly drawn line is also difficult because sometimes references mean the world and shape the article, but in other segments they mean absolutely nil and ultimately detract.  It is an instance that is entirely black and white. 

I chose Winter Soldier as my comic book of choice because whether you agree on the quality or not it personally holds a special place due its execution.  Bucky is a character that straddles the A and the B-list.  He is been depicted in Captain America: First Avenger, but plans for a Winter Soldier film are presently far-fetched (Catch the qualifier there?--“presently”).  The current Winter Soldier run is very noir, which translates into a gritty, Cold War themed comic that sits nestled in modernism but finds its roots within the deep well of comic book history.

The third issue of Winter Soldier left readers with Winter Soldier and Doctor Doom squaring off.  In a near suicide mission, Winter Soldier and Black Widow broke into Victor’sresidence in order to warn him as well ask for his aid.  A brash move for sure, but considering that Doom does not take kindly to company it really was the most Vulcan of all available actions.

Winter Soldier #4 springboards from this premise and begins with Winter Soldier and Doctor Doom amusingly bantering, while Nick Fury controls the op from afar via Black Widow and killer hideout.  At Winter Soldier’s request, Doctor Doom uses his vast wealth of resources to locate his rogue Doom-Bot. 

Due to the robot’s location, the Doom-Bot appears to be setting up an attack on the United Nations headquarters,--propelling Doctor Doom, Winter Soldier, and Black Widow to promptly head to New York to stop the villain’s nefarious deeds.  Doctor Doom is showy compared to the recently resurrected Winter Soldier and thus dives into the situation headlong.  A battle between Doctor Doom, his Doom-Bot,Winter Soldier, and the newly unthawed and Bucky trained Soviet sleeper cell erupts within the United Nations building.  Essentially, all hell breaks lose.  Doctor Doom’s power is excellently represented and the relationship between teacher and student coupled with a bit of Cold War flavor is nicely and subtly depicted during this chaotic, but quick skirmish.

The issue wraps up nicely with a feint from the villains, that I personally did not see coming until it was pieced together for me in the closing pages.  The plot is moving along nicely and at a great pace, and Winter Soldier’s narration concerningDoctor Doom is informative and solidly (and rightfully) placesDoctor Doom towards the top of the Marvel hierarchy.  He is one of the most feared villains in the Marvel Universe, while simultaneously being one of the few characters that readers love to hate. 

The artwork still follows the paneled noir setup, but considering the content it continually works wonderfully.  Also, every once in awhile a more avant garde page is thrown in for good measure—nothing too brash, but definitely not mundane.  The only disappointment I had with the issue was the cover.  Thus far Winter Soldier has had some amazing covers that have immediately set the tone for the issue, but issue number four’s cover art is cliché and reminds me of a late ‘80’s VHS cover.  At first glance I honestly thought Swarzenneggar was doing a cameo. 

Forgiving the lack of creativity in the cover, the rest of the comic smoothly delivers providing Winter Soldier #4 four-out-of-five stars.

(SOURCE: Review: Winter Soldier #4 (2012))

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