Who is The Winter Soldier?

Recently the title for the upcoming sequel to the 2011 film, "Captain America," was revealed alongside its release date...but, what exactly does the title suggest to fans and movie-goers?  A hardcore comic book fan might have some notion as to what the film title suggests, but to those who are avid movie-goers but lack the knowledge of the source might have difficulties piecing together the reference.  

No matter which camp you belong to (or even if you reside in the center of the geek Venn Diagram) here is some basic knowledge to help you plunder your way through the rich and diverse Captain America, Bucky, and Winter Solider fictional history:

Before the character Winter Soldier existed, there was James 'Bucky' Barnes, a soldier in the U.S Army and close friend of Steve Rogers.  Eventually Bucky ascertained that Captain Rogers was in fact Captain America.  At this juncture they began their joint battle along side one other throughout the bulk of World War II.  However, during the close of the second Great War, Bucky was supposedly killed in action and Captain America frozen for many decades.

Much later it is discovered that Bucky is alive--by a stroke of luck he had been found by a crew of Russian patrolmen.  He had suffered massive brain damage (which resulted in his amnesia) and lost an arm due to the explosion.  Russian scientists built him a mechanical arm and brainwashed him to be a become a Soviet, Cold War Agent.  He was then bequeathed the codename: Winter Soldier.

As a Soviet Agent he was sent on missions usually involving political assassinations and espionage, which resulted in crossovers with such characters as Wolverine and Black Widow.  when not on the aforementioned assassinations he was kept in a cryogenic stasis missions resulting in a sort of longevity.

Eventually he was found by Captain America and his memories were restored using the reality-altering Cosmic Cube, and having gained back his memories, he was forced to carry the burden of his past as...The Winter Soldier.

Recommended Readings:

"Captain America: Winter Soldier Ultimate Collection"

Trade paperback includes: "Captain America #1-9" and "#11-14." 

"Winter Soldier, Vol. 1: The Longest Winter"

Trade paperback includes:  "Fear Itself: Captain America: #7.1" and the first issues to the current ongoing series, "Winter Soldier #1-5."

You can also check out a review of "Winter Soldier #1" here.

Related Articles:

Review: Winter Soldier #1

Review: Winter Soldier #2

Review: Winter Soldier #3

Review: Winter Soldier #4

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Mojo

I just (finally) wrapped up my article listing notable reviews of September's DC relaunch.  It's sad...I know.  I had a roll going and was writing incredibly consistently about DC's new 52, but right at the end my creative juices ran out and I ended up taking a two week writing hiatus.  Hopefully, this is another start to a solid roll.  I've got quite a few new ideas swirling around the noggin, again, so we'll see how it pans out in the next month or so.

My Fear Itself article hasn't leaped off of the concept page yet, but I do have the solid beginnings of a Batman: Arkham City review and my spot on the Spot is almost complete after many months of fine tuning.

SPOILER ALERT

Also, at the end of Fear Itself the Hulk separates himself from Bruce Banner leaving the two characters physically estranged from one another.  This of course leads to a number one entitled, The Incredible Hulk #1, with a masthead that reads, Shattered Heroes (similar to Marvel's Age of Heroes line of comics after Secret Invasion).

With this in mind I am thinking of working on a review of the issue to publish sometime this week.  The art was phenomenal and the story left me lusting for more.  This is quite an accomplishment considering I've never had an interest in the Hulk before.

END OF SPOILER

Also, in homage to Rocksteady's already critically acclaimed title, Batman: Arkham City, I wrote a poem about the Caped Crusader named, "Master Wayne's Keep."  Corny, but it happens.  I found a great piece of art showcasing Gotham's very own Wayne Tower, which was a perfect fit for the poem.  I normally don't write poetry, but I thought I'd give it a try and see where it led me.  Check it out!  Until next time.

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Day Jobs Suck, but Comic Books Rock!

First off, sorry about the infrequencies in posts, my day job...is well..my day job.  And, like all day jobs it sucks and kind of syphons my creative mojo, especially since I work graveyards.  Nevertheless, I have been keeping up on my comic book readings and I have plenty of ideas and material floating around my lopsided noggin.

First off, I'll be wrapping up my horribly belated DC 52 posts at the Examiner with my Week 4 post rolling out this Sunday.  That way I can include all of the spectacular cover art and have a complete set to post either here or on Tumblr.  After that I plan on finishing up my piece on the Spot, which is currently in its infancy, but won't take too much longer to wrap-up..hopefully.  I've recently found some amazing artwork for Marvel's Gambit and so my next character spotlight will be of him after I publish my spot...on the Spot.  After that...who knows?

I have a growing list of suggestions and ideas, but on the forefront is a piece comparing DC's Flashpoint with Marvel's Fear Itself.  Both were excellent, but I think it would be nice to compare the two.  They both had similar and different objectives and were the two biggest comic book events of the Summer.  The aftermath of these events will linger for months to come with DC's NEW 52 still in full-swing and the plethora of Fear Itself spinoffs to commence with this week's Fear Itself #7 and Fearless #1 (which as I type is sitting on my desk next to my new Kyle Rayner action figure, which was oh so graciously gifted to me by my amazing girlfriend).  I'll most-likely do a short post here on the Marsh detailing out the successes and failing of the two, and then I'll write up a more comprehensive posting for the Examiner that explains in detail my thought process while providing some justification to my reasoning.

Batman: Arkham City just released this past Tuesday and as luck would have it the funds were available to purchase the CE.  So far it more than exceeds my expectations.  I loved the first game and I went into this one with high expectations and they were all but shattered.  The plot is amazing, the gameplay is smooth, and the free roam nature of the game is fantastic.  It's provided me with some great material to hopefully write about in the future.  I would like to do character spotlights on both the Penguin and Ras Al Ghul.

I've been tinkering around with the idea of doing several pieces about modern classics.  In other words posts about notable graphical novels that have come out within' the past twenty or so years.  I have a couple in mind (such as Superman's Last Son, Wolverine & Jubilee, Claws I & II, and Gates of Gotham), but as always I appreciate suggestions and feel free to comment or email me with said suggestions.

Also, I would like to expand on my Comic Book of the Week section as well as my Splish, Splash page.  Hopefully, I'll be able to tinker out a way categorize posts into a separate page rather than just adding to an existing page.  That way my subscribers will be notified of the update and my tags can whip across the internets like a frenzied Snitch to draw in more readers.

Besides my aforementioned rambles I don't have much more to say at the moment.  If you need a reading suggestion for the week I would highly recommend picking up Justice League #2.  Jim Lee's artwork is fantastic.  (Check out my Splish, Splash page to see a splash page from the issue.)  It picks up wonderfully from the first issue's slow start and exponentially takes off.  To see the Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, and Superman palling around is absolutely phenomenal.  There are some truly great lines in the issue as well.

Well, that's all for now!  Check back here for more announcements and posting as they publish.

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New Half-Black, Half-Hispanic Spiderman a Controversy?...Really?

With DC's focus on diversity with their new 52 lineup around the corner Marvel seems to have followed suit by replacing the recently killed Ultimate Spiderman, Peter Parker, with Miles Morales, a half-black, half-Hispanic Spiderman.  His racial background, for some inane reason, has caused quite a stir within numerous media outlets including the oh, so 'reputable' FOX News.  For whatever reason these media leeches have latched on to this announcement with much prejudice and racism.  Instead of embracing a new character and analyzing how the writers at Marvel plan to further their newest addition or how Miles Morales' origin story is going to develop they are squabbling at that fact he is half-black, half-Hispanic.

Honestly, it is 2011 people...get over it.  People are people.  Do not focus on race, age, religion, politics, etc...focus on the art.  That is what we are here for...the art, the culture, the happiness, and the willpower it takes to create something beautiful and inspiring. 

I am definitely curious to see where Marvel takes the new Ultimate Spiderman story-wise, and I am also looking forward to cracking into Marvel's Spider-Island event.  As an aside I just wrapped up Spidey's Fear Itself tie-in and it was masterful to say the least.  By far one of the best tie-ins to a miniseries.  It is going to be a good summer for Spidey.

Here are a couple of shots of the new Ultimate Spiderman:

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