Well, here we are. Captain America is officially back. And yes, it’s not Steve Rogers, but his former child protege, Cold War brainwashing victim and the most unlikely badass in Comics, James “Bucky” Barnes, aka, the Winter Soldier. As if you hadn’t heard that by now.

I have to say, I find Brubaker a bit hit and miss. I enjoy his X-Men no more or less than most writers. His Daredevil teeters on the brink of losing me for good. His Captain America? Utter genius. From start to finish. This might seem like a big event to some, but to others it’s merely another chapter in one of the most sprawling, ambitious arcs ever to be done with - or more recently, without - Captain America.

After all, there’s a lot going on in this issue that doesn’t involve Cap. Much of it comes from the Red Skull and his alliance of Nazi hold-outs who have been plotting and planning insidiously, engineering the collapse of the economy and infiltrating SHIELD, brainwashing its agents and causing them to murder civilian protesters at the climax of the issue.

But, let’s be realistic. Most people are going to be picking this one up for one reason only. The new Captain America is out of the bag. He’s got a gun, a shiny (literally shiny) new costume, and he’s, er, accidentally wearing the Puerto Rican flag, apparently. How embarrassing. After agreeing, last issue, to take on the identity, we find Bucky heading out on a mission with the Black Widow, donning the costume and giving us all what we wanted to see - Captain America, back in action. He admits he’s not as strong as Cap, and he can only use the shield because of his robotic arm, and perhaps most controversially, he makes definite use of the pistol he’ll be carrying. It’s Captain America, alright, but not the one we’re used to.

Which is great, really. I found myself genuinely excited to see someone back in the costume and kicking ass, even if it’s not Steve Rogers. Sure, he’ll be back eventually (I’m going to call it now: Cosmic Cube) but today, Bucky is Captain America, and it feels right. Tony Stark even gets some measure of redemption out of this development when he allows Bucky to take the costume, keep the shield and act independently as an unregistered hero. If there aren’t any double-crosses snuck into that deal, well, he’s almost making up for spending the last year as Tony Stark, the Insufferable Iron Dick. Another top-notch issue of Captain America, and up until a few months ago, I never would have expected to ever be saying that.

Tags: Captain America, Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting
Publisher: Marvel