Visually, Winter Soldier #1 by Ed Brubaker and Butch Guice is a fascinating, intricate little puzzle full of tiny panels that look like nothing else Marvel is publishing today. How about the story, though? Well, we’ll get to that in a second.
The issue itself does a good job of getting the reader up to speed, but we’ll do it anyway: back in World War II, Captain America had a partner named Bucky Barnes. He died in the line of duty… Except he didn’t, really. He just got his arm blown off, replaced by a robotic one, and was brainwashed by the Russians into becoming the murderous Winter Soldier. Years later, Bucky got his memory back, and even took over the title of Captain America, before dying in the line of duty… Except again, he didn’t. Instead, he faked his own death to “uncomplicate” things, allowing him to go back to the covert missions he’s good at, rather than being the public symbol of America.
And that’s where we pick up at the beginning of this issue, as Bucky, and his girlfriend The Black Widow track down some secrets from his past that are starting to escape. Now, Brubaker knows these waters well, having written several excellent arcs on Captain America that mined the same territory; and here again, he shows a masterful job of building a spy mystery full of intrigue and double deals. It was good on Cap, and it’s mostly good here.
Like I said, though, the most intriguing part of this issue is the art. Guice forgoes his traditional superhero art and – probably in collusion with Brubaker – packs every page to the gills. A little bit of a lesson in modern superhero comics for you: most pages average around four or five panels each… Less, usually, any more and you’re looking to cut something down. In this issue, there’s one page with three panels, one with five, and every single other page averages around seven or eight panels.
And yes, for a modern comic book reader, this comes off as dense and claustrophobic, but that’s kind of Guice’s point. The world Bucky Barnes is operating in is all about the details. It’s not a big, splashy superhero arena with poses, explosions, and grudge match action. Sure, there’s plenty of fighting in here, but he’s far more interested in showing you the point a punch connects, or a close-up of a thugs face as he realizes they’re being attacked, than a cool superhero move.
I actually had to read the issue twice to make sure I appreciated it properly, because I spent the entire first read wondering when we were going to get a splash page reveal of Bucky in full costume regalia. Here’s a spoiler for you: it never happens. Instead, our hero, with few exceptions, is usually in the background of panels, often out of focus or completely shrouded in shadow. Expecting something different the first time through, I was completely thrown for a loop. But the second time, I began to get that Guice was going for something different here… The ideas I talked about a paragraph above, and it makes for a visually superb experience.
The techniques, too, that Guice and colorist Bettie Breitweiser use are more in line with art prints than comic books. Not to compare to the Distinguished Competition, but this book favorably reminded me of some issues of Sandman in look and feel: there’s as much emphasis on tone as there is on plot, and that all comes out through the visuals.
I mentioned there’s a slight problem with the story, and that’s that because everything is so tight, its tough to get an emotional bead on any of the characters in the story. Imagine watching a movie all shot in close-up: you’d get the plot, and it would be interesting to watch, but ultimately it would feel slightly out of focus, without much to hold on to. That’s what’s happening here… And that’s also aided and abetted by the appearance of several characters that – while familiar to the Marvel fan – come a bit out of nowhere in the context of the book.
Will Winter Soldier pay off in the long run? Of that, I have no doubt… This team has proven that they can deliver a rollicking good spy story time and again. And at least on visuals, this is like nothing on comic book stands right now. Story wise? We’ll wait and see. But I’ll definitely be on board for issue two, if only to have a few new pages to frame and stick on my wall.
Winter Solider #1 hits comic book shops from Marvel on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012.
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