Captain America #617: Review

Apr 2011

Ed Brubaker, Butch Guice

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Story Name:

Gulag—Part 2

Review & Comments

Rating:

Captain America #617 Review by Peter Silvestro (May 1, 2011)

Review: Single story told in three parts, separated by artist and central character is pretty good though it doesn’t move the story forward much. There’s a sinister plot at work (no kidding?) which will be uncovered within the next two issues. The Bucky section is best, with the chaotic art mirroring the hero’s mental state. Of course, if you’ve read Diamond Previews this month you know what’s going to happen: the series restarts (it does not reboot) with a new number one and Steve back in costume after Bucky apparently dies (been there, done that). So we have two months for Ed Brubaker to finish disassembling Bucky Cap (neatly bookending his run on the series which began with resurrecting him) and move on to something new.

Comments: Neither Bucky nor Steve appears in costume as Captain America. The word the armored Russian says as he falls out the office is “Chert” which translates roughly to “Oh Hell.”

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Captain America #617 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

James "Bucky" Barnes is in a Russian prison camp, forced into an exhibition fight against the brutal man-bear Ursa Major. With his agility and a handy length of chain, Bucky is able to defeat the monster against all odds. Colonel Rostov, the warden, is of the opinion that their plan is going to be even easier than they had hoped….

Bucky wakes up the next morning, sore but finding respect from some of the inmates. The sound of so many voices speaking Russian, however, causes memories to surface, memories of his time as the Soviet assassin the Winter Soldier, memories he had hoped to bury permanently. In the yard, he is accosted by a bunch of convicts who call themselves the Wolf Spiders, followers of Bucky’s old comrade Niko Constantin, and they offer him protection. When Bucky declines he has to fight the thugs beating them easily, proving they are not true Wolf Spiders, subjects of an experiment by Department X’s Red Room. The closest the project came to success was Niko, who ended up a dangerous psychotic—and is now in this gulag. After Bucky beats the hoods, an old man named Alexi introduces himself as a former student of the Winter Solder’s and offers him some tips to stay alive. Alexi reveals that the Warden, Rostov, has a personal grudge against the American; Rostov is a secret backer of the clandestine cage matches and Alexi shows Bucky his next opponent, the gigantic brute Boris Bullski, the original Titanium Man. Bullski has been promised his freedom if he kills Bucky in the fight….

Story #2

Black Widow

Writer: Ed Brubaker. Penciler: Mike Deodato Jr.. Inker: Mike Deodato Jr.. Colorist: Bettie Breitweiser.

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

By Peter Silvestro

Sharon Carter arrives in Moscow, posing as an American journalist with the Black Widow as her interpreter. They examine the official files on the Winter Soldier and find them identical to the copies sent to America. In them, the Soldier is accused of murdering two innocents, Victor Lodenko and Rina Szynski, on November 17, 1982, indicating that the assassin had gone rogue and was now an enemy of the Soviet Union. Natasha suspects this was a KGB-sanctioned killing and thinks she knows how to confirm it. Sharon calls Steve Rogers in the States to report but they are suddenly cut off (the reason why is in the third story). That night, the two women sneak into a secret facility to examine the Department X cold files. Natasha discovers that the two victims were staff of the Red Room under Colonel Rostov…and then they are surprised by armed guards….

Story #3

Super-Soldier

Writer: Ed Brubaker. Penciler: Chris Samnee. Inker: Chris Samnee. Colorist: Bettie Breitweiser.

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

By Peter Silvestro

At Avengers Mansion, Steve Rogers stands pondering the Captain America costume and his future. Jarvis enters, saying It’s time…" Steve assumes the butler is referring to the decision to wield the shield once more. Jarvis notes that Steve is the only one who believes he won’t and moves on to his real business: reminding Steve of his appointment at the Justice Department. Steve’s meeting is with Henry Peter Gyrich, longtime thorn in the Avengers’ thumb, to ask why Gyrich was so adamant about concluding the deal that sent Bucky to a Russian Prison. The angry bureaucrat is interrupted in his retort by Steve’s phone; Steve takes the call from Sharon Carter in Moscow (see story 2) to stop himself from punching Gyrich. Suddenly the office explodes and an armored killer appears in the newly made hole in the wall. Steve battles the enemy finally knocking him back through the hole after which the villain jets to safety. Steve, noting that the assassin spoke Russian demands to know just what Gyrich has done....

Story #4