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Winter Soldier #15

Feb 2013
Jason Latour, Nic Klein

Story Name:

Skin to Shed


Synopsis

Winter Soldier #15 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

A pair of SHIELD SuperSEALs are sent into space to retrieve a wayward satellite. The mysterious Madame Hydra seizes control of their bodies by telepathic short wave and removes their safety protocols then triggers the Banner Codes in their DNA, transforming them into Hulks, then she pushes them off the satellite to fall back to Earth….

Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, is in Croatia to locate a Colonel Rajko whose brothers he assassinated in order to make amends. He is attacked in a bar by the Colonel’s agents and his training kicks in and he kills the men in short order. Nick Fury suddenly arrives at the bar to recruit him for a mission, reminding him that this crusade of his is likely to jeopardize his faked death. After listening to Bucky agonize about losing Natasha (last issue), Fury fills him in on the details of the new mission. Joe Robards is a SHIELD agent who has been deep undercover inside HYDRA for years; his handler—and love of his life—Gina Autry, was killed by the Winter Soldier back in his Soviet days. The loyal Robards faithfully carried out his mission for over thirty years, until last night, when he entered a casino and opened fire, killing several HYDRA big shots. He is now barricaded in the casino holding off a squad of HYDRA agents. Now Bucky crashes through the window, gunning down the villains and trying to persuade the suicidal Robards to come with him. There’s a surprise in store though: one of the slain assassins is a member of Dark HYDRA—the occult arm of the organization introduced in CAPTAIN AMERICA: HAIL HYDRA—and will not go down easily. Bucky slices the monster's arm off and several grotesque heads spring from the open wound. Finally Bucky holds the creature still while Robards sets it afire. Robards takes a swing at Bucky who knocks the rogue agent out and carries him off, wondering what made the spy suddenly break cover, and what Nick Fury isn’t telling him—or doesn’t know….


 

Review / Commentaries


Winter Soldier #15 Review by (February 16, 2013)
Review: Well. The first comic about the Winter Soldier to not be written by Ed Brubaker. Hmmm. How does Jason Latour do? For one, it doesn’t seem as though he’ll be shaking things up—at least he doesn’t in his first issue—or heading in a different direction (ditto); this is still clearly the same comic with the same feel. Bucky being recruited by Nick Fury for a mission comes across as “Bucky Barnes, Agent of SHIELD” but otherwise isn’t objectionable. The oddest part is how his original mission seems to have morphed from “shutting down agents he’s trained” to “personally apologizing to everyone he’s ever hurt” which seems a bit sentimental (and impractical) for the character. Anyway, the return of the Dark Hydra and the pseudo-Hulk opening are intriguing developments in the midst of an apparently routine spy story so I’m looking forward to the next issue. Oh and Nic Klein’s art is acceptable—it isn’t the gritty realism of Epting or Guice, being a bit more cartoonish but it does have the necessary dark and grim mood the series is known for. Lookin’ good.


> Winter Soldier comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
statue
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Nic Klein
Nic Klein
Nic Klein
Declan Shalvey (Cover Penciler)
Declan Shalvey (Cover Inker)
Jordie Bellaire (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Bucky Barnes
Bucky Barnes

(James Barnes)
Nick Fury
Nick Fury

(Nicholas Fury)
Winter Soldier
Winter Soldier

(James Buchanan Barnes)