Comics Review: Captain America and Bucky #620

Written by Ed Brubaker and Marc Andreyko, pencils by Chris Samnee Published by Marvel Comics In stores now! For all intents and purposes, Captain America and Bucky # 620 is, effectively, the first issue of a brand new series. Taking on the old numbering of the original Captain America title (relaunched with an all new number one just a few weeks ago, in time for the movie), you could almost be fooled into thinking this is going to be a continuation of the same character driven espionage that made the old volume of Cap so unique. However, the addition of Bucky€™s name to the book€™s title is indicative of a huge shift in focus. Unlike the old volume, where a revived Bucky took on the Cap mantle in a modern setting, this is firmly placed during World War 2, with writers Ed Brubaker and Marc Andreyko seeming dead set on evoking the spirit of those old fashioned war serials. Whether or not this is a good thing remains to be seen. This opening issue (and, presumably the remainder of this opening arc) eschews the contemporary touch that defined Brubaker€™s cap run altogether. Here we get to see Bucky before he is recruited to be Cap€™s sidekick and, in all truth, he€™s a sniveling little snot. Sure, we understand why he€™s the way he is, but that doesn€™t make him any easier to be around. It doesn€™t help that Chris Samnee draws him in a way that amplifies these qualities. While he may be well on the way to becoming the Bucky we know and love by the last page, it doesn€™t change the fact that he€™s quite unlikeable for the majority of the issue. I€™m an enormous Cap fan, and an even bigger fan of Bucky (or, more specifically, Bucky once he becomes The Winter Soldier). Furthermore, I love everything Brubaker€™s done, so when I heard that Marc Andreyko would be co-scripting with him I thought there was no way this wouldn€™t be a winner (his Manhunter run for DC was amazing). However, no matter how tight the pacing of this issue may be, or how well written the narration is, or either how brilliantly stylized Samnee€™s pencils are (check out his brilliant work on Joss Whedon€™s Serenitity: A Shepherd€™s Tale), this still feels like something we€™ve seen a thousand times before. Once again, we€™re stuck in WWII and, once again, we see Bucky growing up on Camp Lehigh only to be eventually recruited by Captain America. However, despite minor tweaks to events that make Bucky€™s training slightly more plausible, the book suffers from feeling overly familiar. Hopefully, over the course of this arc, that will change. Otherwise we€™ll have something we haven€™t seen for a long time- a stale, boring Cap book. However, being in the hands of two great writers like Brubaker and Andreyko, I€™m hoping this is just a slow start to what will otherwise be a great ride. Fingers crossed€