When the fall is all that remains...

[colonel_green]

Four scans from Captain America #619.
 

Previously:  Bucky was chillin' in the gulag, engaging in prison fights and being mindprobed for information about Soviet sleeper agents in the US so that Colonel Rostov can sell it to the highest bidder; Natasha went AWOL to rescue him; Steve and Nick Fury were investigating some ill-defined Russian conspiracy stateside.

Natasha cuts a deal with a mob contact to take out some of his rivals in exchange for some shit that she needs to spring Bucky.  Making her way there in a helicopter, she narrates about the execution of her "one-day plan" (much as I enjoyed Marjorie Liu's story, I don't think any contemporary writer gets this character as well as Brubaker does).



Cresting the ridge, however, she finds that the prison is already on fire, as Bucky is effecting his own escape.  They meet up eventually:





The issue ends with Steve telling Obama and co. that Bucky was framed, but Obama doesn't like this whole mess, and says there's no way that Bucky can continue to be Captain America.  Which...doesn't fit very well with Fear Itself.

In light of that event, I'm sure most people will be reading this with Bucky's future in mind, and I'll say that this issue reinforces what I already thought:  there's no way this is meant to be Brubaker's last 21st century Bucky story.  The villain of this arc is still at large, with information stolen from Bucky's head, among other things.


 

Comments

[k_red]

This is actually a glimmer of hope. Maybe Bucky fakes his death as Captain America and continues on with Nat in a new identity. At least, I hope so. I love Bucky.

[schala_kid]

The issue ends with Steve telling Obama and co. that Bucky was framed, but Obama doesn't like this whole mess, and says there's no way that Bucky can continue to be Captain America. Which...doesn't fit very well with Fear Itself.

Can we ignore Fear Itself now? (except that part where the Avengers are eating with the other Aesirs in Asgard, I like that part).

[blackruzsa]

Well I hope they fix this continuity hiccup asap. Still, I am terribly glad for Bucky.

[nickfury90]

Bucky is "dead" the same way Kyle Rayner was "dead" in Blackest Night. I expect Bucky to be alive and well in a few months time, probably going undercover to escape any Russian/USA prosecution and to take down these sleeper agents.

In Brubaker We Trust

[eyz]

That's some quite pretty art there!

[rordulum]

I've not been reading Fear Itself, nor really any other Marvel stuff except Captain America (and X-23), so I'm very much hoping that his 'death' in the mini is some sort of BS.

Of course, if he's no longer Captain America, there's every chance that Bucky will just end up in limbo anyway, but I would love to see a Winter Soldier ongoing, with Bucky and Natasha generally being awesome all over the world.

How did it ever come to a situation where the only Marvel books I buy any more are about a revived Bucky Barnes and Wolverine's girl clone? Yeesh.