Fear Itself #7.1: Captain America

Because I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting to find out what’s up with Bucky! And while it actually hasn’t been that long since Bucky got his arm ripped off and was pronounced dead (see Fear Itself #3), I’ve been waiting and FEAR ITSELF #7 POINT ONE CAPTAIN AMERICA told me everything I’ve been waiting for!

*** SPOILER ALERT! ***

Seriously? You didn’t actually think Bucky was dead, Did you? Really? Never crossed my mind once. Which made me even more curious! And the explanation for Bucky not being dead was great. No need to dwell on a forgone conclusion. Very quick and efficient. He was only mostly dead. Princess Bride style. Nick Fury spirited him away. They inject him with the last of Nick’s Infinity Formula. He lives! Really all we needed.

The real question is: what are you going to do with the character? Where does Bucky go from here? And that’s what I liked.

Bucky has always been an integral part of Ed Brubaker’s Captain America saga. Heck, the first arc was titled Winter Soldier. And we got some very good Bucky (and Captain America) stories out of the run.

Major side ramble! And you can blame it on the DC reboot. Because Ed Brubaker is the one who "rebooted" Captain America. Sure it’s been renumbered and now relaunched. If you want to get technical, FEAR ITSELF #7 POINT ONE CAPTAIN AMERICA probably should have been Captain America #616. That’s Marvel. Crazy numbering is their forte. But the Captain America you saw in this issue — the Fear Itself Captain America, the Avengers Captain America, the Civil War Captain America, the current modern Captain America you see all across the current modern Marvel Universe — began with Ed Brubaker’s Captain America. It was a Best Book winner in its heyday. Even picked a trial of Captain America issue. It was an "always" nomination throughout most of its run. I’ve read every one of those comics. I thoroughly enjoyed the vast majority of them. Highly recommend it. And if you want to know where to start reading Captain America, it’s with the Winter Soldier. Ramble over!

Didn’t even mind Bucky taking over the mantle of Captain America. Totally worked for a while. But eventually that storyline ran its course. And of course Cap is now back… so what do you do with Bucky?

And to have Nick Fury replace dead Bucky with a Life Model Decoy, for the world at large to still think he’s dead. To let Bucky get back to being the Winter Soldier. I just thought it was great. He’s not Bucky Barnes the sidekick. He’s not Captain America. He’s not even Sucky Cap. He’s the Winter Soldier. Even the new Captain America and Bucky title, which btw is also excellent, is retelling Bucky’s World War Two adventures with a decidedly Winter Soldier flair. It’s who he is.

Which makes it all sound like I only liked FEAR ITSELF #7 POINT ONE CAPTAIN AMERICA because Bucky is going back to being the Winter Soldier. Not the case. That’s just the part that makes me happy.

A very well executed issue by both Mr. Ed Brubaker and Mr. Bruce Guice makes it a great comic and a winner.

See ya!

Rusty