Latour (w) and Klein (a and c)
The plot thickens as Latour sends Bucky into action against the Electric Ghost. We get a scene of Bucky confronting a projection of Nick Fury, which is a nice scene and remains a good tie to the Winter Soldier of old. One of the intriguing things about both the start of this Winter Soldier series and Bucky's tenure as the costumed hero (for the time that he's been a hero) is the relationship Bucky has had with SHIELD and, particularly, with Fury. He's spent more time with SHIELD in his few years back in Marvel continuity than plenty of long-time heroes and it fits pretty well with his character. Bucky has always been a follower of sorts; he certainly has his own personality and his own leadership qualities, but much of his existence has been as a weapon. He was the knife that the Invaders used to do the covert ops that required hands getting a little dirtier in World War II and he was the Winter Soldier, the Cold War assassin for Russia. Now particularly, with the loss of Natasha, Bucky finds himself directionless and in pain and has fallen back on Fury, his first connection to the superheroing world after his memories were restored. Fury, as Fury does, led him a bit astray in the hopes that not revealing the whole plan would get Bucky involved too deeply to back out when he figured out the key elements. When Bucky confronts Fury about this, he comes clean (or does he? That's the great part about Nick Fury's character; even when he comes clean, we can never be sure how clean he's come) and explains that he had to get Bucky back in the game somehow. Fury needed him, SHIELD needed him, and Bucky himself needed the push. It's a nice little construct to fall back on, their relationship, that pushes the story forward. So Bucky stays in, Robards stays in, and the Electric Ghost stays in, now amping up her push back at just about everyone. Fury lays out the plan and sends Bucky in.Bucky gets to the satellite he's sent to, teleporting through space. His captions get fairly thoughtful as he thinks about the teleportation process; it's a duplication of all his atoms followed by the destruction of his original body as the duplicated atoms reassemble into his body again in point B. He wonders if he's the same man that teleported away if it's a new person being reassembled. Is there a soul? What happens to it? What becomes of his personality if his physical structure is the only thing sent from one spot to another? Heavy questions that are followed up by a scene where he kills a few guys and is set upon and recognized by the Electric Ghost as the man who killed her parents.
I think this is an interesting story to work with and an interesting, if morbid, path for Bucky's monologue to take. I found it interesting because I read more or less the same kinds of questions about two days earlier while reading the new IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. What is happening in the world that is making all these different writers question the existence of souls and the moral dilemma of teleportation? Still, good issue setting us up for our first major villain meeting in Latour's run. But who will be the villain in the end? Bum bum buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum.
Deadpool 7
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Koblish (a) and Staples (c)
There's not too much here by way of plot but there were genuinely funny moments. The start of the issue, showing us a look into the Daily Bugle as Jonah and his team scurry to find news, is particularly fun to read. Robbie Robertson, and Ben Urich are pitching ideas for new articles about Tony Stark's drinking problem while Peter Parker is in the background trying to drum up interest in an article about illicit dealings at Oscorp. Jonah will only listen to Robbie and Ben but refuses to run anything about Tony, choosing not to besmirch the hero's name. Peter continues to weakly attempt to draw attention to Oscorp before asking if anyone is listening to him and then revealing he's Spider-Man to the uninterested audience. It's a fun way to set up the plot and it's a nice little touch to throw the Daily Bugle faithful. However, it has literally nothing to do with the rest of the issue aside from the exposition and all the fun parts those characters brought quickly disappear as Deadpool enters the book after Peter leaves the Bugle. It's a sad state for Deadpool when the least entertaining and interesting part of the book is whenever the titular character is present. He throws out reference after reference and the book makes pretty cliched statements about demons and record execs and lawyers and things along those lines while Deadpool spouts off period-piece humor and cassette tape mentions. The book lost all the good will it had gained with a phony letter page at the end wherein the writers write fake questions from people in the comedy world (as both Posehn and Duggan come from that world). Names include Paul Scheer, Matt Mira, Mike Drucker (three times) and Marvel persons Bendis and editor Jordan White, as well as Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn himself. It's the same sort of in-house references that this book has been guilty of making all along and it kind of alienates the reader who knows there's a joke going on but feels no part in it. It's not so much a wink to the crowd as it is a full fledged shove out of the way and it's systemic of the whole series so far. Like I said, there are funny things happening in this issue but it's overridden by cliche jokes and references and the overwhelming sense that we're not really wanted here.
No comments:
Post a Comment