Slow Week

I didn't get many comics this week, so I've started on the enormous stacks of graphic novels and comic book compilations I've got all over my apartment (okay, in the den and in the bedroom only, but the stacks are high!). First, the week's comics.

Black Widow 19
This is mostly a flashback to Nat's days as a Soviet agent. Part 1. It's set in Cuba and nicely done as Nat is not only on an assignment, but she also finds herself forced to report on her friend and fellow agent Marina.

Legenderry Red Sonja 5
The concluding chapter. I definitely prefer this steampunk version of Sonja over the regular one. The Doctor Frankenstein story concludes satisfactorily.

Legenderry Green Hornet 5
While not as good as the Red Sonja mini-series, this was also entertaining and was brought to a nice conclusion.

So, the GNs

I finally got around to reading Leaves on the Wind, the Firefly/Serenity follow-up to the movie, in which Zoe gives birth, ends up in prison, gets rescued by the gang, and lots of other action and emotional stuff happens. *sniff* I miss the show so much, damn it.

Thanks to the movie "Captain America: Winter Soldier," I've become obsessed with Bucky Barnes, helped in great part to Sebastian Stan's wonderful performance as Bucky. I was never much of a Marvel reader, and though I read a few Marvel titles now, Captain America was never on my radar. I did know a lot about the book thanks to storylines like the Death of Captain America making the news, and comics blogs covering the Winter Soldier storyline. So I decided to read the whole Ed Brubaker run from Winter Soldier on, because I love Brubaker's writing even though my preference is to read before I watch an adaptation. Sometimes, the adaptation inspires the reading. It happened for me with "Game of Thrones," and now with this. (I'm getting tempted to read iZombie because of the wonderful TV show based on it, but I have so much to read as it is.)

Captain America: Winter Soldier Ultimate Collection is everything I'd hoped for and more. The differences, some of which I'd known before reading this, are striking and enough to make this a new experience for me. Brubaker effectively wove in flashbacks and nicely builds up the emotion along with the stakes as Steve slowly fears he's going nuts as his memories can't be trusted. But that's the doing of a cosmic cube, and the moment when Steve has to accept that Bucky is alive and has been an assassin packs a lot of emotional punch. And when they first face off against each other, I was thrilled to discover the classic "Who the hell is Bucky?" line uttered by Bucky in the movie comes directly from the comic. Now to move on to Captain America: Red Menace.