Review: Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier #2

Previously in issue #1

In the latest issue, we get a few more pieces to the puzzle, which ultimately just leaves me more confused. Last ish, Bucky busted up a Loki-led drug ring at the bottom of the ocean, only to be given a cryptic message (“The Lost Glove is Happy”) and immediately get shot in the back by an unknown sniper. With no other leads to follow, he heads to the only place that makes sense… Asgard.

We open on Bucky climbing an Asgardian cliff to question (and probably rough up) Loki, who, we discover, is not the current Loki (who is apparently young and on our side), but some sort of old evil Loki from elsewhere in the timestream. (Thank heavens for all those files Fury left, they know everything.) It also turns out that the wound Bucky took is making him feel a little woozy, giving the still goddamned amazing Marco Rudy all the room in the nine worlds to continue to go nuts with his layouts. If the combination of Marco Rudy, Bucky on Acid, and Evil Mindfuck Loki doesn’t excite you, I just can’t…

So, anyhow, Loki fucks Bucky around a bit, then bails while dropping the tidbit that Bucky should head to the planet Mer-Z-Bow (as well as popping off the “Lost Glove” catchphrase again), which despite being the dumbest planet name ever, is the home planet of the mysterious Princess Ventolin, who we met briefly last issue, and whom Buck is obviously destined to meet. Meanwhile, Daisy has been analyzing the bullet Bucky was shot with, and it turns out to have been laced with Illum (the drug that was being smuggled), which can only be found on… Mer-Z-Bow. Guess where we’re headed next, kids?

Again, the story is still leaving a lot to be desired for me; There are lots of what appear to be plot holes, as well as a lot of references to people and events that aren’t familiar presumably since I never read the Original Sin storyline (I may use the time til next issue to fix that). However, I will await the next issue with bated breath, because Marco Rudy is a fucking gift from the gods. Don’t believe me? Go check out Marvel Knights: Spider-Man in your downtime.