Winter Soldier No. 2 review: The making and unmaking of a Winter Soldier

Hydra has made one weapon to destroy another, a copycat Winter Soldier sent to kill Bucky Barnes once and for all. But as Bucky knows well, it’s harder than it seems to completely destroy a heart.

On the heels of a magnificent first issue, the elegant brutality splashed out on the pages on Winter Soldier No. 2  are riveting, pulling readers directly into the heart of the story itself and leaving them unable to look away from the aching horror displayed.

The characters at center of this tale, the newly introduced Winter Soldier, RJ, and Bucky himself, are made dimensional as their suffering and torment echo through their interactions. But as ever, Bucky is resilient, and though his violence is an unhappy part of his present and an unchanging truth of his past, it is his goodness that always surfaces to save him.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

Do You Want to Be Loved? The Making of a Winter Soldier

In true irony, to make a Winter Soldier, a weapon that is meant to brutally kill, unfeelingly execute, and be more metal than flesh and blood, Hydra uses the very emotions it most seeks to destroy.

By distorting, promising, and withholding love, acceptance, and family, Hydra creates the most loyal of soldiers, but at the same time, fans the edges of their humanity, almost guaranteeing their efforts will eventually deteriorate.

In the opening act of Winter Soldier No. 2, through a breathtaking unspooling of black, white, and scarlet, the reader is taken through a lesson on the making of a Winter Soldier. A callous tutorial full of blood and cruelty, that creates immediate compassion for RJ, as his past comes on full display, and by the same token, for Bucky, whom the audience is meant to understand suffered through similar, if not more horrifying, fates. The most basic of the human instincts were used against them both, twisting them into unrecognizable monsters, despairing for connection.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

As the comic returns to present day and RJ’s attempt to murder Bucky, the flashes from his past come clearly.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

It is so important for RJ to be “great,” to live up to his potential, to be worthy and perfect, because these are the only lessons he’s learned, the only avenues to secure the love he so craves, that has been so cruelly dangled in front of him. He has not been taught love of killing, but taught killing is the only path to love, and beyond that, to dignity, to humanity itself. Though of course, it is always denied to him in the end.

But despite the certainty of youth, and quite fortunately so, RJ doesn’t have the experience or the drive it takes to destroy Bucky, his aim is hollow. And Bucky is three steps ahead of him on a more important guidebook.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

The Unmaking of a Winter Soldier 101.

Do you like Killing? The Unmaking of a Winter Soldier

Bucky might not be one for many words, but when he finds them, they pack more of a punch than his fists. And given that he’s practically looking in a mirror, his aim is truer than usual.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

In the simplest of sentences, a casual half shrug of thought, Bucky conveys that he knows exactly what RJ has been through, anguishing detail summed up in three sentences that offer empathy, but no sympathy, that bond them, however begrudgingly, and move them a half step closer to one another.

Bucky sees himself in RJ, sees the same uncertainties, the same desires, the same brainwashing and manipulation, but he knows exactly where the stutter comes, because he has stuttered himself before.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

Bucky knows that RJ is more child than killer, more lost than bloodthirsty, in need of the same second chance that saved Bucky himself.

Rising Again

As the second issue of this spectacular series concludes, the message is clear, greatness is found in the self, not in the cold expectation of an unfeeling master. But it is important to remember, that this doesn’t mean perfection, but instead, sincerity, a true desire to be better. Though callous violence is not the answer for Bucky or for RJ, it is a part of their self, and they cannot fully lose it, but can hone it to be greater than they have before.

As RJ’s handler tracks the duo down, rejecting RJ for his mission failure, and intent on finishing them both off, he appears as a striking figure in white. White is usually a signifier of good, a purity unblemished, and cleanliness often taken to be a false signifier of superiority.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

This man wears them both, but it is Bucky, drenched in violence, though not in death, with the stains of blood that is spilled, though with an aim to protect, who is the true hero.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

And finally, there are no Winter Soldiers left on the page, just Bucky and RJ.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

Easter Eggs

• RJ tells Bucky his left is always open, could that be because he’s used to Captain America always being on it?
• When Avengers find themselves in times of trouble…Tony Stark comes to them. Here’s hoping for more of our favorite Stark in the next issue.

Credit to Marvel Comics.

Winter Soldier No. 2 is now available in stores and online! Look for issue No. 3 out in February.