© 2014 Marvel Characters Inc

Following his big screen debut in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the former sidekick steps into a new role in the Marvel Universe -- and his second ongoing series.

Spinning out of the recent Original Sin storyline,


Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier sees the title character taking over original superspy Nick Fury's role as the "Man on the Wall," defending Earth from alien and extra-dimensional threats. Written by Ales Kot and with beautiful painted art by Marco Rudy, it's a strong first issue but one that can't quite get over the problematic concept at its heart.

See, the idea of the Man on the Wall is that of a space assassin, killing everything he can that comes close to threatening Earth. Beyond being a pretty brutal occupation, it's a bit of a retcon, and not just of Fury's previous role as Director of SHIELD (Original Sin established he was off killing aliens at the weekend, because being head of a global security agency is actually a 9-5 job. No, really.)

Read next From Juul to Vype, the best vape pens and e-cigerettes tested From Juul to Vype, the best vape pens and e-cigerettes tested

For a few years now, the Marvel Universe has had SWORD, the extra-terrestrial counterpart to SHIELD, serving as border patrol for Earth. Having Fury, his predecessor Woodrow McCord, and now Bucky perform a more lethal version of the same role feels an awkward fit, something that ideally needs to be addressed; hopefully soon.

If we ignore trying to reconcile the idea behind the series with the wider Marvel universe though, the new Winter Soldier series opens with a strong set up, and a great exploration of James "Bucky" Barnes as a character. Kot presents him as almost reluctant to take on the grim responsibility, only doing so because no-one else will, or perhaps should. The question becomes whether he'll try to temper the role with more sympathy than readers saw from Fury, who's dedication veered into zealotry.


One big change Barnes makes is in refusing to do the job solo.

He brings in Daisy Johnson, aka Quake, herself a former director of SHIELD and agent of Fury, to assist. The result is a vibe that feels halfway between buddy road trip and weird sci-fi -- an unusual approach, but it strangely works. There's a neat moment where both reject the sidekick label, a clear message to readers that they're standing on their own as independent characters now.

Kot also veers into darkly political territory, with the first of Bucky's missions involving him forcing democracy on an alien race that does not want it. Not too subtle, given the seemingly endless actions in the Middle East. A later excursion to Atlantis to stop narcotics traffickers seems an equally blunt critique of the war on drugs. It's good to see superhero comics -- even ones as thematically divorced from the concept of superheroes as this -- tackling weightier material. There are no easy answers provided, only complex questions.


Rudy's art echoes the classic work of Jim Steranko, the artist perhaps most closely linked with defining SHIELD and Nick Fury in the 1960s, but filtered through fantasy and sci-fi influences from even earlier. It's the visual love child of spy fiction and pulp novel covers, and works a treat. However, there are a few pages where it's almost too experimental, making it hard to immediately follow what's going on.

There are clearly big things to come in the pages of this comic, with Kot setting up mysterious figures observing key events elsewhere in the universe -- a black hole spitting out a white hole seeming the most ominous -- and a last page cliffhanger than dares you not to return for issue two. There's also the rather tantalising prospect of how Marvel's other cosmic titles -- Nova, The Legendary Star-Lord, Guardians of the Galaxy -- may interact with this series, especially since the existence of a Man on the Wall is now known amongst Earth's heroes. More exploration of the purpose of the Barnes' new role, and some clear way to define its purpose against SWORD's, will help continuity hounds rest easy though.

Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier #1 is on sale 1 October.