Winter Soldier #7: As usual, Brubaker takes us on a brisk, action-packed ride from the opening scenes to the last page, with rogue Soviet agent Leo managing to take a former Red Room psychologist and the Black Widow captive in the span of the issue. I liked how Brubaker has Bucky note that he and Natasha were walking into a trap when they decided to confront Leo, making it clear that they were doing so because they didn't really have any better options. More so than any other comic, this title just constantly finds its protagonists thrown into situations with limited information and trying to make the best choices that they can. It's what makes it more exciting, because they're not idiots bumbling into a situation without thinking, but professionals who know that sometimes you don't have the luxury of knowing what you're doing. Brubaker really got that theme across well here, which explains why Natasha found herself flat-footed against Leo. It still seems a bit of a stretch that Natasha would be so succeptible to a sneak attack, but I guess that you have to believe that even the good guys occasional have an off-moment.
Winter Soldier #8: OK, Brubaker picks up the point from my review of issue #7 right away, showing how Leo's Red Room training enabled him to know exactly how another Red Room operative, namely the Black Widow, would approach a situation, allowing him to get the jump on her. The rest of the issue is dedicated to Bucky and Agent Sitwell kicking themselves for losing her and trying desperately to find her. I thought that the best part of this issue was Brubaker taking the time to build a relationship between Bucky and Sitwell. Brubaker has hinted that Sitwell has more to him than your average S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent #2,068, but he hasn't really explored that line of inquiry. Here, Sitwell reminds Bucky that he's worked with Natasha for a long time and, after he establishes that he's not in love with her, the two bond over the sense of loss. Lark and his team do a great job in the panels where Bucky considers this overture and decides to let down his walls. It really telegraphs the anxiety that he's facing and the difficulty that he has in trusting people. Of course, he and Sitwell have good reason to be anxious, given that Leo has used Comrade Professor from last issue to brainwash Natasha to her old programming. Although she doesn't fight Bucky, as the cover of this issue would suggest (pet peeve #2), she does resume her previous career as a ballerina, presumably to draw out Bucky in a pretty spectacular fashion. Normally, this sort of machination would seem over-the-top, in a 1960s "Batman" TV series kind of way, but Brubaker sells it, given that he's established that Leo is trying to do as much psychological damage to Bucky as possible. I guess that we'll see how successful he is next issue.
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