Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #5: My main issue right now with this arc is that I'm totally fine with the idea that a shadowy organization has manipulated Steve, Bucky, and the world for Bucky's entire life. I'm just not sure I buy that it was this shadowy organization.
Assuming for the time being that I do, this issue is fine. Steve, Bucky, and Redacted invade the Circle's secret base and learn that the world's real Powers That Be tithe equipment, money, and soldiers to the Circle. While Steve and Bucky play for time, Redacted destroys the machine that controls the soldiers. By the time Steve and Bucky arrive at the Circle's conference room, only the Revolution remains.
We know from the issue's preamble that the Revolution is bored of the game and wants to die, going so far as leaving an encrypted flash drive for his lover (the Love). Bucky is ready to fulfill the Revolution's wish, and Steve tries to stop him. Bucky isn't having it, though. He tells Steve that the Circle had his father killed so the Army could adopt him and he could serve as the Circle's way to control Steve. When Steve went off the map at the end of the war, the Circle turned him into the Winter Soldier. Eventually, Bucky shoots through Steve to kill the Revolution, whose place I'm guessing he'll wind up taking.
Returning to the Circle itself, the Love made it sound during the Circle's expository lecture to Steve and Bucky that like the Century Game emerged from the First World War's ruins. The Love implies the Circle is actively working with the Powers That Be to mitigate the world's chaos and, presumably, direct the chaos that exists to benefit the Powers That Be. I guess I could kinda buy that. But the Power makes it sound like they were all bored when the last century's game ended in a tie. Wasn't that the point, though?
I'm also not entirely sure how exactly they've been controlling Bucky. I'm going to assume Bucky wasn't getting message his whole life on how he should manipulate Steve. If he wasn't, we probably need more clarity on how the Circle got Bucky to do what it wanted.
Again, I'm not totally rolling my eyes at this plot, but I'd like some strong answers.
Miracelman (2022) #0: There was a time when I'd lean into the various stories that the authors tell here and try to figure out how they fit into the reality we saw at the end of "Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham (2015)" #6. Had we ever previously seen Big Ben, Jakksa Gun, or Wednesday? Am I supposed to know what the Ikai Key or the Whisper is? After seven years, I can't even remember the difference between the Qys and the Warpsmiths. This issue mainly serves as a way to whet our appetites for the upcoming "Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age" series. If you don't need your appetite whet (whetted?) for that, you can probably skip this one.
Spider-Man #1: Oof. Nick Lowe writes in his letter at the issue's end that he and Dan Slott agreed that the Spider-Verse saga needed a concluding chapter. I guess they didn't see it as finished until they resorted to the oldest cliché in the book, the hero working with his arch-enemy against a greater threat. Of course, Peter is already working with his actual arch-enemy, Norman Osborn, in "Amazing Spider-Man," so his surprise team-up with Morlun in this issue feels pretty redundant. It doesn't help that the "greater threat" is Shathra, whose name alone makes it hard for me to take her seriously. I'll hang in here because I feel obligated, but Slott doesn't do anything here that makes me excited about this series.
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