Winter Soldier: The Bitter March #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

It was pretty clear from the start of this series that we weren't going to get a happy ending.  This issues confirms that hunch.

The increased violence that Remender and Boschi show Bucky and Ran using throughout this issue effectively conveys the characters' desperation.  Remender starts the issue giving them all a brief moment of hope, with Bucky plotting to kill his Soviet handlers before coming in from the cold and Ran imaging a future with Mila.  But, then the Soviets find them, and everything goes to Hell.  Nick Fury taking out the helicopter carrying Bucky and Mila is a brilliant stroke, since his actions lead not only to the rebirth of the Winter Soldier (after the Soviets recover his body) but also the birth of the Iron Nail (as Ran is now filled with hate when they send them to infiltrate Mao's camp).  It's just a reminder how often S.H.I.E.L.D. makes short-sighted decisions, something that Marvel has been doing a great job highlighting lately.

This mini-series is really a testament to Remender's ability to create new villains and not just rehash old ones.  I'm hard pressed to think of a better new villain -- other than Remender's own Apocalypse Twins -- than the Iron Nail, so I'm glad Marvel gave Remender a chance to develop him more fully here.  I'd love to see Remender return to Ran some day and show us his conversion to the communist cause.  At this point, we really only see him a broken man.  I intellectually understand how years of living with Mao as well as getting unlimited power from Fin Fang Foom turn him into the lunatic that we eventually saw in "Captain America," but it would be interesting to see that process first-hand.

*** (three of five stars)

Captain America #21 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Holy effing crap.

Given that Remender destroyed Earth in "Uncanny Avengers" and sent Steve into another dimension for twelve years in this title, he's definitely proven himself to be an author that keeps you guessing.  As such, I wasn't entirely sure how this story was going to end, since it seemed entirely possible that Cap could fail to save Nrosvekistan.  The possibility that the hero might legitimately fail is so rarely on the table, and it clearly amps up the tension that builds throughout this issue.  In the end, Remender goes one better, because he makes you realize that you were worrying about the wrong thing.  Steve manages to save the day, but the Iron Nail drains the super-soldier serum from him in the process.  He wins the battle, but he loses his youth as a price.  Again, I really have no idea where Remender's going to go with that, and the possibility that Steve isn't going to be Captain America for a while left me staring blankly at the last page for a while.  For other artists, it would've felt like an obviously cheap stunt, tantamount to an X-Man's death.  For Remender, it's an opportunity to explore how Cap would respond to such a challenge.

Part of the tragedy of Steve losing his powers is that he just realized how important they were in the first place.  As he struggles to stop Gungnir from destroying Nrosvekistan, Steve realizes that he had been asleep at the wheel, wallowing in his (understandable) grief over the loss of Ian and Sharon and letting the Iron Nail advance his plan this far.  As I was reading it, I thought that I saw where Remender was going; the arc would likely end with Steve really getting his head into the game again.  Instead, he can't even play the game anymore.  Moreover, Steve might've stop Gungnir in the end, but the Iron Nail isn't necessarily wrong that he lost anyway.  Sure, S.H.I.E.L.D. may blame the Iron Nail for the chaos, and it might even be able to prove its case to the public, as I've mentioned over previous reviews.  But, the world is now aware of the sheer destructive power that the United States was creating.  It might not exactly bring rise to other nations declaring war on America as Ran thought (despite how awesome that story might be to explore in the hands of someone like Remender), but it will certainly have negative repercussions for the United States.  In that way, Steve's victory is limited, at best.

Remender also spends some time making sure we consider the impact that this issue will have on Steve's supporting cast.  I loved the fact that the Falcon gets the win here.  Remender writes Sam better than anyone that I can remember - full of determination and grit - and I found myself wondering if he's going to tap him to replace Steve for a while.  We're also left with all sorts of questions about Maria Hill.  In this series and "Uncanny X-Men," Remender and Bendis have portrayed her as unable to control S.H.I.E.L.D., with often disastrous consequences.  (Kot in "Secret Avengers" is starting to strike a similar theme.)  It make you wonder how much longer she's going to be in charge.

This issue is a great conclusion to the second arc of this series.  Remender just keeps finding ways to advance an overarching narrative from issue to issue, with each set of battles having consequences that drive the next set of battles.  "Captain America" hasn't been this consistently good at telling such a big story about Steve since Gruenwald.  Brubaker obviously told an amazing story about the Winter Soldier, but his later work had Cap mired in self-doubt because the world wasn't like it was in the 1940s, without ever considering whether the 1940s was the world that Cap thought that it was.  Remender is returning us to Gruenwald's stories of Cap considering whether he really wanted to advance the agenda of his employers, and this issue only ups the ante.  Amazing stuff. 

***** (five of five stars)

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Remender keeps us guessing throughout this issue, as Bucky and Ran essentially trade places:  the Wraith presses Ran to admit his loss of faith in the Untied States to himself, while Bucky remembers his past and commits to saving Lila.  It's pretty clear that Ran isn't going to recover from this moment, starting him on the road to becoming the Iron Nail, and we know that Bucky will eventually be brought back into the Soviet fold.  Lila seems the only hope for Ran to avoid his fate - allowing him to embrace some form of hope - so it's pretty clear that she's either going to die or leave him.  I actually thought that Remender was going to do that here, when the Wraith convinces her to leap off the cliff, but Bucky manages to save her.  (This sequence was actually the only negative part of the issue for me, since it's unclear why the Wraith didn't just kill her if he was going eventually to have her jump off the cliff.)  If anyone thought this mini-series could have a happy ending, they should be disabused of that by now.

*** (three of five stars)

Captain America #20 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is a lull in the festivities.  Essentially, it's when you decide to get another beer (even though you don't want one) to escape your insane aunt talking about something that she heard on talk radio.  You're really just waiting for the fireworks display so that you can go home and take a nap.

Remender does use the issue to reveal the Iron Nail's master plan.  He's somehow managed to make it look like Nrosvekistan engineered the attack on the Hub in revenge for Nuke's attack, and he's transformed Gungnir into its robot form (really) to destroy Nrosvekistan in retaliation.  Unfortunately, it feels like I'm reading an extra issue of "Batman Eternal," where no one seems capable of making the obvious connections sitting right in front of them.  Can't Nrosvekistan pretty easily make it clear that it didn't bomb the Hub?  I think Remender's point is that the Iron Nail is moving so swiftly that it won't matter; S.H.I.E.L.D. will have already done its dirty work.  But, won't that let S.H.I.E.L.D. off the hook?  If someone made it look like the Nrosvekistanis bombed the Hub when they didn't, it'll be pretty easy for S.H.I.E.L.D. to claim that it was played.

Either way, I'm not sure that the Iron Nail is right about the impact of the destruction of Nrosvekistan.  Sure, it'll be a public-relations nightmare.  The United States might even get sanctioned.  But, once again, can't the United States just say that the Iron Nail took control of the helm of Gungnir?  It should be pretty easy to do.  I think (again) Remender's point is that truth is so fluid in the present that no one will believe the United States.  That may be true in terms of the public, but I doubt that countries are going to invade based on that premise.  Moreover, even if the public does turn against the United States, are they really going to stop using Facebook?  Are they going to stop buying iPads?  In a way, the Iron Nail's point is actually proof that his plan won't work:  truth is so fluid, no one actually really cares about it anymore.  Even if people buy everything that the Iron Nail is selling, they're not going to be moved to action.  Remender could actually have that be the conclusion of this arc; after all, we don't have to believe the Iron Nail is correct to appreciate the horror that Gungnir destroying Nrosvekistan would be, regardless of the fall-out.

My other problem with this issue, beside some seemingly obvious solutions to the problem at hand, is the talky nature of the script.  Remender usually has a lot of monologuing in his stories, but this issue takes it a little too far, in my view. Everyone just talks and talks and talks.  It's not that nothing happens, but I found myself not really paying all that close attention by the end.

** (two of five stars)

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is one long, elaborate dance, which Remender choreographs beautifully, with everyone playing his or her role to perfection.

We have Shen finding a way to take down "Shocky Dan," the HYDRA goon from last issue, and using his electrical gauntlets to even the odds between him and the Winter Soldier.  But, Bucky is Bucky, and he manages to wound Shen, driving him to inject himself with Nick's Infinity Formula to save his life (and allow him to save Mila).  But, Bucky is literally shocked to his senses for a moment, sparing Shen's life after memories of Steve talking about mercy for a defeated enemy float to the top of his consciousness.  "The Drain" exploits this flicker of a forgotten self, using Bucky's weakened defenses to get past the Soviet's conditioning and trying to get him to kill himself as they fall from the train (as a result of Mila pushing them out the door).  Everyone with his or her own weakness and own strength, working with, and against, each other.  It's just so well done.  In the end, Shen and Mila are on the train when it explodes, and I wonder how much longer Mila is going to be with us. (Remender jettisoned her husband earlier, by having the Drain himself recognize him as dead weight.)

This story will clearly end with Shen at least fueled by the Infinity Formula, if not already on the path to becoming the Iron Nail, all of it flowing organically from the action.  Great stuff.

***** (five of five stars)

Captain America #19 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I'm tagging the "Winter Soldier:  The Bitter March" series here, because we learn (or, at least, I do) that Ran Shen is the Iron Nail.  I'm going to read some back issues* to see if I've known that all this time, or if Remender just made it clear in this issue.  He certainly dropped the hint in "Winter Soldier:  The Bitter March" #2 when Ran contacted Dr. Mindbubble for help fleeing the Winter Soldier.  But, it obviously opens up all sorts of questions.  Why does Ran turn against S.H.I.E.L.D.?  How does he go on the journey to become the Iron Nail?  It's hard to believe that the young man that we see seducing a Nazi scientist over champagne and political philosophy while on the run from the Winter Soldier becomes the Iron Nail.  If you're not reading the Winter Soldier mini-series, I highly recommend it, because the questions surrounding Ran definitely make this arc much, much more interesting.  Otherwise, it's pretty normal.  Steve is outraged by a villain's ability to commit mass atrocities, and he rallies past his emotional baggage from the loss of Ian and Sharon to confront him.  Besides Ran, the most interesting development is Dr. Mindbubble taking over Steve's mind, making you wonder what damage he and the Iron Nail could accomplish with Steve -- not to mention Gungnir the Super-Helicarrier -- on their side.

* OK, the back-issue search makes it pretty clear that Ran is the Iron Nail from the start.  In issue #13, Ran returns to S.H.I.E.L.D. after going silent for the two years that he spent undercover infiltrating Mao Zedong's inner circle.  Mao apparently expelled him from the party after he formed his own communist group, the Shaolin Scientist Squad, and pissed off the Soviets.  Fury is surprised that Ran didn't think that he'd have discovered the truth.  However, Ran isn't there to return to S.H.I.E.L.D.:  he's there to bust out Dr. Mindbubble from the Weapon-Minus facility.  Unfortunately, he's stopped by the Winter Soldier, presumably there because of the pissed-off Soviets.  So, I don't necessarily have the answers to any of the questions that I raised in the preceding paragraph as a result of re-reading issues #12-#18, but they do help clarify that we always knew that Ran was the Iron Nail.  (We just didn't know Ran.)

*** (three of five stars)

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Remender continues to get the Bondesque feeling of this series exactly right, from Ran seducing Mila over champagne and a discussion of political philosophy to the series of unexpected twists and turns as her husband manages to call in HYDRA.  It sets up a pretty spectacular confrontation next issue between Ran, the Winter Soldier, and some HYDRA goon on a train speeding to West Berlin.  Sounds pretty great, no?  Moreover, Remender drops some hints here that this series might not just be an isolated run.  Dr. Mindbubble -- in his pre-crazy days -- puts in a guest appearance as a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, helping Ran find the train to West Berlin to escape from Nrosvekistan in the first place.  Ran is a pretty great character, and he seems doomed to death not only because we've never previously heard of him but also because the Winter Soldier wasn't exactly the type of guy to leave behind a surviving target.  I'm not sure how Ran could possibly survive in the present, but Remender might have something up his sleeve, as always.

**** (four of five stars)

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Remender does an excellent job of creating a "James Bond" feel to this issue, riddling it with double entendre conversations between the main character, Agent Ran, and his female Hydra counterpart and testosterone-driven competition between him and Nick Fury.  But, it's not all fun and games as Ran ends this issue finding himself stranded in the forest with two Nazi scientists that he has to protect and the Winter Soldier trying to ensure that none of them get out alive to confirm his existence.  Remender plays up the drama inherent in that cliffhanger:  Ran is a new character and, as far as I know, the Allies never get a hold of the Alchemy Formula that the scientists developed, making it entirely possible that Bucky does successfully kill all three of them.  How often do you read a series where everyone might wind up dead?  Talk about suspense.

**** (four of five stars)