(This review may contain spoilers).
I particularly enjoyed reading this book, since I’d wanted to see more of Bucky as the Winter Soldier. I did find myself getting annoyed on Steve’s behalf when it transpired that Bucky’s survival was kept from him, though… and I couldn’t really see the point in keeping it a secret from the rest of the Avengers, since they all knew Bucky and probably wouldn’t have turned him in if they’d known that he’d survived.
It was interesting to see that Bucky’s past as the Winter Soldier came back and to get glimpses of the men he trained and the kind of relationships he had with them. I would have liked to see more of the history and motivations of his fellow soldiers… especially Dmitri, who I found the most interesting. Arkady gave me the creeps and I really didn’t like Leo’s character. I disliked him even more by the end of the selection of comics.
I especially liked seeing Natasha and Bucky together. I liked the easy camaraderie between them and it was good to see how they fought together… but also to see their history in the Red Room. I would have liked a bit more detail of how Natasha had defected… but it was good to see the romance between her and Bucky, especially considering their feelings didn’t actually get in the way of them both doing their job.
I liked being able to see Nick Fury appear in this collection, even though I did find it a bit annoying that he made the decision to keep Bucky’s survival a secret from Steve. I would have liked to see a bit more of his interactions with Bucky and Natasha… since I found myself caring about Sitwell more through the course of the comics.
I thought it was really good to see Natasha have to experience being brainwashed, but I would have liked to see a bit more of the aftermath of everything that had happened to her. It was pretty awful to see Bucky had to return to his Winter Soldier mentality… especially considering he ended up hurting his allies. I definitely agreed with Logan about how stupid Bucky’s actions were.
I would like to see more of Bucky and Natasha in future comics and it would be good to see if they could come back from the massive setback their relationship has taken… since the comics did end on something of a cliffhanger.
Ink of Blood 