NB of the Week

A Double Dose of Spy Games

Punisher #8
Punisher needs no explaining. At the start of this current series, a young, Marine's wedding is ruined when she is the sole survivor of a massacre. Everybody but her killed on her wedding day and Punisher has been following the trail ever since. And so has she. In issue 8, the two finally come face to face after they both go after the same people. They both say the same line to each other, "Blue on blue", a term the military uses for friendly fire. After checking the bodies, he leaves her with one more message.
"Stay out of my way."
Greg Rucka is made for writing stories like Punisher. Marco Checchetto is made for drawing stories like the Punisher. This book is brilliant. Plain and simple.

Winter Soldier #1
The Winter Soldier is back and he's taking names. During Fear Itself, Bucky was "killed" by Sin. Only he obviously wasn't. As Steve Rogers helped lie to the world, Buck was laid to rest so that the Winter Soldier could go back to work. After being wanted for his past crimes, Bucky needed a way to restart. Now that he is "dead", he can follow all his leads and track down the Winter Soldier program and the others that he has come to remember he helped create and train. The first issue is as simple as that. He and the Black Widow (whom he is also schtuping) begin their journey, finding out that the first Soldier has already been released. Can they stop him before it's too late?
Probably.
But seeing how they do it is the best part. Ed Brubaker has turned Bucky into one of the most badass characters in the Marvel Universe. I would go as far as to say that he is even cooler than Steve Rogers right now. However, Brubaker is balancing them perfectly. Over in Captain America, Brubaker has Steve tackling more "comic" like problems. It's the super-hero book. Winter Soldier is the spy/espionage book and that's exactly where Bucky needs to be. This book is starting out great and I have very high hopes for where it can go.