Winter Soldier, Volume 3: Black Widow Hunt

Winter Soldier (2012)

by Ed Brubaker (Writer), Jackson Guice (Illustrator)

The hunt for the Black Widow is on! And Hawkeye is on the trail! But who is hunting the hunter?!

Her mind cracked and warped, can Bucky save the Black Widow...from herself?

Guest-starring Wolverine!

Collecting: Winter Soldier 10-14

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction

136 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2013

About the author

Ed Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is an Eisner Award-winning American cartoonist and writer. He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.

In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.

Reviews

[Kemper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Widow has been kidnapped by an assassin with a grudge against Bucky. The bad guy uses the old Soviet programming techniques to brainwash Natasha into thinking she’s actually been a Russian mole or years, and her first act is to try to kill Nick Fury while wiping out a whole bunch of poor SHIELD agents in the process.

With the woman he loves turned against him, broken-hearted Bucky desperately tries to find the assassin and Natasha with some help from Captain America, Hawkeye, Wolverine and Daredevil.

So I guess this is the final Winter Soldier story from Brubaker, and he really puts Bucky though the wringer in this one. The story ends on a sad note that really does feel tragic and not something that will be fixed in the next issue. I’m sorry to see Brubaker leave, but he set up a lot of intriguing directions for this comic to go.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Bucky's trainee left a nasty trick for him and the others.

The hunt to save Natasha continues with some help.


Black Widow Hunt just didn't resonate with me like the previous two. It seems crazy that Bucky's trainee would be so intent on destroying his life. I actually didn't appreciate the others joining in to help Bucky. Perhaps any one of them would have been good, but all three seemed a bit of overkill. Losing the Bucky and Black Widow team up made this less interesting to me overall.

This volume was a bitter end to the arc.

[⠀annie. ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love it but i hate it :( buckynat stans rise

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Final volume of Bubaker's Winter Soldier. I feel like he should have done less Captain America and more Winter Soldier!

The sleeper agent that wants Bucky to suffer had kidnapped Black Widow and reprogrammed her to be a Russian agent again. Bucky is pretty upset obviously because he has romantic feelings for Natasha.

Pretty great action but the whole thing gets wrapped up a bit too quickly.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aw, shit, this volume is just evil. Just as I was getting used to Natasha's relationship with Bucky, starting to enjoy it, of course Brubacker turns it upside down. I liked the guest appearance of Cap, Hawkeye, Wolverine and Daredevil in this one, and the action is good -- I just wish the end didn't hurt my heart so much.

Not that I don't expect Marvel to do that to me. Hello, the recent issues of Young Avengers.

[shakespeareandspice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I refuse to accept this.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was unbelievably painful. On so many levels. At one point Hawkeye looked at Bucky and said "Let's go get your girl." And Logan got mad at Bucky for wasting time when "Natalia's out there somewhere with that psycho." And there was this ADORABLE team shot of Logan, Bucky, Cap, and Clint. " Let's go find our girl." And then there was the ending. Which was more painful than all the rest.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like the third volume much more than this rating indicates. There are many good things to say. I think writer Ed Brubaker gets to scratch his super spy 'plode itch, and he does it very well. The reasons for The Winter Soldier's actions are well defined, including the stupid mistakes he makes. So why three instead of four or even five stars.

One reason is that whole three volume set is a little bit of a rip off by Marvel Comics. and, like when you pay full rate instead of the discount amount for a movie it does affect my overall rating of the set. I mean Avatar was all right at the matinee price, and I'm glad that I didn't pay for the evening show. The entire story should have been collected in one volume from the start. One of the few times DC Comics deserves credit this year was that instead of splitting The Shade mini-series into two or three sets they collected all 12 issues into one and it was a much better read that way.

The second

Spoilers sweety....


So Leo's ultimate revenge on The Winter Soldier is to erase everything the Widow knew about Barnes including her emotions for him. Essentially ending their, for the most part, well written romance. A partial lobotomy if you will. I am so tired of seeing this done to female characters in all media that it left a slightly sour taste in my mouth.

[Julianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the ending of the last volume was bad...Wow this really hurt. Overall, I really loved the story and the characters. I really hope the fourth volume ends well and not as heartbreaking as this one did.

[Jaye Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCUSE MEEEE. This was again, so fucking good. It had some other familiar characters showing up and I wish I knew the backstory like Daredevil is important to Natasha? That's lit. Fucking Wolverine? Nice okay.

BUT THE ENDING??? THE ENDING?????????? Sir I know you did this years ago but I'm driving to your damn house and crying on your damn doorstep. Heartbreaking and for what?? What was the point of completely ruining what they had!!! Crying & throwing up again but for different reasons. Still loved it though, had a really good time crying. Buckynat speaks to me on a spiritual level and I would like to inject their relationship and history into my veins.

[Andrei · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I'm going to find Natasha... Just like I always have. Never even realized how lost I was without her. But I always was. Just some lost soldier who forgot he ever had a home. Until she gave me one."

[Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I realllllllly want to rate this higher, but the ending pissed me off so much I'm docking a whole star. MOST of this story features a smart, savvy, empowered Natasha. Then she gets lobotomized with freaking ridiculous comic!book!science. If you're going to wipe someone's memories of one particular person? Don't explain it with SCIENCE. The neurochemistry of memory encoding does NOT work like that! At all!! God. Brubaker knows better than that & he can generally be relied on to provide plausible plot devices. I mean, if this had been MAGIC...or if they'd just left out the description of HOW SHIELD medical was gluing her memories back together. But no. Over-explaining ruined it.

They're doing another Natasha book soon, and I really hope they will let her be her kickass self without reducing her to the Avengers bike, omg. She could kill them all with her pinky & she has a rich and fascinating backstory with ALL THE VILLAINS YOU COULD ASK FOR. You'd think they could write her a decent action plot, right?

Maybe she & Logan can take a road trip and reminisce about the '40s. They could wreak some awesome havoc before some scary new villain showed up to make them get back to work. It'd do them both some good.

Oh, and, the ridic "New Levels Of PAIN!" catchphrase for Bucky's next arc? Christ. Bucky's been an angst-muffin since he woke up! It's what he does. Seeing him in new levels of pain doesn't really sell me on whatever's next, and the implication that he and Nat were so codependent that this will be worse than EVERY OTHER HORROR HE'S SURVIVED IN A REALLY HORRIFIC LIFE? Um. Right.

Apart from the story, the art in the last issue seemed kind of lazy. Rain is a trick for hiding under-drawn panels as much as it's a visual metaphor for angst and heartbreak. Worse, visually not a whole lot HAPPENS in this book. It's all brooding and rain with very little action or interaction. Disappointing.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just about the perfect ending to the issues that Ed Brubaker wrote for Winter Soldier. In all honestly, this actually could have been the right spot to end things for Bucky too. It just struck the right note with the rest of the series and was very satisfying too. My opinion may also be colored by the fact I'm already reading some of the next volume of Winter Soldier too though and do not like it nearly as much as this. If someone was looking for something gritty and relatively realistic, but also not too long or involved, I would definitely suggest Winter Solder since it is 15 issues and pretty easy to pick and up read. The art is fantastic every single issue and the story is nearly perfect too. This is my kind of comic book stylistically, but I think most people will really enjoy Winter Soldier, especially if they saw the Captain America movies.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An action packed, guest star filled final volume for Brubaker's Winter Soldier, though despite this being the last time he will write these characters for the forseeable future, it feels very unfinished, like a standard arc rather than the finale of years of stories.

The Novokov story ends well enough, though there's an over-use of brainwashing to drive the plot forward - it shouldn't be this easy to manipulate some of the Marvel Universe's best characters. But despite this, there are some good twists and a devastating ending.

All of this is topped off by Butch Guice's excellent artwork which is unique and expressive, with some superb panel layouts to aid in the storytelling.

[Anchorpete · Rating 4 out of 5]

How much do you love someone? Would you kill for them?

That question gets asked a lot in comics.

Would you die for them?

That also gets asked a lot in comics.

But what about killing your personality, so that you could be turned into a killing machine? Would you do that for love?

I think I have already spoiled enough of this great read, posting those questions. You will have to read this book to see Bucky's answer to that question.

This has a bunch of great cameos and plays up the Jason Bourne aspect of the Winter Solder. Brubaker's Cap stuff will always have a place in my heart.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this was just heartbreaking. James (I now prefer to think of him as James rather than Bucky) is devastated to learn that Black Widow's memories of him have been erased. With the help of Captain America, Hawkeye, and Wolverine, he tries to get her back. In the process he voluntarily allows himself to be brainwashed again.

I hope volume 4 has a happier ending for James and Natalia!

[Books & Vodka Sodas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was heartbreaking!!!!!! Why would they do this! This is also the end of Ed Brubaker writing the winter soldier run. He's super good at espionage so I don't know how well this story is going to do after his departure from it. He writes Bucky so well with that internalized torment.

[A Broken Zebra · Rating 5 out of 5]

2013 read-through: Make sure you have a box of tissue handy.

[Jessamyn Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was a rough time.

[Bárbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still don't care about Natasha (caring less and less through time actually). But Bucky is so wonderful.... I simply can't NOT enjoy everything that has to do with him. I can't.

[Marsha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This graphic novel wasn’t what I was expecting and the wrongful assumption on my part led me to a wobbly start. The idea of Bucky Barnes having a relationship with Natasha Romanoff felt—wrong, somehow. But I had to accept it, otherwise the story made no sense.

So it seems that theirs was one of those hurt/comfort relationships. Bucky was brainwashed to be a mindless, cold-blooded killer. To be healed of that mental warping required severe help and it was provided by Natasha Romanoff, who’d undergone similar conditioning to make her into a ruthless assassin. Supposedly this blossomed into the set love affair that forms the underpinnings of this story.

Bucky’s attempts to retrieve Natasha after she’s been kidnapped and subjected to more mental reconditioning so that she would forget her time with the Avengers is fraught with pain, misdirection, poor judgment, rash decisions and a plethora of various superheroes making their entrance onto the scene. The Avengers are joined by Wolverine and somehow Daredevil gets caught up in this tangled web as well.

The graphic illustrations are nothing like what’s on the cover, leading to another jarring sense of disconnect from the story. The interior graphics are rough-edged with harsh shadows and what I call the gritty noir look of grimdark stories. It’s all rather depressing, both in story and look, and I can’t recommend it for anyone except diehard Captain America fans.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is it...Ed Brubaker's final work for Marvel (for now). It's a damn shame that things couldn't be worked out schedule wise, because I would love to see more of the adventures of Bucky written by him. Brubaker has made Bucky more interesting than Captain America himself, as his conditioning and sordid past have left a trail of corpses and skeletons in the closet ripe with possibilities.

Leo Novokov is the final sleeper agent, and he has kidnapped and brainwashed the Black Widow to use as bait in his revenge on the Winter Soldier. Bucky acts irrationally and it takes Captain America, Wolverine, and Hawkeye to help set things right...or as right as they are going to be. I'll say no more.

Butch Guice's artwork has improved over the years, and he was great before. I have been a fan of his since I discovered him on Micronauts: The New Voyages nearly 30 years ago. He has gone by Jackson Guice, Jackson “Butch” Guice, and here, back to Butch Guice. His artwork here is reminiscent of Neal Adams, photo realistic and bursting with energy.

I have decided to start listing colorists as part of the creative team in my reviews of modern comic books. Computer coloring is so sophisticated, and these guys and gals do so much more with the artwork these days than just color in the shapes. It is really an artform, as essential as the inker to the look and feel of the material, and as such is deserving of a mention.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ostatni tom przygód Bucky'iego Barnesa, wykonany jak dotąd przez Brubakera.

Winter Soldier jest osobą, która ma zawsze problemy, które wynikają z tego, kim był w przeszłości. Ten motyw przewija się przez cały cykl i jest też tutaj. Leonid Novokov jest tak jakby personifikacją jego lęków, który odbija się na tych, na którym Bucky'iemu najbardziej należy. W tym na Nataszy, która w tej serii jest bardzo blisko Barnesa.

W poprzednim tomie wydawało się, że udało się odratować Wdowę z rąk radzieckiego szpiega, ale prawda okazała się czymś w stylu Incepcji, tylko że w warstwie psychiki, bowiem udaje się Wdowie wszczepić "usprawnienie" osobowości na więcej niż jednej wartwie. Powoduje to pewne konsekwencje i ponowną ucieczkę Romanowy. Tyle, że tym razem na pomoc rusza Hawkeye wraz z Wolverine'm.

Brubaker nie bierze jeńców, choć pomysł z "wszczepieniem" sobie programu, jaki podsuwa Ci twój wróg, uważam za skrajnie głupi, to w sumie cieszę się na występ gościnny pewnej postaci. A już końcówka. Tak paskudnie gorzka, podniosła mi ocenę o jedno oczko. Lark ponownie czyni cuda. Komisk wygląda pięknie.

Autor żegna się z Winter Soldierem w dobry sposób, który będzie miał swoje piętno na postaci przez dłuższy czas. Pytanie tylko, czy zostanie to odpowiednio wykorzystane dalej, no seria się jeszcze nie kończy.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This third volume marks Brubaker's end on this run, although there is a fourth volume after this one. We start with a new nightmare for Bucky - Leo is still out there and they have no immediate leads as to his whereabouts. And the Black Widow remains fully under his control. And when the first option available to him is to accept programming to make him into the Winter Soldier one more, Bucky is placed in a most dangerous position.

This was quite the amazing climax for this story. The wheels within wheels of Leo's plan are both amazing complex but also somewhat shallow - something that ties to the very personal nature of Leo's vendetta. He doesn't want to take over the world or bring back the USSR or anything like that. He was awoken violent from his sleeping state without a clear plan or even a mission and thus he is improvising in the only way Leo knows how.

And like a lot of espionage stories, it can't end with a perfectly happy ending. Long-term spies don't get happy endings. They get gray ones that can at best leave them more or less content.

[Katlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

this isn’t quite the way I would have hoped for Brubaker’s time with the Winter Soldier to end. I really enjoyed this solo series, but dragging out this conclusion as a hunt for a brainwashed Black Widow is a weak ending to the work Brubaker put in to make this character what he is. Bucky’s choice to be brainwashed again was heartbreaking but also cheap and unnecessary. I get that it was supposed to demonstrate the lengths Bucky would go to to save Natasha, but it was blown through so quickly and didn’t actually advance the story in a meaningful way.

(I’m also not even sure I buy it as something Bucky would do, even for Nat, given his past. Just like I assume that Natasha also wouldn’t make this choice, even for Bucky, given her past. But we needed drama and more avengers fighting Bucky to stretch this conclusion into 5 issues.)

[Faith Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

"here's the thing about being under mind control, the part nobody talks about... That you're still in there... Some small piece you of you as awake... Watching. Like being a passenger in your own body. You struggle to break free... But you lose... Over and over again."


"I don't know you, Barnes... But Natasha loves you, so I have to believe there's a good man in there somewhere."


"I'm going to find Natasha... Just like I always have. Never even realized how lost I was without her. But I always was. Just some lost soldier who forgot he ever had a home."


"I try to imagine my life without her, and all I see is pain... And heartbreak. But at least I'll be the only one feeling it. I take solace in that thought... And hold on to it for as long as I can. But it won't be long enough."

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

As Brubaker's run on Winter Soldier ends, and we get the ending of his entire Captain America saga, I'm left frustrated. This volume does what I was so worried it would do last arc, and turn Black Widow into just another victim for Bucky to feel sad about. This volume has a bunch of other superheroes guest star as basically filler, as they don't do anything important other than delay the main plot, then ends with Black Widow getting hurt just to make the Winter Soldier sad. It's not fridging, though with the "cold" war aspect of this series it certainly wants to be, but it tears apart a really interesting relationship in comics just to show how sad it makes the dude and that sucks.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite in this series so far has Bucky searching for Natasha before it’s too late. Wow, as previously mentioned I really like Bucky and Nat together, it really does make perfect sense and adding to that my all time favourite character Wolverine making an appearance is just comic book heaven for me. Of course I’m not getting what I want with this story, but as an avid reader of the X-Men comics I’m used to the writers toying with my favourite characters hearts! I’m looking forward to the next one. P.S. Dear MCU - I need some Bucky/Nat together in movie form - pretty please!!

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

It doesn't pay to be the love interest of a superhero, even if you're a more established hero like Black Widow. Novokov, the rogue former-Russian agent trained by the Winter Soldier, has brainwashed Natasha (or Natalia?) and is using her against the Winter Soldier. Bucky and Cap enlist Wolverine and Hawkeye, Avengers with a history with the Widow, to help track her down. Good writing, decent art, okay story.

[Ryan Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first three issues of this volume is a great start, continuing from where Volume 2 left off, but like Vol.2, the ending kind of goes all flimsy. The 4th issue herein is pure action filler, with a plot twist that is completely unnecessary, leaving the conclusion to be a bit rushed.
Issues 10-12: 5 Stars
Issues 13-14: 2.5 Stars
Let's settle on 3.