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Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier
Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier, Vol. 1: The Man on the Wall
After the tragedy of Original Sin, what becomes of Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier? Discover the cosmic answer here as Bucky takes his place as the newest secret protector of Earth! Wounded by a mystery bullet, Bucky traces the evidence to Asgard, where a secret lurks underneath the kingdom. Bucky has the key - but first he must face the Frozen Wolves of Niffleheim! Then, on the planet Mer-z-Bow, Bucky meets his match! And as the Winter Soldier comes face-to-face with Crossbones, leap 200 years into the future and discover how Bucky's actions will affect the Marvel Universe to come! It's a vision of the future like none you've ever seen before! But who took a shot at Bucky? Why? And what will be the cost of his action? Collecting Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier #1-5.
102 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 26, 2015
109 people are currently reading
481 people want to read
About the author
Aleš Kot
268 books177 followersAleš Kot is a post-Chernobyl, pre-revolution, Czech-born, California-based writer/producer who started in graphic novels and now makes films, television, and an occasional novella.
A. believe in art and community.
A. doesn't believe in borders nor cops.
A. believes in love, which they know is a very Libra answer. And what about it?
A. believe in art and community.
A. doesn't believe in borders nor cops.
A. believes in love, which they know is a very Libra answer. And what about it?
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
July 5, 2021
Bucky is a pretty hot commodity right now, amirite?
So how could this be anything but awesome?!
Yeah, well, The Man on the Wall? Not awesome.
Not. Awesome. At. All.
I mean, if you flip through this volume, you'll be tempted to assume you're in for a treat.
Look at these panels!!
Look. At. These. Panels!
Pssst...
Towards the end, you'll need to look AWAY from these panels.
Because ugly.
Horribly, jarringly...ugly.
My point is, you should take those assumptions of awesomeness, and shove them aside. Push them all the way down there with all the other disappointments that adulthood has given you.
Like the distinct lack of flying cars, calorie-free chocolate, and sassy robot maids.
Because this is one of those comics that leaves you with a distinct WHATTHEFUCKDIDIJUSTREAD?! feeling when you finish it.
The basic plot is this: Bucky is a self-appointed space assassin, hell bent on preserving peace on Earth. Until he falls in love, and time-travels through the multiverse to save himself?
Or. Something.
No, I'm not kidding.
Have fun, guys!
So how could this be anything but awesome?!
Yeah, well, The Man on the Wall? Not awesome.
Not. Awesome. At. All.
I mean, if you flip through this volume, you'll be tempted to assume you're in for a treat.
Look at these panels!!
Look. At. These. Panels!
Pssst...
Towards the end, you'll need to look AWAY from these panels.
Because ugly.
Horribly, jarringly...ugly.
My point is, you should take those assumptions of awesomeness, and shove them aside. Push them all the way down there with all the other disappointments that adulthood has given you.
Like the distinct lack of flying cars, calorie-free chocolate, and sassy robot maids.
Because this is one of those comics that leaves you with a distinct WHATTHEFUCKDIDIJUSTREAD?! feeling when you finish it.
The basic plot is this: Bucky is a self-appointed space assassin, hell bent on preserving peace on Earth. Until he falls in love, and time-travels through the multiverse to save himself?
Or. Something.
No, I'm not kidding.
Have fun, guys!
October 28, 2015
The Sixties! POP ART!! Comics on Acid!!!
Guess what, groovy hipsters! Pass the love beads because they’re back!
Dig it!!!
Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, is now the Man on the Wall. He’s foiling intergalactic plots against the Earth.
Unless it’s an invasion of Skrulls.
Or Thanos.
Or Galactus.
Or the Kree.
But he’s there and we can all feel safer for it.
Daisy Johnson or Quake is lending a helping hand. Why? Because her character is in the Agents of SHIELD TV show and she needs more page time.
I don’t mind comic creators pushing the storytelling boundaries, but it would be nice if the story made a lick of sense.
There’s a story there somewhere hidden beneath the trippy kaleidoscopic artwork. I guess.
Bottom line: If you like your reading challenges to be inscrutable, yet pretty, by all means check this out.
Guess what, groovy hipsters! Pass the love beads because they’re back!
Dig it!!!
Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, is now the Man on the Wall. He’s foiling intergalactic plots against the Earth.
Unless it’s an invasion of Skrulls.
Or Thanos.
Or Galactus.
Or the Kree.
But he’s there and we can all feel safer for it.
Daisy Johnson or Quake is lending a helping hand. Why? Because her character is in the Agents of SHIELD TV show and she needs more page time.
I don’t mind comic creators pushing the storytelling boundaries, but it would be nice if the story made a lick of sense.
There’s a story there somewhere hidden beneath the trippy kaleidoscopic artwork. I guess.
Bottom line: If you like your reading challenges to be inscrutable, yet pretty, by all means check this out.
September 23, 2015
Ales Kot writes some odd-ball shit. Gotta have mad respect for a guy that isn’t afraid to do his own thing and writes outside the box. That said, he was a little too far outta the box with this one for my tastes. Throw in a couple of unconventional artists and I’m lookin’ for an exit. I didn’t absolutely hate it, but I certainly wasn’t in love with it either.
Ales take on Bucky was pretty ambitious. Kot follows up on the Original Sin event of a year or so ago with this collection. If you haven’t read that book, there’s some minor spoilers ahead. Buck has inherited the role of “the man on the wall” in this collection. The first line of preemptive defense against any potential threat to good ole’ mother Earth. It took some guts to change up Barnes’ previous persona in the Marvel Universe and take him beyond the espionage element I had come to associate with him thanks to Ed Brubaker. Now he’s more of a space-ranger, ala’ Buzz Lightyear, kinda guy. That said, I definitely prefer Ed’s take.
It was also pretty unique in terms of the artwork provided for the story. The unusual layouts and maverick artistic styles of Marco Rudy and Langdon Foss were a pretty ballsy selections. I felt like this worked better in Ales’ Zero than it did in this book. And while I appreciated the attempt at doing something a little atypical here, it just didn’t rock my world. The art was tough to read and difficult to follow in parts, and while it wasn’t necessarily ugly, it didn’t do much for me either.
Ales had a lot going against him with me in this book. Cosmic stories, not my bag. Superheroes in cosmic stories, nuh-uh. Throw in a little time travel and nope, peace out. Really tough for any writer to make that stuff work for me. It can be done, but not this time.
So, this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. I’ve accepted that Kot, like all my favorite authors, is gonna put out the occasional stinker. But I’m not givin’ up on Ales. It’s onto Secret Avengers and I’m pretty damned excited about that title. That shit looks sick.
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April 26, 2016
After the events of Original Sin, Bucky Barnes took over for Nick Fury as The Man on the Wall. He now protects the Earth from the threats few know about.
Conceptually this sounds interesting, but it's execution is really bad. The artwork is ugly and the story doesn't make sense. Even adding Daisy Johnson aka Quake didn't improve anything although it probably saved me from giving this one star. This is weird in the worst way.
Conceptually this sounds interesting, but it's execution is really bad. The artwork is ugly and the story doesn't make sense. Even adding Daisy Johnson aka Quake didn't improve anything although it probably saved me from giving this one star. This is weird in the worst way.
January 13, 2019
The premise of the series is a great idea. In the wake of Original Sin, the Winter Soldier takes over Nick Fury's secret mission of taking out threats to Earth before they even begin to develop. Unfortunately, Ales Kots takes the series in the direction of cosmic, metaphysical bullshit. Oh, yeah and for some reason Crossbones is flying to other planets now too. Because that's what street level villians do.
Marco Rudy's art is incomprehensible. It looks like he drew the issues in crayon. I'd spend minutes on each page just trying to figure out what's even going on. Even the word balloons are effed up. Some pages are covered in them and there's no logical flow from one to the next. They're just randomly scattered across the page.
Marco Rudy's art is incomprehensible. It looks like he drew the issues in crayon. I'd spend minutes on each page just trying to figure out what's even going on. Even the word balloons are effed up. Some pages are covered in them and there's no logical flow from one to the next. They're just randomly scattered across the page.
October 17, 2022
Very original take on the Winter Soldier (WS). He becomes kind of a cross between the Punisher (an intergalactic version), Travis Bickle and Ram Dass! Took me awhile to get into it - but once I let go of my preconceived ideas of WS I really got into this! Would like to see more characters 'detoured' in this way!
November 25, 2015
I really like the artwork on this book. It's beautifully illustrated in a mixed media approach... It looks more like the sort of thing you'd more usually come across in 'Metal Hurlant' or ’2000AD' than a mainstream superhero title. If I was rating this book just on the illustration, it'd get five stars.
The problem, Marty, is the story. It's a mess, quite frankly. It doesn't help that I simply don't buy this whole 'Man On The Wall' bullshit Marvel introduced during the Orginal Sin 'event'. We're supposed to believe that, for the entire duration of the published Marvel Universe, there's been a lone man out in space protecting the Earth from alien invasion.
REALLY, MARVEL? REALLY???
This is a fictional Earth that, thanks to Marvel's elastic timeline that claims seventy years' worth of comicbooks actually took place over about a decade, gets invaded by aliens EVERY OTHER WEEK! (It really does; I'm sad enough to have done the maths.)
So, either Earth is being invaded by aliens on the hour, every hour, and only a fraction of those invasions get past the Man On The Wall oooorrrr... the Man On The Wall is really, really, REALLY shit at his job.
Anyway, crappy concept, crappy story, really nice art.
The problem, Marty, is the story. It's a mess, quite frankly. It doesn't help that I simply don't buy this whole 'Man On The Wall' bullshit Marvel introduced during the Orginal Sin 'event'. We're supposed to believe that, for the entire duration of the published Marvel Universe, there's been a lone man out in space protecting the Earth from alien invasion.
REALLY, MARVEL? REALLY???
This is a fictional Earth that, thanks to Marvel's elastic timeline that claims seventy years' worth of comicbooks actually took place over about a decade, gets invaded by aliens EVERY OTHER WEEK! (It really does; I'm sad enough to have done the maths.)
So, either Earth is being invaded by aliens on the hour, every hour, and only a fraction of those invasions get past the Man On The Wall oooorrrr... the Man On The Wall is really, really, REALLY shit at his job.
Anyway, crappy concept, crappy story, really nice art.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2015
Let's do the obvious first - the artwork is phenomenal, for the most part. Marco Rudy's page layouts are astounding, and beautiful to look at. They're one of the reasons that this series attracted my eye.
Unfortunately, they can sometimes be a little incomprehensible. Whilst it's fun to stare at them and try to work out what's going on, that shouldn't take up most of your time when reading. Still, they're beautiful, although they tend to recede in the later two issues in favour of Langdon Foss, who draws a hell of a lot more simply. Whilst this makes it easier to understand what's going on, it also detracts from the action because you're so used to the sweeping painted layouts that Rudy uses. There's not a lot of synergy between the two, so I'm really not sure what Marvel were thinking teaming the two up.
The storyline is also sometimes a little incomprehensible. You can get the overall gist of things quite easily, but some of Ales Kot's narration feels unnecessary complicated and musing - I don't need a 'Bucky wants to kill XYZ because ABC', but pages upon pages of 'the multiverse is so beautiful etc.' especially when combined with Marco Rudy's psychedelic artwork. You can have confusing art or confusing story, but both at once can be a little too much.
So overall, I do like this series. You have to be in the right mood for it, because it takes a little digging below the surface to work out at times, which is why it doesn't get a full 5 star rating, but it's certainly worth a look if you want something a little different to what Marvel're doing with the rest of their books at the moment.
Unfortunately, they can sometimes be a little incomprehensible. Whilst it's fun to stare at them and try to work out what's going on, that shouldn't take up most of your time when reading. Still, they're beautiful, although they tend to recede in the later two issues in favour of Langdon Foss, who draws a hell of a lot more simply. Whilst this makes it easier to understand what's going on, it also detracts from the action because you're so used to the sweeping painted layouts that Rudy uses. There's not a lot of synergy between the two, so I'm really not sure what Marvel were thinking teaming the two up.
The storyline is also sometimes a little incomprehensible. You can get the overall gist of things quite easily, but some of Ales Kot's narration feels unnecessary complicated and musing - I don't need a 'Bucky wants to kill XYZ because ABC', but pages upon pages of 'the multiverse is so beautiful etc.' especially when combined with Marco Rudy's psychedelic artwork. You can have confusing art or confusing story, but both at once can be a little too much.
So overall, I do like this series. You have to be in the right mood for it, because it takes a little digging below the surface to work out at times, which is why it doesn't get a full 5 star rating, but it's certainly worth a look if you want something a little different to what Marvel're doing with the rest of their books at the moment.
May 20, 2016
Marco Rudy is the man! His artwork is gorgeous!!!
Read
May 30, 2021i can't rate this because i didn't understand what's going on but it did look cool
Read
November 20, 2021I am absolutely in awe of the art in this one. S T U N N I N G. And I demand a Bucky and Daisy buddy show.
August 3, 2025
A bit of a mixed bag, with some enjoyable components tangled up in a very messy story.
The art in this volume was certainly ambitious. While it looks good on paper, I felt like it was trying to do too much at once, making it really hard to follow the action and dialogue. There was so much happening on the page at one time that it became a chore to read. The artists were trying to aura farm but it backfired massively.
On the bright side, the dialogue was a consistent highlight. Bucky's dialogue, including that of Old Man Bucky, was funny and definitely felt targeted at a more mature audience. Crossbones was also at his aura-farming best, making every panel he was in worth reading.
I'm definitely in no rush to read the next volume, but since I already have it, I might as well find out how this car crash of a story ends. While there were some fun moments and clever lines, the confusing art and overall narrative chaos make this a difficult book to recommend.
The art in this volume was certainly ambitious. While it looks good on paper, I felt like it was trying to do too much at once, making it really hard to follow the action and dialogue. There was so much happening on the page at one time that it became a chore to read. The artists were trying to aura farm but it backfired massively.
On the bright side, the dialogue was a consistent highlight. Bucky's dialogue, including that of Old Man Bucky, was funny and definitely felt targeted at a more mature audience. Crossbones was also at his aura-farming best, making every panel he was in worth reading.
I'm definitely in no rush to read the next volume, but since I already have it, I might as well find out how this car crash of a story ends. While there were some fun moments and clever lines, the confusing art and overall narrative chaos make this a difficult book to recommend.
Read
August 30, 2021Umm, what? Also, I wanted more Daisy, who I know nothing about except for what I saw of her on Agents of Shield. I didn't care anything about anyone else, not even Old Bucky on a random planet with servant robots. Finally, I'm further convinced that the people who write these books know nothing about what it looks like to fall in love, or even grow to love someone. Pretty sure they think a single kiss, or one night sleeping together, does the trick. The art was interesting --trippy. Whole story had a John Carter on Mars vibe.
Read
August 3, 2021Honestly, BUCKY DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER!
Also, I deserve an exorcism after reading this.
At least the cover's artwork looks cool.
Also, I deserve an exorcism after reading this.
At least the cover's artwork looks cool.
April 27, 2021
i aint ever seen happiness its always gotta be suffering
March 9, 2017
James Buchanan Barnes fought for the U.S during World War II as Bucky, the teenage sidekick of Captain America.
Then he fought for Soviet Russia as a brainwashed assassin code-named the Winter Soldier. Then he fought to honor his mentor's legacy when he briefly served as Captain America.
But now Bucky Barnes fights for everyone. Inheriting the role from superspy Nick Fury, the Winter Soldier has become "The Man on the Wall", clandestinely protecting the earth from intergalactic and extrademensional threats.
Liberating a distant planet from a dictator's rule, throwing down with Old Loki in Asgardia, stealing a god-like beast, all just part of the job for Bucky Barnes, Man on the Wall.
Alongside his partner, ex- S.H.I.E.L.D director Daisy Johnson, Buck's slowly working his way through the last dossier of Nick Fury, completing his missions and righting wrongs across the galaxy is the new life of this All-American boy.
After a hallucinogenic battle with Old Loki, Bucky is strangely drawn to an alien planet in a far, far away galaxy. There, he finds their telepathic, lovely queen.
As you may be expecting, the star-crossed lovers do not have the easiest go of things.
Meanwhile, Daisy is warned of impending doom by...
Bucky.
An older alternate dimension version of Bucky drops out of nowhere to warn Daisy her partner is in trouble, but can she get to him in time?
I've been saving that Skwisgaar gif for just the perfect amount of whatthefuckery.
I mean, Winter Soldier: Man on the Wall wasn't a bad story. It's a pretty good story, actually. Bucky taking over Nick's place, making things right that once went wrong, kicking major space ass, sounds awesome.
But Ales Kot, jeez-is kee-rist, dude, what the hell are you smoking?
And I'm serious here, man. What country does it grow in and how did you get it past the TSA?
This is all over the place. Bucky seems... Off, Daisy's just unpleasant for the sake of being unpleasant, rather than it being funny.
The alien side of the story was uber weird, and not in a good way. More in a what the hell is going on sort of way. I was completely lost for the majority of this volume, I turned back more than once to make sure we were still in the same timeline (did I mention there's dimensional time travel?).
Oh. And dear continuity:
I'm super fuzzy on the Original Sin thing. I have a vague idea of what happened, and I know I have friends here who would gladly explain the whole thing to me, but can I be honest here?
I'll figure it out at some point. I started reading comics seriously at fourteen and I still have a lot of levels to reach. The reveal over time is honestly more interesting for me.
Art specs
One phrase sums up Winter Soldier: Man on the Wall's art.
A mess.
It was one huge mess.
The art for the first three issues, and also a few pages of the fourth and fifth, done by Marco Rudy, was...
Okay, once again, uber weird, but not bad. Sort of like Ben Templesmith in Thirty Days of Night, Silent Hill and Dead Space. The only word to describe that style is manic.
A style I like, personally. It's an acquired taste, (someone told me once that that means it tastes like crap but snotty rich people like it) but it's not bad.
Now, the art for the majority of issues four and five?
Yeah, there's onenonword to describe that, too.
Fugly.
I'd seen the art of Langdon Foss before, in the Joe Hill comic treasury, and honestly I like it, but it was such a contrast to Rudy's art and it just felt...
Again, off.
Over all...
Meh.
Just... Just meh. Boring, unengaging, confusing.
My only exposure to Bucky is the Captain America movies, (I might've read an Avengers comic where he was Cap) but I don't think that's why I didn't enjoy this.
I'll take some advice for once, check out the Rick Remender and Ed Brubaker Winter Soldier comics.
Hopeful for those. I'm a fan of Remender's comics.
This is a two-volume series (yeesh, I wonder why?) and I'll read the second one because, ya know, I'm me, but I'm not hoping for much.
Then he fought for Soviet Russia as a brainwashed assassin code-named the Winter Soldier. Then he fought to honor his mentor's legacy when he briefly served as Captain America.
But now Bucky Barnes fights for everyone. Inheriting the role from superspy Nick Fury, the Winter Soldier has become "The Man on the Wall", clandestinely protecting the earth from intergalactic and extrademensional threats.
Liberating a distant planet from a dictator's rule, throwing down with Old Loki in Asgardia, stealing a god-like beast, all just part of the job for Bucky Barnes, Man on the Wall.
Alongside his partner, ex- S.H.I.E.L.D director Daisy Johnson, Buck's slowly working his way through the last dossier of Nick Fury, completing his missions and righting wrongs across the galaxy is the new life of this All-American boy.
After a hallucinogenic battle with Old Loki, Bucky is strangely drawn to an alien planet in a far, far away galaxy. There, he finds their telepathic, lovely queen.
As you may be expecting, the star-crossed lovers do not have the easiest go of things.
Meanwhile, Daisy is warned of impending doom by...
Bucky.
An older alternate dimension version of Bucky drops out of nowhere to warn Daisy her partner is in trouble, but can she get to him in time?
I've been saving that Skwisgaar gif for just the perfect amount of whatthefuckery.
I mean, Winter Soldier: Man on the Wall wasn't a bad story. It's a pretty good story, actually. Bucky taking over Nick's place, making things right that once went wrong, kicking major space ass, sounds awesome.
But Ales Kot, jeez-is kee-rist, dude, what the hell are you smoking?
And I'm serious here, man. What country does it grow in and how did you get it past the TSA?
This is all over the place. Bucky seems... Off, Daisy's just unpleasant for the sake of being unpleasant, rather than it being funny.
The alien side of the story was uber weird, and not in a good way. More in a what the hell is going on sort of way. I was completely lost for the majority of this volume, I turned back more than once to make sure we were still in the same timeline (did I mention there's dimensional time travel?).
Oh. And dear continuity:
I'm super fuzzy on the Original Sin thing. I have a vague idea of what happened, and I know I have friends here who would gladly explain the whole thing to me, but can I be honest here?
I'll figure it out at some point. I started reading comics seriously at fourteen and I still have a lot of levels to reach. The reveal over time is honestly more interesting for me.
Art specs
One phrase sums up Winter Soldier: Man on the Wall's art.
A mess.
It was one huge mess.
The art for the first three issues, and also a few pages of the fourth and fifth, done by Marco Rudy, was...
Okay, once again, uber weird, but not bad. Sort of like Ben Templesmith in Thirty Days of Night, Silent Hill and Dead Space. The only word to describe that style is manic.
A style I like, personally. It's an acquired taste, (someone told me once that that means it tastes like crap but snotty rich people like it) but it's not bad.
Now, the art for the majority of issues four and five?
Yeah, there's one
Fugly.
I'd seen the art of Langdon Foss before, in the Joe Hill comic treasury, and honestly I like it, but it was such a contrast to Rudy's art and it just felt...
Again, off.
Over all...
Meh.
Just... Just meh. Boring, unengaging, confusing.
My only exposure to Bucky is the Captain America movies, (I might've read an Avengers comic where he was Cap) but I don't think that's why I didn't enjoy this.
I'll take some advice for once, check out the Rick Remender and Ed Brubaker Winter Soldier comics.
Hopeful for those. I'm a fan of Remender's comics.
This is a two-volume series (yeesh, I wonder why?) and I'll read the second one because, ya know, I'm me, but I'm not hoping for much.
Read
August 4, 2015Surprisingly I don't recall this happening before, but a friend reviewed this last night and already said a lot of what I would have - in particular, the idea that it's a modern take on Steranko's Nick Fury, entirely appropriate when Bucky is taking Fury's old job as Earth's protector against the scum of the universe.
I think the other big influence is Jerry Cornelius (Bucky's hair was the key clue, especially on the cover of the second issue) - a super-assassin plummeting through parallel universe and his own psyche, dreaming of the day he doesn't have to kill anyone.
Alas, Kot continues to be a little too on-the-nose with his references; I like a nice freight of allusions in my comics, but you can be too blatant. And when you've only got some fantasy-style random punctuation separating a universe's name from Delia Derbyshire's, that is indeed too blatant. There are times, too, when the story simply doesn't feel like it coheres - and not always in the deliberate, 'your paradigms are too simple, man' style for which it's aiming, but in the sense that Kot is seemingly behaving like Matt Fraction on a bad day, bunging in concepts and images which take his fancy without worrying too much about how they'll fit together.
Still, it certainly isn't dull. And while Marco Rudy doesn't handle all the art (I presume from his style he's too slow, but they do contrive a very satisfactory explanation for the fill-ins), he does paint a staggeringly good space scene.
I think the other big influence is Jerry Cornelius (Bucky's hair was the key clue, especially on the cover of the second issue) - a super-assassin plummeting through parallel universe and his own psyche, dreaming of the day he doesn't have to kill anyone.
Alas, Kot continues to be a little too on-the-nose with his references; I like a nice freight of allusions in my comics, but you can be too blatant. And when you've only got some fantasy-style random punctuation separating a universe's name from Delia Derbyshire's, that is indeed too blatant. There are times, too, when the story simply doesn't feel like it coheres - and not always in the deliberate, 'your paradigms are too simple, man' style for which it's aiming, but in the sense that Kot is seemingly behaving like Matt Fraction on a bad day, bunging in concepts and images which take his fancy without worrying too much about how they'll fit together.
Still, it certainly isn't dull. And while Marco Rudy doesn't handle all the art (I presume from his style he's too slow, but they do contrive a very satisfactory explanation for the fill-ins), he does paint a staggeringly good space scene.
May 9, 2015
Review is for issues 1-5 of the comic series and may contain mild spoilers.
I guess it’s probably the fact that I am not a fan of multi-verses or Comics! In! Space!, but this collection didn’t really do much for me. Following the fallout of Original Sin (which, full disclosure, I didn’t read), Marvel sends Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, aka The Man on the Wall, and Daisy Johnson into space, to a planet with the unfortunate name of Mer-Z-Bow. What follows is a rather psychedelic trip that doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense, especially when old foes and future selves start showing up to complicate matters.
The art for most of the collection is bright and head-trippy and at times hard to follow due to a combination of wild colors and very unconventional layouts. When the second arc starts, there is a strong clash between the two art styles, which makes for a jarring visual jump.
I suppose I thought that, ultimately, a Winter Soldier solo series coming so close on the hells of the second Captain America film, would be a bit more grounded on earth (similar to the solo Black Widow series currently running) and gritty, and I wasn’t quite prepared for the cosmic, multi-verse jump.
I guess it’s probably the fact that I am not a fan of multi-verses or Comics! In! Space!, but this collection didn’t really do much for me. Following the fallout of Original Sin (which, full disclosure, I didn’t read), Marvel sends Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, aka The Man on the Wall, and Daisy Johnson into space, to a planet with the unfortunate name of Mer-Z-Bow. What follows is a rather psychedelic trip that doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense, especially when old foes and future selves start showing up to complicate matters.
The art for most of the collection is bright and head-trippy and at times hard to follow due to a combination of wild colors and very unconventional layouts. When the second arc starts, there is a strong clash between the two art styles, which makes for a jarring visual jump.
I suppose I thought that, ultimately, a Winter Soldier solo series coming so close on the hells of the second Captain America film, would be a bit more grounded on earth (similar to the solo Black Widow series currently running) and gritty, and I wasn’t quite prepared for the cosmic, multi-verse jump.
December 20, 2015
2.5 stars
Okay so I haven't read the original sin arc and this takes place after the events in original sin, However, I don't think that's why I found this so confusing.
The art style is AMAZING. Seriously so great i adored it, the art alone would have got a 5 stars from me, however it did make the story hard to follow sometimes, I have a pretty good idea about what took place during these issues but there are certain parts that I'm still unsure about what actually happened.
I really enjoyed the interactions between Bucky and Daisy, but some of the other dialogue was confusing and that mixed with the art style had me needing to reread so many pages to understand what was actually happening.
Maybe I would have understood this more if i had read Original Sin first, but from some other reviews I've read I think this was just a confusion for a lot of people even those who read OS. Might pick up future issues but it will most likely be just for the art.
Okay so I haven't read the original sin arc and this takes place after the events in original sin, However, I don't think that's why I found this so confusing.
The art style is AMAZING. Seriously so great i adored it, the art alone would have got a 5 stars from me, however it did make the story hard to follow sometimes, I have a pretty good idea about what took place during these issues but there are certain parts that I'm still unsure about what actually happened.
I really enjoyed the interactions between Bucky and Daisy, but some of the other dialogue was confusing and that mixed with the art style had me needing to reread so many pages to understand what was actually happening.
Maybe I would have understood this more if i had read Original Sin first, but from some other reviews I've read I think this was just a confusion for a lot of people even those who read OS. Might pick up future issues but it will most likely be just for the art.
February 27, 2015
Interesting idea, trying to build on the weirdness that was 'Original Sin' and find a unique place for the Winter Soldier in the MU, where he becomes the new 'man on the wall' that defends earth from alien threats.
The problem is the art. I get stylized art and can appreciate it, at times, but this was so overdone that I had trouble following the story. There were pages where you had to struggle to figure out who was talking.
and then it hooked up with the storyline happening in the recent Loki comic and threw in time travel.
I could see what the writer was trying to do, but it felt like the first story arc didn't stand on its own and the art just did not work for me.
Shame, as after reading James Robinson's 'New Invaders', I was interested in reading more Winter Soldier stories, but this just did not work for me.
The problem is the art. I get stylized art and can appreciate it, at times, but this was so overdone that I had trouble following the story. There were pages where you had to struggle to figure out who was talking.
and then it hooked up with the storyline happening in the recent Loki comic and threw in time travel.
I could see what the writer was trying to do, but it felt like the first story arc didn't stand on its own and the art just did not work for me.
Shame, as after reading James Robinson's 'New Invaders', I was interested in reading more Winter Soldier stories, but this just did not work for me.
May 29, 2015
Picked this book up on the strength of Ales Kot's SECRET AVENGERS which I've been loving! But, Good Gods, I'm kind of pissed. I'm trying to read this book and I can follow the text fine but the art by MARCO RUDY is such a mess I can't understand what I'm looking at.
I try really hard to work around that and not let it defeat my reading attempt. Part of the story though, Kot relies upon the artist to show visually, and not in dialog, nor in any text. So if I can't understand the pictures then I'm missing something.
FAIL. How did this mess get out the door of Marvel? Marvel managers, please, do not hire Marco Rudy again. His work is a mess.
I try really hard to work around that and not let it defeat my reading attempt. Part of the story though, Kot relies upon the artist to show visually, and not in dialog, nor in any text. So if I can't understand the pictures then I'm missing something.
FAIL. How did this mess get out the door of Marvel? Marvel managers, please, do not hire Marco Rudy again. His work is a mess.
October 12, 2014
A little unsure about this one...the art is gorgeous but it takes a spy/Cold War thriller type character and puts him in space for no really good reason...I could see it if it was like Steranko's Fury dealing with secret satellites and such but this is pretty out there and I don't see Bucky as a cosmic character. The art is fantastic though and the great thing about comics is how malleable characters can be...but characters like Captain America and Bucky work better as more realistic, grounded characters.
July 24, 2015
Decent comic, but Rudy's gorgeous art often makes it difficult to understand what's going on. And occasionally something very significant happened, but I was unable to figure out the exact details. Like who does old guy Winter Soldier shoot at the end? I think I know, but I'm not 100% sure.
November 19, 2022
I read a digital copy of this book.
"And so there was love. Many times, under many different skies...and each time the new they tangled up and split apart to come back together..."
Everybody knows I'm a Bucky Barnes simp. This isn't a secret. Shockingly, however, I've never ventured into his tenure as the Man on the Wall. Taking over from Nick Fury, Bucky has gone into space to protect Earth from intergalactic threats with a former SHIELD agent, Daisy Johnson. The duo find themselves in the middle of a plot that involves Loki, a peaceful world hiding a darker secret and some cross-dimension shenanigans. When Bucky is shot with Ilium, taking him to a dream dimension to face Loki directly, Daisy is approached by an older version of Bucky from a different dimension who directs them to a world called Mer-Z-Bow. Daisy hides this fact from modern-day Bucky and when they get to this world, Bucky finds himself falling in love with their queen, Ventolin. However, they are not alone. Soon Crossbones shows up with an agenda and attempts to kill Ventolin, Young Bucky, Daisy and Old Bucky too.
Although it sounds like a lot happened in this book, it wasn't necessarily all that fast-paced. The splash pages were lovely but I will say some of the faces in this book were rough. I try not to be overly critical about art because it is so difficult to be an artist, especially an artist for hire like comic book artists, and some of the art was beautiful but I did find myself kind of squinting at some of the characters a little. They just were kind of ugly. I also found the speed at which Ventolin and Bucky fell for one another a little disorientating if I'm honest.
I will say I really liked Daisy Johnson and I would love to read more with her character in it.
"And so there was love. Many times, under many different skies...and each time the new they tangled up and split apart to come back together..."
Everybody knows I'm a Bucky Barnes simp. This isn't a secret. Shockingly, however, I've never ventured into his tenure as the Man on the Wall. Taking over from Nick Fury, Bucky has gone into space to protect Earth from intergalactic threats with a former SHIELD agent, Daisy Johnson. The duo find themselves in the middle of a plot that involves Loki, a peaceful world hiding a darker secret and some cross-dimension shenanigans. When Bucky is shot with Ilium, taking him to a dream dimension to face Loki directly, Daisy is approached by an older version of Bucky from a different dimension who directs them to a world called Mer-Z-Bow. Daisy hides this fact from modern-day Bucky and when they get to this world, Bucky finds himself falling in love with their queen, Ventolin. However, they are not alone. Soon Crossbones shows up with an agenda and attempts to kill Ventolin, Young Bucky, Daisy and Old Bucky too.
Although it sounds like a lot happened in this book, it wasn't necessarily all that fast-paced. The splash pages were lovely but I will say some of the faces in this book were rough. I try not to be overly critical about art because it is so difficult to be an artist, especially an artist for hire like comic book artists, and some of the art was beautiful but I did find myself kind of squinting at some of the characters a little. They just were kind of ugly. I also found the speed at which Ventolin and Bucky fell for one another a little disorientating if I'm honest.
I will say I really liked Daisy Johnson and I would love to read more with her character in it.
May 26, 2021
This was default two stars, but it had an aardvark so I let it squeak by with three. That and the pretty artwork saved it. However, as pretty much everyone has pointed out, you can't accomplish visual storytelling through whatever this impressionism is supposed to be. Can't follow the panel order, can't tell who's winning a fight, can't always even tell who's who on the page. If you want a book of pretty pictures and can ignore occasional text bubbles, this is the book for you.
The plot was pretty out there. Bucky and Daisy could have been replaced with any two characters with barely any effect on the story (to the extent that I was able to understand the story). I may be missing context, but I don't understand how Fury's files were able to predict the future... funny that there's a big event comic the next years about whether arresting people based on alleged future actions is okay and Bucky is just assassinating them now. Moral ambiguity is fun, but this guy was JUST Captain America.
MINOR SPOILER?
The love story was weird. Obviously there's a problem with making too big a deal about any new relationship in a comic, but this was pretty out there. The queen didn't really distinguish herself as a character enough for them to have chemistry, and the "it just felt so right" excuse might be explained later but it feels like teen fanfic here. The sexualization is weird, and the reveal that another character is watching it all unfold in his spare time is way weirder.
All that put together, though, and there was nothing in the book so offensive that I felt compelled to give it lower than three stars.
The plot was pretty out there. Bucky and Daisy could have been replaced with any two characters with barely any effect on the story (to the extent that I was able to understand the story). I may be missing context, but I don't understand how Fury's files were able to predict the future... funny that there's a big event comic the next years about whether arresting people based on alleged future actions is okay and Bucky is just assassinating them now. Moral ambiguity is fun, but this guy was JUST Captain America.
MINOR SPOILER?
The love story was weird. Obviously there's a problem with making too big a deal about any new relationship in a comic, but this was pretty out there. The queen didn't really distinguish herself as a character enough for them to have chemistry, and the "it just felt so right" excuse might be explained later but it feels like teen fanfic here. The sexualization is weird, and the reveal that another character is watching it all unfold in his spare time is way weirder.
All that put together, though, and there was nothing in the book so offensive that I felt compelled to give it lower than three stars.
July 29, 2020
The art is beautiful. Truly stunning. But it utterly fails to tell the story. And the writing is going for the stylized punchy moments that Jonathon Hickman is a master of, but I wouldn't say it succeds. So both the art and the writing fail to tell the story.
After barely reintroducing Bucky and Daisy Johnson and why they're in space, instead of continuing on the Punisher-in-space story, Bucky falls in love with a space princess. And a Bucky from the future shows up. (Old grizzled time traveller from the future with a robotic arm and a big gun. Seems familiar. *cough*Cable*cough*) And someone who looks like Crossbones is lurking. In space.
Basically imagine if Promethea were written by someone who doesn't know what they're doing.
After barely reintroducing Bucky and Daisy Johnson and why they're in space, instead of continuing on the Punisher-in-space story, Bucky falls in love with a space princess. And a Bucky from the future shows up. (Old grizzled time traveller from the future with a robotic arm and a big gun. Seems familiar. *cough*Cable*cough*) And someone who looks like Crossbones is lurking. In space.
Basically imagine if Promethea were written by someone who doesn't know what they're doing.
January 4, 2022
This is impressive in that I think it's the worst comic I've ever read.
I do give some credit to the artists though. Backgrounds were pretty. Plot and dialogue and characterisation were atrocious but at least there were nice galaxies.
I do give some credit to the artists though. Backgrounds were pretty. Plot and dialogue and characterisation were atrocious but at least there were nice galaxies.
April 23, 2016
This was a comic that I expected to love. It has the Winter Soldier and Daisy in it, and it builds on the neat concept of The Man on the Wall from Original Sin.
Unfortunately, I pretty much hated it. The main problem is artist Marco Rudy. His art is quite beautiful, but also impenetrable and muddy. It's totally not what you want when you're trying to use art in a narrative medium. Every page that contains his art is about 10x harder to interpret than it should be. You pair that with a narrative that's a bit muddy too, because of caption style and story style, and you have a comic that's almost unreadable. And I don't say that hyperbolically.
The saving grace of The Man on the Wall is the art done by Langdon Foss, which focuses on an alternate reality Bucky. It's not quite a normative style, but it's much more readable, helping to tell the story instead of detracting from it. And I quite liked those pages by Foss: they told a really interesting multiversal tale that I wanted to know more about ... but which unfortunately ran smack-dab into more Rudy artwork.(Rudy does about three-quarters of the artwork in this volume.)
There were other things of interest here and there. I liked the main characters, I liked their relationship, I loved the concept of the alternate-reality Bucky. Meanwhile, I was annoyed by the cliffhanging non-ending.
But too much of this volume felt like punishment to give it even an average rating.
(I've got the second volume out from the library, but I'm only going to read it if the amount of Rudy artwork is quite low.)
Unfortunately, I pretty much hated it. The main problem is artist Marco Rudy. His art is quite beautiful, but also impenetrable and muddy. It's totally not what you want when you're trying to use art in a narrative medium. Every page that contains his art is about 10x harder to interpret than it should be. You pair that with a narrative that's a bit muddy too, because of caption style and story style, and you have a comic that's almost unreadable. And I don't say that hyperbolically.
The saving grace of The Man on the Wall is the art done by Langdon Foss, which focuses on an alternate reality Bucky. It's not quite a normative style, but it's much more readable, helping to tell the story instead of detracting from it. And I quite liked those pages by Foss: they told a really interesting multiversal tale that I wanted to know more about ... but which unfortunately ran smack-dab into more Rudy artwork.(Rudy does about three-quarters of the artwork in this volume.)
There were other things of interest here and there. I liked the main characters, I liked their relationship, I loved the concept of the alternate-reality Bucky. Meanwhile, I was annoyed by the cliffhanging non-ending.
But too much of this volume felt like punishment to give it even an average rating.
(I've got the second volume out from the library, but I'm only going to read it if the amount of Rudy artwork is quite low.)
August 3, 2015
Messy, experimental, ambitious, often beautiful and ultimately more interesting than enjoyable - an attempt to answer the question: what might a 2010s equivalent of Steranko's psychedelic spy stories look and read like? The modern version of psychedelia is (you might argue) noise and leftfield electronic music, and Ales Kot peppers his scenario with space queens named after Aphex Twin tracks, planets named after Japanese noise artists, and a captain of the guard named after the "occult project" of two Northern UK DJs.
I reckon these easter eggs aren't just testaments to Kot's groovy record collection: a similar signal drenched aesthetic to noise and dark electronics is tangible in the work itself, most notably in Marco Rudy's often astonishing art: stories told in massive, colour-saturated, filter-blasted single-pages, or jagged double-page spreads. Narrative breaks down under the weight of sensation, and the same goes for the storyline, which hops from cosmic assassination through time travel, Marvel Asgard and space love.
There's an obvious risk with this approach - like noise, the boundary between glorious overdrive and total mess is, er, somewhat porous. Sometimes the piled-up texture sums to something with a dreamlike resonance quite unlike anything else Marvel is doing. At other times, Bucky Barnes: TWS is more fun to write about than read.
I reckon these easter eggs aren't just testaments to Kot's groovy record collection: a similar signal drenched aesthetic to noise and dark electronics is tangible in the work itself, most notably in Marco Rudy's often astonishing art: stories told in massive, colour-saturated, filter-blasted single-pages, or jagged double-page spreads. Narrative breaks down under the weight of sensation, and the same goes for the storyline, which hops from cosmic assassination through time travel, Marvel Asgard and space love.
There's an obvious risk with this approach - like noise, the boundary between glorious overdrive and total mess is, er, somewhat porous. Sometimes the piled-up texture sums to something with a dreamlike resonance quite unlike anything else Marvel is doing. At other times, Bucky Barnes: TWS is more fun to write about than read.
July 1, 2015
Mini Comic File - Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier The Man on the Wall.
I reviewed the first 4 issues of this collection in the Comic Files, http://welcometolevelseven.com/bucky-.... And I was really excited about the series when it started. I found as I cracked the page open, I was excited again and enjoyed the art and story of a the Man on the Wall defending the Earth from major threats. But really this story becomes a love story between Bucky and an existential alien princess that when mixed with majorly trippy art loses my interest.
The story is hard to wrap your mind around, when really you just want Bucky to shoot something. And the art would be fantastic in other stories, but here it does not seem to fit an action-adventure, even one set in space. And one of the contributing artists provides art that just grates against me.
To top it all off, the volume lacks a sense of conclusion.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.
I reviewed the first 4 issues of this collection in the Comic Files, http://welcometolevelseven.com/bucky-.... And I was really excited about the series when it started. I found as I cracked the page open, I was excited again and enjoyed the art and story of a the Man on the Wall defending the Earth from major threats. But really this story becomes a love story between Bucky and an existential alien princess that when mixed with majorly trippy art loses my interest.
The story is hard to wrap your mind around, when really you just want Bucky to shoot something. And the art would be fantastic in other stories, but here it does not seem to fit an action-adventure, even one set in space. And one of the contributing artists provides art that just grates against me.
To top it all off, the volume lacks a sense of conclusion.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.
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