PREVIEW: Winter Soldier #14

[CBR News]

• The grand finale of the BLACK WIDOW HUNT
• Will Bucky sacrifice everything to save his love?
• Can Black Widow even be saved?
• Ed Brubaker finishes his critically-acclaimed run and no one escapes unscathed!



Full article here.

[rogerio]

Very curious to read it. :)

[TonyStark1012]

This is bittersweet. It quite literally is the end of an era.

[klynn]

And the end, I assume, of the best relationship in Marvel, James and Natasha. I'm really sad to see that.

[samson3191]

I'm so bummed that this really is the end of an era. Thank you so much for the stories, Bru. You are the man.

[Still Don't Care]

And the end, I assume, of the best relationship in Marvel, James and Natasha. I'm really sad to see that.

It was good in the Cap books, but honestly, i'm glad to see it gone. This run of Winter Soldier has done NOTHING POSITIVE for Natasha's character. She's been brainwashed and made into a damsel in distress.

Brubaker made the freaking Black Widow a damsel in distress.

I never want to see this relationship ever, ever again. NOr do I want Brubaker to get his grubby hands on Black Widow again, because this arc has been disgusting if you're a Natasha fan.

[klynn]

Ya know, SDC, I hadn't looked at it in those terms and I agree with you. Still, in the Cap run it was an organic and honest relationship and I hate to see it end.

[Derek Metaltron]

I never want to see this relationship ever, ever again.

(Glances over at the Captain America: The Winter Soldier Poster.)

[Hollowprince665]

Anyone know if DD will come back into this series? I liked him in the past two issues but was slightly disappointed by the fact that he was left high and dry so quickly. I hope they will bring him back for something. Lets not forget that he too had a relationship with Natasha.

[Prince Of Orphans]

It was good in the Cap books, but honestly, i'm glad to see it gone. This run of Winter Soldier has done NOTHING POSITIVE for Natasha's character. She's been brainwashed and made into a damsel in distress.

Brubaker made the freaking Black Widow a damsel in distress.

I never want to see this relationship ever, ever again. NOr do I want Brubaker to get his grubby hands on Black Widow again, because this arc has been disgusting if you're a Natasha fan.

I'm a Natasha fan, and I don't see the big deal. How many times has Natasha saved Bucky's life, or shone brighter than he did in his own book? Bru's done more good than harm for her character imo. Everybody needs saving eventually.

Anyways, sad to see Bru go. He had an amazing run.

[scribbleMind]

^
Agreed, and as far as being a damsel in distress goes at least she's being an effectively lethal damsel in distress.

[collex]

It was good in the Cap books, but honestly, i'm glad to see it gone. This run of Winter Soldier has done NOTHING POSITIVE for Natasha's character. She's been brainwashed and made into a damsel in distress.

Brubaker made the freaking Black Widow a damsel in distress.

I never want to see this relationship ever, ever again. Nor do I want Brubaker to get his grubby hands on Black Widow again, because this arc has been disgusting if you're a Natasha fan.

I'm usually one of the first to call out comics for sexism and for "chickifying" female characters, but I think you are overreacting and seeing sexism where there is none here. Natasha isn't a damsel-in-distress, she's a brainwashed comrade - which is something that happens to male characters ALL THE TIME! Remember that time Iron Man got possessed by Immortus (or was it Kaang?) Or the time Angel was exposed to radiation, turned evil and battled Iron Man for an issue (that was in the silver age). How many times has Hulk or Wolverine lost control and became savage, mindless beast attacjing their friends? Hell, Bucky HIMSELF got brainwashed! And let's not forget Hawkeye in this summer's Avengers movie. Or Superman III.

Mind-control and brain-washing is a common tool in comic-books. And since it is used without distinction on almost anybody at least once, it's not sexist to use it, especially not when it is to make a hero into a violent, capable villain. A damsel in distress is by definition useless and unable to do anything. It's not the case here.

And as a Natasha fan, I think this is a great, very emotionally intense arc.

[Caio]

Goodbye Brubaker, will miss his great stories of Bucky and Cap

I hope to see him again writing a headline urban / spy.
Moreover, I appreciate this final issue

[Movieartman]

I'm usually one of the first to call out comics for sexism and for "chickifying" female characters, but I think you are overreacting and seeing sexism where there is none here. Natasha isn't a damsel-in-distress, she's a brainwashed comrade - which is something that happens to male characters ALL THE TIME! Remember that time Iron Man got possessed by Immortus (or was it Kaang?) Or the time Angel was exposed to radiation, turned evil and battled Iron Man for an issue (that was in the silver age). How many times has Hulk or Wolverine lost control and became savage, mindless beast attacjing their friends? Hell, Bucky HIMSELF got brainwashed! And let's not forget Hawkeye in this summer's Avengers movie. Or Superman III. Mind-control and brain-washing is a common tool in comic-books. And since it is used without distinction on almost anybody at least once, it's not sexist to use it, especially not when it is to make a hero into a violent, capable villain. A damsel in distress is by definition useless and unable to do anything. It's not the case here.

And as a Natasha fan, I think this is a great, very emotionally intense arc.

This ALL this Well done sir!

[Hrist]

I'm usually one of the first to call out comics for sexism and for "chickifying" female characters, but I think you are overreacting and seeing sexism where there is none here. Natasha isn't a damsel-in-distress, she's a brainwashed comrade - which is something that happens to male characters ALL THE TIME! Remember that time Iron Man got possessed by Immortus (or was it Kaang?) Or the time Angel was exposed to radiation, turned evil and battled Iron Man for an issue (that was in the silver age). How many times has Hulk or Wolverine lost control and became savage, mindless beast attacjing their friends? Hell, Bucky HIMSELF got brainwashed! And let's not forget Hawkeye in this summer's Avengers movie. Or Superman III.

Mind-control and brain-washing is a common tool in comic-books. And since it is used without distinction on almost anybody at least once, it's not sexist to use it, especially not when it is to make a hero into a violent, capable villain. A damsel in distress is by definition useless and unable to do anything. It's not the case here.

And as a Natasha fan, I think this is a great, very emotionally intense arc.

I'm in the middle here. All characters can be put in peril, brainwashing is a sort of peril, it's normal for heroes to face danger that they need to overcome. But there's a real difference between something like Wolverine: Enemy of the State, where being brainwashed evil was used primarily to show how awesome he is, and something like, at the opposite extreme, quite a few stories where female heroes are brainwashed so bad guys can get into their pants. Brainwashing can absolutely be used in a sexist way, even if it happens to guys sometimes, too, so I don't buy this "Bucky was brainwashed also!!" thing as much as I don't know that what Brubaker's done can be summed up as stuffing Natasha into a refrigerator.

If this has all been done to make Natasha into a violent capable villain, we haven't seen nearly as much of her as I would like—*all of the bad stuff she's done this arc has pretty much happened off panel. When Sharon Carter was brainwashed, I felt that was still a story about Sharon Carter; we saw a lot of both her agony and her struggle to set herself free from what Faustus did. It's much closer to a mirror of the original Winter Soldier arc, where, really, Bucky was mostly out of the picture and the significance of that relationship was developed mostly through Steve's torment. The difference here, is that Bucky was a character created and killed off mostly to fuel Steve's angst, and Lukin was never trying to seduce Winter Soldier the way Leo is Natasha.

Anyway, as a Natasha fan, I don't think that Winter Soldier has been great for her, at a time when Marvel really should've been trying to put out great stories for her, but I can't really crucify Brubaker for that. (I also think he's been getting her continuity wrong and drawing too much inspiration from the Morgan runs that I don't like.)