Lower Decks

This review contains spoilers for Marvel’s Captain America through the latest issue (#43), originally published October 22nd, 2008 with a cover date of December 2008.

With this issue, the lengthy “The Death of the Dream” storyline, which began with the death of Captain America in issue #25, is concluded. A new three-part story, “Time’s Arrow,” begins. Interspersed throughout the issue are flashbacks to World War II. Captain America, Bucky and the Human Torch are on a mission to find and save a “boy genius” by the name of Zhang Chin.

In the present, James (I keep wanting to call him Bucky, but he isn’t really Bucky anymore, is he) and Natasha have spent some time together in New York City. The weight of the lives he took as the Winter Soldier keeps him morose. He leaves Natasha for a late night ride on his motorcycle. He must really be dwelling on his actions as the Winter Soldier — why else would anyone leave a woman like Natasha wrapped in only a sheet for a solo bike trip?

Obviously, it won’t remain solo for long. He stumbles upon Batroc the Leaper and some goons ransacking a United Nations research facility. In the midst of trying to take down Batroc, James is shot in the back by some sort of electrical pulse weapon. It burns through his jacket and reveals Captain America’s shield and knocks him out. Batroc is quite interested with this. It turns out Batroc copied an archive drive from the research facility. When he meets with his employer, Batroc reveals that “the remains” should not be hard to track down thanks to the information from the drive. But what he really wants to talk about is the identity of the new Captain America. Batroc’s shadowy employer, who is apparently Chinese, is shocked to recognize the Winter Soldier and states that his leader will be pleased with the information.

So, given that the flashbacks to World War II must have something to do with the rest of the issue, my theory is that Zhang Chin is this leader, he has some sort of beef with Bucky/James Barnes/The Winter Soldier and now that he knows James is the new Captain America, things are going to get very interesting. Because “Time’s Arrow” is only a three-part story, there can’t be all that much more to it that what I have suggested.

As is often the case these days, I am not quite sure where this issue fits in with the rest of the Marvel Universe timeline. There is a panel showing James, as Captain America, fighting AIM, the Wrecker and a bunch of Skrulls (alongside Iron Man, Nick Fury, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and others). So, I assume this issue takes place after Secret Invasion. But that doesn’t really matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. Because I only read a small portion of the books Marvel puts out, I never know what is going on.

Coming on the heels of “The Death of the Dream,” I suppose it is only to be expected that “Time’s Arrow” is a bit of a letdown. “The Death of a Dream” was a huge story, with big name bad guys, while “Time’s Arrow” has to settle for Batroc the Leaper. Still, James needs to deal with his demons before he can truly take on the mantle of Captain America, and if this story will let him do that, it’s a story that needs to be told.