I picked up last month’s anniversary issue because I’m a sucker for those issues that have a collection of stories by different creators.  Based upon the strength of the first part of the “Gulag” storyline, I decided to finally hope back onto Cap and check out the next issue, and I gotta say that I was thoroughly entertained.  While the “Gulag” story has not contained any slam bam moments, it certainly has placed Bucky in unfamiliar territory, and it’s interesting to see this take of a “superhero in prison.”  It’s been done before in Punisher, DD, and other titles, but in this case it’s different because of the setting and the circumstances.  While the story isn’t overly complex, it’s still entertained me to no end, and it’s fun to explore the “Russian” side of Bucky.  I know it’s not going to be permanent by any means, but it’s still fun.  The rest of issue contains two side stories drawn by different artists.  One story follows Sharon and Black Window as they investigate the documents that lead to Bucky’s transfer to Russia.  Of course, they both think there’s something more to Bucky’s transfer, and their story ends on a cliffhanger that may or may not be the info they need to rescue our hero.  The second story is about Steve and features Samnee’s first Cap pencils.  The story is fun, but it’s a real treat to see Samnee rocking it out.  He is just such a great artist, and I’m really excited for the series that he and Bru are going to be doing this summer.

Besides Samnee’s great art, the rest of the issue is pretty solid.  Guice’s art looks a lot different than I last remember, but a lot of that may be due to Stefano Gaudiano, who is a frequent collaborator of Michael Lark’s.  There are some Larkian aspects to the pages, and it seems that Guice is really trying to push the bounds of typical comic book layouts.  While some of it works, and some of it fails, I appreciate his efforts, and it works more often than not.  There are a few panels where the perspective makes the image looked stretched, which is weird with all the dynamic panels.  They tend to stand out more.  Dedato takes the reigns for the Sharon and Black Widow story, and his art is sufficient.  There’s nothing overly dynamic about it, but it’s solid and it gets the job done.