It’s been a long wait for Falcon & Winter Soldier #3, since the last issue came out all the way back in March. Was it worth the wait, and will this tide us over until we get the Disney+ live action series? Let’s take a look.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Falcon & Winter Soldier #3!
Writer Derek Landy stretches some comedic muscles as we are introduced to the Natural’s parents — just in case you forgot, the Natural is the highly trained and seriously deadly Hydra member who took down Bucky and Sam. And oh yeah, he did that without even having a license, since he’s still a kid. The Natural’s parents are very much the uber fans of Captain America and it really helps us to understand why the Natural might have gone from a Cap fan to Hydra fanatic. There are some great bits of facial reactions from Sam and Bucky as they deal with the parents that generate a chuckle or two, but the best part is that we learn this is why these two heroes have returned to their Cap suits.
Once they leave, the two make their way to the Natural at a training facility which enables artist Federico Vicentini to flex his fight choreography skills as these two Caps take on a room full of Hydra. The moves are great and this scene really shines by showing how in sync Bucky and Sam are by way of sharing one Cap shield. You get one throwing it to do damage and the other getting it to use defensively, which made for a nice way to sequence the panels. Landy and Vicentini combine their skills and introduce a concept where Sam throws the shield between Bucky’s legs to which Bucky remarks, “That was awfully close to the gentlemen.” I’m sure you can guess which “gentlemen” he was referring to.
The story helps to keep things moving, but when we finally learn what has happened with Veronica Eden, or more precisely what her intentions are and how they’ll bring her up against Zemo, Sam, and Bucky, we sadly run out of pages. This reads as a filler issue; I’m sure this will read much better when the whole story is collected in trade paperback, but by itself it just acts as a way to pass time with a comic. Hopefully, following the issue’s reveal, we will get some excitement in part four and a strong conclusion in issue #4.
This is a good issue with funny bits, but it really didn’t help to get me inspired about Falcon and Winter Soldier again after this much time away from issue #2. It’s worth a read to complete the story, but it just didn’t get my hype up.
