It’s another strong week for digital comics this week with the finale of the court of Owls storyline in DC’s Batman #6, a new creative team on Avenging Spider-man and another edition of the brilliant Transformers Autocracry from IDW hitting the digital newsstand. However for this week’s absolute must-read we are going to nominate a book which should really have been chosen a couple of weeks back when it was launched and that’s Winter Soldier by Ed Brubaker and Butch Guice from Marvel Comics.

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Brubaker’s creator owned series Fatale and Criminal here at Pipedream Comics, but that doesnt mean we ignore his ‘bill paying’ books like Captain America. Producing some of the best written stories coming out of Marvel in the last few years, Brubaker has helped breath new life into a character which could have ended up as something of a walking talking cliche in the new millennium. From the death of Captain America storyline, through to Bucky becoming the new Cap and beyond, they were all handled expertly as Brubaker tied his character in complex knots of conspiracy and intrigue, weaving disparate elements of the plot together into something that felt fresh and exciting. He followed that up with his recent run on Secret Avengers , which for a while was one of Marvel’s best kept secrets, (but has unfortunately gone a bit left field under the stewardship of Warren Ellis) however with Winter Soldier it is a return to that clandestine, spy-based style that made the early issues of Secret Avengers so exciting.

The story follows Bucky Barnes and his attempts to regain the memory of his time as a soviet super soldier (the titular Winter Soldier) and his relationship with the Black Widow. In the current arc the Red Ghost is releasing Soviet Super soldiers who have been sleepers since the end of the Cold War and it is up to Bucky and the Widow to stop them, and hopefully find out some more about Bucky’s past in the process. It’s like Tinker, Tailer, Soldier Spy but with added explosions.

The story is made darker and more brooding by the mixed-media artwork of Butch Guice. With plenty of ominous, shadowy characters lurking in complex, intricate backgrounds, Winter Soldier is that rare thing, a comic book for adults that doesn’t rely on explosive violence and extreme language to get it’s point across. Instead it relies on clever, well written stories and well paced, purposeful artwork. Oh and there’s also a 400 pound machine gun toting gorilla, but hey, it is still a Marvel comic – you’ve got to have a bit of fun in there too!

Winter Soldier is available on ComiXology or the Marvel Comics app priced at £1.99