Winter Guard #4

Winter Guard #4

Marvel Comics 2021

Written by Ryan Cady

Illustrated by Jan Bazaldua

Coloured by Federico Blee

Lettered by VC’s Ariana Maher

CHECKMATE! The final issue!

The Winter Guard has its hooks in the White Widow—but she’s not out of tricks yet. And the Red Guardian is ready to make his last move...but when is he gonna loop in his reluctant ally?! The answers come from a source no one expects, and secrets still abound as Project SNOWBLIND rushes to its bloody conclusion.

This is one of those amazing stories that shows why Marvel needs to do more limited series like this one. Ryan blew me away with the level and quality of the writing here and this issue alone showcases the kind of talent that he has. Between Red Guardian and Yelena Belova and what they say to the team and their reactions it just hammers home how much more interesting than say anything that has been happening in the Avengers. I mean this is more fascinating than I could have hoped for and it goes to show that the Marvel Universe has so many interesting teams that are deserving of attention. Personally I would add this to my pull list faster than other titles that Marvel currently puts out. The intensity of the characterisation is such that now I expect this creative team to put out a yearly limited series at least once per year.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does such a magnificent joy in fleshing out their personalities. This is some of the strongest stuff I’ve seen in a while too because I’ll be damned if you don’t feel as if you know them intimately. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story it really sucks you in incredibly well.

I’m positively chuffed by the way we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. That the layers open up new avenues to be explored and this adds depth, dimension and complexity to the story in some truly phenomenal ways. The way everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how we see it move the story forward are impeccably handled.

The interiors here are absolutely fabulous! The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work that we see is extraordinary. Between the backgrounds and how we see the composition within the panels the moments are enhanced and expanded as well we see how the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story are brought out beautifully. Now the utilisation of the page layouts, with nesting dolls or those archways, and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a phenomenal eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a masterful eye for how colour works.

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I am just over the moon impressed with the way that we see this unfold before us. This Red Widow is not only the traitor, my best educated guess, but she’s also a puppet--not the puppeteer she thinks she is and all this could have been avoided if she weren’t so bloodthirsty and in need of being in control of the others on the team. I fully believe that. I’ve been so engaged in this that I have thought pretty hard on the way things have happened and why that it nearly drove me crazy. Of course this is thanks to the brilliant writing and stupendous characterisation wrapped up in these brilliant interiors.