RJ Writing Ink

This one was tougher than you might think. It’s not because I have too many to choose from, though. It’s because I’m not sure what exactly “Classic character” means.

For the sake of simplicity, I chose to use the characters that have been a part of Marvel since or close to the beginning. In other words, the characters from the 1940s as Timely Comics, and the ones created by Marvel in the 1960s.

Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier

It would have been easy for me to say Spider-Man, Iron Man, or Captain America. That’s not what I want to do, though. My choice is a classic character, but one that didn’t reach the prominence he has until fourteen years ago. His history, though, is fascinating, both in-universe and in real life.

James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes appeared for the first time alongside Captain America in Captain America Comics #1, in March 1941. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Bucky was Cap’s sidekick, much like Robin was Batman’s. In the universe, Bucky was an orphaned army brat who received elite military training, and after Steve Rogers became Captain America, the military assigned him to be his partner. The rationale behind putting a 15-year-old into danger was to rally America’s youth, which is what he was meant to do in real life.

When WWII ended, Cap and Bucky got put on the bus. While Cap came back in modern times after being frozen for decades, Bucky didn’t. During their final mission, Cap and Bucky got caught in an explosion trying to stop an experimental drone plane from falling into Nazi hands. Cap survived, though everyone thought Bucky died in the blast. For forty years, that was the official status quo, and people said that he was one of only a few people you didn’t bring back.

The Winter Soldier

Then in 2005, Ed Brubaker said “yeah, screw that,” and brought Bucky back. Bucky survived, but the explosion destroyed his arm and left him in a coma. A passing Soviet submarine fished him out of the water and revived him in Moscow. The blast had left him with amnesia, but all his training and skill remained intact.

The Soviets gave him a bionic arm and brainwashed the amnesiac hero into becoming a ruthless assassin, the Winter Soldier. They would send him out on assassination missions to strengthen Soviet power around the world. When they didn’t need him, they put him cryogenic stasis, hence why he survived up to the present. When the General in charge of the program died, Bucky Barnes went under for the next twenty years and was forgotten about.

Not long after the Avengers disbanded, Bucky would be brought back by a former Soviet general to use as his weapon. This would lead Cap to learning that his friend and partner was alive. After several battles, Cap was able to restore Bucky’s memories, but he fled.

Bucky would come to be a key player in the Marvel Universe. When Steve Rogers was thought to have been assassinated, Bucky took up his old friend and mentor’s role as the new Captain America. Might I say that he did an excellent job at it, too, even keeping the part after Steve came back from the dead. Then his life as Winter Soldier got outed. Long story short, he ended up faking his death, forcing Steve to become Cap once more. He resumed his identity as Winter Soldier, defending the world alongside his fellow heroes and from the shadows.

Super-Cool Super Soldier

Like I said, his history in real life and comics is fascinating. Created to be a sidekick and audience surrogate, thrown on the bus for sixty years, only to come back as an anti-hero and assassin? Bucky’s had a tough road, but I think that’s what makes him so cool in the end! Why else would Disney make him the co-star of a miniseries in their upcoming streaming service?

Did I mention he dated Black Widow?

If you want to read the comics that inspired the movie, click this!

I’ve been putting this off for three weeks now, and I can’t take it anymore. Game of Thrones is over, and I need to talk about the show some more!

To say Game of Thrones is the biggest show of the decade would be an understatement; it’s one of the biggest shows of all time. It’s changed our culture in ways that few stories have ever done. The tens of millions of fans, references and parodies by other shows, works by scholars; I could go on! Not to mention that the places they used to film the show got significant boosts in tourism. Croatia and Northern Ireland have websites dedicated to Game of Thrones tourism.

What I’m saying is that this GoT has gotten a lot of love, and that’s why the final season was so divisive. Its sad feeling seeing a story you love end in an unsatisfying manner, and for some, it can sour an otherwise good memory. I’ve spent the past three weeks thinking about that, and I want to give my answer to this question:

Is Game of Thrones Still a Good Show?

The Plot

Few adaptations are capable of carrying over everything from their source material, and Game of Thrones is no exception. The show took liberties with the source material from day one, but they were never too drastic. Some characters got aged up, appearances changed for casting purposes, things like that. As time went on, though, it began to deviate from the books.

Martin gave Weiss and Benioff an outline of how he was going to end the books, and that’s what they used for Season 6 onwards. Which is good and all, but I’m not alone when I say this: they made the final two seasons too short. HBO tried to go for quality over quantity with fewer episodes, but by doing so, they lost both. I liked Season 7, but it was one big event after another. That may work on paper, but in truth, we need extra time to flesh the story out. In short, they should have stayed at the ten episode mark.

You have to admit; though, even at its worst, GoT is still enjoyable to watch. The casting’s amazing, the music is world-class, and the special effects are incredible. It speaks to the high quality of the show when the worst of it is still fun to watch. I still hate Dorne, though.

The Worries about the White Walkers

Depending on how you look at it, the White Walkers are either the best or the worst thing about Game of Thrones. Despite coming from the book, the White Walkers are more of the show’s work. They’re hardly shown in the book, and they don’t have as significant a role as in the show; not yet, at least.

The reason why its a problem is because the show spent so much time building them up as the ultimate big bad of the show. I even considered all the power plays in Westeros as distractions to weaken them for the war against the dead. By Season 7, it was all I cared about. Then in one episode, it ended thanks to the most badass woman in the show, Arya Stark.

I realized then that prophecies in Game of Thrones are worthless. So much Jon being the one to save the day. Then again, since Game of Thrones likes subverting expectations about fantasy, this wouldn’t be out of the question.

Its Take on Medieval Fantasy

Before George R.R. Martin, people would think of medieval fantasy being something like Lord of the Rings or Ivanhoe. Noble heroes fight against evil, epic battles of magic and things. Game of Thrones takes all that and splashes it with a ridiculous dose of reality.

In real life, the medieval world was more or less the same as life has always been: violent and as filled with jerks as it is with good people. More to the point, it’s not a black and white story, either; its grey. As in real life, people sometimes have to do bad things to survive or achieve their goals. As a student of history who has seen some messed up things, I appreciate the fact that they don’t sugar coat anything.

My favorite moment was still The Battle of the Bastards.

My Verdict

So, was the finale to Game of Thrones not what we expected? Yes. Though, the show may have ended up falling victim to its hype. It had become the most excellent show on TV, so expectations for the final season were high, maybe too high ever to meet.

Does the finale make it any less of a show as a whole, though? I can honestly say that, no, it doesn’t.

The show had its fair share of controversies and bad moments before the final season came around, yet it kept going through it all. When you look back on it as a whole, it’s still an incredible story; one of the best stories humanity has ever told, in my opinion. I am upset that we never got to see Jon slay the Night King as I wanted, or Arya kills Cersei, but we can’t get everything. It may have tripped at the finish line, but I still think that Game of Thrones is worth watching. If you don’t agree, then I respect that.

Team Stark 4 Life, people!

One last thing! Did you guys know that there’s a hand-woven tapestry that depicts the events of the show? I’m serious! Located in a museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the Game of Thrones Tapestry was modeled after the Bayeux Tapestry in France. It has all the big moments from the show on it up to the end of Season 7, and they’ll be adding the final season soon. Click the link below to see the website about it:

Cool Game of Thrones Tapestry