Here’s another miniseries that tells a modern story with frequent flashbacks to the Invaders. Full disclosure: I love these. I’m not a huge fan of comics that tell World War II stories–because they feel so non-contemporary–but i like stories that weave modern and historical tales together.
It starts with Bucky Barnes at the funeral of the last surviving member of the “Young Commandos,” a Golden Age group of younger folks who also included Toro.
That’s an actual comic, Young Allies.
At the funeral, he thinks he spots the fascist super-villain Lady Lotus, which causes him to embark on a mystery–to find out if it was her, and what she was doing there. With the help of Black Widow and others, Bucky foils her plot to exploit the hypnotic powers of a mystical gem and also has the chance to remember his battles against her during his days with the Young Allies.
A minor continuity note from this is that we learn that when Bucky had his brain “unwashed” to remove the Winter Soldier controls he got the power to resist mind control. Didn’t realize he had that power set. Besides that, nothing here is all that consequential to the overall Earth 616 narrative, but it’s all well told and a great read. The art could have been better. The historical parts illustrated by Nick Dragotta are great, but Marco Santucci’s art is a little off for me.