This is the first page of a sketchbook preserved by one of Cpt. Rogers' former neighbors. Most of the works in this book were produced in the years 1938-39, and it can be noted that the subject of Sgt. Barnes has been prolific in its pages.
While Rogers seemed to have a habit of scribbling lists, budgeting and smaller unfinished sketches around most of his works, he has left a few pages to the sole occupancy of portraits like this one.
It is evident that Cpt. Rogers held a deep fraternal affection for his then-roommate Sgt. Barnes. Having grown up together like brothers, there is a bond that we see in these pages that followed them into the very jaws of death in the battlefield.
The fact that Steve has that look of complete shock and says “Bucky?” in a tone of utter disbelief because he thought the person he loved most in the world was dead and gone and was never coming back so much so that he drove a plane into the ocean only for Bucky to look at him void of any recognition or emotion and steve then says in the most heartbreaking voice “he looked right at me and didn’t even know me” in a tone only comparable to after he watched bucky fall to his death is something that has haunted me for 10 long and hard years
some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.