#infinity wars sleepwalker

[omniversecomicsguide]

Marvel G-L Collected Edition Reviews

HAWKEYE OMNIBUS by Matt Fraction, David Aja, Javier Pulido, et al It’s Marvel’s most critically acclaimed comic in recent memory! Clint Barton continues his fight for justice. and good rooftop BBQs! With Young Avenger Kate Bishop by his side, he’s out to get some downtime from being one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. but when the apartment building he’s moved into and the neighbours he’s…

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

Sleepwalker also gets his own Infinity War crossover book... They can't all be winners, kid.

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

[beefromanoff]

Going Under Ch. 4

summary: Bucky Barnes is assigned to head the security detail of an internationally beloved singer named Gianna as his next mission. 

characters: Bucky Barnes x OC

soundtrack: Going Under - Evanescence, finally coming into the story! honestly a little shook at how well the lyrics match the story. literally the entire inspiration for this concept.

warnings: fluff, pop star fantasy x love story, set in an AU where the Avengers reunite after Civil War, pre-infinity war, slight angst, hurt/comfort, lonely reader/OC.

author’s note: this is my first ever fanfic, so please be kind! I have so many chapters written but not edited, so prepare for spam. enjoy xoxo

chapter list/links - xo ________________________________

chapter 4

Today’s rehearsal was short, and Gianna was already back in her room, feeling restless. She had woken up tucked into her bed, although she knew she’d fallen asleep on the bus. The flutters in her stomach turned as she daydreamt about strong arms and blue eyes tucking her into her bed, but she shook her head to clear it. Letting herself long for one of the three people she saw every day, someone who was contractually obligated to care for her, was not acceptable. 

He probably had to carry me upstairs, it’s his job. Don’t be dumb. Gianna scolded herself as she sighed and began to brew some of the lackluster hotel coffee. Not her first choice, but the rain poured outside and she didn’t feel like dragging herself into the public eye to get anything better.  She wanted to write some new songs, to pour out her heart and soul onto paper and create something beautiful. The only thing she didn’t like about being on tour, second to the grueling schedule, was the lack of creativity. The same songs, performed with the same choreography, and the same costumes, night after night. She missed the artistry of songwriting that made her fall in love with her profession in the first place.

As she sat in her hotel room, strumming her guitar, she heard a knock at the door. Assuming it was Tom, she padded over to the door and opened it to a pair of blue eyes looking at her.

"Hey, G. I heard you through the wall. Mind if I join you?" Bucky asked, his voice hesitant. “I come bearing gifts.” He smiled sheepishly down at her, and as the door opened wider she saw the cardboard tray holding two lattes.

Gianna smiled warmly, motioning for him to come in. "Of course not. I'd love the company, and maybe the coffee even more," she said, winking at him. “I knew broadening your coffee horizons would benefit me.” Bucky chuckled as he sat at the chair across from her bed. 

“How’d you sleep?” He asked, leaning back in the chair and taking a sip of his hazelnut latte. Gianna took her place on the edge of the bed and smiled. She felt warmth spreading through her and couldn’t tell if it was from the coffee or the sudden attentiveness from Bucky. 

“Really well, although I must have sleepwalked, considering I don’t remember coming up to the room last night.” She teased. 

“Oh man, sounds like a pretty serious issue. That’s at least 20 stories you traveled.” He dodged the question with a joke of his own. “I’m going to have to start patrolling outside your door at night so you don’t sleepwalk back to New York.”

Gianna laughed. “I’m assuming I owe you some thanks?” Bucky waved her off.

“Don’t mention it. I figured you could use the rest. I’m tired after just watching the tour,” he raised his eyebrows at her. 

“Oh come on, you’re an Avenger, you’re telling me you couldn’t dance around for a couple hours?” She giggled. “I have the easy job. I’ve seen you all on the news.”

Bucky chuckled, appreciating her humility. “Ah, it’s not all saving the world. It’s mainly training and briefings. Stark works us hard. Likes to keep us prepared.” 

“Just in case you get assigned to high-octane missions like this one?” Gianna teased, sipping her latte and keeping her eyes locked on his. 

“Actually, this is the first mission of this kind I’ve been assigned to. Non-combat, long-term…it’s unusual.” Bucky answered honestly. “Usually missions are a couple days, maximum, and involve some kind of uh, offensive action.” It wasn’t a secret that he had a violent past, especially with the highly publicized pardon he’d received, but he still didn’t exactly want to advertise it to Gianna. 

“I hope it isn’t too boring for you…” she trailed off, only half joking. “You don’t seem like the type to listen to my music.”

Bucky laughed softly. “It’s been a nice change of pace, actually. It’s been fun not getting shot at or jumping out of planes. And I’m a big fan - I even have a poster of you back in my room at the compound.” He joked in his usual dry style. 

Gianna blushed. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. It’s been really nice having you on this tour…I like the privacy of a small team, but it does get lonely. It’s been fun having someone around all the time. Maybe I’ll add you to my personal payroll when the tour is over.” She looked up, green eyes sparkling.

“Oh yeah?” Bucky cocked an eyebrow. “What would the job description be?”

“Well, 24/7 companionship for sure. Coffee runs would be a must. I also want to be tucked into bed every night, I don’t care if there’s an upcharge for that.” 

He laughed and leaned his head back. This new flirtatious territory was innocent, but he feared he was enjoying it a little too much. It was a long assignment, but it would still come to an end. 

“What are you working on?” He gestured to her guitar, changing the subject.

“Oh, just messing around. I had an itch to write, but I got to playing around and realized I have nothing to write about.” She stared at the empty notebook on the bed next to her. “I’ve been recording and touring since I was signed when I was 17. I don’t have friends, I don’t date except when my publicist tells me we need to sell a love song, and I hardly have a life outside of hotel rooms and tour buses.” She shrugged. “I don’t have a story to tell.”

Bucky studied her eyes before looking down, studying his coffee cup held between his right hand and left metal one. “Sometimes it’s better to have no story to tell than one you never want to be told.”

The silence hung in the air between them as Gianna tried to gauge if this was him giving her permission to ask about his past. Bucky was trying to figure out if he would grant it. 

“I don’t know what happened to you…but I am sorry. I know bits and pieces, and that was enough to make me sick to my stomach. I can’t even imagine what else there is, things that didn’t make it online.” She kept her eyes locked on him, careful not to overstep. 

He raised his blue eyes to meet hers and sighed. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Just please, don’t think of me differently. I’d rather have you wonder about my past than know it and be afraid of me.” His eyes pleaded with her. 

Gianna breathed out slowly, wondering what could make her afraid of the man who’d shown her nothing but steadiness and safety over the past few weeks. “I promise.”

“Alright…well, uh, let’s go back a little ways. What do you know about the war?”

With that, Gianna set her guitar aside and perched with a pillow in her lap, hanging on Bucky’s every word. They stayed in the room for hours, low voices and trembling hands and more vulnerability than either of them had planned for. 

Gianna listened intently, feeling a sense of empathy and mild understanding. She knew what it was like to feel dehumanized and used by the corporations that owned her. In her case, it was her record label. The things asked of her paled in comparison to the horrors Bucky had been tasked with as the Winter Soldier, but the sentiment was the same. Existing to serve a purpose. Being important as long as you were useful. They both felt that their lives were controlled by external forces, forces that defined who they were and what they stood for. Tears silently streamed down Gianna’s face as she listened.

As Bucky’s story neared present day, Gianna crept over to him, sitting on the floor and resting her hands on his knees. She looked up at him, seeing tortured eyes looking back at her. She slid her hand to his cheek and guided his face up from the ground. 

“You are the strongest person I have ever known.” She gave him a soft, but assuring smile. “Thank you for trusting me.” Her thumb rubbed back and forth across Bucky’s cheek just in time for a lone tear to fall from his eye. She brushed it away and dropped her hand back to her lap. 

Bucky ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath, relieved that the gruesome details were out in the open and that she hadn’t run screaming, demanding new security. The biggest hurdle with meeting anyone new, romantic or otherwise, was the inevitability of them finding out about his murderous past. That usually put a damper on things. He preferred to avoid new connections altogether. 

Gianna stiffened, straightening up and reaching for the pen. “Wait-” She snatched the notebook and handed it to Bucky. “Write this down.” 

She started strumming the guitar and sampling out various verses. He stayed quiet, watching the gears turn in her head and wrote when she told him to, scratching and revising along the way as she worked through her own creative process.

Sitting together, Gianna wrote the beginning of a beautiful song, one that spoke to their shared experiences of feeling used and dehumanized. It was a cathartic experience, and as Bucky watched her work, he regarded her with a newfound sense of closeness. He saw her in her element, beautiful even with her hair tied up and her fatigue evident in her face. She chewed on the end of her pen and blinked, almost in disbelief. 

“I think we just wrote a song.”

She took the guitar and rested the notebook in front of her, beginning to play. Her voice was softer in the hotel room, more intimate. Her acoustic performance was just as powerful as her vocals in the stadium.

Now I will tell you what I've done for you

Fifty thousand tears I've cried

Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you

And you still won't hear me (going under)

Don't want your hand this time, I'll save myself

Maybe I'll wake up for once (wake up for once)

Not tormented daily defeated by you

Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom

I'm dying again

I'm going under (going under)

Drowning in you (drowning in you)

I'm falling forever (falling forever)

I've got to break through

I'm going under

Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies (so I don't know what's real)

(So I don't know what's real and what's not)

(Don't know what's real and what's not)

Always confusing the thoughts in my head

So I can't trust myself anymore

I'm dying again

I'm going under (going under)

Drowning in you (drowning in you)

I'm falling forever (falling forever)

I've got to break through

So go on and scream, scream at me

I'm so far away (so far away)

I won't be broken again (again)

I've got to breathe

I can't keep going under

I'm dying again

I'm going under (going under)

Drowning in you (drowning in you)

I'm falling forever (falling forever)

I've got to break through

I'm going under (going under)

Going under (drowning in you)

I'm going under

Gianna trailed off on the last line and looked up at Bucky. He had gone pale, eyes locked on her. He stood up abruptly, his large frame looming over the bed. 

“Oh God, Bucky, I’m sorry, it’s too far, I-” Gianna tossed the guitar aside and waved her hands, feeling ashamed. Bucky stepped forward and wrapped her in the tightest hug she’d been given in…years. She stiffened, taken aback by his reaction. As she realized this wasn’t the anger she thought it was, she relaxed into his arms, kneeling on the bed as he stood beside it and held her. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned into his chest. 

“It’s perfect.” His voice was low and gravelly. He leaned back and looked into her eyes, their faces only inches apart. “You have a gift. It’s not just being pretty and dancing on a stage.”

At that moment, Gianna realized that Bucky was more than just her security detail. He was a friend, a confidant, and someone she could trust with her deepest thoughts and feelings. He had spoken to her deepest insecurities and trusted her with his own. She was lost in his blue eyes, realizing she never quite noticed how his jawline was almost dangerously sharp, and his lips were perfectly pouty. She was admiring his rugged handsomeness when the hotel phone rang, snapping them both out of the moment. It was Tom, calling to give her a 15 minute warning before they needed to leave for the venue. 

“I guess I better get my stuff together,” Gianna breathed, eyes still on Bucky. He smiled. 

“I’ll see you in the hall in ten. Let me know if you want to walk down or be carried.” 

Gianna blushed and gave Bucky a gentle shove as she slipped off the bed. She knew that she had found something special in Bucky, something that went beyond the confines of their roles as pop star and security detail. Today was a pivotal point in their friendship, and her mind was on anything but her upcoming show as she shoved her phone into her duffel bag and walked out the door.

[yetanothercomicbook]

Rest in Peace!

Sleepwalker #18

Stupid.

Sleepwalker fights some doppelgängers.

There's an interesting idea here, where the telepaths of INFINITY WAR reach out to Sleepwalker back on Earth, but the execution is really dumb. It starts with SW being arrogant and uncooperative. (Kinda in-character, I suppose.) Then he wanders into the city and stumbles upon some evil doubles. Their dialogue and behaviour is ridiculous. And everything that happens afterwards is annoying. The story ends with our hero very clearly having accomplished absolutely nothing. Much as I unusually enjoy this series this issue is a waste of time. And the art is pretty bad, too.

On Sale Date: September 8, 1992.

Wizard Top 100: #78.

Bob Budiansky (18 of 32).

Kelly Krantz (1 of 15).

2/10

[current-comix]

[mugichin]

Some nice artwork by Todd Nauck.

Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker #4 (Bowers, Sims, Nauck, Rosenberg)

(Edit: oh, look, another post that doesn’t appear on the tags. That site is fucked up)

[resurrectionsadamwarlock]

Adam Warlock appearances post Secret Wars- Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker (2019) #3

January 2019

[readinglokicomicsfromthestart]

So the inside of the Reality Stone? It’s a comic book store for the whole multiverse. 

Love the metatextual “*sigh Wednesdays*” = ie since that’s when comics come out. It’s very much like the “It must be Tuesday” line in Buffy, in that way. (Buffy episodes originally played on Tuesdays, hence that is when the apocalypses/monsters always attacked, and at one point a character comments about the fact that things always seem to happen on Tuesdays.) From Infinity Wars tie-in Sleepwalker #3.

[context-is-for-kingpins]

Inside the reality stone is just boxes and boxes of comics

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

We just beam good vibes through Sleepwalker, and it is good enough to undo the effects of 5 cosmic cubes, I guess? Sure.

[comicwaren]

This week on Marvel Comics (15th December 2018):

Doctor Strange - The Best Defense #001

Fantastic Four: Wedding Special #001

Infinity Wars: Ghost Panther #002

Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker #004

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #001

Mr. and Mrs. X #006

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #313

[just-marvel-things]

Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker #1

The Man Thing Thang Thoom!

[marvelman901]

Doctor Strange v3 #47 Infinity War Crossover.

The evil Dr Strange was from Counter-Earth and called himself Necromancer. He had been trapped inside Eternity and got released when Gamora had traveled inside him with Galactus’s help. Dr Strange and his allies had to fight him and the Evil Doppelganger.

[graphicpolicy]

Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker #3 (of 4)

Chad Bowers, Chris Sims (A/CA) Todd Nauck Rated T+ In Shops: Nov 21, 2018 SRP: $3.99

Sleepwalker continues his mission through the dreamworld of the Warped Universe – this time teaming up with the Dark Starhawk and even “He whose touch causes burning” – MAN-THING THANG THOOM!

Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker #3 preview. Sleepwalker continues his mission through the dreamworld of the Warped Universe - this time teaming up with the Dark Starhawk and even "He whose touch causes burning" - MAN-THING THANG THOOM! #comics Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker #3 (of 4) Chad Bowers, Chris Sims (A/CA) Todd Nauck Rated T+

[thisiscomics]

Infinity Wars and its Infinity Warps spin offs seem to have made Marvel go a little bit meta! This sort of self-referential thing is not something I really associate with Marvel- although they have a Multiverse (as Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon have made clear most recently, as did the likes of Captain Britain and Excalibur. Exiles and What If...? don’t seem to be quite the same, as their whole raison d’être is the alternative universe and how it is not ‘our’ reality, whereas these other titles integrate the two realities.), it is not subject to the same level of preoccupation as it is at DC, with their obsession for reconciling the Golden/Silver/Bronze Ages, along with the other universes they have acquired throughout their existence.

Most immediately, I think of Grant Morrison’s The Multiversity, which featured comic books documenting other realities, but this can be traced back through the history of the DCU, to Superboy-Prime reading the adventures of the DC heroes in comics, back to The Flash, where Barry Allen read the adventures of Jay Garrick in a comic book before meeting him and seeing the barriers between Earths 1 and 2 become rather porous (ultimately triggering the Crisis On Infinite Earths some 25 years later). Marvel- which had always tried to be more ‘realistic’ than DC- never seems to have embraced this sort of self-referentiality, and always been more concerned with managing the aging of heroes, and the shifting ‘real’ events connected to the characters’s origins (Punisher’s Vietnam origins being a key problem for them. Captain America’s WWII origin is always easily solved by revising the year of his awakening, but what to do about those he knew from the war that were still active upon his first defrosting? Sharon Carter, Nick Fury, the Howling Commandos, etc.) to maintain an optimum age range for their universe.

It’s enjoyable to see a similar approach used here- this issue of Sleepwalker has more than one panel of these ‘comic book cameos’, and as the long boxes suggest, this part of the hero’s journey is effectively through a comic shop. It’s a fitting way to illustrate the breakdown in reality that the Infinity gems have wrought, properly using the medium as a signifier of what is real- what better way to communicate different realities than using images of the medium, the comic equivalent of books on a shelf, or film posters? The book you are reading is set in one (or more) reality, these covers represent others, interconnected but not part of the same ‘reality’ just as Infinity Warps is not portraying the same universe as you are reading about in other Marvel books this week.

From Sleepwalker 3, by Chad Bowers, Chris Sims, Todd Nauck, Rachelle Rosenberg & Travis Lanham