Man, it just keeps getting worse and worse for Steve.
On one hand, he does catch a break here, with Jet Black discovering that the nagging nausea that she's felt throughout this arc is guilt over her father's extermination of the Phrox. Her conversion here feels totally organic, a tribute to the careful character-building that Remender has done with her since her first appearance. One of the interesting things about this story is that Remender had Zola allow Jet to enjoy a certain level of independence in raising her. Zola was aware that he couldn't just have a mindless slave, since she would need this independence if she were to truly be able to rule in his stead. It was a calculated risk, since it leaves her open to the epiphany that she has here. But, Zola clearly calculated that the risk was worth it, because, despite understanding the threat that Cap poses to him (hence why he launched the invasion early), Zola underestimated Steve's determination and never expected him to do what he does here.
That said, though, the betrayal of Ian is clearly the low moment of this arc. It's made all the more profound because it's really unclear where Remender is going to go with it. The final fate of Ian is something that's helped inject this arc with excitement and tension and the closer we get to it the less certain I am of the outcome. Moreover, Zola's invasion is so well planned that it seems hard to believe that Steve will find a way to ruin it. I wondered throughout this arc how the action was going to turn to Earth and the revelation that the whole point of Dimension Z was to give Zola shock troops to invade it was brilliant. One of the other questions about this arc has been the final fate of Steve, since it's unlikely that we're going to get a 12-years older Steve in the current continuity when the dust settles. Along those lines, it raises the question which Earth Zola is going to invade: the Earth that Steve left 12 years ago (thereby answering how Steve is going to re-enter our timeline) or one that also aged 12 years (and leaving open that question).
Essentially, similar to his work in "Uncanny Avengers," Remender manages to raise more questions than he answers with each progressive issue and makes you excited about those questions. I rarely have less of an idea of where a story is going than I do this one, making it really one of the best written titles out there right now.
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