Captain America #12 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

OK, we have a lot going on here.  First, Remender unexpectedly has Cap break down this issue.  I figured that we were going to have to wait several issues for him to lose it at a crucial moment, to realize that his failure to acknowledge his pain was going to cost him or someone else their lives.  Instead, it's understandably the Falcon who gets Steve to come clean, not only about Ian but about how disconnected he feels to a world that he barely remembers (again).  Surprisingly early as it is, I'm glad to see it.  The Falcon isn't like Bruce Banner, "Nick" Fury, Maria Hill, or Hank Pym, the people who last issue decided that spending ten years in an alternate dimension was no good reason for Steve not to be released from the hospital.  The Falcon knows Steve enough to know that he's hurting and that he needs to be pushed to acknowledge that hurt, since he interprets that pain, as we see here, as a weakness.  I wasn't really interested in a story where Steve's grief drives him to the brink and I'm honestly glad that we're spared that here.  His grief might weigh on him and manifest itself later, but it's at least a burden that he's not sharing alone.  To have him do so would have been to underestimate the great supporting cast that he's always had and I'm glad that Remender doesn't do that.

But, Steve is actually only one of the focues of this issue.  (In fact, I wouldn't even say that he's the primary one.)  Here, we learn that Nuke isn't just some deranged super-soldier, but a deranged super-soldier whose strings are being pulled by a Chinese Communist with dragon-based powers.  (Yes, you read that correctly.)  As bizarre as it sounds, Remender really sells it, since you could see how the damage that Nuke's doing is going to hurt America.  Moreover, the dragon guy is amassing some of the world's richest men to work as laborers, a punishment for their capitalist sins.  The connection between Nuke and their disappearances is made be a freelance journalist covering Nuke's attacks, though Remender doesn't really make it clear how the trail of the men's disappearances led her to Nuke, though she herself explicitly makes that connection.  Has Nuke been kidnapping them and she's been following Nuke?  Or, is she following the dragon guy kidnapping them and stumbled upon Nuke?  And, if the goal is, as I'm assuming, to discredit America, why is dragon guy ensuring that news of Nuke's rampage isn't being released?  (I'm assuming that he's behind the communications block that the journalist mentions here.)

I'm anxious to have those questions answered, but I think Remender's doing a great job of raising them.  Steve is likely to be an issue or two away from addressing the problem, given his current situation, so I like the fact that Remender's keeping it on a slow boil in the background at this point.  The lid clearly isn't going to stay in place for too long, though.

*** (three of five stars)