Sam fucking Wilson, everybody.
Nobody has ever written Sam better than Remender. Seriously. In fact, I'm hard pressed to think of a character with a better combination of heroism, humor, and integrity than Sam displays under Remender. Throughout this issue, I found myself hoping that Steve really does listen to Sam and takes off time to be happy with Sharon and Ian, because, man, I really want to read a series about Sam as Captain America.
Beyond just the awesomeness of Sam, the rest of this issue is also great. The heroes discover that Zola's mutate invasion is just a cover to distract them from discovering his true plan: to set off a bomb to destroy New York. The scenario is certainly one that we've seen countless times in superhero comics, but Remender finds a way to infuse it with emotion and suspense. First, he reveals that Zola engineered Jet to return to Earth with Captain America so that he could spy on the Avengers. Although I would like more information on how exactly Zola used Jet to spy, the revelation explains why Zola didn't simply detonate the bomb; he needed time to convince Jet to leave with him. As a result, Zola isn't just a stereotypical villain monologuing to give the heroes time to stop him; he's delaying putting his plan into action on purpose to try to win back his daughter. It's this attention to detail that prevents the story from falling into a cliché, and I hope other authors use it as an object lesson on how you take a familiar comic-book trope and make it feel fresh.
Moreover, it's the revelation that Sharon and Steve have a child together -- in the most superhero way imaginable -- that begins to bring this series to a close. Red Skull and Arnim Zola stole one child from them, but they give them another one in the form of Ian, as Remender reveals that Sharon raised Ian after Steve left. As Sam says, you really feel that they deserve to be a family, and it's the anxiousness that something might happen to Ian or Sharon before they have the chance at it that fuels the tension of the latter part of this issue. It's a rare comic-book author that can bring this sort of emotion to a story, and it was a pleasure to read. Moreover, this feeling is amplified by the fact that it comes organically from watching these characters' struggles over the last 23 issues. With one issue left, I'm just hoping that Cap gets to ride into the sunset for a little while.
**** (five of five stars)
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