Captain America #41

41 issues ago, a series began with a literal bang as the Red Skull, grasping the Cosmic Cube, was shot down by the man once known as Bucky.  Nevertheless, the Skull survived, engineering the terror that's been ongoing throughout the series.  16 issues ago, the star of the book, Captain America, was shot dead in a similar fashion by the Red Skull's machinations, kicking off the action over the last year.  Now, yet another assassin's bullet serves as to set off the final chapter of this story that has spread across multiple years.  After four and half years, the tale of the fall of Steve Rogers and the return and rise of Bucky Barnes as the new Star-Spangled Avenger comes to a head.

Tracking down the path of the Grand Director, Bucky and the Falcon catch the trail of the AIM squad looking to bring him in.  As the two hunt down the squad to Albany, Dr. Faustus betrays the Red Skull by assisting both Sharon in escaping and Shield in thwarting the Skull's plans.  It's a twist that shouldn't be surprising given Faustus' antagonism with both Zola and Skull yet it is.  The fact that Sharon's pregnancy was nothing more than a mental implant should be predictable but I was truly thrown off guard.

Meanwhile, the political situation comes to a climax as Sin is instructed to apparently kill Obama and fake a rescue of McCain via Gordon Wright, thus killing the candidate Skull must hate the most and cinching the election for his puppet Wright.  However, Sin has other plans: killing Wright with a shot to the head in defiance of her father.  Yet, unlike the bullets of prominence mentioned above, this one doesn't meet its mark at the arrival of the man this country needs most now: Captain America.

As 'The Death of Captain America" comes to a close, Ed Brubaker's story remains tight and engaging while Epting's pencils look fantastic and beautiful.  The book remains as incredible as it's ever been.  This arc is certainly up there as one of the great modern comic stories of our time.  Between political suspense and classic superhero action, Brubaker and Epting have cemented themselves as among the greatest of Captain America runs.