I miss Steve as much as the next guy. That’s the point. With point in case, and in mind, it’s stupid and rather childish to be kicking and screaming for him to come back and save the day and make sure nothing ever changes. Let him be, floating around in the nether regions and occasionally chatting with Thor.

Marvel sympathizes and understands what you’ve been going through, unsure believers. That is why they have made this new series called Theater of War. Problem is, they are not treating the series like…well, a series. Three issues into Theater of War and each one has been labeled as a one-shot. I understand it is kinda unfair to complain about this method of publishing when Matt Fraction’s Thor one-shots obviously interconnect and comprise what is being called the Ancient Asgard Trilogy, but at least we were not suffering from a lack of Thor at the time. This is all we have for 616 Steve Rogers, now. Or, at least I think it’s main-continuity Steve. It’s hard to tell when the artist can’t even fucking decide whether to draw Cap as 616 or Ultimate.

The art does in fact cripple this story like the Joker wearing tourist garb. While the sum of the art is decent, or at least passable, little things like, you know, Captain America need to look their best in a Captain America book. While the main plot of this feature deals with private Bobby Shaw being a wimpy wimp, and why Steve presented posthumous purple promotions, the sub-plot apparently is the struggle Steve has with constipation. I’m sure a number of soldiers soiled themselves in the line of duty, but I highly doubt Cap did.

It’s unfortunate that Jenkins, who I generally don’t enjoy unless he’s writing Cap, went from collaborating with Paolo Rivera on Mythos – an actual Captain America one-shot that had equally beautiful paintings and prose, to a guy who has done a disservice to the association between Captain America and the name “Eskrine.” His story in this issue is wonderfully tragic and on the same level of his storytelling in the said Mythos issue, which I recommend to anyone who is depending on this series that is steadily decreasing in quality – I fear it may have peaked with issue one, Operation: Zero Point. Read it if you are in a dire need of new Steve stories, and can brave the art for Jenkins’ otherwise great story. Otherwise, leave this, like Steve, alone and buried.