I think it says a lot more about me and/or America, that the one element of this story that I have the hardest time believing is the prominence of a third party candidate successfully running for president. This issue alone has two men inhabiting one body, a Nazi whose consciousness resides within a robot, flying cars, a man who can talk to birds, and whatever it is that Zola's building (Red Skull Extractor?), And, by far, the one thing that takes me out of the realism of the story is a third party presidential candidate leading in the polls.

Other than that, this was another great issue in the continuing saga of Captain America. I know a lot of people are wanting Brubaker to move on the next story arc, but personally, I'm not even sure there ARE story arcs in this title. Technically it's "Part Five of Act Three," which is pretty much meaningless to me. It's actually "Part 41 of Captain America." If you really have some super impulsive need to split it up into arcs/acts/part, I can really only see a clear distinction in the pre- and post-Cap death issues. Personally, I don't care if Steve Rogers ever comes back. That's probably comic book blasphemy, but the first time I started reading Cap with Brubaker's first issue, so I have no strong attachment to the guy.

There seems to be a general consensus that Brubaker is just spinning his wheels until the inevitable "Return of Steve Rogers" story arc, but I'm really not so sure it's coming. Come on, guys. Bucky kicks ass. I know it. You know it. The American people know it. So, I don't know about you, but I'm just kick back and enjoy the Bucky Barnes Era for as long as I possibly can.

(Oh, and as a side note, how did Sin get that gun into the debate? Did I just totally miss that part? Seems security would be a little tighter for something like that...)