At such a crucial time in Captain America's run (his return from the dead and coming on the heels of the symbolic 600th issue), it seems very odd to throw in such a bland filler issue as 601.Not only that but it is shockingly badly written by the usually faultless Ed Brubaker (a long-time favourite in the Marvel stable); almost suffocating under the weight of so many clichés and obvious mystery villains.
The main story is Cap and Bucky fighting vampires in World War II, which, while it sounds a bit old hat is at least a hat I'm always happy to try on.
It should have been, at the very least, an enjoyable romp, but there's an inescapable feeling that the main Captain America title is suddenly spinning its wheels while the main concentration is on the Captain America: Reborn mini-series.
The story is bookended by a sequence set during Marvel's superhero Civil War, with Nick Fury chatting with Bucky, but by the way Fury is talking the Civil War is in the past and like the rest of the issue the dialogue is quite forced and laboured; certainly not what we've come to expect from Brubaker.
The change of art style as well for this issue doesn't do it any favours. There is no disputing the greatness of Gene Colan's work over his six-decade career, but the painted style he adopts in Captain America issue 601 just isn't that eye-catching - especially compared to the normally incredible artwork we've seen, month-in, month-out on Captain America of late.
Let's hope this is just a speed hump in the road and not a sign of things to come, but with Marvel's gradual push towards a standard $3.99 cover price (approximately £2.70 in the UK), even if this was a double-issue, I still expect more bang for my buck and not simply a rehash of an old horror comic storyline from the '60s.
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I totally agree with you. For 50 issues we got gold from this creative team and maybe it spoiled us. Its so feels like filler as you said and it really does look like they were forced to interrupt their groove with this return of Steve Rogers. I always said that I could have waiting five more years for his return without any problems.
The rebirth of Steve Rogers has come way too soon. His death and Bucky's attempts to fill his shoes made for very interesting storytelling and, like you, I would have very happily stuck with "Bucky As Cap" for many, many years (on the condition that the writing stayed as good as it used to be) until the time felt right to bring Steve back.
Coming back this soon, to me, just cheapens the impact of his death somewhat.
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