1. Dum Dum Duggan tells the UN how the Howling Commandos fell and Steve Rogers talks to Nick Fury.
2. The Howling Commandos got into a huge battle with Kraken, during which he killed all but the injured Duggan and Stillwell, who get captured.
3. In a speech at the Howling Commandos party, all those who are dead at that point are commemorated in a touching moment that shows the different lives soldiers and brothers can lead outside of war.
4. Kraken really, really deserves to get his.
5. The UN, in typical political manner, are doing all of this questioning of the two surviving Commandos to get Nick Fury to help them. They are told Fury is no politician and will do what needs to be done.
6. Duggan and Stillwell being kept in captivity where they can, almost accidentally, advise the UN is a great touch.
7. Earlier in the series, Steve Rogers is implied to be the one man who can change the world because he’s inspirational, but at the end we find that Rogers considers Fury the one man because his entire life is consumed by making sure the bad things don’t get us all. Perfect.
8. The issue ends with Fury drinking Scotch (it could be whiskey, but I drink Scotch, so it’s Scotch damnit) and looking at the pictures of his fallen comrades, carrying the weight of the world.
9. The facial expressions on the art are excellent, but the muted tones really carry the issue, as these appear hard men in hard times.
10. Rating: 8.5/10 – Emotional, tough and not shy of making it’s characters larger than life symbols with human concerns, this is an excellent book that, while sometimes slow, is extremely rewarding.
