2 out of 5

The one-issue back-story can be an incredibly effective way to world-build without slowing down other storylines.  Although Brubaker’s Cap run ended up, on the whole, not really being what I was looking for, the one off that detailed the death of, I think, Nomad, was a surprising and impactful bit of plotting by Brubes.  Waid had some in-between moments in volume 3 of DD that did wonders because it worked with the sort of rolling vibe of his book, which didn’t break down into absolutely clear story arcs.    Here, though, it really feels like he’s just playing catch-up, stuffing the workaround of Foggy’s ‘death’ (because, of course, you can’t really kill him) on the tail end of his first volume 40 arc because he’d teased some hints as to what was what, previously, and this probably seemed like the quickest way to clear things up: truly just getting them out of the way.  And it just ends up feeling rather overwrought – a bad guy attacks and we’re given some who / what / why red herrings that aren’t resolved but are tossed aside (I’d say to be picked up later, but it’s not written with that indication) – and furthermore, inconsequential: Waid already told us they’d faked Fog’s death.  I’m not sure we needed it laid out.

The whole Foggy cancer thing was a bold move, but it was somewhat fated to fail since there was no graceful way out of that except to cure it.  Giving it too much facetime, now (especially given the 50th anniversary issue which showed us a future where Fog’s alive and kicking) actually lessens its impact, especially when it’s mixed up with super villain antics.  Better to put the man back to work while in recovery.