This book has a lot of SPUNK. Rick Remender is so fucking excited to write Cap like one of his creator owned books, that he immediately thrusts him into an alternate dimension and gives him a computer face tummy virus. Twelve years pass in the span of five issues, Cap has a son, shit just gets wild here, and for the most part, I can applaud Marvel for doing something weird with such a huge property. So yeah, hooray for outside the box Cap book.
Does it work though? I don't know. I don't think so. Everything's a little too off-the-wall, and this thing is just riddled with plot holes that rely on you to heavily suspend disbelief for the sake of this weird world that we're in. I mean, it has two suns, gravity is wonky, it's upside-down and topsy turvy, so anything can happen! It comes off as cheating, in order to tell a way too loaded story, and doesn't drive the character anywhere new. There's some good ol' fashion woman beating tossed in, in the form of childhood Cap flashbacks, and really, if I were to summarize what's happening so far in this book, irresponsible would be my word of choice. Why does Arnim Zola have a magic land of make-believe? Why gooey black & white cap clones? Why slap Steve's mom around so much?
Then there's JRJR. I STILL don't know how to feel about JRJR. Sometimes his work is real pretty with inspiring designs. Other times I'm just totally lost inside the size of somebody's head, or the awful Leifeldian shape of their hair.
I put this one over at three stars, because at the end of the day, I enjoyed reading it, and am holding out hope for part 2 to solve some of my grievances. It's weird, and at least unexpected. Maybe Rick and John were just too excited and they can reel it in for the next volume. We'll see, because I already bought it used.