Captain America: Steve Rogers Vol. 3 - Empire Building

by Nick Spencer

[Quirky Cat]

The third volume in the Steve Rogers plot, Empire Building is continuing to hint at all the plotting Hyrda Steve (also known as Stevil by Captain Marvel and her crew) has been doing. If you’re looking for a conclusion to this plot, let me tell you it isn’t here. But I do think it’s looming right beyond the horizon. Only time will tell (or reading the spoilers, I suppose).



I’m not going to lie to you; I spent ninety percent of this volume waiting for somebody to finally figure out what Rogers is up to. I’ve been waiting for him to get outted as Hydra since the end of the first volume, so now I’m just bubbling with anticipation. Part of me is just done with all of this buildup – I want to start seeing reactions and responses to the big news. I want to see Maria Hill stepping up and trying to take out Steve, I want to see Captain Marvel fly in to kick his butt.
I didn’t really get what I wanted though. I did get a whole lot of buildup. Okay, there was one satisfying point later on (hint: it involves Red Skull) and a small part of what I was hoping for did happen. Though it was in the last issue, and I have yet to see where that’s going to lead.
I’m trying really hard to enjoy this series, but there are a few things making it difficult for me. One is the obvious bit; there’s so much buildup and so far not much of it has come to fruition. I’m okay with long plots, but when it’s one I haven’t been all that sold on, I start getting impatient. I’m also starting to resent that I have to read this series, in order to understand what is happening in other plotlines I read (Jessica Jones, Captain Marvel, the Ultimates 2 I can keep going). They all keep tying back into this (remember when they just used to do that to events?) and while sometimes they’re subtle, other times you really won’t know what’s going on unless you read this series or look up what’s happening. Which is pretty disappointing for the fans that only want to read a series or two (sacrilege, I know).
I’ll admit that I read Ultimates 2 Volume 2 as well as Mighty Captain Marvel Volume 2 before this one, so I already knew something was up with the shield, and that Steve had something to do with it (side note: their perspectives on it were pretty cool, so you should check them out). That may have affected my opinion on this volume.
I’m still planning on reading this series to its conclusion. I’m still anxiously awaiting a butt kicking towards Captain America; hopefully immediately followed by fixing his memories and putting him back to rights (though I can see them killing him off again too, so there’s that). We’ll have to see where it leads us.


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