Did your creative team leave in a hurry because it couldn’t stand Marvel’s editorial policies? Then call Bill Mantlo for a quick fill-in to get you out of the hole!
Thankfullly, Gene Colan does the art. That’s always a treat.
Captain America fights Druid in a castle. It picks up right where #254 left off (#255 was an origin recap), with Captain America still in England after taking down Baron Blood. So at least they picked up the fill-in story in-continuity–often not the case with quick fill-ins.
There’s also a flashback, tying the England-based tale to Cap’s days across the pond in WWII.
There are many rumors about why Stern and Byrne left Captain America so abruptly. Ed in Chief Jim Shooter issued a mandate that all stories begin and end in one issue, but the creative team had already begun a three-parter they were proud of. Marvel changed its royalties policies. Stern had planned to leave anyway, and Byrne really just wanted to work with him. Whatever the reason, it’s a shame they couldn’t work out their differences because this issue is…Not good. And a not good issue after one of the best, A+ runs in Marvel history, feels really, really bad. It’s not really, really bad, it’s just not really, really good—which is a big comedown.