Dec 1982
Turning Point
by J. M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck, John Beatty
Bernie approaches Captain America. He acts like he doesn’t know her but she makes it clear just by the way she says his name and touches his face that she knows him. Steve doesn’t know what to do. He is nervous about talking to her. She breaks the ice and approaches him, later that day, after he has changed into civilian attire. It goes better than he feared it would. They are about to kiss when they are interrupted.
Shield Agent Gail Runciter takes Captain America back to Shield HQ in Manhattan. He learns about what happened while he was at Robert Moses State Park. He is furious that Nick Fury and Shield couldn’t protect Arnie and Michael, both of whom were abducted by the purple goop.
Cap goes after Arnie and Michael, based on instructions that were delivered to Shield HQ. He meets one of Arnim Zola’s creation. It flies him to a castle in Mexico. Shield Agents Runciter and Corrigan follow him to the best of their abilities. They get a tracking device on the ship before it departs NYC.
Cap is attacked once he enters the castle by more of Arnim Zola’s creations he fights through a few rooms until he finds Arnie, unconscious. He doesn’t have time to catch his breath before all the lights in the room are turned up and he finds himself surrounded by Arnim Zola, Zemo, Vermin, the purple monster, and several other weird looking monsters.
The Coalition for an Upstanding America. They only appear in an interlude. Who are they? This organization will probably be part of some future story. One thing is clear: they already have Cap in their sights. Their name makes me think of the story from Captain America (1968) 264.
Snapping
By J. M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck, John Beatty
The Daily Bugle prints a front page story about Sam Wilson titled ”Shady Past of Congress Hopeful”. The story was written by Williams, the Bugle’s reporter that was at Sam’s press conference with Peter Parker in Captain America (1968) 275. Sam loses his cool. Carol Davis, his campaign manager tries to calm him down but he just gets angrier. She doesn’t know all the details of Sam’s past.
Sarah, Sam’s sister, explains to Carol, after Sam has left. She tells her about how the Red Skull brainwashed Sam and (using the Cosmic Cube), turned him against Captain America, and Sam was put on trial for his role. The trial happened in Captain America (1968) 185-191 but I think the brainwashing goes back a little further than that.
Sam goes for a walk. He hopes it will help to clear his head. Instead it leads him into a situation where he almost seriously injures an innocent bystander. He feels worse than he did before the incident and wonders if he is reverting to the personality he adopted when he was brainwashed by the Skull.
Thoughts
This is it. I remember this issue quite well. This was the last issue that I received as part of my subscription to Captain America. There are a couple more installments in this story. I don’t recall exactly why I never sought them out before. I was much more into the X-Men at the time and I didn’t exactly have easy access to new comic books back then.
Nice setup in both stories. I’m eager to see where both stories go. I love the final panel of the Captain America story.
Letters to the Living Legend
- responses to Captain America (1968) 272 including praise for the team of Zeck and Beatty, requests for more appearances by Sam Wilson, and responses to his announcement that he is running for Congress
- announcement heralding the forthcoming (first edition) of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe
- small ad for the Vision and Scarlet Witch limited series
Marvel Bullpen Bulletins
- Stan takes over the page and writes about Saturday morning cartoons and weddings of Marvel staffers
- The mighty Marvel Checklist includes
- Marvel Graphic Novel 4 - first appearance of the New Mutants
- Amazing Spider-Man Annual 16 - first appearance of Monica Rabeau aka Captain Marvel, Photon, Pulsar, Spectrum
- Uncanny X-Men 164 - Carol Danvers becomes Binary
- a number of typos
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