CAPTAIN AMERICA #489

Written by Jeff Melton

SEPTEMBER, YEAR 3

“AIMing for Conquest!”

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE: Working with Agent Simon, Captain America entered a factory thought to be the center of a major drug operation fueling drugs between America and South America. There, he fought the Tarantula, who was revealed to have survived apparent death years before. He found that AIM was behind the operation, and found himself face-to-face with…himself?

Captain America stands in the lower level of a factory that acts as an AIM front, smuggling drugs in from South America. The Tarantula lies unconscious, only a few feet away from Captain America, partially covered by boxes. In front of Captain America are 20 armed AIM agents, all pointing their weapons directly at him. But that sight is not as troubling to Cap as a large duplicate of himself, dressed only in blue trunks. The duplicate is larger than him, and has an expression of rage etched upon his heavily-tanned face.

"Although you have compromised our suppliers in this location, and doubtless caused problems with some of those profiting from our…arrangement," one of the AIM agents comments, watching Cap down the barrel of his gun, "you have provided us with the perfect opportunity to complete our tests…on you!"

"I've never known AIM to be involved in the drug trade," Cap offers, watching the gun-toting AIM agents carefully, always looking for an opening.

"True," the agent returns. "And we are not directly involved in the trade itself. However, our source of funding has been compromised many times by the likes of yourself, and this provides our operation with quick capitol."

"Lives are ruined for your sick experiments," Cap comments, more to himself than to the others. "But, what has this to do with me?"

"Heh," the AIM agent replies. "I'll let our friend explain that to you." He then nods to Cap's duplicate, who advances forward.

The duplicate reaches out, placing his hand around a 3" galvanized pipeline that runs from the floor to the ceiling above them. With one effortless motion, he crushes the pipe in his hand and then rips the remainder out of the floor, brandishing it as a weapon. Cap's eyes widen at this show of strength.

"Keep your weapons trained on the good captain," the AIM leader tells his subordinates. "Let us see what our ally can do."

INTERLUDE

In a secret base, the location of which is known only to Arnim Zola, Nomad gets up from a table where he has been studied and prodded for what seems—to him anyway—an eternity.

"I've got to get up, get away," Nomad thinks to himself, while setting his feet on the floor, but holding onto the examination table with shaky hands. "Zola's mad plan to duplicate the serum and make an army of super-soldiers to do his bidding…" Nomad thinks, shaking his head.

For a moment, the room spins around him, and Nomad feels the need to hold onto the table, while he slumps down to his knees. Zola has kept him extremely medicated, and he is still drugged.

"I'm not even sure how long I've been here," Nomad thinks, as he gets to his feet once again, although unsteadily. "But Zola's been gone for—it has to be hours. If I'm going to get away, it has to be now."

While holding onto the wall, a stretcher, and a floor lamp each in turn, Nomad makes his way to the door of the room. He tries the door. "Locked!" he says aloud, frustrated. Then, while holding onto the wall with his left hand, he reaches down, grabbing the door handle. He rips the handle from the door, shattering the lock in the process. "Hope that didn't make too much noise," he muses.

As he makes his way down the hall, he holds on to the wall, alternately leaning against the wall and stopping to try to get control of his spinning head. He stops at corner, trying to get his bearings. Everything looks familiar somehow, but he can't place why.

When he turns the corner, he is struck by a powerful blow that makes him stagger against the wall, his right arm grasping for something to hold onto. When he can find only a smooth wall, he goes down…hard! As he does so, he looks up to see a large, powerful man standing above him. The sight that greets him stuns him because it is…himself!

End of Interlude

Meanwhile, Captain America is tackled around the waist by his powerful doppelganger, who he recognizes. The doppelganger slams into his mid-section and drives them both to the ground with inhuman strength and fury!

"We-fought-before-and-you-thought-me-destroyed," the doppelganger says, as he rises quickly above Cap, who moves slowly, his body aching. "You-were-mistaken."

"This is the LMD that the Chinese created years ago," Cap thinks to himself. "They first wanted to use it for propaganda, then to kill me."*

[*The full story was revealed in Captain America #106 (October 1968)]

The powerful LMD then tears a large mortar pillar from its foundation, swinging it down towards Cap, who barely puts his shield up in time, as the mortar explodes in all directions! Much of the mortar strikes the LMD, but if he notices it, he makes no sign of it.

"My-mission-is-the-same," the LMD drones on, his speed defying the impression expected by his speech. "Only-my-masters-have-changed."

"I thought you were destroyed," Cap offers, as he gets to his feet, smashing into the LMD with his shield, driving him back forcefully. "When we fought, you were self-destructing, your internal molecular structure breaking down."

"I-thought-I-was-dying-also," the LMD returns, as he slams his hand into the wall, ripping out electrical wiring, that sends sparks and blue flame from the wall, but only makes the hair on his head stand up, causing no additional damage. "My-condition-was-stabilized-enough-to-get-away. I-was-found-by-AIM-and-restored."

Cap puts up his shield to deflect the wiring that the LMD attempts to slam into him. The electricity goes in all directions, but the shield absorbs the electrical current, and deflects the rest, causing the AIM agents to take shelter behind the boxes and crates, as blue flames shoot off in all directions!

"His strength and invulnerability is intact," Cap muses, as he sidesteps a lunge by the LMD, who then smashes through a wall, destroying the cinderblocks in the process. "Even when he was self-destructing, he tore through walls and destroyed everything in sight."

The LMD rushes back through the hole in the wall he created a moment earlier, taking additional wall space with him, as mortar flies outward, causing the watching AIM agents duck their heads, as some of the mortar smashes into—and through—some of the boxes! He grabs Cap around the legs and drives him to the ground.

As Cap looks up, the LMD is hovering above him, kneeling with each knee on Cap's sides. His arms are together above his head, as he prepares to drive his powerful fists down towards Cap. Cap's eyes widen with anticipation.

INTERLUDE II

In Harlem, the faux Steve Rogers wakes up to find that the woman who he is staying with is no longer in bed with him.

"This is all almost surreal," he thinks to himself, looking around as he sits up in bed, his eyes adjusting with amazing quickness to the early morning light coming in through the closed blinds.

Getting up out of bed, dressed only in his boxer shorts, he puts on a robe that was draped over the end table beside the bed. As he does so, his blonde-haired companion enters the room, carrying some breakfast for him. Looking over at the clock beside the bed, he notices that it is 7:30 AM.

"This is getting to be a habit," he remarks, noticing the food she is laying out in front of him on a dinner tray, "but I really don't want you to go to this kind of trouble for me." Looking down, he sees grits, toast, eggs, and sausage. Seeing the breakfast in front of him, especially the hot grits, sends his mind racing, seeing a piece of a childhood memory long lost—where he (or at least he thinks it is him, but the image is foggy and he can't be certain) is sitting at a table, with a woman who looks to be in her thirties, and another man, who looks angry. The image breaks up, and he returns to reality.

"Are you all right?" she asks, looking at him, concerned. "You kind of fazed out on me for a second."

"Yes, I'm all right," he replies, looking around as if to make sure that he's no longer in a hazy dream. "I was just having a…flashback, I guess."

"If we don't figure out who you are pretty soon, I'm going to start calling you Cain," she remarks, smiling.

"What?" he asks, obviously not understanding the reference.

"Oh, never mind," she replies, shaking her head. "I guess you never watched that show. Kind of up your alley, though, the way you fight."

"I'll have to take your word for it," he remarks, getting to his feet. "Hey, did you fix anything for yourself?"

"Well," she replies. "I've never been a big breakfast person. But, I know you are."

"I just thought we could eat at the table together," he says, standing up and picking up the tray.

"That'd be…nice," she says, looking over at him. "Yeah, I think I can eat a little breakfast this morning."

Looking at the blond woman, he notices again how attractive she is. The smile helps, he realizes, and he does not remember such kindness. He thinks it's been a long time. They walk into the kitchen, and he sits down at the table, as she walks over to the stove, fixing herself a plate.

"Thanks again for going to so much trouble," he says, looking up at her, as she puts sausage on the plate, along with some toast and eggs.

"Oh, no problem," she replies, getting a plate out of a drawer beside the stove. "It's kind of nice to have someone to cook for. Being alone, it's hard to find an excuse to cook, with all the cleaning up. But, I've always liked to cook."

She sits down across from him. He notices that her hair is done, and that she is wearing a blouse and a skirt. He doesn't understand why he didn't notice that before, and curses himself silently for not being more observant. He remembers himself being very observant in the past…but isn't sure why. Some kind of…training?

“I’m not sure how the grits turned out,” she offers. “I’ve never cooked it before. But, I thought, what with your accent, that you might like it.”

“Accent?” he thinks to himself. “Why do I feel that I shouldn’t have one?” In his mind’s eye, he sees a brief image of J. Edgar Hoover—a face he recognizes immediately, but cannot remember his name—standing with him, telling him something, as others are also there. “Voice coaches?” he asks himself silently.

“You’re gone again,” she says, smiling. He looks over and she is staring at him.

“You’re right,” he replies, nodding his head. “I’m sorry to be such a poor conversation partner. Just trying to piece everything together.”

“More images?” she asks.

“Yes,” he replies solemnly. “And still random. An image here, then there. Different times. Different settings.”

“I know this is going to sound weird,” she replies, “but I was discussing this with a friend of mine at work, and she gave me a card of someone that might be able to help.”

“Oh?” he asks, unenthusiastically. “A shrink, I guess?”

“Well,” she replies. “As a matter of fact…!” Then, she reaches over, holding his hand. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give him a call and see what he can do to help?”

“I guess you’re right there,” he responds. “We aren’t doing too much on our own.”

“Right,” she agrees, reaching into her purse and pulling out a card. She hands it over to him. He looks at it, with a hint of recognition, wondering why he can’t remember where he has heard the name before.

Dr. Faustus

Chief Psychiatrist

UPTOWN PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES

2873 53^rd Street

New York, NY 555-4871

END OF INTERLUDE

Meanwhile, Cap is still fighting for his very life—and his identity—against the super-strong LMD. As the LMD stands over him, his two fists clasped together, as he prepares to bring them down in a fatal piled river on Cap, Cap moves in a fluid motion.

Cap brings up his shield, blocking the powerful blow! The impact drives the shield hard against his arms, but Cap manages to slide forward, slipping through the LMD’s legs. When he gets to the other side, he moves his legs out, sweeping the LMD’s feet out from under him!

“The LMD is far too powerful to give any kind of advantage!” Cap thinks to himself, as he kicks the LMD in the side, as he falls to the ground.

The LMD gets to his feet quickly. Cap leaps forward, delivering a spinning kick to the powerful LMD’s face, jerking his head to one side. Then, Cap swings to the other side, kicking him in the face again, jerking his head in the other direction just as swiftly.

As Cap prepares to leap again, the LMD reaches out with a speed that catches Cap by surprise, and grabs Cap’s right leg. He jerks him up into the air, as Cap moves about to try to free himself. Cap leans forward, using his momentum to drive his shield directly into his opponent’s solar plexus! The LMD takes two steps back, and looses his grip on Cap’s leg.

Cap falls to the ground, immediately going into a roll. He grabs the momentarily stunned doppelganger, and using the momentum from his roll, flips him across the room, where he smashes into boxes of computer equipment! Monitors and hardrives collapse on top of him, covering him completely!

The AIM agents start to move forward, looking towards the boxes for any sign of movement. Finding none, they approach Cap, brandishing their guns. One of the agents fires his gun at Cap, who ducks down under the gunfire. The gunfire strikes a fuse box on the wall, causing sparks to shoot out from it.

“You fool!” the AIM field leader admonishes, even as blue flames start to shoot out onto the floor, sparks of electricity sliding across the concrete floor.

Just then, the computer equipment explodes outward, as the LMD starts throwing the boxes in all directions, some of them striking the AIM agents randomly. The AIM agents start to turn and flee up the stairs, making their way out of the building, as the sparks strike some of the cardboard boxes, which quickly catch flame. The blue flames on the wall continue to shoot out, catching fires along the wall on the outside wall of the building.

The LMD is oblivious to all of this, however, and moves menacingly towards Cap. “You-are-merely-delaying-the-inevitable,” the LMD warns, as he moves towards Cap, who has his shield up to block random shooting blue flames. “You-cannot-defeat-me.”

The LMD leaps at Cap, who falls onto his back, moving his feet quickly into the air, slamming into the LMD’s stomach, and using his momentum to flip him across the room, where he slams into—and partially through—the outside wall, causing cinderblocks to crumble under the impact. The LMD gets up quickly, his upper body slamming into the wall once again, causing the four-foot hole in the wall to go through to the outside of the building, where street lights from the outside start to shine in.

Cap watches, as flames shoot up the wall, getting precipitously closer to wiring, even as the LMD walks through the flames, the same determined but cold expression etched upon his face. “He hasn’t given me any time to deal with these flames,” Cap thinks to himself. “I hope AIM has evacuated this building, because it can’t be saved now.”

The LMD lunges forward at Cap, who blocks a powerful blow with his shield. The impact drives Cap back, and leaves a grimace on his face, as he struggles against a much stronger, tireless opponent.

Cap slams his shield into the LMD with a fury borne out of necessity, as he looks quickly at the flames. He then slams his shield into the LMD again, driving him back, where he lands hard against the stairway.

As the LMD gets to his feet, Cap (who is now three yards away) throws his shield out, striking his feet, sending him off-balance, and causing him to crash into a table holding chemicals and bags of cocaine. Boxes of drugs and paraphernalia slam down on the LMD.

Cap immediately takes the opportunity to turn and run towards the wall. Flames shoot up along the wall, encircling the hole in the wall. He leaps through the hole in the wall, landing on the ground outside with a roll. Cap then immediately gets to his feet and runs towards the gate, where cars and jeeps are flowing through the gates. Cap leaps onto the gate, then flips over it, landing on the outside, on the side of the road. He then gets on his knees, putting up his shield.

The building goes up in a tremendous explosion that rocks the ground under his feet, and sends flames shooting out in all directions. Cap is caught in the impact of the explosion, most of which is blocked by his shield. Cap falls to the ground, losing consciousness.

When Cap gets to his feet, moments later, the sight that greets his eyes stuns him. There is no sign of any movement in or around the complex. The gates are unmanned, all vehicles have gone, and only the diminishing flames and smoldering ruin around the complex remain.

“I never cease to be amazed at how quickly AIM picks up behind themselves,” Cap thinks to himself, walking along the fence. “No sign of the LMD either.”

Cap walks up to the guard gate, smashing a fire alarm, as the loud alarm pierces through the air. “Nothing to do now but wait for the firemen to get here,” he muses. “Then, I need to contact Fury. Maybe he has some answers.”

To be continued…

LETTERS TO THE LIVING LEGEND

Here it is! The latest issue of Captain America! Let’s get right into the letters from last issue…

Captain America #455-488
By Matt Turnage, Mark Bousquet, and Jeff Melton

Summary:

After defeating the Supreme Serpent's bid for world domination, Cap decides he needs to get back in touch with the common man.  To do this, he moves out of Avengers Mansion and into his own apartment, where he meets a whole new supporting cast.  On the action side, Cap fights Viper, Porcupine, HYDRA, the Tarantula, and... the Phantom of the Opera(??).

Thoughts:

Matt's run - Matt brought a lot of humanity to Cap, taking him out of the mansion and setting him up in his own Chelsea apartment.  It's a bit cheesy that the apartment happens to be the exact same one Peter Parker used to live in, but it's the thought that counts. :-)  It was also neat, in reading his run, to watch him improve as a writer over the course of 21 issues.  The Matt Turnage that wrote the all-out action extravaganza in Cap #476 was far removed from the Matt that debuted in #455.  One minor complaint about the run: the "thought balloon" exposition, particularly from Cap, got a bit overbearing at times.  I'd rather be shown what a character's thinking then just reading it out of his mind.

Mark's run - Mark chose to focus more on the iconic stature of Cap rather than his battles (not a surprise, considering how Mark's stories all tend to consider the bigger picture)... which isn't to say that he forgets to throw in some action against the likes of Viper and the Porcupine, or that he neglects the personal life Matt went to so many pains to establish.  Rather he uses all of this, and the result is a solid run.  Cap loses faith, Cap regains a measure of that faith.  Loss and redemption.  Good stuff.  My only complaint is the inclusion of Ashley Andersen - the girl who spends most of Mark's run sprouting wings from her back.  An interesting character, but there was ultimately almost no reason for her to be in these issues.  I understand that Mark was doing what he always does - giving us writers new toys to play with - and I appreciate that, but it didn't help me feel more comfortable with Ashley taking up word count.

Jeff's run - I couldn't help comparing Jeff's run on Cap to his run on that other Golden Age Marvel icon, the Human Torch.  While I enjoy Torch, I think Jeff's Cap is stronger.  The action sequences are well thought-out and engaging (in the latest issue, Cap spends almost the entire time fighting Tarantula, and I never got tired of it).  His technical skill is also very good - he never loses what verb tense he's supposed to be working in, and gives everyone a distinctive voice.  The choice of pitting Cap against the Phantom of the Opera was a tad bizarre, but the story was enjoyable.  The only complaint I have with this run is Jeff's tendency to retcon.  He's done it with Toro in Human Torch and Nomad in these pages - in the former, he was fixing an obscure continuity gaffe, in the latter, he was using the story to bring the character back to a personality he liked better.  But I couldn't
think of a reason to cheapen the original Tarantula's death by bringing him back, when the new one would have worked just as well (and is practically the same guy anyway).  Also, we haven't seen much of Steve Rogers during Jeff's run yet (at least not the REAL Steve
Rogers...).

The Verdict:

What I like about Cap at MV1 is the authors - each one had his own
distinctive vision of what Cap is about, and brought that idea to their run while still acknowledging and referencing what the previous writers had done. If you want to read Jeff's run for instance, reading David's, Matt's, and Mark's will certainly enrich the experience, but it's not at all necessary to enjoy Jeff's.  This is enhanced by the fact that everyone finished their own storylines (with the exception of David, but Matt wrapped his stuff up in one issue).  Add to all this the fact that everyone who's written this book has had a healthy number of issues posted, and Cap is probably the most reader-friendly book at MV1.

Thanks for the very detailed review, Russ. I’m glad you’re enjoying the Cap stories, and I hope I can keep the surprises coming for you and the rest of my readership.

Let me touch on the issue of retcons for a moment. I should preface this by saying that I do not like retcons, and think that they have ruined a lot of good things in comics. That said, I don’t consider what I am doing (with the exception of the Frankie Raye incident) to be retcons. The way I define retcons are working outside of continuity and changing what occurred in previous stories. I don’t think I am doing this. What I am doing is working inside continuity to achieve my objectives.

If you look at the Tarantula incident, I didn’t retcon the story. I worked within the confines of the original story. We never were told what happened to the spider body after Tarantula apparently died, so I used that to bring the character back.

As for Nomad, what happened at Marvel was the retcon, changing his personality without explanation. It seemed pretty clear to me that the only way to explain two completely different personalities was to establish the existence of another Nomad, which I did in my storyline.

Anyway, I’m certainly willing to debate that point. J

Captain America #488, More than Meets the Eye;
Written by Jeff Melton, at the Avengers Branch
 
-Review: From reading Jeff’s four Cap issues, a few things are made
very obvious about Jeff and what we may expect from the rest of his run, the most obvious of which being that Jeff loves and respects the character. I think the good Captain holds a place in all of our little comic fan hearts, but it appears that he is even more special to Jeff, which shines through in the high amount of respect and classic feel that he brings to the series. Captain America is a true American hero, with morals to match, and I couldn’t be more happy with this. In my opinion, that’s what Cap is all about; like Superman to DC, he’s Marvel’s biggest Boy Scout, and at the same time, he’s a soldier for his country.
 
This issue has Cap in a Miami factory trying to break down a drug ring. While this is certainly a patriotic thing to do for ones country, initially the premise of Cap simply acting as a special drug-policing agent doesn’t appeal too much to me personally. That being said, the opening scene is still handled well in the case of the narrative, which is quick and displays the actions quite well without making the reader (or at least me) bored enough to skip ahead. Another small problem I have sometimes is the inner dialogue that Cap demonstrates. While it is certainly necessary to have characters think, some of Cap’s thoughts are a little lackluster ("I need to get to the drug operation and put it out of business," is the main one that gets me). Despite a few of those types of phrases, the rest of Cap’s dialogue both inside and out is quite dead-on in characterization.
 
I’m very happy to see the Tarantula somewhere once again, and I
certainly think he can make a great Cap villain, considering that he is
somewhat like a foreign terrorist (as well as I can remember, that is). Even though the explanation of his origin and recently past dealings is a little obvious, the character is also handled well as a ruthless, gamesome terrorist-type.. I’m not sure what AIM has to do with transporting drugs, but their involvement in anything brings me joy, as anything could happen with them.
 
The section with Nomad is short but sweet and quickly gets across what should be an interesting storyline coming up soon. The second interlude, with the other Steve Rogers (the 1958 Cap) is a bit clichéd but pulled off nicely, and the mystery is still intense even if you think you have it figured out.
 
-Quick Look: Jeff’s work on Cap is much better than the Marvel stuff,
and his respect for the classic character and traditional approach is
actually breath of fresh air, if sometimes a little overly vintage. I think I personally enjoy Jeff’s Human Torch work more, but his work so far on Captain America is definitely worthy of sharing the page with Matt Turnage and the Biscuit. A quick, solid read for a quick, solid character.
 
-Rating: 3 out of 5 Shorties (a low for Jeff and it’s still quite good)

Thanks for the kind comments, and the insightful review, Will. First, let me assure you that I don’t intend to turn Cap into a drug agent. It all fits into this storyline. I think, given that drugs are associated with probably 90% of crime (in one way or another), I think that breaking up a drug ring is certainly something that Cap would do, but it’s not something I intend to harp on either.

I think Tarantula is a very good antagonist to Cap. He certainly has an opposite number quality to him that offsets Cap’s qualities. I’ve always thought that he would make a good foe for Cap.

The 50’s Cap interludes are things I want to use to give a glimpse of a man returning to the real world—and a world radically different than the one he has known. Also, here’s a guy who has been in a fog for a long time. I hope this is coming across in that vein.

I hope everyone enjoyed this issue. The storyline continues next issue, with more on the 50’s Cap’s life, more on what’s going on with Nomad and Arnim Zola, and even some time for the star of the book too.

Jeff Melton