BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #233

So my weekly sojourn to the neighborhood 7-11’s spinner rack turned up the next issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, a title that I was then reading regularly. The book was in the middle of an extended six-part storyline, not that I knew that exactly at this moment. This is a solid cover but somehow lacking in impact or oomph–it’s framed very straight on, and while that’s good for establishing an image, it’s not always the most exciting choice. Like last week’s AMAZING SPIDER-MAN cover, this one is counting on the cover copy to get across the sell of the issue, the idea that Cap’s ladyfriend Sharon Carter is now gunning for him on behalf of the Grand Director. So it works, but it isn’t my favorite cover of this period by any means.

The artwork for the series was consistently being delivered by Sal Buscema, an often underappreciated craftsman who always delivered solid meat-and-potatoes Marvel-style storytelling–something that he was asked to do a lot of, as his speed coupled with his ability to produce breakdowns meant that Sal was often the guy called in when an ailing schedule needed a bail-out. Here, he’s inked by Don Perlin. Don was a fine artist on his own, but I never entirely warmed to his style. His work was a bit too quiet and static for me. That said, having him ink Sal was a pretty good choice, as Perlin possessed the drawing chops to be able to take pages to a finish that Buscema might have left in breakdown form, and Perlin’s line was pretty good. So the final product was to my eye a lot more energetic than Perlin’s solo efforts.

The issue opens up with Captain America attempting to prevent a full scale riot from breaking out as a group of Harlem gangsters working for crime-lord Morgan confront the bigoted operatives of the white supremacist National Force. Cap’s gal Sharon Carter had gone undercover for SHIELD into the National Force, but here she seems to have been brainwashed into following their cause. In order to prevent bloodshed, Cap attacks both groups, hoping that he can keep the would-be combatants focused on him long enough for the riot squads to arrive. Unfortunately, when help does arrive, it’s in the form of the National Guard acting under the command of an aggressive Major. In the scuffle, the ringleaders of the almost-riot have slipped away and Cap wants to give chase, but the Major demands answers from the Star-Spangled Avenger first.

The Major makes the mistake of first grabbing Cap’s shoulder and then pulling his sidearm on the hero after Cap refuses to stand down. The major is probably technically in the right here–he is the authority on site–but Cap effortlessly disarms the man. But before the hero can race away, the National Force members all press a button on their uniforms that causes them to painfully self-immolate. Cap isn’t sure whether Sharon was among them when this happened, so he’s not sure whether his girlfriend is alive or dead at this point. And amazingly, it would turn out that she’s actually dead here, and would remain so for another 15 years until Mark Waid resurrected her later. Given that Sharon was a long-established supporting character in the series, this is an incredibly understated way of demising her and writing her out of the book. I get the sense that this wasn’t intended to be Sharon’s genuine demise, but as writers changed, the incoming team saw this as an easy opportunity to rid Cap of a romantic hanger-on that they didn’t want cramping up their action, and so they later ratified this moment as being legitimately Sharon’s demise.

Needing a lead on where to go next, Cap seeks out Sharon’s older sister Peggy Carter, who was the victim of a would-be assassination attempt by the National Force earlier. When Cap gets to Peggy’s hospital, he’s forced to charm the attending nurse to gain access, but he discovers that Peggy has been remanded to the care of a Doctor Steve Rogers. As Cap himself is Steve Rogers, this takes him aback. Meanwhile, the Grand Director stews, expressing his doubts about their plan to his hidden ally–who is revealed her to be the sinister super-villain psychiatrist Doctor Faustus. The pair expect Cap to follow the trail to their location, that’s the whole reason they had Peggy brought to them in the first place. But the Grand Director is uneasy, and clearly under the mental thrall of Faustus.

This being a Marvel comic, when Cap arrive at the medical facility, he needs to fight his way past layers of security. In this case, that security is also designed to play mind-games with him. His first assailant is a robotic copy of Sharon Carter, and as he ascends towards the main office, he’s ambushed by the Red Skull and M.O.D.O.K, two old enemies. But they turn out to be simple holograms designed to slow Cap’s advance (not that they do so for any great length of time.

Finally, as the issue closes, Cap arrives at his destination and confronts Dr. Faustus. Amazingly, the shrink bats Cap away with a single blow, and the hero sinks to his knees, defeated. It turns out that all through his journey through the building, Cap has been breathing an odorless gas designed to numb his will. So now Faustus and the Grand director have the upper hand—and one more card to turn over. Because when the Grand Director removes his headpiece, his features are revealed as those of Steve Rogers himself! Wha? I can recall this final-panel twist making me interested to see where the story went next.