This issue continues “Operation Rebirth,” the first full storyline in Mark Waid and Ron Garney’s first run on Captain America, which finds our hero fighting alongside Sharon Carter—who has been alive this whole time, as explained in the last issue—and the Red Skull, who gave him a blood transfusion to save his life so he could help defeat the Kübekult, a Nazi group bent on using a Cosmic Cube to create a New World Reich run by Adolf Hitler (who had been captive in the Cube for years).
As the issue begins, the narration sums up Captain America’s multifaceted conflicts at this point of time, fighting alongside his greatest enemy against a U.S. military that doesn’t trust him…
…and that’s before the Cube turned into them into New World Reich soldiers.
In the bottom right-hand corner above, Cap criticizes the Skull’s behavior under pressure…
…so the Skull turns his precious attention to needling Cap, who wisely turns the topic back to their next steps as a <gulp> team. (Captain America and the Red Skull #1, coming soon?)
While Cap fights, the Red Skull abandons him to look for the Cube and is captured by the Kübekultists, who quickly arrange a firing squad to execute the “traitor.” Lucky for the Skull, though, his partner is more loyal.
After Cap is relieved to find his skill with the shield seems to be back to normal, the Skull shows he has never understood who Captain America is, specifically that he saves everyone—although Cap uses the occasion to “clear his debt” with the Nazi.
After an explosion separates the uneasy teammates, Cap searches the compound for Sharon, finding her in possession of the Cube, planning to reverse the Kübekult’s changes to reality with her own vision of how the world should be.
Naturally, Cap objects, having been in that position before and knowing all too well that no one person should wield that kind of power. But he words his objection specifically in terms of her…
…so she simply offers it to him (with an eager beaver close behind).
Sharon calls Cap on his stance against using the Cube himself, reminding him that if he doesn’t take control of it, one of his enemies will—if not the Red Skulker behind him, than the Kübekult, who have already used it once to change reality in their image.
As she tempts him, he thinks back to a more innocent time with Sharon, with Garney beautifully drawing her in the style of John Romita (such as in issue #114). But then he makes a more assertive choice—which we can hope would be to reverse the Kübekult’s changes, which wouldn’t impose his preferences as much as it would negate theirs.
After using a simple blast from the Cube to knock the Skull off the ladder, he orders it to destroy itself, which he must assume would return the world to how it was before the Kübekult’s changes. But before he can finish his “wish,” Clumsy Cappie drops the Cube right into the hands of the Red Skull.
But wait, it seems the fumble was recovered and Cap manages to crush the Cube, thanks to… him?
If you think that this can’t be right… you’d be right.
And we’re back to the cover of issue #115 (which doesn’t actually occur in that issue).
We’ll see how Cap gets out of this—if he gets of this, of course—in the next issue.
Also this month, Cap appears passively as the subject of court testimony in The Savage Hulk #1, a one-shot in which the Green Goliath faces a class-action lawsuit from the many victims of his destructive rage. The first witness starts to describe the events of Captain America #110, starting with remarking on Cap’s agelessness and the Hulk’s sheer power.
Notably, the flashback sequence is written, illustrated, and lettered by Dave Gibbons, best known for his work on Watchmen. After the Hulk spends several pages running from soldiers, he sees Cap leap from above, just before getting hit with an energy blast.
Cap orders the soldiers to back off, offering his loose affiliation with SHIELD, rather than the Avengers, as authority (which would ordinarily be unnecessary, but he is not so long out of the ice at this point). When Rick Jones shows up, Hulk thinks he’s sided with Cap, forcing our hero to protect an innocent from the overwhelming strength of the Hulk.
After destroying the huge block of rubble, Cap tries to appeal to the man inside the beast, and is soon joined by Rick…
…but eventually Cap has to fight back, and then the Hulk turns on Rick as well.
The Hulk goes on one final rampage before leaping away, leaving Cap to take care of Rick…
…assuring him he’ll be OK as his earlier friend deals with his own demons.
As you may remember, all of this happens in just a few pages in Captain America #110, after which Rick recovers and surprises Cap by wearing Bucky’s costume—which unlike the Red Skull’s Cube-created illusion above, “actually” happened.
The rest of the oversized issues features many other guest stars, writers, and artists… well worth a look if you’re a Hulk fan.
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 1) #447, January 1996: Mark Waid (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Mike Manley (inks), John Kalisz and Mailbu Color (colors), John Costanza (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Captain America Epic Collection: Man without a Country, Captain America: Operation Rebirth (trade paperback), and Captain America: Operation Rebirth (hardcover).
The Savage Hulk (vol. 1) #1, January 1996:
“Courtroom Sequence”: Peter David (writer), Mike McKone (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Electric Crayon (colors), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letters).
“Old Friends”: Dave Gibbons (writer, pencils, inks, colors, and letters).
(More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: The Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: Ghosts of the Future.
PREVIOUS ISSUE: Captain America #446 (December 1995)
NEXT ISSUE: Captain America #448 (February 1996)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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