Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #1 (September 1998)

As if one #1 issue for Captain America weren’t enough in 1998, we have another: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #1, a new series exploring the details of Cap’s past (and sometimes his near future), launched by Mark Waid and Ron Garney, the team that successfully began volume 3 of Captain America as part of “Heroes Return.” Here, we are treated to an interesting discussion of Cap past relationship with Sharon Carter, in a way that, shall we say, challenges some established continuity, but does make for a better story (in my opinion).

This story curiously starts almost exactly three years into the future from the comic’s July 1, 1998, release date, at which time Cap is apparently seeing a woman named Connie when he’s not at work protecting democracy.

At the bottom of this beautiful shot from Garney, inker Dan Panosian, and colorist Joe Rosas is a sentiment common to us all.

Before we continue, longtime fans of Cap know that, as of 1998, he will soon start seeing a woman named Connie Ferrari, whom he first meets in Captain America #15. However—spoiler alert—he breaks up with her in issue #44, which was released on June 20, 2001, so obviously we have to ask: is there another Connie in Cap’s life?

Cap misses the Falcon, who apparently had a run-in with the Mad Thinker, which I don’t think has been shown; the Avengers do run into the Fantastic Four foe in 1999’s Fantastic Four #23, but Sam isn’t with them (and there is no mention of a “cerebomb”). Unfulfilled plan of Waid’s, maybe? Anyway, after some vagueness about his current shield, Cap is saved from the bad guy’s “laser razor” by a blast…

…from an old friend (not named Connie, although she obviously knows about her). While Sharon has lurked behind the scenes in the current volume of Captain America—looking for, finding, and then losing Nick Fury in the two-part Fury/Agent 13 miniseries—she doesn’t run into our hero in the normal time until this month’s issue #9. And assuming that Nick is still missing, who could this Director of SHIELD be that Cap is meeting later?

We’ll return to that question later, but for now Cap is reminiscing, which takes us back to a much earlier time…

…when neither Cap nor Sharon knew each other’s real names. (To keep with the trend, they’re in pursuit of a renegade SHIELD agent, numbered nine.)

Let’s see here: We learned Sharon’s real name along with Cap in Captain America #103, but that didn’t stop him from proposing in Tales of Suspense #95 after revealing his true identity to her. So this flashback would seem to take place before the latter issue… but things get complicated later.

After Cap says he doesn’t want Sharon to get hurt, she tells him she’s more than capable of protecting herself, while secretly reviewing an order she was supposed to give to Cap—but hasn’t, for obvious reasons.

Cap’s reaffirmation of his attitude toward life below makes her all the more uncomfortable about what she’s hiding from him (while making it all the more important that she continues to do so).

Agent 9 is fleeing with a dossier of secret intelligence for his boss, the Red Skull, when Cap knocks it out of his hands, giving the renegade agent the chance to show off his photographic memory and reveal Sharon’s identity to Cap.

If that didn’t throw enough of a wrench into the placement of this story into continuity, Sharon learns Cap’s real name from the dropped files immediately afterwards.

The name “Jim” may have triggered painful memories of Bucky if Cap had not been distracted by a piece of paper Sharon dropped, and she agrees that it should be obvious why she kept it from him.

When a gang of Agent 9’s fellow traitors jump Sharon, Cap leaps into action, as shown in yet another incredible shot below.

After Cap affirms his nonlethal method of disposing of the men, Sharon uses it to justify her role: to do the dirty work that the Sentinel of Liberty should not (and would not). While she accepts having to kill as part of her job as a soldier—despite having no military experience that we know of—she argues that Cap needs to remain above that to retain his value as a moral exemplar. (This is the same rationale given in Captain America, vol. 5, #5, for Bucky’s “revised” role during World War II.)

That last bit is a reasonable concern, of course, and one on which we’ll have more to say later.

Agent 9 tries to transport the Red Skull and a number of his men onto the helicarrier—which must be pitched 90 degrees, as it appears that Cap throws his shield vertically into the control panel. (Do I get a No-Prize?) The blast tosses Agent 9 back on his assignment and makes him drop Chekov’s gun.

Agent 9 runs into the damaged teleporter, hoping for a last-minute escape, while gloating about all the bad things he can do with the information in his head and the fact that Cap cannot—or will not—do what it takes to stop him.

Cap lifts the gun for dramatic purposes in the hopes of doing something to stop Agent 9 from getting away that doesn’t kill him…

…and when a blast hits Agent 9 and kills him, it was fired by the only person present who would do it.

After she destroys the files, she looks to Cap for his judgment, and while he humbly admits he will never know what he would have done, he refuses to judge her for what she did.

Cap is much more forgiving with others’ more “flexible” ethics, especially if they show remorse or conflict about hard choices. After all, he knows compromise as well, even if he must be pushed much farther before he will accept it.

Back to the current day (in 2001), Cap wonders about Sharon now and if she would have the same reservations about making hard choices after everything she had been through in the years since her “death” in Captain America #237 (as recounted in issue #446). Or perhaps something was planned to take place between 1998 and 2001 to explain his concern, who knows.

And finally, we learn who the new Director of SHIELD is that Cap is meeting with. What’s more, her goals for the agency assure him that the Agent 13 he used to know lives on, earning her a salute before he leaves…

…and a sly look back afterwards (perhaps signalling hope for a rekindling of their extracurricular relationship).

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ISSUE DETAILS

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (vol. 1) #1, September 1998: Mark Waid and Ron Garney (writers), Ron Garney (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Joe Rosas (colors), John Costanza (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)

Collected in: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty.

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ALSO THIS MONTH: Captain America #9 and Avengers #8 (September 1998)

NEXT ISSUES: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #2-4 (October-December 1998)