Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #5-6 (January-February 1999)

Harvey Dent couldn’t have planned this any better: These two issues contain a pair of two-part stories (instead of having each story complete in its own issue, for some reason), plus a third one in the second issue that is concluded in the next issue, alongside a self-contained story. (Got it?) Here, we’ll present the two main stories together and finish with the one relevant panel from the last story, which will be completed in the next post.

The story that leads off issue #5 (as well as its cover) is a tribute to the old days of Tales of Suspense #59–99 when Captain America and Iron Man shared the title (after Cap guested in Tony’s story in issue #58). It opens with Tony taking Cap to the old neighborhood to mourn the dead…

…immediately following the events of Avengers #4, which Tony recaps below.

Tony expands on his “second thoughts” below, doubting that Unfrozen Caveman Superhero can cut it in the razzle-dazzle world of today.

Yes, it’s so odd that someone who wakes after decades in suspended animation to join a team of costumed heroes and confront the time he had lost would not realize what day of the week it is. (If I don’t have class or meetings I usually have no clue what day of the week it is either.)

As Tony says to himself, “We were fooling ourselves. He’ll get killed picking up where he left off,” they become aware of killer robots around the corner. His worries seem to be confirmed when Cap gets hit by one of the robots, but Tony doesn’t see the magnificent recovery or counterattack.

So he keeps acting like a mom, acknowledging Cap’s courage while thinking it’s insufficient—and don’t get me started on the shield.

Just then, one of the robots grabs him by the foot and flings him down the street, only to be saved by…

…you guessed it.

Even better, Cap nails the comeback.

After Tony tears one of the robots open, he recognizes the tech from an earlier adventure, and warns Cap that they have hypnotic eye-beams—after which they turn on Tony.

When the story picks up in issue #6, Cap tries to talk Tony out of his trance, but failing that, he uses his “primitive” shield to deflect Tony’s repulsor blasts toward the robots.

We get another sign of Cap’s disorientation when he asks a civilian about the old elevated trains (“the el”), which were mostly replaced by subways while Cap was away, and then Tony’s internal monologue just piles on.

Despite Tony’s condescension, Cap uses the superhighway to his benefit…

…and then manages to disable Tony’s primary offensive weapons with his simple piece of metal.

With Tony disabled, one of the robots takes its chance to grab Cap and try to hypnotize him into making further use of his shield…

…but it seems the hypnotism didn’t take after all.

Cap explains that he resisted the robot’s mind-control by remembering all those who died for the cause of freedom before him, and promises that there will always be someone to fight them if they return. (Is this the first patented “Cap speech,” at least since his de-icing?)

Cap checks on Tony and, like the friend he will become, tries to minimize his humiliation, after which Tony appreciates Cap’s principled stance—a feeling he won’t always maintain, as we know—while Cap hopes his principles are still valid. (I can assure him they are.) Finally, Tony affirms, to himself more than Cap, that his decision to welcome the Living Legend of World War II to the Avengers was the right one.

The back-up story in issue #5 starts on an interesting note…

…which we quickly learn is true: this man is Captain America, undercover in a mental hospital as “Buck Jones” to protect another man, Randall Jefferson, who won’t stop revealing classified information he shouldn’t have, from enemy agents.

It takes a week for one of the agents to reveal herself…

…and Cap’s undercover days are over.

Cap’s perseverance is on display as he recounts what he had to do to get out of the straitjacket (as well as the prep work he did over the past week).

When he catches up with the agent, she has no idea what’s going on, but Cap sees another suspicious person, which starts to clue him in on what’s going on while also making him regret hurting anybody who might be an innocent victim of the true villain…

…who is revealed to be the Chameleon, who has been impersonating people in the facility to get to Jefferson. By the time the story continues in issue #6, the Chameleon has lured Cap into the “violent ward” of the institution, forcing him to fight even more innocents—or get out of there quickly enough that he doesn’t need to.

After finding the Chameleon with Jefferson, Cap realizes the latter is a powerful psychic himself, but his momentary surprise gives Chameleon a chance to escape with his captive in a helicopter. Somehow, Cap uses his energy-absorbing shield as a launching pad…

…to propel him into the air and to the chopper. (This is a problem, Cap, but not for the reason you think.)

In the helicopter he finds two babbling Jeffersons and a trigger-happy pilot who puts a severe time limit on how long Cap has to solve this particular riddle.

His solution is brilliant: he simply has to think very loudly.

Cap deals with Chameleon in short order and assures Jefferson he will get the help he needs. After he takes him to SHIELD for further study (and a possible job), he tells Nick how formidable a threat the Chameleon was, to which Nick gives an uncharacteristically corny reply. (Is Cap wincing in response? Does he suspect Nick is really the Chameleon?)

Finally, issue #6 also features the beginning of a story featuring Captain Anomaly…

…so called because the modern Steve Rogers has since been established to be the descendants of Irish immigrants, without any direct ancestors in the States previously, neither during the Civil War (as this story implied) or the Revolutionary War (as suggested by Jack Kirby in Captain America #194 and Bicentennial Battles and elaborated upon here).

Nonetheless, this story claims to affect the modern age, generating even more contradictions, as we’ll see in the next issue.

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ISSUE DETAILS

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (vol. 1) #5, January 1999:

“Old Soldier”: Mark Waid (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Shannon Blanchard (colors), John Costanza (letters).

“The Great Pretender”: Mark Waid and Brian Vaughan (writers), Doug Braithwaite (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Shannon Blanchard (colors), John Costanza (letters).

(More details at Marvel Database.)

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (vol. 1) #6, February 1999:

“Iron Will”: Mark Waid (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Jean Segarra (colors), John Costanza (letters).

“The Great Pretender”: Mark Waid (writers), Doug Braithwaite (pencils), Robin Riggs (inks), Kevin Tinsley (colors), John Costanza (letters).

“Come the Revolution”: Roger Stern (writer), Ron Frenz (pencils), Roger Langridge (inks), Tom Smith (colors), John Costanza (letters).

(More details at Marvel Database.)

Collected in: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty.

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

ALSO THESE MONTHS: Captain America #13 (January 1999), Avengers #12 and Amazing Spider-Man #1 (January 1999), Deadpool #24-25 (January-February 1999), Avengers Forever #2-3 (January-February 1999), and Captain America #14 (February 1999)

NEXT ISSUE: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #7 (March 1999)