These last three issues of the first volume of Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty are a mixed bag: the first is literally a joke, the second is a fun and snarky look at the first appearance of “Captain America” in the 1960s, and the third is a heartfelt tribute to James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, heralded on the cover as “the return of Bucky” five years before this would happen for real.
Issue #10 reads like a Mad magazine parody of Cap during the John F. Kennedy administration (which he missed entirely by a few months, Avengers #4 having been published in January 1964). It has some cute moments and some cringeworthy ones—especially when Cap reacts bashfully to a half-nude Marilyn Monroe traipsing around the White House—but I’ve always liked the page below, given my love for the Silver Surfer (who shares a chapter with Galactus in my new book about the Fantastic Four).
Things get a little more serious (or at least in continuity) in issue #11, when Johnny Storm—who gets his own chapter in the new book, of course—tells Cap about the time someone impersonated him in Strange Tales #114 (reprinted in Captain America #216) shortly before he was found in the ice by the Avengers. (Ironically, Strange Tales #114 was cover-dated November 1963, the month JFK was assassinated.)
After Johnny tells him how the impersonator first appeared, Cap is ashamed at how far his stock had fallen in his absence. (To put this context, I met my first celebrity at a car show in Idaho when I was 6 or 7: Erik Estrada, “Ponch” from the TV show CHiPs, a big hit at the time.)
As Johnny continues with his tale, he helpfully gives Cap a little context as well.
As Cap learns more about his impersonator’s crime spree, he has some problems with some of the details…
…but he enjoys one part so much he “rewinds” to “watch it again.”
After hearing another implausible bit of Johnny’s tale, Cap and Flaming Bucky find themselves close to the person they are chasing in the present day…
…who, as Johnny planned, is the same guy who dressed up as Cap back in the day.
This guy.
I’ll forgive the vertical shield throw (as well as the fact that Cap has his old shield back for some reason), given the very cool visual it provides.
After they catch him, Cap still finds it hard to believe any of this really happened… other than the one part of the story he enjoyed.
In the final issue of the series, Cap thinks back to his time with Bucky, here portrayed as quite the dealmaker, procuring goods and trading in illicit information with the troops while longing to mix it up with the Axis forces. We see this in a flashback to their first meeting, which also references Steve Rogers’ artistic bent.
Not an unreasonable suspicion, to be fair, based on which Smitty and his unnamed pal here lay into Steve, who’s hesitant to defend himself too well—and doesn’t have to, after Bucky intervenes physically and fingers another GI named McGurk who had just stiffed him on a deal.
The exchange above establishes Bucky as a transactional young fella, which leads him to question Steve’s motives for rescuing him from being arrested in a brawl in a local bar.
Soon we get the famous scene below, with the added context of why it happened at all: Steve “got sloppy.” More important, Bucky asks “what’s in it for him” and Steve tells him, before enlisting the young man in his secret.
But Bucky wants to enlist for real, and he does it the only way he knows how.
On their first mission together, they intercept a German U-boat in Virginia, planning to blow up an American base, and after defeating the Nazis, Bucky conscientiously returns their explosives.
Cap uses this moment to ask Bucky about altruism, but he’s sticking to his rhetorical guns while starting a new hobby.
Cap reflects on his partner’s fearlessness, with just one exception…
…which is well motivated, to say the least. (Cap’s solution seems a little too easy, but OK.)
We also see a time Bucky was hurt and Steve visited him in the hospital, where the lad was charming the nurses (at least until the fully grown version arrives). Bucky says he’s looking forward to the war being over and enjoying “the women, fast cars, and party life every night,” but when Steve suggests going on Cap alone, Bucky smoothly recants, revealing at the end that he’s not just in it for the glory and the spoils.
The issue ends with their final adventure together (so far), chasing Zemo’s rocket as Bucky urges Steve on and Steve telling him it’s too late…
…but Bucky takes the leap regardless, followed by Steve, who gets him to admit the real reason he does all this (before they both disappear for decades).
And thus ends the first volume of Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty—don’t hold your breath for the second, which doesn’t begin until 2022 (and lasts exactly one issue longer).
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (vol. 1) #10, June 1999: James Felder (writer), Steve Mannion (pencils and inks), Matt Hicks (colors), John Costanza (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (vol. 1) #11, July 1999: Mark Waid (writer), Walter McDaniel and Anthony Williams (pencils), Andy Lanning and Whitney McFarland (inks), Matt Hicks (colors), John Costanza (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (vol. 1) #12, August 1999: Mark Waid (writer), Doug Braithwaite and Anthony Williams (pencils), Dan Green and Scott Koblish (inks), Matt Hicks (colors), “Bullpen” (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty.
PREVIOUS ISSUES: Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #8-9 (April-May 1999)
ALSO THESE MONTHS: Captain America #18 and Nova #2 (June 1999), Avengers #17-18 and Black Panther #8-9 (June-July 1999), Avengers Forever #7-9 (June-August 1999), Cable #68 (June 1999), Captain America #19 (July 1999), Captain America #20 (August 1999), and Avengers #0 and #19 (August 1999)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
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