This issue serves as a stopgap between Mark Waid’s run on this volume of Captain America (which began with issue #1) and Dan Jurgen’s upcoming spell (lasting through the end of the volume at issue #50). It’s a fun throwback to the early Tales of Suspense days, with Tom DeFalco’s old-school story and Ron Frenz’s Kirby-inspired visuals. As such, it doesn’t provide a lot of fodder for this blog, especially compared to more politically charged issues of late, but I think we can still find cool stuff to talk about.
The story begins with our hero busting into a deserted warehouse where several Hydra agents are holding an Agent Whedon, whom Cap gets to safety before defeating the final terrorist and then sharing the credit with the man he saved.
After SHIELD arrives, Dum Dum Dugan and Cap discuss the bomb threat, and Cap suspects Hydra’s real target is Embassy Row, where all the delegates to the UN peace summit are being held “for their safety.” While he heads there, Cap thinks about all the people in danger (not just the delegates) and the onlookers on the ground think about him (out loud).
They must have said these things very loudly (or else Matt Murdock is serving as Captain America in this issue), because they lead our hero to reflect on how people see him and his mission in life: doing good for others. (“A simple man who’s trying to make a difference” may be one of the best statements of his humility and compassion we’ve seen.)
Cap arrives at Embassy Row just as Crossbones and his temp, Crusher Creel aka the Absorbing Man, begin their assault.
This is just one part of Frenz’s beautifully rendered fight scene, inspired by Kirby’s classic work in issues such as Tales of Suspense #85.
We even get a callback to Cap’s love of judo, first mentioned in the second appearance out of the ice (Avengers #5) and emphasized in his first solo story afterwards (Tales of Suspense #59).
After Creel turns to steel and grabs a live electrical cable, Cap evades him while reassuring his foe his perseverance needs no extra juice.
After Cap brings down a water tower on him, Creel tries to transform into the shield’s material, but Cap gives him some skin instead…
…allowing him to subdue Creel with one final right cross, after which he turns his attention back to Creel’s boss and his bomb. Cap keeps his righteous anger in check while he fights Crossbones, railing at him for the mass casualties he is planning to inflict just for a paycheck.
Even worse, Creel was duped into cooperating with this plan, at which Cap takes special offense.
Cap’s thinking here reminds me of the controversy over felony murder, the law by which anyone involved in an event that results in a wrongful death may be charged with murder, even if they were not involved in the event or were completely unaware of it. This law can only be justified in terms of deterrence (and very weakly if that), but is clearly unjust in the sense that it holds people with the slightest causal link to a murder to be charged with it (as these examples show).
After Crossbones flees, Creel re-enters the chat, but Cap only wants to convince him to help defeat the bomb so he can avoid being complicit (at least morally) in thousands of deaths.
He succeeds, as we see when Creel revisits his previous idea and absorbs the properties (and design) of the shield before enclosing the bomb within his body before it goes off.
Creel survives and leaves to get back at Crossbones and Hydra, but his heroic act only reaffirms Cap’s belief in the ability of every person to make a difference if they just try—even a “thug” like Crusher Creel.
‘Nuff said!
ISSUE DETAILS
Captain America (vol. 3) #24, December 1999: Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Frenz (pencils), Jesse Delperdang (inks), Marie Javins (colors), Todd Klein (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Captain America: Heroes Return–The Complete Collection Vol. 2.
PREVIOUS ISSUE: Captain America #23 (November 1999)
ALSO THIS MONTH: Avengers #23 and Fantastic Four #24, Avengers Forever #12, Galactus the Devourer #4, and Domination Factor: Avengers #2.4 (December 1999)
NEXT ISSUE: Captain America #25 (January 2000)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
Leave a comment