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Captain America #155: Review

Nov 1972
Steve Englehart, Sal Buscema

Story Name:

The Incredible Origin of the Other Captain America!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Captain America #155 Review by (February 15, 2010)
Additional credits: John Romita contributed to the penciling and inking. Part three of a four-part story. First modern appearance of the 1950s Captain America. The issue includes excerpts from YOUNG MEN COMICS #24, December 1953. The account of Cap’s disappearance in 1945 implies that Bucky’s body was recovered by American authorities, which would make a total mess of the Winter Soldier storyline. No word on why the two 1950s heroes were cryogenically frozen instead of being treated with Vita-Rays, which was the original plan.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Captain America #155 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Steve (Captain America) Rogers and Sharon Carter are enjoying a blissful vacation in the Bahamas when suddenly Steve spies his late partner Bucky Barnes and pursues him—into a trap; the Cap impostor knocks him out and takes his place to capture Sharon but the phony’s lack of sunburn tips her off and she flees. The Falcon arrives to the rescue but he and Sharon are knocked unconscious and taken prisoner. When they all awaken aboard a plane bound for the States, their captor introduces himself as the 1950s Captain America and tells his story…. As a kid growing up during World War 2, he idolized Captain America and when Cap vanished he was devastated. Becoming obsessed with his hero, he researched him all over the world until in an obscure spy’s reports in Germany he discovered the Super-Soldier formula. Heading back to the US, he volunteered to become the new Captain America, injecting himself with the serum, even having his face and vocal cords surgically altered so as to pass for the original. In an ironic twist of fate, the Korean War ended the next day and the government’s plans for him were cancelled. Taking a professorship at a private school, “Steve” met a boy who resembled Bucky Barnes and the two of them became partners. When the radio reported that the Red Skull had returned and had taken hostages at the United Nations, they donned newly made costumes and took the final doses of the serum to swing into action as Captain America and Bucky. They defeated the Red Skull (a different one than the original) and other Communist menaces—until the side-effects of the serum created in them severe paranoia, to the point that they saw traitors and commies everywhere. It was exposure to Vita-Rays that prevented this from happening to the real Cap so government officials asked the two new heroes to submit to the same treatment. When they refused they were captured and cryogenically frozen until a cure could be found. In 1972, a fanatical patriot revived them and here they are, intending to kill the “new” Captain America, whom they do not realize is the original. When the villainous heroes leave the room, Steve slips his bonds, frees his partners and suits up for the showdown….


Sal Buscema
Frank McLaughlin
(Unknown artist)
Sal Buscema (Cover Penciler)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steve Rogers)
Falcon
Falcon

(Sam Wilson)

Plus: Bucky (Jack Monroe), Captain America (1950s Version).

> Captain America: Book info and issue index

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