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Captain America #379

Nov 1990
Mark Gruenwald, ?

Story Name:

Moonstruck


Synopsis

Captain America #379 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 3 stars

Steve Rogers, Wendell (Quasar) Vaughn, and John Jameson are jogging through Central Park when Steve gets a call to investigate a “superhuman incident” at the courthouse. Wendell conjures up a flying sled and he and Steve take off, changing into Captain America and Quasar on the way. They arrive at their destination just as a villain comes crashing out, hostage Karla (Moonstone) Sofen under one arm. Cap tries to negotiate with the baddie but he shoots heat beams out of his eyes and leaps away. The heroes follow so the villain drops building debris on the crowd forcing Quasar to create a giant basket to catch it all, saving the people below. Cap has recognized the enemy as Lloyd Bloch, the original Moonstone, though now he is wearing an old costume of Count Nefaria….

Nefarius—for such is his name—takes refuge in a church with his hostage; he tells her he holds a grudge for her having stolen the Moonstone power from him. After his discharge from the mental hospital he found a guy who could recreate the process that gave Count Nefaria his powers—and now he aims to kill Karla Sofen slowly. Sofen, psychologist that she is, starts playing mind games, such as convincing him he secretly loves her—and she reciprocates—in order to escape….

Cap and Quasar arrive at the church and Q encloses the building in a giant force bubble to prevent anyone leaving. They arrive as Nefarius is removing one of Sofen’s energy-dampening gauntlets. Cap carries her off as Quasar engages with the baddie. To his surprise, Nefarius is much stronger than imagined and can even punch Q through the energy bubble. The villain hurls Q at Cap, stunning him and he picks up his hostage and prepares to leave. Sofen smashes off her other gauntlet and gives her captor a massive energy blast through the ears, knocking him out. Sofen surrenders to Cap and when questioned she says she was trying to seduce the baddie into letting her go. Cap responds with disgust.

2. “The Warning” 3/3

Writer: Mark Gruenwald. Pencils: Mark Bagley. Inks: Dan Panosian. Colors: Nel Yomtov.

Synopsis: Rachel (Diamondback) Leighton receives a mysterious note warning that her life is in danger. Leaving work at the boutique, she calls her pals Black Mamba and Asp but gets no answer. After a workout, she contacts Avengers Mansion hoping to reach Captain America but Peggy Carter tells her Cap is on a mission (first story in this issue). Later, she stops by the Mansion but before she can ring, she is seized and knocked unconscious by the superfast Black Racer, and carried off…..



 

Review / Commentaries


Captain America #379 Review by (November 8, 2015)
Comments: Nefarius, in his first appearance under this name, was previously seen as Lloyd Bloch, the first Moonstone in CAPTAIN AMERICA #169-175, his power was taken away by Karla Sofen, who became the second Moonstone in INCREDIBLE HULK #228. His next appearance is in IRON MAN ANNUAL ’99 where he is killed by Count Nefaria. Story 2 is a prelude to the main story in issues #380-382. The art team is Chris Marinnan on pencils and D. Hedd on inks. D. Hedd is an obvious pseudonym; this is his only credit for Marvel.

Review: An interesting idea—following up on a grudge one second-string baddie had against another—receives a pedestrian treatment. Guest penciler Chris Marinnan is no improvement over Ron Lim and is another exemplar of the sketchy art of the 90s that all the leather jackets and pouches did not atone for. Superstrong clod, sneaky femme fatale, and two heroes who could have stayed out of the action and let the two baddies destroy one another.


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Holy smokes, Batman!
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?
?
Nel Yomtov
Ron Lim (Cover Penciler)
Ron Lim (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)

Plus: Asp.