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Captain America #426

Apr 1994
Mark Gruenwald, Dave Hoover

Captain America #426 cover

Story Name:

Graven Images


Synopsis

Captain America #426 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

The story opens late at night in a cemetery. Super-Patriot and his partner-in-crime Lou Dexter are robbing the grave of one Roland Burroughs. Dexter is a mutant known as the Dead Ringer; by touching a corpse he can become that person later, including assuming his exact appearance and gaining all abilities. Touching the body they have exhumed Dexter is briefly transformed into the Death Adder of the Serpent Society….

At his Brooklyn HQ, Steve Rogers is unable to perform his intensive exercise routine due to the deteriorating effect of the Super-Soldier Serum; all he can do is ask Rachel to help him stretch his muscles to prevent cramping. Meanwhile Rachel continues to worry about whether she had killed Snapdragon in their previous encounter and the guilt and uncertainty are eating her up. Later, Steve contacts Sam (the Falcon) Wilson and apologizes for their awkward encounter in issue #418, and to ask him to keep an eye out for the Cap impostor who is intent on smearing his name….

Elsewhere Super-Patriot and Lou Dexter need money to cover the rent and the Tinkerer’s price for the former’s shield, so Dead Ringer morphs into the Night Flyer and they head for the expressway. There, Super-Patriot, disguised as Captain America, robs an armored car and makes his getaway with the aid of the winged Flyer. Unfortunately they are spotted by a trio of villains—Meteorite, Occult, and Crucible–of the mutant rights group The Resistants who intend to kill Captain America to make their reputation. The mutants use their superior firepower to shoot down Night Flyer’s glider, bringing the fake Cap and his partner to the ground….

In Brooklyn Heights, Rachel is supervising the workmen renovating the headquarters when Steve’s ex-girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal stops by for a visit. She leaves her card and Rachel asks if she can consult Bernie about a legal matter….

Super-Patriot (disguised as Captain America) and Dead Ringer (in the form of Night Flyer) fight a defensive battle against the Resistants. Meteorite uses his levitation powers to render the two helpless and begins banging them together. Elsewhere Steve is contacted by Peggy Carter with the message that the Cap impostor has been sighted, he and Sam set out for the location. Meanwhile, Dead Ringer morphs into the Death Adder, taking their foes by surprise and overwhelming them with his greater fighting abilities. A helicopter arrives bringing Code: Blue, the elite NYPD team that deals with supervillain activity. Super-patriot is forced to concoct a story about how the Resistants kidnapped his friend Lou (who has returned to his normal form) as a hostage to force Cap to rob the armored car. He turns the baddies over to the cops, angry that not only did he return the stolen money but he ended up making Captain America look like a hero. Ten minutes later, the real Cap and the Falcon arrive at the scene of the robbery and there is nothing going on. He contacts Peggy who fills him in on the subsequent events, leaving Cap puzzled at his enemy’s scheme….


 

Review / Commentaries


Captain America #426 Review by (February 8, 2011)
Comments: “Fighting Chance, Book 2.” Death Adder was murdered by Scourge in CAPTAIN AMERICA #318 and resurrected in PUNISHER Vol. 7 #5. Night Flyer’s sole appearance was in CAP #213-214, Jack Kirby’s last issues. The Resistants started out as the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in CAP ANNUAL #4 and later became Mutant Force; their first appearance as The Resistants was in CAP #343. Diamondback’s battle with Snapdragon was in issue #412. Code: Blue was introduced in THOR (Vol. 1) #426.

Review: Super-Patriot again tries to smear Cap by pulling off a robbery in his guise but it all goes south when real villains show up and S-P has to play the hero—with all the credit going to the real Captain America. An interesting choice of guest villain in this installment, namely a trio of mutant baddies, on loan from the X-Men. A quirky ending with Cap confused as to what Super-Patriot is doing, little suspecting that the baddie screwed up and helped Cap. Oddity: with this appearance, Bernie Rosenthal, who we all remember as a sweet and quirky girl-next-door type, is transformed into a stunning beauty with no particular personality other than “generic tough professional woman.” It wrecks the original and sadly this version would last all the way through the Brubaker years (issue #600) and the same would happen to Diamondback a bit later, making them interchangeable classy babes.


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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Dave Hoover
Danny Bulanadi
George Roussos
Dave Hoover (Cover Penciler)
Dave Hoover (Cover Inker)


Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Diamondback
Diamondback

(Rachel Leighton)
Falcon
Falcon

(Sam Wilson)
Plus: Bernie Rosenthal, Code: Blue (Code Blue), Fabian Stankowicz, Dead Ringer, Resistants, Super-Patriot.

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