Comic Browser: #1 - The Return of Steve Rogers, Captain America #2 - To Serve And Protect #3 - Museum Piece #4 - Capmania #5 - Power And Glory Pt. 1: Credibility Gap #6 - Power And Glory Chapter Two: Expose #7 - Power And Glory Chapter 3: Hoaxed #8 - Live Kree or Die! Chapter Two: Stuck in the Middle #9 - American Nightmare, Chapter One: The Bite of Madness! #10 - American Nightmare, Chapter Two: The Growing Darkness #11 - American Nightmare, Chapter Three: Finger on the Pulse #12 - American Nightmare, Finale: Nuclear Dawn #13 - Plausible Deniability #14 - The Red Skull in: Turnabout #15 - First Gleaming #16 - Red Glare #17 - Extreme Prejudice: A Tale of Morality and Failure #18 - Man Out of Time #19 - Triumph of the Will #20 - Danger in the Air! #21 - Soundquake #22 - Sacrifice Play #23 - Land of the Free #24 - The Difference! #25 - Twisted Tomorrows: Part 1 of 3 #26 - Twisted Tomorrows: Part 2 of 3 #27 - Twisted Tomorrows: Part 3 of 3 #28 - Grotesqueries #29 - The Savage Man #30 - Waste of Dreams #31 - Hidden Paths #32 - Heart #33 - Impending Rage! #34 - Cache is King! #35 - When Strikes Protocide! #36 - Maelstrom Within #37 - Brothers #38 - Across the Rubicon #39 - A Gulf so Wide #40 - Fighting Back #41 - Duel #42 - Fractured #43 - Candor #44 - Conclusions #45 - America Lost: Part I of IV #46 - America Lost: Part II of IV #47 - America Lost: Part III of IV #48 - America Lost: Part IV of IV #49 - Closure #50 - Silent Night, Silent Morning
It's Captain America versus the super-powerful Red Skull—and Cap has lost his powers thanks to his foe. Sharon Carter advises him to kill the Skull, but Cap insists there must be another way....
They catch up to the Red Skull in Washington where the villain has repopulated the city with dinosaurs. Cap attacks—and the Skull flattens him with a wave of the hand. Deciding he is not a worthy foe, the Red Skull restores Cap to normal—and using the new capabilities of his shield, Cap delivers a thrashing to the Skull. Yet the Cosmic Cube empowers the Skull and he is easily able to recover and beat Cap by knowing his moves before he makes them. When he hurls Cap into a tar pit, he is sufficiently distracted that Sharon can fire the alien weapon at him—but he can divert its beam without a glance and send it back at her. Galactus' starship arrives and the Red Skull prepares to unite with its knowledge banks, making him all-powerful. The Watcher exhorts Cap to stop him—and Cap rises from the tar pit and forms his force-shield into a sword and stabs the Skull in the back. The Cube energy flows from the Red Skull's body—into The Watcher—who is revealed to be Kang the Conqueror—who then reveals himself as Korvac! Korvac explains that it would have been dangerous for him to face the Red Skull—so he manipulated Cap into defeating and killing him. And now the vision of the conquered America is revealed to be true—but in Korvac's 27th century. He opens a portal in time and vanishes into it. Cap, heedless of Sharon's warnings, dives in after him....
Comments: Part two of five parts. Title is a phrase from the American National Anthem. The Ultimate Nullifier is seen among Galactus' weaponry. Issue includes “A Peek at the Future of Captain America,” previews of issues #17-19 and CAPTAIN AMERICA: SENTINEL OF LIBERTY #8-10 and 12 (issue #11 is a surprise). Joe Kubert assisted o the inking and Jean Segarra with the colors.
Review: Bright and shiny issue seems like it's still setting up the big conflict by having a few minor skirmishes lead to the Red Skull taking a nasty action. The Skull's survival of the fittest challenges seem a bit silly (making entire populations compete? Why not just start with soldiers and have them fight? That's how it was handled in DOCTOR WHO: THE WAR GAMES (the final Second Doctor story—and that's going way back)). Hope this story line improves. So far the Red Skull doesn't seem to be showing much imagination.
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