Captain America #418: Review

Aug 1993

Mark Gruenwald, Rik Levins

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Story Name:

To Have and to Have Not

Review & Comments

Rating:

Captain America #418 Review by Peter Silvestro (December 18, 2016)

Comments: D-Man wandered into Zerotown in issues #410-411. Only appearance of Brother Have-Not. Avengers Mansion is located at Fifth Ave and 70th Street in Manhattan; has this been mentioned before? Cap's hair is mistakenly colored red on page 13. And Diamond will be back in #422.

Review: D-Man's saga is wrapped up in an unattractive issue featuring an ugly cover (especially that portrait of Cap!). The story does not clearly explain Brother Have-Not's ability to drain strength from others so the final scenes make no sense, with the villain draining D-Man's strength for what seems like under two seconds before it returns to Dennis? But then the kid seems to find Cap and bring him back in under two minutes so the whole climax is flawed. My big gripe: what happened to Jack Kirby's Night People? They were an oddball lot with a goofy Dickensian vibe to them. Here they are just a bunch of unremarkable homeless people, few of whom play any real part in the story (Have-Not's foraging gang, though supplied with individual names, might as well not be there for all they have to do with the plot). I realize not everyone can be as creative in a crazy way as Kirby was but they can at least try to mimic his style when using his characters.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Captain America #418 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

The captive Dennis “D-Man” Dunphy is a prisoner of the underdwellers who call themselves the Night People. He is being subjected to electric torture to disclose whether he is an enemy or not. The leader, Brother Have-Not has him sent back to his cage, where Have-Not uses his mutant power to absorb Dennis' strength to keep him docile....

In Wakanda, Diamondback is rushed to the hospital after being injured in the last issue. She is still in a coma and Captain America is distraught. His pals, Falcon and Moonhunter, persuade him to return to the USA with them. On the way, Falcon asks Steve why he cares about her; Steve replies that she has good in her and can be redeemed....

A boy named Jikjak brings Dennis his food, and asks him to save them from the despotic Brother Have-Not, who led the poor and dispossessed to their underground haven of Zerotown but keeps them all prisoners. Dennis breaks out of the cage and tries to remove the boulder sealing the exit but Have-Not arrives and drains Dennis' strength though the hero retains enough power to stop Have-Not from beating Jikjak. Liking his spirit, Have-Not invites “Brother D” to join his crew on a foraging run accompanied by Jikjak. When Dennis learns that “foraging run” is a euphemism for robbing a convenience store he balks and Have-Not beats him up after stealing his strength. Dennis sends Jikjak to Avengers Mansion to summon Captain America. Dennis then climbs to a roof and denounces Have-Not in strong language, using a pole to keep the baddie at a distance. Have-Not is able to pull him off the roof. The police arrive and the villain hurls a pole at a police officer but Cap's shield saves the cop and Dennis jumps on Have-Not knocking him flat. Cap is glad to see that Dennis has recovered his wits and found a new purpose....