Captain America touches down in a
Quinjet in the town square of Timely, Wisconsin, an unreal copy of a
idyllic small American town of days gone by. Days earlier, the Vision
had mentioned he was going there to unravel the mystery of his origin
and he never returned. Now Cap is searching for his co-Avenger.
Inquiring at the town's sole factory, Cap gets the brush-off so he
sneaks into the place via the skylight. Opening a door, Cap steps
through...
...into 2700 BC by a lake where he sees
Gilgamesh in combat with several Stone Men of Saturn. Cap helps the
powerful hero fight off his foes and they escape in a space ship. Cap
discovers that this Gilgamesh comes from centuries before they met as
Avengers; this Gilgamesh speaks no English and is in he middle of the
quest from his ancient Sumerian epic. Together they enter a boat to
find Utnapishtim—and in the distance Cap can see an ultramodern
domed city....
Interlude: Nebula appears before Dr.
Druid begging for his help; he rejects her, having gotten over his
love for her....
Gilgamesh, on his quest to learn the
secret of eternal life (and unaware that he is one of the Eternals)
meets with Utnapishtim who sends him to retrieve a plant from under
the waters that restores lost youth. Gil dives but a sea monster
attacks him; Cap dives in and helps him defeat he monster while
overcoming Gil's fears. Gil heads back where he came from while Cap
proceeds to the domed city, accompanied by a little girl who he
learns is the young Sersi, also from long before they met.....
At the castle, Kang the Conqueror has
the Vision a prisoner....
Story continues in THOR ANNUAL #17
2. “Captain America’s Top Ten
Villains” 3/5
Writer: George Caragonne. Artist: Larry
Alexander. Colorist: Renee Witterstaetter.
Synopsis: Steve gives Rachel an
overview of his greatest enemies (counting down): the Serpent
Society, Flag Smasher, Dr. Faustus, Viper, Batroc the Leaper, Arnim
Zola, the two Baron Zemos, the Skeleton Crew (Machinesmith, the
Sleeper, Mother Night, Minister Blood), Crossbones, and, of course,
the Red Skull.
3. “Captain America’s Shield”
Writer and Artist: Eliot Brown.
Synopsis: A detailed description of the
construction and composition of Cap’s shield.
4. “Captain America’s Jet”
Writer and Artist: Eliot Brown.
Synopsis: A detailed description of the
construction and capabilities of Freedom’s Flight, complete
with cutaway view.
5. “Test Flight” 4/5
Writer/Plot/Pencils: James Brock, Mark
Gruenwald. Inks: Charles Barnett. Colors: Max Scheele.
Synopsis: A young man with a gun bursts
into a social services office in Harlem and demands to see Sam
Wilson—the Falcon. Sam arrives and disarms the boy and questions
him; Tyrone McQuaid, whose respectable mother has recently died,
tells how some friends got him involved with the Taskmaster and his
school. Getting cold feet, Tyrone took off and now the villain has
his thugs looking for Tyrone. Sam is warned that there are bad guys
staking out his apartment so he drops Tyrone off at his (Sam's)
sister's house and contacts Desmond Burrell to deliver the new,
untested Falcon suit he is constructing....
Soon Falcon is swooping down from the
sky to take out the three hoods with some new gizmos but several more
arrive and the hero takes them all on and wins. Then the Taskmaster
himself arrives to clash with Falcon. They fight to a standstill
when the police arrive. Tyrone arrives aiming a gun to kill
Taskmaster—but the villain is too good, deflecting the energy bolt
and throwing the boy from the roof. Falcon swoops down to catch him
in the nick of time but Tyrone is angry that the Taskmaster got away,
leaving him in the same boat as before. Sam tells him to cool down
and come back when he knows what he wants to do next....
6. “Birth of a Warlord” 4/5
Writer: Peter Sanderson. Pencils: Rich
Yanizeski. Inks: Fred Fredericks. Colors: Max Scheele.
Synopsis: Kang the Conqueror from his
citadel of Chronopolis decides to record his life story for
posterity: Born in the paradise of 30th century Earth, he
grew bored and wanted to experience life in the Heroic Age of the
20th century. Recreating Dr. Doom's time machine, he went
back to Ancient Egypt and ruled as the Pharaoh Rama-Tut, where he
encountered the Fantastic Four. Jetting ahead in time he rescued Dr.
Doom from certain death in space and they took a liking to each
other. As the Scarlet Centurion, Kang took control of the Avengers'
minds and conquered the world. From there he went back to Egypt and
ahead to the 41st century where he first adopted the Kang identity
and took over the world again. Now he went back to the 20th
century to battle the Avengers but was defeated... [To be continued]