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Captain America Annual #11: Review

Jan 1992
Roy Thomas, Larry Alexander

Story Name:

An Epic Adventure (Citizen Kang, Part 1)

Review & Comments

Rating:
2.5 stars

Captain America Annual #11 Review by (June 12, 2016)
Comments: Part One of “Citizen Kang,” continued in THOR ANNUAL #17. Timely, Wisconsin, is named after the Golden Age comics company that would eventually become Marvel. The Stone Men were the first villains fought by Thor in his Marvel career in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #83. Kang's story ties together info from FANTASTIC FOUR #19, AVENGERS ANNUAL #2 and AVENGERS #8.

Review: Another crossover among the Marvel annuals of the 90s: this one is a time-travel tale involving Kang the Conqueror. To be honest, I usually find these epics confusing to the point of frustration; fortunately Cap's portion comes first so it isn't as complicated as it could have been. The chief problem is the terrible artwork; at this point in their history Marvel seemed to take little pride in what they produced and this one really shows. The Kang biography has better art and is also fortunately the first installment though it already threatens to collapse into confusion. The Falcon story is the best entry in the issue with a pretty good story and the art really takes off when the action starts with some spectacular images.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Captain America Annual #11 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

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]



Larry Alexander
Kathryn Bolinger
Dan Panosian (Cover Penciler)
Dan Panosian (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

> Captain America Annual: Book info and issue index

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