The Red Skull narrates this tale:
Part
One: Captain America crashes into the home of a Russian emigre where
the Red Skull is trying to steal a book with an iron lock—the diary
of the Commie Red Skull. Cap vanquishes the Skull's armored henchmen
and pursues the villain, grabbing on the the runners under the
villain's helicopter. The Skull pushes the pilot out and gets away as
Cap has to let go in order to rescue the pilot....
Part Two: In the waning days of World
War 2, Adolf Hitler entrusted the Red Skull with a box that held his
greatest achievements. At that time, Captain America, Spirit of '76,
and the Patriot parachute into Berlin to recover that very strongbox;
they are unexpectedly joined by the Red Guardian, hero of the Soviet
Union on the same mission for his country. They fight their way into
the bunker, with each one being sidelined by difficult battles until
it is only Cap versus the Red Skull. Allied bombers rain death on the
city and the building collapses and Cap sees the Skull and the box
buried, seemingly forever....
Part Three: While the Red Skull was in
suspended animation for several decades, the Russians sought the
strongbox, dispatching their own version of the Red Skull to retrieve
it. A spy reports that it is in the United Nations building in New
York, so the new Red Skull seized the building (as seen in YOUNG MEN
#24 in 1953) and was defeated by the 1950s Captain America and Bucky.
As a follow-up, the Skull went to the morgue and revived Cap's enemy
Electro (seen in CAP #78 in 1954), now with a fanatical desire for
vengeance against the heroes. While Cap and Bucky are occupied with
the mad electrical monster, the Skull finds the strongbox but
discovers it is a fake—but with directions to a German castle where
the authentic box resides. And now the real Red Skull has the diary
and discovers the whereabouts of Hitler's secrets....
Part Four: In the here and now, the Red
Skull heads to the castle and summons Captain America, intending this
to be their final confrontation. Cap arrives in a Quinjet and braves
all the tricks and traps of the castle to confront his archenemy. In
the ensuing battle, the building collapses and the Skull grabs the
strongbox and hijacks the Quinjet, with Cap hitching on the back. The
triumphant Skull opens the box—only to find that it contains not
the plans for a Nazi superweapon but Hitler's personal effects,
including the manuscript of Mein Kampf. Cap and the Skull
struggle and the villain plunges (again) to an apparent death but Cap
knows better....
Characters: Bucky (Jack), Cap (Steve),
Cap (1950s), Patriot, Red Guardian, Spirit of 1776
Villains: Adolf Hitler, Electro
(Russian), Josef Stalin, Red Skull, Red Skull (A. Malik)
2. “Symbols” 3/5
Writer: Ron Marz. Pencils: Rik Levins.
Inks: Ricardo Villagran. Colors: Ovi
Synopsis: Steve Rogers attends the late
night funeral of an old friend; in the cemetery he is confronted by
some bigots who object to a black man being buried in a white
cemetery. Steve tells them the story of Clarence Duckett, nicknamed
“Biz.” He was a baseball player in the Negro Leagues when the War
broke out. He enlisted in the army and found himself doing laundry
for the white soldiers in the segregated military. He accidentally
discovered that Steve Rogers was Captain America and he kept that
secret even when enemy agents tried to bribe, then torture, him. Cap
came to his rescue and never forgot Biz's loyalty and bravery,
calling him a symbol of America rather than Cap. Steve now concludes
his story and flexes his muscles to scare the bigots off.