Captain America #228: Review

Dec 1978

Roger McKenzie, Mike Esposito

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Story Name:

A Serpent Lurks Below

Review & Comments

Rating:

Captain America #228 Review by Peter Silvestro (October 10, 2011)

Review: Everybody seems a bit crabby in this one. Cap is depressed and Iron Man just tells him to get a life (literally). Cap is so depressed in fact that he forgot his best bud the Falcon was missing and Blue Streak snaps at Cap when he asks for info. Fortunately all the Avenger buddies are there—to make Cap feel worse. Passable issue gets the four-issue arc rolling and ends with a bang.

Comments: Part one of the four-part story arc “Search for the Falcon.” Cameos by Scarlet Witch, Vision, Hercules, Thor, Quasar, Texas Twister. Kligger is revealed to be Senator Eugene K. Stivak, though who would vote for a politician who looks like George “The Animal” Steele is anyone’s guess. The Constrictor was previously seen only in INCREDIBLE HULK #212.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Captain America #228 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

At Avengers Mansion, a somber Captain America confides in Iron Man that he has no private life anymore. In contrast to his teammates who are enjoying themselves all around him (especially the Beast who has a hot date), Steve Rogers has nothing to do when Cap isn’t needed. Iron Man takes him up on the rainy roof to tell him that they all have problems, life is what you make of it, and to stop feeling sorry for himself. As Cap stands contemplating that message, he spies a boy in the street below about to be hit by a truck. He launches himself off the roof pushes the boy out of the way then flips over the oncoming vehicle. After lecturing the kids about traffic safety, he suddenly remembers that the Falcon is missing and heads to SHIELD HQ to learn if there has been any word on his missing partner. In the strangely deserted barbershop that conceals the secret entrance to the SHIELD complex, he is attacked by a defense robot which he manages to destroy. Down in the complex he finds no one and begins questioning his sanity. Jasper Sitwell contacts him on a viewscreen to warn him that Nick Fury had ordered the HQ moved to a new location and this one is about to be destroyed in fifteen minutes. Cap asks about the Falcon and is put through to the Super-Agents who are in Los Angeles. Vamp has heard nothing of the missing hero but Blue Streak has a clue: a contact told Falcon "Jim’s in trouble" before he vanished. As Cap ponders this riddle, the doors automatically lock and he is attacked by the Constrictor, whose electrified coils encircle Cap’s body. Cap clobbers the villain with his shield while wondering how the Constrictor knew he was there: only Jasper or one of the Super-Agents could have set him up. Cap tries to warn his foe that the base is set to be destroyed but the baddie does not believe him. He snatches Cap’s shield out of the air with his coils; Cap recovers his shield and ties the coils in a knot—just as a pre-set explosion causes the roof to collapse on them….

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