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Captain America #306

Jun 1985
Michael Carlin, Paul Neary

Story Name:

The Summoning!


Synopsis

Captain America #306 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Modred the Mystic, wearing the powerful body armor of Captain Britain, goes on a rampage of destruction though London. He blames the mighty Merlin for the events that led to his corruption by the demon Chthon and now seeks revenge, trying to draw Merlin into a confrontation. Meanwhile, in Modred’s dungeon, the captive Captain America seeks to escape. He manages to free himself with the help of fellow prisoner Captain Britain (at a disadvantage because of Modred’s possession of his power suit). The villain’s reign of terror overhead, though, causes the structure to become unstable and the heroes barely escape the collapsing stonework in time, with Cap recovering his shield on the way.

[In New York, Arnie Roth, just released from the hospital after the traumatizing experience he had as an unwilling minion of the Red Skull in issues #293 and following, comes looking for Steve Rogers to say goodbye. He finds Bernie Rosenthal, who gives him some encouragement and sends him on to the next phase of his troubled life. Elsewhere, Nomad (Jack Monroe) is getting the hang of crime fighting in Cap’s absence.]

The two Captains confront the mad Modred and dodge his powerful attacks. To stop this rampage, Brit tells the villain that he can summon Merlin to a confrontation but only if he is wearing the body armor. Seeing as this is the most likely means to his end, the sinister sorcerer magically restores Cap B’s costume to him. Keeping his word, the British hero casts the summoning spell but Merlin fails to appear. Assuming he has been tricked, Modred heads off to the Tower of London cemetery where he raises the skeletons of the country’s dead defenders from their graves. The Captains battle decaying corpses until only Modred is left facing them. Unfortunately the desecration of the dead only serves to enhance the wizard’s dark powers and he unleashes mystical beams at the heroes. The Caps withstand the attack until they are close enough to seize Modred’s arms and force the magical mayhem back into his own face, knocking him unconscious. At this point, Merlin appears in the sky and takes Modred off to his own dimension for re-education and restoration. Captain America and Captain Britain are left behind to renew their shared commitment to justice.


 

Review / Commentaries


Captain America #306 Review by (March 9, 2012)
Review: Nice wrap-up to the two-part story makes good use of the guest star, even though he doesn’t get into costume until halfway through part 2—but then Cap A probably takes a back seat to Cap B in the latter’s comic so I’m sure it evens out. Modred makes a cool villain, all sneery and violent with scenes of massive destruction to keep the reader interested. What is unusual is that Paul Neary, showing a clear Ditko influence last issue, now gives us a bit of Wally Wood, especially in Cap B’s and Nomad’s faces. Cool. One oddity: at the end, Cap (America) is unwilling to let Merlin levy wizard justice on Modred, instead preferring to see an all-powerful sorcerer locked in a regular jail, like that would solve anything. He really should learn when he’s out of his league. And wait—does Merlin magically repair all the damage to London done by Modred? Some complications may ensue, since all surviving witnesses saw Captain Britain trashing the city.

Comments: Story continues from previous issue. Although Captain Britain spends a sizeable portion of the story out of uniform, his real name, Brian Braddock, is never mentioned. Nomad looks highly uncomfortable in that running position on page 10.


> Captain America comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Paul Neary
Dennis Janke
Ken Feduniewicz
Paul Neary (Cover Penciler)
Paul Neary (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Captain Britain
Captain Britain

(Brian Braddock)

Plus: Bernie Rosenthal, Merlin the Magician, Modred the Mystic, Nomad (Jack Monroe).