Re:Cap - “Stand”, the serial killer, Cavanaugh who calls himself The Emissary, is now involved in the sinister Shadow Equations. Cap with the help of Misty Knight and Doctor Strange try to uncover the mystery. He is the next target of The Emissary! In the past, Steve Rogers finds an ally in the gangster, Meyer Lansky, who needs him to investigate Operation Garden. It rolls back to six weeks ago at A.I.M. Island where Cavanaugh is given injections like Captain America, gamma ray exposure like the Hulk, and “supernatural force” to make him The Emissary! Travis Lane then speaks with the demonic Asmoday in a mirrored wall. It says it has to be personally involved to stop the change agents. Asmoday says it has to merge with The Emissary.
It rips free violently from Lane’s body which burns until he is dissolved. Then, enters Cavanaugh’s body giving him control until he neeeds to “step forth.” Misty and Doctor Strange leave and Cap is suddenly confronted by The Emissary standing on a car in a black and red suit. There is a demonic symbol on his chest and his eyes blaze. He says what is inside of him let Cap live “decades ago.” The Emissary leaps from the car crushing it as Captain America faces him with his shield! The cover by Jesus Saiz has The Emissary attacking with two blades as Cap holds him back with his shield to the side, both falling with a white background! “A Series of Unexpected Attacks” is by J. Michael Straczynski and Lan Medina.
The comic immediately picks up with Cap readying his shield as The Emissary leaps off of the car. He throws his shield in a maneuver he calls the Ham Sandwich to determine the threat level of his opponent. This is a nod to the first issue where Steve was going to a rally for the sandwich. The shield ricochets off corners and a lamppost as Cap does a flying kick at the villain! The Emissary catches the shield, difficult to believe this, and Cap is suprised that his kick didn’t move him at all! His shield is dropped and Cap assesses the situation determining that The Emissary’s suit is new to him and not used to his powers. The villain taunts him and Cap just says, “Let’s go.”
He leaps away from The Emissary’s punch, strikes one knee and then hits the other with his shield! Very cool. The Emissary snaps his bones into place and turns demonic. It sends a blast from its mouth and Cap sees an opening in a brick wall from another blast. He leaps through the opening and uses his shield to deflect the blast. His shield’s Vibranium can send the blast back and the explosion hurtles him back! This glows a window orange and the explosion sends Cap flying to the harbor, his shield glowing with heat as he fades unconscious! Round One - A draw. This shifts to “New York Harbor, 1939” where Baron Zemo and Baron Strucker watch the unloading of a spherical weapon.
Zemo says it will destroy Madison Square Garden where the American Bund rally takes place. It will kill twenty thousand of their members whom we see at the rally. Their plan, from last issue, is to spark conflict to bring America into the war! The speaker at the rally and leader of the American Bund, unknowingly, will have the bomb set off at his speech. The plan is visualized, but we haven’t gotten to that part. They drive away and we see behind a container, Steve listening to them! At a consturction site in the day, Steve struggles to drag a bag of bricks. He is told by his boss that Mr. Lansky will pay him even if the doesn’t work. Steve sees the boss in almost blacked out vision, but still persists.
He walks across a street counting steps before falling unconscious! Steve revives in bed surrounded by Tiffany and the other women in the building. Emily says he is dehydrated and needs to drink a gallon of water. She sends out Tiffany to get a straight list of Steve’s medical problems, several life threating conditions, and she worries that if he had an asthma attack, he would be dead. Emily says she visits on Thursday and Steve is his new paitent. I really like this cast to support Steve because he can’t live by his own means. He falls asleep. This moves to Steve Rogers waking up in a hospital bed in the present. Sharon Carter is there and notes that he cancelled their three dates. She goes over his list of injuries from The Emissary battle. I really like the time shifts and the connection that was missing for the most part last issue.
Steve brings up his battle and Sharon is surprised that he was beaten. He tells her that it was a demon. Sharon holds him and Steve notes that it is not the first time he was in the river. We see the younger Steve swimming out of the broken window of a sunken truck! He apologizes to Sharon and says he needs her cell phone. One of the members of the group, Rolf enters his apartment, in 1939. He throws off a rug with mystic symbols and cuts his finger with a knife to drop blood to summon Asmoday. He says the pieces are in place and the demon promises the fall of humanity!
It mentions something called the Pale City that the Maker of All Things created humans. Then, Asmoday and others were “cast aside” and hated humankind. The supernatural part reminds me of Straczynski's series, Midnight Nation. Asmoday promises a thousand years of suffering except for its followers and thinks that there is one tiny “aberration” to its plans. Steve is listening to a radio program and gives off the musical “Bum-Bum-Bummm” to its promise of danger. Captain America #4 steps up the battle with Cap’s first encounter with The Emissary and Asmoday’s plans!
Five Shields out of Five!
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