This issue occurred in the middle of the Operation: Galactic Storm storyline, conceived by Mark Gruenwald, Bob Harras, and Fabian Nicieza. The storyline, named after the real-life Operation: Desert Storm, was about a war between two alien races: The Kree (who the Avengers had encountered in the past, mainly in the classic Kree-Skrull War storyline), and the Shi'ar (A bird-like alien race mainly associated with the X-Men books). The Avengers got involved in the war when they discover that the two races have placed a stargate in their solar system which was negatively affecting the sun. The storyline was in 19 parts, crossing over the two Avengers books at the time (Avengers, Avengers West Coast), and several Avengers-related solo books (Captain America, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Thor, and Quasar).
Also, as I said, my 400th blog entry is coming up. As such, I thought this anniversary issue would be a great way to celebrate it. And it's appropriate that this review is of a Mark Gruenwald-era Cap book, as it was his work that made Cap a favorite of mine. And with that out of the way, let's take a look at Captain America #400!
The cover is neat, albeit a bit basic. We got Cap in full color, fighting what looks like some of his foes that have taken on the form of a bizarre film negative. It does make the cover look kind of cool. And the logo is big. Very big. It seems to take up half the cover. I do wish it was a bit smaller so we could see more of the art.
"Murder by Decree!"
Writer: Mark Gruenwald
Penciler: Rik Levins
Inker: Danny Bulanadi
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco (credited as "Editor Supreme")
The story begins with Cap in the Citadel of Judgment, a building in the city of Kree-Lar It's on Hala, the capital world of the Kree Empire. And he is about to be buried by rubble.
The roof is caving in, and Cap is trying to escape it. Despite his best efforts, he ends up buried. In space above Hala, a Quinjet is heading out of the planet. On board are a contingent of Avengers: Iron Man, the Black Knight (Dane Whitman), Sersi, Crystal of the Inhuman Royal Family, and Hawkeye (having retaken the Goliath mantle for this story). The Knight is feeling down, as they had to leave Cap behind due to the events of Iron Man #279 (April 1992). Clint Barton is unconscious, knocked out by Iron Man because he wanted to go back and find him. Crystal goes to check on him, and he's alright.
Knight wants to know how hard Iron Man tasered him, and Tony Stark states that he only hit him with necessary force, just enough to knock him out for a while. Knight wonders if that means they write off Cap for good, but Iron Man reassures him that he'll contact Quasar as soon as possible to retrieve him. Right now the priority is this.
The Nega-Bomb, a Shi'ar weapon meant to be delivered to the heart of the Kree Empire, using the Negative Zone to blow a hole in it. Think of it as an atomic bomb enhanced with advanced alien tech and given a TON of steroids. The Avengers HAVE to stop that bomb from detonating. Clint wakes up, and Tony assures the Black Knight that Cap has gotten out of scrapes like this lots of times in the past. Secretly, he worries that he may have doomed the Star-Spangled Avenger. They may not have always seen eye-to-eye, but Tony does still consider Cap a friend.
Cap himself wakes up in a dark void, unaware of where he is and how he got there. He then takes the opportunity to recap how he got there. Two Kree Accusers, essentially cops, took Cap before the Kree's leader, the Supreme Intelligence. The Intelligence, an advanced AI comprised of the finest minds of the Kree race, wishes to add Captain America's mind to his own, the first human to get the "honor". However, there's a catch. I'll get to that later. The good Captain's trip through memory lane is interrupted when someone ambushes him.
Cap is confused as to how the Cobra got here, as he is on an alien planet. Cobra doesn't care, he just wants some revenge for Cap helping bring down the Serpent Society. Cap then gets a kick in the face.
Batroc the Leaper is here, too. You may know of him from his appearance in the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Batroc leaps up to stomp on Cap's ribs, but the Sentinel of Liberty is able to twist his body, causing the French mercenary to stomp on the ground and allowing Cap to free himself from Cobra's clutches. But they're not the only villains to show up. Cap is wondering what exactly they are, as they're clearly not illusions. He nearly gets a mace, but his Mighty Shield is able to block it. The mace belongs to another old Cap foe, the Flag-Smasher. He gets a shield to the mug for his trouble. A whip wraps around Cap's arm, revealing that the Viper is also here, with the Red Skull and Crossbones right behind her. It's Cap Villains Night, baby!
Red Skull explains they were spirited away to Kree-Lar, and they have to kill Cap before they can return home. The Nazi demands that Cap tell him everything he knows about the Kree. Cap just tells them they have very good dental hygiene: "They brush after every meal". Skull doesn't find the joke funny and orders the others to kill him. The other villains look at him like, "Wait, you expect US to follow YOUR orders?" Yeah, many other supervillains do not like Red Skull that much. For obvious reasons.
Crossbones mocks the other villains and steps up to face Cap. He tears the ribbons of his mask off, as Cap was able to get past him the last time by using them to yank his mask askew. As they fight, Cap wonders how they got here. It has to be the real deal, as these villains are accurate right down to the fighting styles. Cap tries to whack Crossbones with his shield, but the mercenary is able to grab it, and kick Cap in the gut. The Sentinel of Liberty gets blasted by Cobra, but Batroc smacks him, saying that it was unsporting and he wants to see them fight one-on-one. Cap is able to bring Crossbones down, but Flag-Smasher, Batroc, and Cobra then jump in. They try and grab Cap's limbs, but he fights them off. But eventually, the numbers game catches up with the good Captain.
Red Skull is savoring this. Viper demands they kill him now. Flag-Smasher is only agreeing to help here because he hates Cap more than he hates the Red Skull. Skull prepares to give Cap a faceful of his Dust of Death, but Cap is able to free his arm...well, more like Batroc let it go. He hits Skull with a Mighty Punch, causing him to blast Crossbones in the face with his Dust of Death. This causes him to release Cap's shield arm, and he's able to free himself. Viper wraps her whip around his neck, and Cobra tries to blast him. However, thanks to the Mighty Shield, Cobra's blast ends up hitting the Viper. Cap then uses the handle of the whip to take down Cobra. The Red Skull starts to stir, but a kick from Cap ensures the Skull stays in dreamland.
Cap wonders why Batroc let go of his arm. Batroc explains that as much of a scoundrel he can be, he felt it would be dishonorable to allow a foe he respects as much as Cap to be tortured. Yeah, the thing about Batroc is that he has his own code of honor. Cap knows that Batroc is acting like the man he knows, but wonders how he got here. Batroc says he's real as far as he knows. Cap then asks Batroc to remove his mask. Batroc agrees, although he wonders why Cap wants him to do it, as he has never seen his face.
Cap realizes that indeed, Batroc and the other villains are illusions. Cap recalls that this is similar to the events of Avengers #97 (March 1972), in which Rick Jones was able to create powerful illusions of various Golden Age superheroes thanks to a hidden power humanity has. A green tentacle grabs Cap, revealing the Supreme Intelligence. The Intelligence remarks about Cap's determination and resourcefulness. You see, the alien AI wanted to integrate Cap's mind and intellect into himself like he has done to many in the past. However, there's a catch. Cap has to be dead before he can do that. He did to Cap what he did to Rick Jones years earlier, stimulate human beings' hidden reality-shaping potential to create the illusions to kill him.
However, Cap's fighting skills, resourcefulness, and his "insufferable desire for freedom and independence" has convinced the Intelligence that his mind would cause too many problems for him, and tosses him aside. He then tosses Cap aside, taunting him that he does not have long to live and he should think about his loss of a chance to be truly immortal. This confuses the super-soldier, as he knows the fall won't kill him. The story ends with a shot of a giant bomb being towed through space.
It's destination: the heart of the Kree Empire. The goal: to kill millions of Kree.
In the interest of full disclosure and honesty, I can only judge this story's quality. You see, this comic had several other stories included, including one that delved into the origins of the then-supporting character Diamondback. I do not have those stories because...I'm looking through the Operation: Galactic Storm Epic Collection. It only collected the Cap #400 material that actually connected to the storyline. Operation: Galactic Storm was reprinted earlier in two trade paperbacks in 2006 which I also own, and the case is the same with them. I do wish that the extra stories were included. Yeah, I get why they weren't reprinted as well, but I would have liked their addition purely for the sake of completeness.
As such, I think the story is...okay. It doesn't feel like a big celebratory event. To be fair, I can imagine that was mainly due to the circumstances of the storyline at the time. It basically is a big ol' fight scene, but it also does do some minor work on advancing the storyline, including hinting something bigger and more sinister going on than a big ol' intergalactic squabble between two alien races.
As I said, I can only judge this based on the main story, and honestly...I don't think it stands up very well on its own. It's really best enjoyed when read as part of the collected Operation: Galactic Storm storyline. If you do find the comic in its original form, I do suggest getting it so you can check out the extra content that was not reprinted.
Next time, we return to the DC Universe, as the Crisis on Infinite Earths rages on!
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