Retro review: Captain America 194
Captain America (and the Falcon) #194 is the second part of the “Madbomb!” story, which marked Jack Kirby’s return to the character he co-created.
The 18-page story is called “The Trojan Horde,” and Kirby packs in quite a bit of action into the 18 pages.
This February 1976 issue marks the first appearance of “Captain Steven Rogers,” the modern Captain America’s ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War against the Brits. Falcon reacts somewhat negatively to Captain America’s praise of his ancestor, saying, he probably owned slaves. Steve says there’s no record of that, but Falcon seems like he doesn’t totally buy that.
In this issue, it’s revealed that Rogers killed Sir William Taurey in the Revolutionary War — his descendant has now sworn to kill the descendant of Rogers, who Taurey has found out was a weakling who was 4-F in World War II. (The story being in 1976, even without Cap’s ice-capades, he’d only have been roughly 56 years old, as opposed to the 86 he would be now.)
Coinicidentally, Taurey also seems to be behind the A-plot — his group of elitists want to overthrow American society using the Madbomb. One Madbomb has already been set off, driving a city crazy. Cap and Falcon must track down the rest, including the “Big Daddy” which threatens society as we know it.
Cap and Falc open the issue being innundated by Madbomb waves from SHIELD, to increase their tolerance for the rays.
The plan is for Cap and Falcon to get captured, in civilian clothes by the bad Madbombers and figure out what’s going on.
Cap finds out that captured SHIELD agents are getting turned into mad, raging powerhouses, and decides they can’t wait any longer — he and the Falcon must spring into action!
There’s so much happening in this issue, that even though it’s wacky and a little hard to believe, the amount of ideas and energy crackling from the page make it great fun for Cap and Kirby fans.
The whole “Madbomb” storyline is available in trade paperback format.
– Matt Price
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