I love that splash page. Cap looks like a five year old who lost his football to a bigger kid. Cap is contemplating his past (which he still doesn’t know a lot about, but is searching for answers) and his purpose, given that he doesn’t have a private identity like so many other Avengers, and Iron Man tries to comfort him.
Cap and Iron Man’s relationship is one of the most complex ongoing bromances in comics. And that moment is followed by a nice Beast sequence, where he’s preparing to disguise himself in a trenchcoat.
Cap is also sad because Falcon is missing.
Captain America wants to find him so he goes to what used to be a SHIELD base, but when he gets there, it’s abandoned.
But still defended by robots.
Constrictor is also there, on a mission to kill Cap.
And so is God.
OK, no. Not really. But what a strange panel.
Jasper Sitwell tells Cap, by remote broadcast, that the reason the base is abandoned is because it’s going to blow up in 15 minutes. Cap and Constrictor fight as the base collapses around them.
Cap saves Constrictor (and himself) by holding his shield up until SHIELD comes to dig them out. Cap engages the SHIELD super agents to help him find Falcon, and the search eventually brings them to Alcatraz.
Meanwhile, Hulk trashes a bar full of jerks.
And gets some chow.
During those shenanigans, Jim Wilson gets taken by the evil “Corporation,” who also have Falcon. The leader of The Corporation, named “Kligger,” looks an awful lot like Kingpin. We learn that it’s not a coincidence that two of the few black characters in the Marvel Universe in 1979 have the last name Wilson: Falcon is Jim’s uncle!
Also kidnapped by Kligger are D-Man and “some woman,” who are experimented on by Power Broker in his first appearance since Machine Man #7.
Anyway, with both of the Wilsons taken by The Corporation, it is time now for Cap and Hulk’s titles to merge.
Issue #230 has a terrific cover.
It’s unusual for a story to crossover from one series (Cap) to another (Hulk), and then become a super-long arc in the second book, but that’s what happens. We’re introduced to Quasar.
Quasar is still called Marvel Man at the time, which leads to some teasing…
I like that scene because, hey, you can’t argue with truth. I also like the big gay dude in the background in the muscle shirt with a big stache.
Anyway, he figures out he’d rather be known as Quasar.
Also along the way, Hulk fights Machine Man, who he thinks kidnapped his friend Trish. Lots of kidnapping.
Hulk busts poor Aaron Stack into pieces.
Cap finds the Corporation’s base and learns that there is a traitor working for them. So he tussles with a bunch of heroes.
Before figuring out Blue Streak is the traitor.
Also working for The Corporation are Moonstone and Animus.
Seems like everyone works for them! After Captain America rescues Falcon, he’s out of this story.
In the end nothing is really resolved and we get Hulk being punted into space (again), this time by the reconstituted Machine Man.
Having a talented creative team saves what could have been an extremely jumbled and pointless mess. It’s nice to see Machine Man again as well.
Oh, and let’s also give props to this terrific moment of cross-promotion. Captain America is riding the bus in plain clothes and sitting next to a kid, talking about super heroes…
He’s reading Daredevil, as drawn by Gene Colan! This gets a “creators appearing comics” tag, even though he’s just mentioned.