Captain America 293
“Field of Vision!”
Publisher: Marvel
Published: January 1984
Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Pencils: Paul Neary
Inks: Eduardo Barreto
Letters: Diana Albers
Colors: Bob Sharen
Editor: Mark Gruenwald


Editor’s note: It’s been a while since I did one of these, so as a refresher: In So Random! posts, I pick a comic more or at less at random from my collection to re-read and analyze.

Synopsis

As Captain America tries to reconcile Bernie Rosenthal’s marriage proposal with his feelings for former love interest Sharon Carter, the villains Mother Superior, Baron Zemo and the Red Skull conspire to get their revenge on Cap. They transform Cap’s pacifist friend Dave Cox into the Slayer, who ambushes Cap and his sidekick, Nomad.

What’s going on here?

Captain America 293 came out pretty early in my collecting days, and about the time of the first Secret Wars series. J. M. DeMatteis was still writing the book and his plots were dark and intricate, particularly compared to his successor, Mark Gruenwald (RIP), who had a much more light-hearted take on Cap.

This would be a tough comic for a new reader to jump into, since so much of the story involves the back stories of Baron Zemo and Dave Cox (and Sharon Carter), but the plot moves along, and there’s plenty of action to go along with the introspection. The art by Neary and Barreto is serviceable, although it never really soars.

What I liked

I liked this scene of Cap dropping into to visit an old friend out of the blue, and disrupting his domestic life. We then get some revealing panels about Cap discussing his love life with Dave, and (oddly) skipping stones from his knees.

In group books like the Avengers, Cap tends to take on a larger-than-life quality, as he serves not just as a leader but a symbol of the American Way. But successfully written, in his own book at least, Steve Rogers is very much a human who is wrestling with his personal life. (Batman suffers from similar problems as a character who can be more symbol than person).

What I didn’t like

DeMatteis’s writing tends toward the purple and overwraught, particularly in the sequences with Zemo and Mother Superior. Consider this elaborate double page splash that attempts to sum up the history of human evil, for example:

Also, the Slayer concept feels vaguely ridiculous, and continues a longtime comic trope of taking civilian characters and making them heroes or villains. I much prefer it when ordinary people remain ordinary.


Anything else?

I always enjoyed these Q & As they ran in the letter pages of the books Gruenwald edited. This one was inspired by a recent Cap arc where he wound up in a post-apocalyptic future with Deathlok.

Overall

Standard mid-80s Marvel fare