Captain America 366 - Acts of Vengeance

This issue continues the two-story format, with the back-up being a straightforward fight between the Cobra and Mr Hyde. It's an all-out action piece in which the Cobra has to overcome his fear and lack of self-esteem in order to defeat his old foe who seems unstoppable. It's an okay piece but these back-up sagas can often wind up running on for too many months due to the limited space available.

Captain America #366

Writer: Mark Gruenwald (all)
Penciler: Ron Lim (main)
Penciler: Mark Bagley (back-up)
Inker: Danny Bulanadi (main)
Inker: Don Hudson (back-up)
Letterer: Jack Morelli (all)
Colourist: Nel Yomtov (all)
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The lead story gives us our first glimpse of the full committee of leading villains as they conclude their first summit meeting. Ever the businessman, the Kingpin has been chairing the board meeting, but we don't see direct exchanges between any of the six. However Magneto shows some sense in asking the mysterious stranger whether or not the Red Skull attending the meeting is the original, who was assumed to have died some time back. Given Magneto's history established since the Silver Age it's more than a little odd that he would be willingly working with a Nazi war criminal so it's good to see him questioning this, wondering if it could be a successor.

(There had indeed been another Red Skull for a while, a Communist agent who filled in various continuity holes such as the Skull's appearances in the 1950s Captain America stories and then later killing Spider-Man's parents when Peter Parker was just a baby. However he had been killed off just before the original Skull was brought back from the dead.)

It's been notable that so far the Skull has actually done very little in the crossover beyond attending meetings, whereas Doctor Doom, the Wizard and the Kingpin have all been shown to be recruiting and directing individual villains and Magneto has personally investigated Spider-Man and the Mandarin is caught in the curse of chronology but will be seen in an already published but coming later issue. The Skull's low involvement is soon explained in his thoughts - he dislikes having to work the others and only attends out of fear they're plotting against him. It's a strong first sign of how difficult it is to get a super-villain team-up to work given the hatreds and rivalries amongst them. Indeed the Skull's main focus is on trying to take control of the mysterious stranger through the Controller's equipment rather than advancing the wider plans.

Otherwise this issue sees Captain America tracking down the Controller in the hope of capturing one of his control discs to use the technology to free the Sub-Mariner from another. It's unfortunate the Cap's earlier encounter with the Controller is explicitly referenced as it reinforces just how much this series hasn't really been conforming to the event premise of heroes being attacked by villains they've never fought before and this isn't offset by the presence of the Voice, an extremely obscure old Ant-Man foe who has also been recruited by the Skull and Crossbones but is only a peripheral presence in the fight. The conflict itself showcases Captain America at his best, both as a skilled fighter but also a cunning tactician who goes into a situation properly prepared.

Although it doesn't contain a previously unseen conflict, this issue is generally quite solid, moving the story forward for both Cap and the Skull as they grapple with the events around it. It also seems to be aware of some of the problems with the general premise of the alliance and may want to fix them.

Captain America #366 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (2011)
• Captain America Epic Collection: The Bloodstone Hunt (2018)