Night of the Lurking Dead

Lured into a trap by Yellow Claw, Captain America was tricked into fighting Nick Fury, seemingly killing the SHIELD director. As the real Yellow Claw gloats, Cap checks Fury and discovers that he is still alive and fights his way through a massive mutated scorpion in order to get Fury to a doctor. Although Fury is seriously injured and expected to survive, he will need time to heal. When Dum Dum Dugan arrives on the scene with Countessa Valentina de la Fontaine, Dugan accepts Cap’s explanation. Valentina on the other hand, accuses the Avenger of seriously hurting Nick due to their past differences.[1] Dugan orders the Countess to stow it since Yellow Claw is a more important priority than bickering among themselves.

Back at Yellow Claw’s hideout, the terrorist assures his lead scientist that he is still needed even if his mutated insects had failed to stop Captain America.[2] The Claw then goes to the room where his grand-niece Suwan has been kept in suspended animation since the 1950s. He is still furious with her constantly thwarting his schemes for world domination in the past, but is confident that his latest plan will make her loyal to him at long last.[3]

Meanwhile, Steve Rogers has returned to his apartment and discovers, much to his dismay, that his landlord evicted him and rented his room out to a new client.[4] While arguing with his former landlord over the legality of kicking him out, Steve drops it when he notices a full page advertisement smearing Captain America in the newspaper. Needing to hear a familiar voice, Steve goes to a payphone and calls Sharon Carter in Virginia. Unfortunately, Sharon has bad news as Peggy — upset against the recent negative publicity Captain America has been receiving — has suddenly left home without word. At that same moment, the Falcon is busting up a liquor store robbery in Harlem. As he is celebrated by the locals, Sam catches the latest edition of the paper which has a front page story about Captain America injuring Nick Fury. Although Leila reminds Falcon that he promised to remain in Harlem, he isn’t so sure anymore.

That evening, Yellow Claw and his men break into the Museum of Natural History. He has come to obtain the mummy of Princess Fan-Le Tamen that is on display in the Egyptian exhibit. As this is happening, Falcon is spending his evening training Redwing some new tricks when he and Leila are visited by Peggy Carter.[5] She has come looking for Captain America because she wants to be with him. Spotting Steve Rogers coming up the street, Falcon leaves Peggy in Leila’s care while he talks to Steve.[6] Steve tells Sam about his current situation and is given a place to stay in the office where Sam works as a social worker. That’s when the pair hear a radio report about Yellow Claw’s break in at a the museum.

Changing into Captain America, Steve goes to the museum with Falcon. There they are shocked to discover that Yellow Claw has reanimated a number of the mummies that have been kept on display. Although the mummies crumble to dust when attacked, the pair are restrained by two zombies created by Yellow Claw. They are then forced to watch Yellow Claw reanimated the mummified corpse of Fen-Le Tamen. The corpse then shambles over to the casket where Yellow Claw’s niece is being kept in suspended animation. As the mummy crumbles to dust, it’s spirit takes possession of Suwan’s body making her evil. With his grand-niece finally on his side, Yellow Claw vows that Suwan will rule by his side after they take over the world.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Falcon, Yellowclaw, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Sharon Carter, Countess de la Fontaine), Peggy Carter, Leila Taylor, Suwan

Continuity Notes

1. Nick Fury and Captain America were at odds with one another when Valentina used her position on Femme Force to flirt with Cap in order to make Nick jealous, see Captain America #145-148. Fury and Cap fought it out in issue #153 and settled their differences. However, they were at odds again when Cap refused to let SHIELD handle Yellow Claw, as seen last issue.

2. Yellow Claw mentions the failure of his last ally, Nightshade, back in Captain America #164.

3. The past plots by Yellow Claw were depicted in Yellow Claw #1-4. Yellow Claw was also seen active in flashbacks from Agents of Atlas #1, Atlas #1-3, Marvel: The Lost Generation #3 and 7, and Strange Tales (vol. 3) #1. These references are omitted due by technicality as they were published decades after this story.

4. Mention is made about how Steve’s landlord tried to blackmail him in Captain America #158.

5. Falcon wants to train Redwing further after the bird wasn’t much help after Sam was poisoned by the Viper in Captain America #158. Peggy states that she learned Falcon’s address from a letter redirected to her home in Virginia, see Captain America #164 for the details on that.

6. It should be noted here, per Tales of Suspense #75, while Peggy fell in love with Captain America she doesn’t know his secret identity.

Topical References

• Yellow Claw is vague about the passage of time between his activities in the 1950s and this story. Which is just as well as the Sliding Timescale is such that the gulf of time between the 1950s and the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe will always be in a state of change. Click here for more.

• A newspaper headline reading “Nixon to Address Congress” should be considered topical.