Captain America #246
The Sins of the Fathers
Martin Harris, a member of the Board of Education of New York, is running for his life as he is chased down the street by a man in a costume. Unfortunately, he only makes it to a nearby alleyway where he pursuer catches up to him and beats him to death.
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, Steve Rogers is hard at work on a commercial art commission when he is visited by his neighbor, Josh Cooper. Cooper has had a rough week and needs someone to talk to. He tells Steve that he works for disabled children. It’s a tough but rewarding job but the kids they care for tend to have a high mortality rate. This was the case of Joey, a young boy under the care of Josh’s co-worker Larry. When the boy went into convulsions at school he was rushed to the hospital where he later died. This hit his father, Joe Smith, particularly hard because this was the latest in a long line of tough breaks for the man.
Josh thanks Steve for listening to him and the pair agree to go down to the Chamber Street Market to do some shopping. When police and ambulance crews go speeding by, Steve excuses himself so he can change into Captain America and see if there is anything he can do to help. Down the street, Cap learns that a man in a costume has gone on a rampage inside the Social Security Office. Captain America rushes inside and tries to stop the masked man, who displays super-human strength. In the ensuing battle, the assailant leaps out a window after trashing the billing computer, leaving Captain America to wonder why this man would trash an office and just leave. Meeting with Lieutenant Kris Keating outside, Cap also learns about the murder of Martin Harris.
Making a connection to Joe Smith, Steve Rogers returns home where he asks Josh more about Joey and his father. Josh tells Steve that Joe Smith was once a TV stuntman who briefly gained super-human strength during an on set accident and held his own against Spider-Man.[1] Although these super-powers wore off, it gave Joe a boost in his career and he made a decent living playing Crimson Bat, where he fell in love with Liz a script supervisor and they soon were married. However, after three years on the air, the Crimson Bat was canceled due to low ratings. By this time, Joe had been typecast and couldn’t find any decent work. He instead focused on raising his family and Liz soon gave birth to their son Joey. Unfortunately, Joey was born with disabilities and Joe blamed himself, fearing that his altered physiology might have done something to his son. Liz couldn’t handle the pressure of raising a disabled son and abruptly left Joe in the middle of the night, leaving him to raise his son alone with what little money he had left. Although doctors didn’t think Josh would live very long, Joe held onto the idea that one day his son would get better and figures that Joey’s death finally drove him crazy.
Steve puts together the final pieces, figuring that Joe’s powers have somehow returned and he is getting revenge against the people he blames for Joey’s death. He attacked Harris for signing off on budget cuts to special education and suspects that the man who denied his recent social security benefits will be his next target. This man is Larry Sawyer and Steve begins following him in the hopes of preventing Joe from killing again. Smith strikes as Steve and Sawyer are riding the subway. As Joe Smith smashes his way into the subway car, Steve slips away to change into Captain America. He then tries to stop Joe from throwing Larry from the train. He eventually gets through to Joe who breaks down in tears and collapses.
Later, as Joe is taken away in an ambulance, Captain America tells Larry Sawyer that what happened was a tragedy and people need to keep fighting these kind of injustices otherwise there will be no hope for anyone.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Joe Smith, Josh Cooper, Kris Keating
Continuity Notes
Joe Smith’s clash with Spider-Man happened way back in Amazing Spider-Man #38.
Topical References
The Social Security Office is depicted as having typewriters and a literal billing machine in its office. This should be considered topical since both of these machines have long since been replaced with computers.
The TV at Josh Cooper’s house is depicted as a CRT in a wood frame that has dials to change the channel. This technology is obsolete and should be considered topical as well.
Liz is called a “Script Girl” here, which is a dated term for a Script Supervisor. The old title derived from the fact that this role was usually given to a woman.
Joey is identified as “severely retarded” in this story, which is a dated medical term used to describe individuals with mental limitations due to disability.
