Captain America #253
Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot
In a small village north of London, the police make a grisly discovery. A woman has been found completely drained of their blood. They call in Doctor Cromwell, the local doctor. He confirms that this is likely the work of a slasher who has been killing women in town for weeks. Cromwell reports this back to Lady Jacqueline Crichton, who promises to call in Scotland Yard. Cromwell then asks how her father, Lord Montgomery Falsworth is doing. She tells him that the medication her prescribed is working but he is stubborn than ever. Overhearing this Falsworth considers them fools as he knows that the murders are not the work of a serial killer, but proof that Baron Blood has returned. He believes that the only man who can stop this menace is a world away.[1]
Meanwhile, in the United States, Captain America stops a liquor store robbery before rushing off to meet up with Bernie Rosenthal as Steve Rogers. The pair go to see a stage performance of Oklahoma before returning to Steve’s apartment for some coffee. Bernie tries to get romantic but the mood is spoiled when Steve gets a call from the Avengers butler, Jarivs, who tells him Captain America received a coded message from Falsworth. Ending the call, Steve abruptly ends the evening, telling Bernie that he has to go to Britain right away. He then skirts around the reasons as he is not sure if he is ready to tell her about his double life. Taking a flight to the UK, Steve thing he has been contacted by Jacqueline Falsworth, thinks back to how he formed the Invaders and fought alongside Jackie when she became Spitfire as well as her father, Montgomery, who operated as the Union Jack.[2]
When he arrives at the Heathrow Airport, Steve gets past customs by flashing his Avengers priority card. He then takes a cab out to Falsworth Manor where he finds Jacqueline working in the garden. She is surprised by how much younger Steve still looks and he reminds her that he spent decades in suspended animation.[3] Inviting Steve inside for some tea, the two catch up with one another. Steve apologizes for not getting in touch sooner as he has had problems with his memory until recently.[4] Jacqueline has some tragic news to share, telling Steve that her brother Brian died in a car accident in 1956 and that she had married Lord Crichton, who passed away three years ago.[5] When Steve gets around to asking why Jackie called him, she reveals that she did not. That’s when Montgomery enters the room and tells Steve that he was the one who sent the letter, telling him that Baron Blood is back and he needs to be stopped. Jacqueline finds this preposterous, telling her father that the Baron’s remains are still being kept in the Tower of London following the vampire’s destruction during the war.[6] As the elderly Falsworth is taken away for his medication he warns Rogers that the only way to totally destroy a vampire is to decapitate it and bury the remains separately.
Even though Jacqueline doesn’t believe Baron Blood is back, Steve decides to look into it anyway just to be safe. He pays a visit to Doctor Cromwell and when Steve suggests that the town might be falling victim to a vampire, Cromwell gets deeply upset and insulted and tells Captain America to get out of his house. A police officer who accompanied Cap to see Cromwell apologizes for the doctor’s reaction. He explains that Cromwell fell victim to a vampire scare some years ago. Fearing that the new doctor from out of town was a vampire, the locals set his house on fire, accidentally killing his daughter and horribly burning Cromwell in the process.[7]
Cap is next taken to the Tower of London to inspect Baron Blood’s remains. They enter a room lined with garlic and crucifix that contains a coffin holding the Baron’s corpse. Opening the led of the coffin and examining the body, Captain America notes that it is not Baron Blood but the remains of a woman. To prove this, Cap pulls out the stake and nothing happens. While this proves that Baron Blood is back among the living, they have no idea how he pulled it off or where he might be hiding.
When Captain America returns to the Falsworth mansion, its just as Jacqueline’s son Kenneth has come home from school. He has come with his classmate, Joey Chapman, much to Jackie’s displeasure as she views Joey as beneath their station. When Montgomery asks Cap what he turned up, he confirms that Baron Blood managed to escape. Cap then goes into the study so he and Falsworth can make plans for Baron Blood, who is likely to strike the manor sometime soon.
Sure enough, Baron Blood arrives at the mansion in the dead of night and sneaks in through the window in the guest bedroom. There he finds Captain America seemingly fast asleep and prepares to break his neck. However, Cap was just pretending to sleep and knocks Blood away with his shield. As the two fight, Captain America tries to slow Baron Blood down with a necklace made out of garlic. Unfortunately, the vampire is more impervious to most weaknesses as he had been experimented upon by Nazi science. The commotion from the battle wakes up both Jacqueline and Kenneth who race into the hallway. They arrive just as Baron Blood hypnotizes Captain America and is preparing to bite his neck and drink his blood.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Baron Blood, Bernie Rosenthal, Jacqueline Crichton, Montgomery Falsworth, Kenneth Chrichton, Joey Chapman, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
There is a lot to unpack here all at once about the Falsworth family and Baron Blood. The details:
Montgomery Falsworth was the original Union Jack who fought in World War I and II, as detailed in Invaders #7. As the Sliding Timescale pushes the Modern Age forward in time it becomes increasingly impossible for Falsworth to still be alive in this story. See below for more details.
Jacquelin Crichton, nee Falsworth, is Montgomery’s daughter. She became the hero known as Spitfire after gaining superhuman powers when a blood transfusion from the android Human Torch interacted with a vampire bite in Invaders #11-12. Although not implicitly stated anywhere, presumably Jackie’s relative youth has something to do with the blood transfusion she received during the War. This is supported by the fact that after she received a second transfusion from the Torch in Namor the Sub-Mariner #12 caused her to de-age.
Baron Blood is a vampire so his perseverance should be obvious. His transformation into a vampire was chronicled in Invaders #8-9.
Lots of Invaders history on display here:
Steve recounts the formation of the Invaders and their first mission to England in Giant-Size Invaders #1 and Invaders #1-4.
The team first fought alongside the original Union Jack in Invaders #7. He retired from the role after he was crippled in issue #9. He was succeeded by his son Brain, who took on the mantle of Union Jack in Invaders #19.
Cap also recounts the various foes that the Invaders fought including Master Man (Giant-Size Invaders #1), the Blue Bullet (Invaders #11), the Face (Invaders #13), Agent Axis (Invaders Annual #1), Warrior Woman (Invaders #16), Asbestos Lady (Invaders #22), and the Scarlet Scarab (Invaders #23)
Captain America was put in suspended animation in 1945 and was revived in modern times by the Avengers in Avengers #4.
Here, Steve states that it was due to these memory problems that he did not recognize the Sub-Mariner when they met each other again in Avengers #4. The pair met as early as 1940, according to Captain America #423. Cap had issues with his memories until Captain America #247. The reason why the Sub-Mariner didn’t recognize Captain America is he had recovered from decades long amnesia, see Sub-Mariner #1 and Fantastic Four #4.
Brain’s funeral is depicted in Citizen V and the V-Battalion: The Everlasting #1. Union Jack #2 reveals that Lord Crichton’s first name is Cedric.
This story presents the idea that Baron Blood has been deceased since he got a stake through the heart during his battle with the Invaders in Invaders #39-41. However, he was revived multiple times thereafter having been seen in Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #3, Captain America (vol. 3) #20-21, Captain America #616, Invaders Now! #2, and Avengers: 1959 #2, 3, and 5. See below.
This turns out to be somewhat false. Next issue it is revealed that Cromwell was a minion of Dracula. Maintaining his cover after getting burned the real Cromwell would later free Baron Blood. Blood repaid this kindness by murdering the doctor and taking his place.
Topical References
Steve is depicted flying to England in a Concord jet. These super-sonic jets allowed for rapid travel across the ocean. They flew the air from 1973 until they were all retired in 2003. This was due to a combination of factors: (1) It was fucking expensive to fly (2) A Concord had crashed in the year 2000, killing everyone on board, and (3) 9/11 and the related downturn in air travel that followed. As such, the depiction of a Concord here should be considered topical.
It should also be pointed out that chairbacks on the plane are emblazoned with the insigniat for the British Aircraft Corporation, who developed the Concorde. That company went defunct in 1977, so the reference to BAC here was already dated when this comic was published in 1980.
How Can Monty Falsworth Still Be Alive?
Like many characters who were active during World War II, it becomes increasingly impossible for them to exist in the Modern Age without some means of prolonging ones lifespan through one means or another.
This is even more problematic from Falsworth, who was also depicted as being active during World War I. It is now utterly impossible for him to be alive in the Modern Age because of the Sliding Timescale. In real life, the last World War I veteran died in 2012.
In the Falsworth’s entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12 it states that “An exceptionally fit man despite his infirmity, Montgomery lived until the modern day…” Which would have been possible to believe when that handbook was published in 2009, but that’s not the case anymore almost a decade after the last World War I vet died.
Brain has a brother who is a vampire and a daughter whose life-span was (presumably) extended by android blood. His son got magic lightning powers after getting jolted by Mjolnir. The Falsworth is also later revealed to be involved with the V-Battalion a clandestine group that is closely affiliated with individuals who have access to technology that could slow the aging process. What I’m saying is that there are plenty of reasonable explanations.
The Conflicts Surrounding Baron Blood’s Wartime Death
As stated above, this story states that Baron Blood was not seen since his death at the hands of the Invaders circa 1942. However, subsequent stories have shown him active in the years following this apparent demise all the way up to at least 1959. In fact, a few of the characters in this story (particularly Captain America himself) were involved in or knew someone who was involved in these later conflicts that it seems impossible for them not to know that Baron Blood had returned at later dates.
Marvel has yet to explain this discrepancy. If I were to make a presumption, I think that Baron Blood’s later resurrections were kept secret from Montgomery. Given his obsession with Baron Blood in this story and his frail health, it would make sense that the rest of the family would keep the resurrection of Baron Blood a secret for his own health.
In the case of Captain America, we could use the faulty memory excuse given in this very story for a reason why he doesn’t remember his later encounters with Baron Blood or he is really good at reading the room and decided to keep his mouth shut given how obsessed Montgomery is.