Captain America #420
Skull Sessions
After busting the Viper, Captain America learns the location of the Red Skull’s latest hideout. He takes this information to Nick Fury at SHIELD and Cap and Quasar launch a raid on the Red Skull’s Rocky Mountain estate.[1] While Fury and his agents deal with the armed guards, Cap presses into the chalet to try and nab the Red Skull before he can escape again. The Skull however is long gone and has left a decoy loaded with explosives. Realizing he has walked into a trap, Steve is able to leap out of harms way before the explosives go off. SHIELD quickly mops things up and Fury thanks Cap for his help.[2] Still upset that the Red Skull managed to escape, Fury offers up a tip they recently received, although it might be a hoax.
Later, in Los Angeles, the vigilante known as Blazing Skull is clashing with Digger of the Night Shift. Their fight is interrupted by Captain America who has come to investigate any possible connection between Blazing Skull and the Red Skull. Blazing Skull denies any connection between the two and is offended by the inference. This leads to the usual super-hero misunderstanding and fight. Their fight comes to an abrupt end when the other members of the Night Shift — Misfit, the Brothers Grimm, and Needle — come to the aid of their ally.[3] Captain America and Blazing Skull put aside their differences and work together to defeat the newcomers. By the time they have wrapped things up, Digger has recovered from Blazing Skull’s earlier ambush and, seeing how easily the pair beat his comrades, surrenders to them instantly.
In the aftermath of the fight, Captain America asks Blazing Skull if he has any connection with the hero of the same name from World War II.[4] Again, there is no known connection, with the new Blazing Skull explaining that his real name is a mercenary who spent time trapped in another dimension where he found a special belt that created a force field around him. However, the belt eventually malfunctioned turning him into the glowing skeleton he is now, since then he hooked up with Doctor Druid and helps the mystic investigate occult related crimes.[5] With the police arriving on the scene, Blazing Skull decides to go, leaving Cap to explain everything to the authorities.
Elsewhere, the Red Skull has relocated to a new hideout and is pleased to hear the phony tip about Blazing Skull sent Captain America on a wild goose chase. Still, he is impressed by Blazing Skull’s battle prowess and orders the Machinesmith to keep an eye on him as a potential new recruit.
Later, Captain America is heading back east when he is contacted by a man named Giscard Epurer. He tells him that his old friend Jack Monroe — aka Nomad — has been incarcerated at a mental institution run by Doctor Faustus and was wondering if Cap would be interested in getting the address.
… This story is continued in Nomad (vol. 2) #18.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Blazing Skull, SHIELD (Nick Fury), Quasar, Night Shift (Digger, Brothers Grimm, Needle, Misfit), Red Skull, Machinesmith, Giscard Epurer, Doctor Faustus, Nomad, Peggy Carter (voice)
Continuity Notes
Cap recalls how he was recently in this region looking for the Red Skull. That was in Captain America #410-411.
Fury offers both Cap and Quasar spots on SHIELD as they were previously affiliated with the agency:
Since being revived in the Modern Age, Captain America has been a SHIELD operative from Tales of Suspense #78 through Captain America #124.
Quasar was a member of SHIELD’s short-lived Super-Agents team. See Captain America #217-218, 228-230, Incredible Hulk #232, and Quasar #1-2.
Here it is mentioned that the Shroud used to keep the Night Shift on the straight and narrow. For a time, the Shroud posed as a criminal in order to take down organized crime from the inside out. To this end, he formed the Night Shift — a group of criminals he manipulated into thwarting other crooks. Around the time of this story, Shroud’s duplicity was revealed and he was subsequently kicked out of the Night Shift. See Captain America #320 and Avengers West Coast #76.
The original Blazing Skull was Mike Todd who started his career in World War II fighting Nazis (as all good heroes of the era did) in Mystic Comics #5. Captain America and Blazing Skull originally worked together in the Invaders, as seen in Invaders (vol. 2) #1-4. Todd will turn up in the Modern Age in Avengers (vol. 3) #82.
James Skully’s adventures in another dimension were chronicled in Skull the Slayer #1-8 and Marvel Two-In-One #35-36. He joined up with Doctor Druid’s Shock Troop in Quasar #45-46.
