Captain America (vol. 3) #30
Waste of Dreams
Sharon Carter had gone missing while on a mission to repatriate a talking dinosaur — whom she nicknamed Barney — to the Savage Land. When Captain America came looking for her, he learned of Stox a madman who has been causing hideous experiments on the locals. With Ka-Zar’s son Matthew Plunder, Cap tried to rescue Sharon and foil Stox’s plans. Stox turned out to be Count Nefaria, a long time enemy of the Avengers, who then captured Cap and Matthew.[1]
Now suspended over Nefaria’s lab in cages, Cap, Matthew and Sharon get an explanation from Barney himself, just before he undergoes more experimentation. Nefaria came to the Savage Land in order to genetically engineer a race of ionically powered creatures which he could use to feed off of and sustain his own ionic powers. To this end, he created the humanoid dinosaurs that serve as his loyal guard, as well as accelerate the aging of Ka-Zar and his family.[2] Barney was also experimented upon but was released before it was discovered the dinosaur developed the ability to think and speak at a human level. Seeking to find help for the people of the Savage Land, Barney found himself captured and imprisoned in Turkey until he was rescued by Sharon Carter and returned home. Since they were captured be Nefaria, it has been discovered that Barney was successfully transformed into an ionic being and now Nefaria wants to cut him up and find how.
Captain America chastises Nefaria for his barbaric practices.[3] With a massive serpent coiled around him, Cap struggles to get free. As he tries, Sharon uses the opportunity to start an argument with Steve over his coming here. Things are still raw between the two since Sharon ghosted on him.[4] However, their personal issues are sidelined when Nefaria’s doctor begins blasting Barney with some kind of ray. Needing to get free now, Rogers realizes that he has no time to be humane. With his free foot, he boots his shield with enough force to send it out of the cage and ricocheting across the room until it hits and knocks the ray blasting Barney aside. He then shatters the bottom of the cage with a powerful kick and lands in its path. As he planned, the serpent coiled around him takes the brunt of the blast, weakening it enough for Captain America to break free.
Cap recovers his shield and uses it to free Sharon and Matthew. As Nefaria flees the room, Steve goes after him. The chase leads them to a rope bridge that leads to Nefaria’s escape craft. When Captain America ambushes him, Nefaria uses a special ear piece to summon his craft to attack them from the air. This breaks the bridge and while they are struggling Steve removes the device Nefaria is using to mentally control the plane. While trying to get it back, the Count lose his grip and almost falls to his death. However, he is rescued in mid-air by Matthew Plunder who swings by on a vine. Matthew thinks a quick death is not good enough and vows to see Nefaria punished for his crimes.
Meanwhile, back in New York City, Connie Ferrari returns to her apartment after doing some shopping. She is thinking about her rocky relationship with Steve Rogers and, picking up a photo of her late brother, feels that David would have really liked Steve had he met him. Little does she know that SHIELD director Nick Fury is lurking just outside her window listening to her conversation.[5]
While at a secret facility run by Advance Idea Mechanics, the organization has successfully finished revitalizing a man who had received a prototype of the Super Soldier Serum before it was used to create Captain America.[6] Dubbing him Protocide, the AIM scientists have just finished mentally conditioning him to be loyal to them. After confirming that he will do as they say, the leader of AIM gives Protocide his first orders: Destroy Captain America!
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Sharon Carter, Matthew Plunder (clone), Count Nefaria, Nick Fury, Connie Ferrari, AIM, Protocide, Barney
Continuity Notes
Sharon has been on a mission to repatriate a talking dinosaur since Captain America (vol. 3) #20.
Ka-Zar, Shanna, and Matthew are all older than they should be. Matthew in particular, who appears as an adolescant, was born in Uncanny X-Men Annual #12. Per the Sliding Timescale, Matt was born almost 3 years prior to this story. It’s later revealed that these were actually clones of the Plunder family. See next issue for the details.
Captain America states that he has imprisoned ionically powered beings before. Nefaria used supervillains as his ionic batteries in Avengers #164-166 and drained the ionic powers from others like him in Iron Man (vol. 3) #1, 6, 16, and annual 1999.
Sharon ghosted on Steve when he said he was still in love with her in Captain America (vol. 3) #19.
As explained in Captain America (vol. 3) #20, Connie believes that her brother died after enlisting to the military and dying in a hazing ritual gone wrong. This was actually a cover story. In Captain America (vol. 3) #35-36 that he was secretly a SHIELD agent. After using an a bioweapon called the Omega Compound to destroy the enemy while on a mission, he was believed dead for years. However, he faked his death and has been secretly operating as the Answer and plotting to take over the world. See Captain America (vol. 3) #41-43.
As per Captain America Comics #1, the Super-Soldier Formula was famously lost when its inventor, Abraham Erskine, was killed by a Nazi spy. Although Steve has been commonly referred to as the "only” recipient of the formula, that’s not entirely true. The man found by AIM was a soldier named Clinton McIntyre. As will be revealed in Captain America Annual 2000, he was a rejected candidate due to not meeting the psychological profile. However, one of the military brass stole a second dose of the formula and gave it to McIntyre. However, this was only one part of a three part process, and without the other three components of the formula, Clinton went on an insane rampage until his heart gave out on him. The military then quickly covered it up and lost his body in a top secret storage facility. His body was recovered by AIM in issues #26-27.
Topical References
Sharon starts calling the Ankylosaurus “Barney” here. This is in reference to Barney the Dinosaur, the titular character of the children’s show Barney and Friends. It ran from 1992 to 2010. The series was at the height of its popularity, or infamy depending on how you looked at it. The series spawned a lot of Anti-Barney humor at the time that was so notable they made a documentary about it called I Love You, You Hate Me in 2022. At any rate, the connection between this Barney and the one that was part of the culture at the time should be considered topical.
Connie Ferrari is depicted returning home from a shopping trip with a bag from Saks Fifth Avenue. While Saks has been around since 1867, its depiction here should be considered topical as it is a real world business.
