Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #11
Hello? Hello? Send Some New Linoleum
Captain America has joined the Human Torch on a case to catch a criminal from his past. Along the way, Johnny Storm decides to tell Cap about the time, early in his career, that he fought an impostor posing as Captain America.[1]
This happened years earlier not long after the Fantastic Four were born. Johnny was attending a vintage car show. He attended because Captain America was being announced as a guest of honor. That was then robbed by a pair of crooks. When they escaped in a stolen antique racing car, Johnny flamed on and tried to follow them. Surprisingly, the man posing as Captain America leaped into action as well and took offense when Johnny tried to help.
Hearing all this now, the real Captain America is surprised that people thought the impostor was the real deal. Johnny points out that the public didn’t really know what happened to Cap at the end of the war.
Continuing his story, Johnny talks about how he took his bruised ego back to the home of his then girlfriend, Doris Evans, where he fumed over what happened.[3] Losing his temper, Johnny inadvertedly flamed on, burning the new linoleum flooring that Doris’ parents just installed in the home. Doris ordered him out of the house while she put in a call to get repairs done. At that same time, the Captain America impostor was breaking the two crooks he busted out of jail. As it turned out, they were working together. Spotting the police dragnet searching for the crooks, the Human Torch eventually found them and brought them to justice. Then, as a joke, Johnny segway’s his story to what the real Captain America was doing at that time. Since he was still frozen in ice, Steve doesn’t find this digression very funny.
Picking things up where he left off, Johnny talks about how the phony Captain America used the break-out to distract the cops so he could rob the local bank. Johnny chased the phony Captain America to his airship, then onto the street. When the Torch mentions how the impostor briefly doused his flame with a wet mob, the real Cap finds it actually funny and wants to hear it again. Ultimately, the crook trapped Johnny in trailer lined with fire proof material. Although the Torch couldn’t burn through it, he deduced that by increasing the temperature inside he could build up pressure until the trailer burst open. The gambit paid off and Johnny was able to catch the fake Captain America and finally unmask him.
That’s where the Torch pauses his story and Cap asks who his impostor really was. Since they have arrived at the location they were seeing, Johnny says that he’ll see. Entering a bank, they catch Johnny’s old foe the Acrobot trying to rob the safe.[4] Caught red handed, the Acrobat uses his skills to try and get away. Captain America asks the Torch to let him handle it and is able to toss his shield in such as way that it knocks the Acrobat in mid-air as he attempts to bound over a building. When the police finally come to arrest the Acrobat, Cap gets a closer look at the villain and can’t believe that anyone thought that he was the real Captain America. Johnny insists that the story he told was all true. However, Cap decides that he’ll only buy the story if Johnny tells him the part about the mop again.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Human Torch, Acrobat, (in flashback) Doris Evans
Continuity Notes
This is mostly faithful recounting of the story told in Strange Tales #114. Per the Marvel Chronology Project the present day events follow Captain America Annual 1999 for Cap and Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #23 for the Torch. Per the Sliding Timecale, the flashback takes place about 10 years prior to the main story. Johnny’s recounting of Strange Tales #114 are slightly different from how they were originally told, see below.
This flashback took place while the real Captain America, Steve Rogers, was still frozen in ice. He wouldn’t get freed until Avengers #4.
Back in those days Doris Evans was Johnny Storm’s steady girlfriend starting in Strange Tales #113. She had a very low tolerance for Johnny’s superhero antics and eventually dumped him when she had enough in Fantastic Four #45.
The Torch first fought the Acrobat in Strange Tales #106. After his appearance here the crook won’t be seen again until Avengers (vol. 7) #4.1
Topical References
Johnny points out that Captain America had been gone for years at the time his impostor showed up. How many years? Well that always changes due to the Sliding Timecale. As the Modern Age is bumped forward in time, the amount of years between the end of World War II and the start of the present day continues to increase.
The car that the crooks use as a getaway vehicle in the flashback is identified as a Ferrari. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world car manufacturer.
This story still has the Human Torch being trapped in a truck lined with asbestos. This should also be considered topical as the use of asbestos as fireproofing has been banned in the United States since 1989 due to the fact that its particles can cause cancer and has since been replaced with other, less carcinogenic flame proofing material.
Differences Between This Story and Strange Tales #114
This story adapts the events of Strange Tales #114. While there the two stories are nearly identical, there are some elements that have been changed. Some of the dialogue has been updated into a more modern vernacular and removing some of the date 60s slang of the original story.
The scene where Johnny complains to Doris about what happened is also slightly different. In the original story, Johnny still accidentally flames on causing it to steam. Johnny then runs to the sink to pour out the rest of the bottle, causing him to light the linoleum in the kitchen on fire. In the new version of the story, Johnny causes the soda to suddenly spray into Doris’ face and then tells him to get out of the house when he lights the lenolium on fire.
In the original story, the Human Torch chases the crooks in their getaway car and forces them to drive off the road into a nearby lake or river. When they try to swim away, he uses his flame powers to boil the water until they surrender. In the new version, he merely burns a hole through the roof of their getaway car and nabs them while they are still in the city.
The Acrobat’s escape ship has been updated for the times. In the original story it has a bunch of rotor blades and an escape pod that looks like early NASA space capsules. The new version of the story updates the escape ship. It has been made more science fictiony without looking dated.
The original story also features a scene of the fake Captain America getting his parachute caught on a massive windmill display advertising a movie. This scene is cut out all together.
The scene where Johnny gets hit with the wet mop is also longer in the original story. In that version of events, the fake Cap handcuffs Johnny and he has to get a store employee to line up a bunch of heaters to dry himself off enough to flame on and melt through the handcuffs.
I think the differences between tales can be explained away based on who is telling the tale. Strange Tales #114 was told by a third person narrator while these accounting of events are told by Johnny Storm himself. Johnny’s memories are going to be colored by his personality and experiences. People will frequently recount a story that presents themselves in a more positive light than what really happened. As such, the accounting of events are how Johnny Storm remembers them happening.
