Ex-Bucky vs. Ex-Captain America!

Jack Monroe, aka Nomad, has relocated to Los Angeles. Here he has hooked up with an information network called the Undergrounders who have been helping him get work in the city. Hearing that local mobsters are apparently gearing up to head to Las Vegas for a meeting with others in organized crime,[1] Jack has been staking out Los Angeles International Airport for confirmation.

It’s here that he is ambushed by US Agent, who has been recruited by the Commission on Superhuman Affairs to bring in Nomad.[2] At first Jack mistakes the Agent for his former partner Captain America, but quickly realizes who he is really up against. Monroe is aware of US Agent’s conservative leanings and is not a fan.[3] The fight is a tough one since US Agent has superhuman strength. However, Jack gets the advantage when he fires his shotgun — now loaded with blanks — beside the Agent’s head. The noise from the blast is enough to disorientate his attacker. With US Agent down for the count, Nomad flees the scene.

This is all watched by psychologist Andrea Sterman and SHIELD agent Jack Norris who have been assigned by the Commission to assist in the capture of Monroe. Norris decides to let Jack go since he has no interest in getting injured in a fight with him. When they help US Agent back to his feet, he and Norris almost get into a squabble before Andrea breaks it up so they can go back over their leads.

Meanwhile, Jack has retreated to Sunset Strip and gone to a local diner to check in with the Underground. Inside he meets with their leader a man known only as Horizon. He also meets with Legs, a local prostitute that got him the information on what was going down at LAX. Unfortunately, Jack was interrupted before he could get a better look. When Jack complains about this, the members of the Underground point out that all that they’ve heard from him is talk and little to prove that they should go out of their way to help him. Jack points out how he recently helped Legs and Pretty Boy — a male prostitute — out of some trouble recently. Horizon says a job here and there aren’t much when he should be making a career out of helping people. Jack has no interest in being a superhero anymore but promises he can do more for the Underground once he gets the feds off his back, all he needs is someone to help him put an end to the hunt. The Undergrounders agree to help out and Jack begins formulating his plan of attack.

At that same time, Andrea Sterman, Jack Norris, and John Walker are at a fancy restaurant in Malibu to meet with a SHIELD agent from the west coast who will help them while they are in town. This man turns out to be Jeremiah Albuquerque who only comes by to tell the trio to stop making noise on this assignment as they are making SHIELD look bad. The trio then hopes the man they got tailing Monroe has some results for them soon. That’s when they get a message from their tale. They meet up with him in a seedier part of Los Angeles and are told that Monroe just checked into a room at the Garrahy Hotel. After John changes into his US Agent costume the burst into room that Jack checked into. Inside they find a pair of decoys waiting for them in the bedroom distracting them long enough for Jack to get the drop on them from behind.

Nomad confronts them about hunting him down, believing that they have come to kill him. Norris insists that they are only supposed to be taking him in alive. Jack doesn’t buy it after his experiences being reconditioned by the government, he knows that the entire institution is rotten from the inside.[4] While Norris tries to relate to Jack, US Agent doesn’t like being criticized by someone like Jack and a fight breaks out between the two. Norris and Sterman try to stop the fight but Jack manages to nab the SHIELD agent’s gun and then Andrea and uses her as a hostage. With the situation in a stalemate, Jeremiah Albuquerque arrives on the scene and offers Nomad a job that will get the government off his back for good. In fact, Jeremiah wants Monroe to go after and eliminate one of his old foes: Ulysses X. Lugman, the Miami drug lord known as the Slug.[5] Even though Jack has sworn never to take a life again he has decided that this is well worth selling his soul for and agrees to take the job.

… This story continues in Daredevil #307.

Recurring Characters

Nomad, Bucky, Undergrounders (Horizon, Pretty Boy, Legs), US Agent, Andrea Sterman, SHIELD (Jack Norris)

Continuity Notes

1. This meeting of organized crime in Las Vegas is alluding to the Dead Man’s Hand event which will take place in Daredevil #307-309, Punisher War Journal #45-47, and Nomad (vol. 2) #4-6.

2. The CSA are furious that Jack interfered with their development of a new cybernetic weapon. See Nomad #1-4.

3. There are multiple mentions as to how US Agent and Nomad were formerly Captain America and Bucky respectively. The details:

   • John Walker because Captain America when Steve Rogers was ordered to start working for the government again or give up his identity. Rogers chose the latter in Captain America #332. Walker took up the mantle in the following issue but was terrible at the job. He gave the identity back to Rogers in issue #350. He was reinvented as the US Agent by the government in Captain America #354.

   • Jack teamed up with William Burnside to become the Captain America and Bucky of the 1950s. This was a period where the original Cap and Bucky were lost in 1945 and believed to be dead, as per Avengers #4. For Burnside and Monroe’s time as Cap and Bucky see Young Men #24-28, Captain America Comics #76-78, Men’s Adventures #26-28, and Captain America #155.

4. When Jack was thawed out circa Captain America #153-156 he ended up going into psychiatric care after he and Burnside were defeated by the original Captain America and Falcon. They at first were put into the care of Doctor Faustus, as explained in Captain America #236, where Burnside was manipulated into becoming the Neo-Nazi Grand Director while Jack was used as a pawn to push William over the edge. After Faustus was defeated, Jack was turned over to the government who worked with him until he was released circa Captain America #281.

5. Nomad previously went after the Slug and almost killed him had Captain America not stepped in to stop him. See Captain America #324-325.

Topical References

• Jack states that he has been in Los Angeles for about a month. Due to the time compression of the Sliding Timescale, this would actually be reduced to a week.

• Monroe also complains about how he should be at home watching “Leno”. This is in reference to The Tonight Show, a late night talk show which comedian Jay Leno hosted from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014. This should be considered a topical reference.

• When contemplating who sent US Agent after him, Jack figures it could be anybody, even K.C. and the Sunshine Band. This group of funk and disco musicians were incredibly popular in the 1970s. Although the band is still around its members are pushing into their 70s and probably won’t be around for much longer. It’s a topical reference because I had to tell you who they were, didn’t I?

• When commenting about the excesses of Los Angeles, Jack mentions “Miatas with car phones”. The Miata is a luxury sports car sold by Mazda. Back in the 90s you could get them outfitted with car phones. Both references should be considered topical as the Miata is a real world brand and car phones have long since become obsolete thanks to the advent of cell phones.

• Jack hangs out with the Undergrounders at Carney’s a real world restaurant that is located on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Its appearance here should be considered topical as it is a real world business. Starting in issue #8 the location is renamed Casey’s, likely for legal reasons.

• It is stated here that Horizon of the Underground came to Los Angeles to follow the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers originally formed in Brooklyn in 1883 but later moved to Los Angeles in 1958. This should be considered a topical reference as this would unnecessarily age Horizon due to the Sliding Timescale but also because the Dodgers are a real world baseball team. Modern readers should interpret Horizon coming to Los Angeles for baseball, just not for a specific event or real world team.

• Jeremiah Albuquerque is depicted lighting up a cigarette in the restaurant during his meeting with Sterman, Walker, and Norris. This should be considered a topical reference as indoor smoking was banned in the state of California in 1995.

• The trio are alerted of Monroe’s position via a pager. This should be considered a topical reference as pagers are more or less obsolete thanks to the proliferation of cell phones.

• When complaining about his government conditioning, Jack accuses them of teaching him “the world according to Nixon”, this is likely in reference to the fact that — publication wise — when Jack Monroe was brought back in the pages of Captain America #155 it was right around the time the Nixon administration was in the middle of the Watergate scandal. As such, this reference should be considered topical.