Issue(s): Captain America #428, Captain America #429, Captain America #430
Cover Date: Jun-Aug 94
Title: Fighting Chance: "Policing the nation" / "The beaten path" / "Cop out"
Credits:
Mark Gruenwald - Writer
Dave Hoover - Penciler
Dan Bulanadi - Inker
Joe Andreani - Assistant Editor
Mike Rockwitz - Editor

Review/plot:
It turns out that Fighting Chance is subdivided into "trilogies", which i only realized when i got to the beginning of issue #430 and it said that it was the "conclusion to the second 'Fighting Chance' trilogy". These three issues are at least distinguished by being a continuing story. It all has very little to do with Cap losing his super-soldier serum, though.

Anyway... Americop!

He's in Maryland, and then Kentucky. In New York, Captain America and Diamondback are with Lt. Marcus Stone of Code Blue, interrogating Dead Ringer. Dead Ringer transforms into Snapdragon to demonstrate his power, which seems to confirm that Diamondback really killed her.

Dead Ringer tells Diamondback that he found Snapdragon's body in New Orleans (Diamondback killed her in Boca Caliente). Diamondback says she has to go there to investigate. Cap sends her there with Moonhunter. Cap then gets an alert from his network about a possible lead on the Super-Patriot, but it turns out to be Americop, who is now in Virginia.

They immediately get into a conflict when Americop tries to execute another of the gunrunners that he's stopped.

Cap's super-serum problems kick in. Cap would have been shot if the arrival of the real police didn't cause Americop to withdraw. Cap is then arrested (the fact that Super-Patriot has been attacking his good name is a factor in the arrest). Cap has to use his "one phone call" to get Peggy Carter to call Washington to have him released.

Meanwhile, Diamondback and Moonhunter come into contact with an Angela Golden who claims to have info on Sheoke Sanada (Snapdragon). She gasses them and takes them to Kono (one of Snapdragon's allies from Marvel Fanfare #10-13). He and Golden take turns interrogating them.

Golden will turn out to be Golddigger, a nondescript villain who's been appearing in the background of crowd scenes with Superia's Femizons. I kind of wonder if she was originally meant to be Laralie from the Fanfare story before it was realized that Laralie was already repurposed as Wrangler.

Americop is currently stopping some thugs from beating up people renting "fancy men" videos.

But when Cap gets out of the police station, he hears from Peggy that Diamondback is in trouble, so he gives up on Americop for now and goes to New Orleans.

Kono turns out to be Snapdragon's brother, and he and Golden are working for Damon Dran.

Damon Dran is the Indestructible Man, so it doesn't go well when Diamondback escapes and tries to take him hostage.

Cap arrives and finds Golddigger in a cell where Diamondback left her. Unsure of what's going on, he frees her and gets a knee to the nuts for his trouble.

I guess that chainmail only goes so far down.

Cap continues to fight her and a guy named Maynard (who seems to just be a generic goon).

Diamondback and Moonhunter fight Kono. Diamondback confesses that she killed Kono's sister, but it's as he's being knocked out so i don't know if he hears her. Diamondback also learns that Snapdragon's body was cremated. More of Dran's goons show up and knock out Diamondback and Moonhunter.

Cap gets away from Golddigger and Maynard, but then he runs into Americop, who happens to be on the trail of some missing children which has led to Dran's mansion.

Cap gets into another fight with Americop when he refuses to surrender because Dran has hostages. The distraction gives Diamondback another chance to escape, though. Americop, distracted by Dran's invulnerability, is knocked out by a gas grenade. Cap gets captured trying to rescue Moonhunter. Dran thinks he's got a client that will pay for Cap, but he has Americop unmasked. He's no one Dran or we recognize, but this is an opportunity to hear his background. Americop's real name is Bart Gallows. His last name is the same as Jake Gallows, aka Punisher 2099.

Diamondback makes it to Cap's skycycle and calls for help. Americop also escapes, but refuses to free Cap. Diamondback's help arrives in the form of the Black Widow.

They free Cap. Diamondback is upset that she's relegated to rescuing Moonhunter while Cap and the Widow go after Americop and Dran. Cap kicks himself for failing to escape on his own. Dran is an old Black Widow foe, but that's handled only in passing.

Cap and the Widow fail to stop Americop from blowing up the helicopter that Dran is trying to escape in. Dran of course survives (but maybe Golddigger dies? Unclear, and i don't really care). Cap haz a sad.

In short, Fighting Chance is less a storyline and more just a helpful way of designating the period where Cap's status quo isn't normal. Beyond that, Gruenwald continues to turn in "some generic but perfectly fine adventures".

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: As noted in the last entry, the interrogation of Dead Ringer doesn't have to take place directly after last issue. The fact that Americop is able to move so much around the country during the same period of time seems to confirm that.

References:

• Diamondback killed Snapdragon in Captain America #412.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Hasn't the chainmail always been intended to stop at the top of the stripes?

Betcha Maynard is one of the generic super-strength Power Broker goons Gru liked to throw in randomly - the lack of pants is consistent with all the wrestlers in that role...

It's hard to say, with Dave Hoover's art. Everyone looks like they're augmented.

I suppose Golddigger working for an ugly, wealthy supervillain is supposed to be a joke on her codename, but if so it's a pretty ugly joke.

-Or just comicbook synchronicity - pretty ugly?

I like Americop. I don't think Marvel really needed him at a time when they were publishing a million Punisher comics a month and when they just reintroduced a new Super Patriot, but he's got a very neat design with the blank mask, and the cop theme should allow for some good stories. I feel he's got potential.

Berend, Spencer introduced multiple Americops as part of a heavy-handed storyline about police brutality and racial profiling.

Americop's such a Judge Dredd ripoff he even has the "upper half of the face never revealed" thing!

Golddigger did not die - she turned up a couple of years ago in a Hawkeye story in a SOLO AVENGERS miniseries.

Its nice to see Americop stopping a gay bashing and recognizing hate crimes as part of his anti-crime agenda. Given that he also talks about "liberal judges" being too soft on crime, one could have assumed he would be the type to overlook that sort of thing. It makes him a bit better rounded than just another gun-toting anti-hero vigilante.

I have to wonder if Americop wasn't intended to look reminiscent of Epic Comics' Marshall Law.

That was my first thought too, he's like a cross between Marshall Law (appearance) and Judge Dredd (MO, personality).