Issue(s): Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #5,Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #6
Cover Date: Jan - Feb 99
Title: "Old Soldier" / "Iron Will"
Credits:
Mark Waid - Writer
Ron Garney - Penciler
Dan Green - Inker

Review/plot: Cap is dealing with having been in suspended animation since World War II. He is roaming his old neighborhood, looking at all the changes (the Brooklyn Dodger's stadium is demolished, vacant lots have been turned into superhighways), and basically just having trouble dealing.

Iron Man is with him, having second thoughts about allowing a glorified acrobat onto the Avengers.

Then, giant robots attack!!!! (These robots are related to a Gargantus that Iron Man recently fought, and are clearing the way for a space invasion.) Cap totally shows up Iron Man...

...especially when Iron Man gets hypnotized and is forced to attack Cap.

Cap manages to beat Iron Man, and when the robots try and hypnotize Cap, they can't because of his iron will and freedom-loving principles. Iron Man is duly chastised.

Might sound a little cheesy, and Cap's speech about freedom may feel a little corny, but it's quite a good story and an important bit of character development for both characters that was just barely touched on in the main Avengers series.

Garney's art is really nice. Fantastic action sequences.

Quality Rating: B+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Two separate stories run across issues five and six (kind of like a tribute to the split stories in Tales Of Suspense, maybe): this one with Cap and Iron Man, and another where Cap fights the Chameleon. The two stories don't take place at the same time, so i've had to split them up. This story takes place soon after Cap wakes up from suspended animation and was invited to join the Avengers. The entry for the Chameleon story is here.

References:

• Iron Man fought Gargantus in Tales Of Suspense #40.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? Y

My Reprint: N/A

I don't think this is a very good story, but I always loved the idea of Cap returning to New York "present day" and discovering his beloved Dodgers are now in LA. It is a perfect summary of all that he's lost. Great scene.

As the sliding timescale advances, the "man out of time" aspect of Cap gains power and becomes a defining trait.

I really liked this story myself. Iron Man at this point had been a superhero for a few months while to Cap he had just been fighting a war for four years. Iron Man stated that he would take it easy on the old guy. His next line was I'm lucky he didn't kill me.