Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #2 (Captain America story only)
Cover Date: Sep 89
Title: "Cold war"
Credits:
Al Milgrom - Writer
Al Milgrom - Penciler
Al Milgrom - Inker
Mike Rockwitz - Assistant Editor
Terry Kavanagh - Editor

Review/plot:
This is the second part of Al Milgrom's four part Fear Eater story that appears in the back of the first four issues of Marvel Comics Presents. In this one, the Fear Eater, who has come to Earth "recently" thanks to the Silver Surfer, targets Steve Rogers, who is in his The Captain persona.

Cap is helping out at a cryogenics lab that has gone haywire, freezing the workers. And he's fighting Cold War, an ice-based villain (is he the son of the Cold Warrior that fought 3-D Man?).

Luckily, Falcon has been giving Cap lessons in quipping.

Fear Eater does his thing, giving us a recap of Cap's past...

...and using the opportunity of frozen bodies to torment Cap with visions of Bucky's death and him getting frozen.

Cap of course overcomes his fear, because how else could it end?

Filler garbage.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: As Michael notes, Cap has the vibranium shield that he got in Captain America #342-344. That means this has to take place after Cap #344, since Cap is imprisoned after Captain America #345-347. That's somewhat annoying since it's thought that Cap remained in Washington DC between Cap #344-345, but obviously the person who thought that was mistaken. I've allowed a decent gap between the first part of this story and this part due to the Silver Surfer's busy schedule, but it gives time for Fear Eater to get acclimated to the new planet he's on and find the right victim.

References:

• The story of Cap getting frozen and then revived by the Avengers was shown in Avengers #4.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Because Cap has his vibranium shield in this story, it either has to take place between Captain America 344 and 345 or Captain America 348 and Avengers Annual 17. Sorry, but that makes the gap between this story and the Silver Surfer story even larger.
The dialogue makes clear Cold War isn't a villain- he's an innocent victim controlled by the Fear Eater's powers. I always wondered what happened to the poor guy.

LOL @ "filler garbage." How do you really feel?

Tsk, couldn't Cap just have been experimenting with decals on the adamantium shield he got from Stark?

Fine, i've moved this right before the final two parts of the story even though it interferes with Rockwell's speculation that Cap was in DC the whole time between Cap #344-345.

Yes, Captain, make reference to Jack Frost, the foe of Iron Man whom you never met, and not the Jack Frost who was a member of the Liberty Legion and fought alongside the Invaders in the war...

Probably meant to intentionally reinforce the idea that Cap spends/spent lots of time doing research and reading files on the Avengers database.

You've uploaded the 1st image of when Cap meets Cold War, twice.

Thanks, JSfan. Fixed it.