Captain America # 384: Lair of the Ice-Worm
Mark Gruenwald/Ron Lim/Danny Bulanadi/Joe Rosen/Steve Buccellato/Dan Slott/Ralph Macchio
April, 1991
Marvel
$1.00
Plot Highlights: Some testing and discussion of Captain America's physical condition. A trip to discover the identity of a man frozen in ice, leading to an encounter with a giant ice-worm.
I collected Captain America consecutively from # 357-390, plus the odd issue since, and I still have them. Even if I had not been buying Captain America regularly around the time that this issue came out, I'm sure that, upon seeing this cover, I would have grabbed this one for purchase immediately. Captain America, and an implied team-up with Iceman, against a giant ice monster? Who could resist that?!
When I first read and collected comics I relished appearances by Iceman, which probably developed from the old Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon. I loved his mastery over ice and the way he could slide all over the place on his self-generated ice sheets. I always found him a highly useful and potentially iconic super-hero, and I never understood why he wasn't in the kind of serious demand that Spider-Man and Wolverine were.
It is said that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. That is where the catch with this issue comes into play. That other guy on the cover is not Iceman. He's Jack Frost. And when I was looking through my back issues recently, I was fooled all over again, astounded that I had completely forgotten about an issue with Captain America and Iceman, which, of course, never actually existed. But that still leaves me with Captain America and a man with at least some Iceman like powers against a giant ice monster. Two out of three isn't bad, and this is more like 2.7 out of 3.
Speaking with his doctor, Cap learns the Super Soldier Serum has some viral properties. Having returned to normal since transfusing out and refusing to retake the serum, he doesn't actually need take the drug again as it will replicate itself in his system, as needed, as long as any trace remains. This, coupled with his achievements when at less than full Super Soldier strength, means he doesn't view himself as a drug addict, and that he sees Captain America as more himself than the serum.
By any standards, the serum is an amazing athletic performance booster. There would probably be a controversy if he tried to play any professional sport today, instead of soldiering and protecting the innocent. It should not really be any easier to rationalize getting to the top of any field, since he is aided by an unnatural process either way, but he may have his moment of relief here. Especially, considering he volunteered to take it so many years ago in order to join a war effort when he could have simply stayed out of danger completely. Regardless, it cannot be undone. It is essentially part of him now.
Let's face it though. If there existed a viral chemical that could transform people into Captain America like physical condition without consequences with one dose, it would be impossible to outlaw it. Nearly everyone would want it. And most of those people would not be as gracious with their enhanced abilities as Cap. He would probably just end up with more and tougher people to fight. The process that created Cap in WWII should have probably been rediscovered again by now though in the comics, if it hasn't been already, especially with some analysis of his blood to help things along.
Getting back to the story, when tabloid news of a man encased in ice reaches Cap, he sets out to find him and discover if he is one of his lost frozen partners.
I won't give away details of how Jack Frost enters the story. Just know there is eventually action and heroic, though perhaps hasty, self-sacrificial effort. Not bad at all.
The tale is complete in one issue and includes enough background and references to address most reader questions. Transporting Cap out of the city into an icy landscape with an epic creature and joining him up with another WWII era hero provides a unique change of pace. The beast overwhelms Cap's abilities, but he does not retreat from helping as best he can.
Ron Lim is one of the first artists that impressed me as I started reading comics, and I still enjoy it when he does something new, like Avengers Next which recently finished. These pages don't quite come alive for me now; I'm not sure why. The complex moves Cap and the worm make against each other here do look better with closer examination. Once the locations are set, close ups and speed lines are sometimes favored over backgrounds, but there are still details in what the artists choose to show.
How might Marvel deliver an adventure like this today? Even a slight increase in global temperatures could lessen places to roam for any giant ice-worms in more realistic modern comics settings, driving them into conflict with people. Meanwhile, all of Cap's old partners finally thaw out to help combat the new threats.
Maybe someday soon Marvel will revive Jack Frost since Iceman, possessing powers that most writers and artists would probably not mind using in their stories, is so limited from attaining true star power by appearing only with the X-Men.
This is a cool back issue to pick up. Enjoy.
"Don't look at me; I'm hideous!"
