Captain America #357
Night of Sin
While investigating the disappearance of Nancy Rosenthal, Captain America discovers that teenagers all over the state have gone missing. Transformed into a teenager by the Eternal named Sersi, Steve Rogers infiltrates a secret hate camp run by Mother Night and the Sisters of Sin. Caught snooping, Steve is forced to watch as another attendee — a girl named Jennifer — has her neck snapped before getting pummeled by the Sisters of Sin.
However, before Torso can land the killing blow, Sin begins arguing over the right to kill “Roger Grant”. The squabble is broken up by Malachi, Mother Night’s assistant. He decides to give “Roger” the right to choose who gets to kill him. Getting to his feet, Steve wants them all to attack him at once. Steve tries to hold his own, but his frail body is no match for the Sisters. However, much to his surprise, he begins to change back to his adult form 10 hours earlier than planned.
Realizing that they are fighting Captain America, the Sisters of Sin and Mother Night flee, leaving Malachi to finish him off.[1] Captain America easily defeats Malachi in a fist fight. He then checks on Jennifer and is relieved to see that she is still alive, her neck snapping only an illusion of Hoodwink. He quickly unties Jennifer and tells her to call the police.
Cap then goes after Mother Night and the Sisters of Sin and discovers the camp in utter chaos as the children begin to panic without Mother Night’s guidance. Cap catches his foes trying to make their escape on a school bus and confronts Mother Night. She plunges the immediate area in pitch black and begins to mock Captain America — taking great joy in twisting the minds of the youth. However, this backfires on her as the sound of her voice allows Captain America to grab her by the throat and choke her into unconsciousness. With Mother Night defeated, he tells the children not to give in to hate.
Soon, the police arrive and arrest Mother Night and Malachi. Unfortunately, the Sisters of Sin managed to escape in the confusion. On top of this, Steve was unable to find any information on Nancy Rosenthal. When he reports back to Bernie, he learns that Nancy is safe and sound. As it turns out she and her boyfriend went out to follow their favorite band on tour and neglected to tell anybody. Steve is relieved, but is also glad he looked into this case, otherwise he would never have uncovered Mother Night’s operation.
Still, he doesn’t understand why he reverted back to his proper age in the final battle and brings it up when he meets with Sersi over dinner. She reveals that when she used her powers to reduce his age, she secretly put a failsafe in place that would cause him to return to normal once he took enough of a beating. Steve is thankful for her assistance and asks how he can repay her. Sersi responds by playing footsies under the table and telling him that they could think of something, causing Steve to blush.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Mother Night, Sisters of Sin (Sin, Torso, Raunch, Slash, Hoodwink), Malachi, Bernie Rosenthal, Sersi,
Continuity Notes
Here, Captain America recognizes Mother Night and Malachi as Suprema and Scarbo, whom he fought back in Captain America #124.
Topical References
Bernie states that Nancy and her boyfriend went to follow the Grateful Dead on tour. This should be considered a topical reference as the group broke up in 1995 after the death of their front man, Jerry Garcia.
The Bloodstone Hunt: Prologue
Batroc’s Brigade breaks into the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Once inside, the trio find what they are looking for a wooden shipping crate thick with dust. On the way out, they are caught by the night watchman. Zaran and Machete take him out, but Batroc insists on sparing his life.
They then load the crate into a moving truck and drive to a nearby funeral home operating as the hideout for Baron Zemo.[1] When he opens the crate, Batroc and his men are shocked to discover that it only contains a dusty old skeleton and wonder why its so important. Zemo leaves it up to a clairvoyant named Tristram Micawber to explain this to them.
Micawber tells Batroc and his crew that these are the remains of a man named Ulysses Bloodstone, the famous monster hunter and goes into his life story. Bloodstone was born centuries ago during the dawn of man. While on a hunt he witnessed an meteor fall to the sky and went to investigate. There he saw an alien creature and his massive star-born gemstone. Seeing it as a threat, the caveman attacked the gem with his spear causing it to shatter and embed a fragment in his chest. This gem fragment, dubbed the Bloodstone, made the caveman immortal.
Eventually calling himself Ulysses Bloodstone, the warrior became a world renown monster hunter in the centuries since. A few years back, Bloodstone drew the attention of an organization called the Conspiracy who sought to claim the Bloodstone for themselves. Capturing Bloodstone, they surgically removed the gem. With the power of the stone, the members of the Conspiracy were merged together into a crystalline creature. Rapidly aging, Ulysses was able to shatter the monster, scattering Bloodstone fragments across the globe. He died shortly thereafter.[2]
As Tristram concludes his tale, Zemo explains that they are going to seek out the Bloodstone fragments, but won’t explain why. That’s when Zaran notices that someone is spying on them from the window. This turns out to be Diamondback and when she tries to escape she is quickly knocked out by Batroc and his crew. At a touch, Micawber is able to learn that she was spying on them because she overheard Batroc’s crew talking about this job at a local bar and decided to try and steal the Bloodstone fragments from them.
Zemo decides to deal with her later, but first he removes a section of Bloodstone’s ribcage where the gem once rested. Micawber is confident he can use it as a divining rod to locate the Bloodstone fragments. They then seal Diamondback in the wooden crate with the remains, intending to dispose of her while on route to their first location.
Recurring Characters
Diamondback, Baron Zemo, Batroc’s Brigade (Batroc, Zaran, Machete), Tristram Micawber, Bloodstone (corpse)
Continuity Notes
Zemo is depicted in a neckbrace here without explanation. During a siege of Avengers Mansion with the Masters of Evil, Baron Zemo fell off the roof and broke his neck. See Avengers #273-277.
Micawber’s tale is recounting the events of Marvel Presents #1-2 and Rampaging Hulk #1-6 and 8. Unidentified here, the alien that Bloodstone encountered centuries earlier was Ulluxy'l Kwan Tae Syn.
