Captain America Comics #72

Aug 1

Aug 1 Captain America Comics #72

Murder In the Mind

John Dolan is an individual with a twisted mind that causes his face to become hideously paralysed with every bad thought he has. Convinced that the only career he could succeed at is one of crime, John ignores the please of his girlfriend Nancy Lowell to stay away from crime in order to make money so they can be married.

Not far away, Jeff Mace and Betsy Ross are meeting with Dr. Sigmund Adler whom they are asking to do a lecture on criminal psychology for the Lee School. Their meeting is interrupted when Betsy spots a man being robbed by John Dolan. The two rush downstairs but are too late to stop Dolan who flees the scene, they are soon met by Nancy who tells them that she tried to stop John. Slipping away, the pair change into Captain America and Golden Girl to try and chase after John. Cap corners John on the roof of a building, and the frightened criminal falls off, but his life is saved when a clothes line breaks his fall, but Captain America still catches him.

Joined by Golden Girl and Dr. Adler, Cap learns of John's situation and Dr. Adler offers to help. Returning to Adler's office, the doctor explains that he has developed a new method of hypnosis that actually places the minds of others into another human brain in order to cure them of mental illness. Using this ability, Adler transports himself, Captain America and Golden Girl into John's mind. Looking around the mind and it's various corners they are attacked by John's evil self, who is quickly subdued by Captain America. Surrendering, the Evil John agrees to show them around. He leads them around the scarier parts of John's mind, showing them his inferiority complex, claustrophobia, chamber of nightmares, and almost fools Golden Girl into falling into an area of nothingness.

Captain America then forces the Evil John to show them the root of John's problem. They are taken to John's subconscious where they learn that John felt as though his mother no longer loved him once his baby brother was born. Going deeper into John's memories, they are about to enter his darkest secrets when his evil self tries to stop Cap and the others from entering by pulling a gun. Cap easily disarms Evil John and enters the door. They see John's earliest crime and the cause of his psychological disfiguring: That he had stolen his mothers priceless broach and was caught and punished for it.

Having discovered the root of John's problem, Captain America, Golden Girl and Dr. Adler return to the real world to find that John has been cured and his face has returned to normal. John decides the best thing to do is to turn himself over to the authorities and pay his debt to society. As he is being taken away Nancy tells him that she will wait for him.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Golden Girl

Tricks of the Trickster

The Trickster and his men rob the First Merchants Bank and are able to escape the police thanks to a number of gadgets that the Trickster had rigged up: A truck with a built in catapult, an autogyro as well as a blimp that can disguise itself as a cloud.

With the authorities unable to capture the Trickster, Captain America is called in to capture the crook. Captain America then begins making a plan to lure the Trickster into a trap. Later, the Trickster reads about a shipment of gold being taken out of the National Bank and decides to rob it. He and his men use a steam shovel to smash through the bank wall and steal the safe. Having it driven away in a getaway car, the safe is then tossed into a manhole where the Trickster and his men are waiting in the sewers.

When they open the safe they are shocked to find that there is no gold, only Captain America hiding inside. Captain America then makes short work of the Trickster and his men before turning them over to the police.