Captain America Vol 1 247

Captain America #247
Previous Issue	Captain America #246
Next Issue	Captain America #248
Cover Date	July, 1980
Issue Details
Editor-in-Chief	Jim Shooter

1. "By the Dawn's Early Light!"
Appearances · Synopsis
Writer(s)	Roger Stern John Byrne
Penciler(s)	John Byrne
Inker(s)	Josef Rubinstein
Letterer(s)	Jim Novak
Editor(s)	Jim Salicrup

 I have no idea how many false memories they plugged into me. I pray I never find out. 

—Captain America

Appearing in "By the Dawn's Early Light!"

Featured Characters:

• ⏴ Captain America (Steve Rogers) ⏵ (Appears in flashback)

Supporting Characters:

• ⏴ Josh Cooper ⏵
• ⏴ Mike Farrell ⏵
• S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • ⏴ Dum-Dum Dugan ⏵
  • ⏴ Nick Fury ⏵

Antagonists:

• ⏴ Baron Wolfgang von Strucker ⏵ (Destruction) (Revealed to be an android)
• ⏴ Machinesmith (Sam Saxon) ⏵

Other Characters:

• National Security Council (Mentioned)
• Avengers (Mentioned)
• Bernie Rosenthal ⏵ (First appearance) (Cameo) (Unnamed)
• Hydra (Mentioned)
  • Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Mentioned) (Deceased)
• United States Army (Only in flashback)
  • ⏴ Gen. Chester Phillips ⏵ (Only in flashback)
• Invaders (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
• Nazis (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
  • Fifth Columnists (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
• Walter Rogers (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
• Mike Rogers (Mentioned)
• Grant Rogers (Mentioned)
• Elizabeth Rogers (Mentioned)
• ⏴ Magneto Android ⏵ (First appearance)
• Iron Man Android (First appearance)
• ⏴ Manipulator (Last appearance)
• Thing Android (First appearance)
• Spider-Man Android (First appearance)
• ⏴ Dragon Man ⏵ (Behind the scenes)

Races and Species:

• Humans (Main story and flashback)
• LMDs
• Androids
• Robots

Locations:

• United States of America (Main story and flashback)
  • New York
    • New York City
      • Brooklyn Bridge
      • Manhattan
        • Broadway, Uptown (Mentioned)
        • Midtown
          • S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
        • Lower East Side (Referenced)
      • Brooklyn
        • Brooklyn Heights
          • 569 Leaman Place
    • Ithaca
      • Maximum Security Prison (First appearance)
  • New Jersey
    • Fort Dix
• Pearl Harbor, Pacific Ocean (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
• Hydra Island, Pacific Ocean (Mentioned)
• Germany, Europe (Mentioned)
• Israel (Mentioned)

Items:

• Captain America's Uniform
• Captain America's Shield
• S.H.I.E.L.D. Uniforms
• Avengers Identicard
• Captain America's Triangular Shield
• Satan Claw

Vehicles:

• S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying Car

Synopsis for "By the Dawn's Early Light!"

As Captain America is own his way to meet up with Nick Fury, his alter ego's neighbor Joshua Cooper is trying to give him a letter but there is no answer and instead he goes off to meet someone. Meanwhile, Cap meets up with Dum Dum Dugan who wants to show him something, in order to help him get some answers about his past. At the same time, Fury commences a questioning with Baron Strucker in a maximum security prison but just after Dugan contacts Fury, Strucker manages to escape with an unconscious Fury. Later, Cap and Dugan are at an abandoned storage facility where Dugan presents Cap with a container containing Cap's possessions from the war, including his old journal and his first shield. The journal reveals that his memories about his past life before the Army were actually false, implanted by the Army so that Cap wouldn't reveal anything relevant to the Nazis if he were captured. Cap's real memories start to come back but Strucker crashes into the storage facility, driving Fury's flying car. After a battle with Dugan and Cap against Strucker (with Cap using his original shield and Dugan getting shot in the shoulder), Fury rolls out of the car, which has crashed. Fury throws Cap's current shield to him which Cap uses to defeat Strucker. However, Strucker explodes and it is revealed that he is in fact an android duplicate. Unknown to those present at the explosion, the Machinesmith had made the Strucker android and he is watching the group.

Notes

Chronology Notes

A flashback in this story affects the chronology of the following characters:

• ⏴ Captain America (Steve Rogers) ⏵

Continuity Notes

• This issue refutes a great deal of Captain America's origin from Steve Gerber's Captain America #255.

Publication Notes

• Cover art by Byrne and Rubinstein per signatures on original art.
• Plot by Stern and Byrne, script by Stern.
• This issue contains a letters page, Letters to the Living Legend. Letters are published from Carlos M. Ferdez and Dean Smith.
• As seen on page one, this issue is Story #LF-116.

Trivia

• The driver of a bus that Captain America rides the roof of is evidently meant to be Ralph Kramden, Jackie Gleason's character on the classic sitcom The Honeymooners. While he is not named in the course of the story, he is drawn in a manner meant to resemble Gleason, and a thought balloon from him declares that his wife Alice won't believe him after meeting the Captain.

See Also

• 3 image(s) from Captain America Vol 1 247
• 5 reprint(s) of Captain America Vol 1 247