Nomad (comics)
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- For the Star Wars comic, see Nomad (Star Wars Tales).
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Nomad is the name of a number of superhero characters who have appeared in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Nomad name and costume was created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Sal Buscema as an alternate identity for the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, in Captain America #180 (December, 1974).
The identity was revived by writer J.M. DeMatteis for a minor character, ("Edward Felber"), in Captain America #261-263 (September - November, 1981). The same writer later gave the title to its best known claimant ("Jack Monroe") in Captain America #281 (May, 1983).
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[edit] Steve Rogers
The original Nomad is an alternate identity which Steve Rogers adopts after he abandons the Captain America costume and title.
In Captain America #180 (December, 1974) Rogers becomes disillusioned with the U.S. government when he discovers that a high ranking government official (heavily hinted to be the then President of the United States Richard Nixon) is the leader of the terrorist organization known as the Secret Empire.
Rogers then decides to abandon his patriotic Captain America identity in favor of the Nomad name (as it means "man without a country") adopting a new dark blue and yellow uniform with no patriotic markings on it at all.
This identity is shortlived, Rogers maintaining it for a mere four issues of the comic - up until Captain America #184 (April, 1975) in which he returns to the role of Captain America when he realizes that he could champion America's ideals without blindly supporting its government.
[edit] Edward Ferbel
Introduced in Captain America #261 (September, 1981), the second Nomad was Edward Ferbel, a shortlived character who is given the Nomad's costume and equipment by the Red Skull in an effort to discredit Captain America.
He is killed by an agent of the Skull, the "Ameridroid", in Captain America #263 (November, 1981). [1]
[edit] Jack Monroe
The third and best known Nomad is Jack Monroe, who was formerly known as the third Bucky. He was created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Sal Buscema in Captain America #153 (September, 1972).
A character with a complicated history, Monroe's origin involves a complex series of retcons (a comic book term for changes to previously established canon). Although the character's first real appearance is as "Bucky" in Captain America #153, the origin of the character, first revealed in Captain America #155 (again by Englehart and Buscema), identifies him as the "Bucky" that appeared in Captain America comics which were originally published in the 1950s.
When they were first published between 1953 and 1954 those Captain America stories, which were written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Mort Lawrence and John Romita, Sr., starred Steve Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes (the original Captain America and Bucky) and were clearly set in the 1950s, with the duo prominently battling communism and a communist Red Skull. However, when Lee revived the Captain America concept a second time in 1964 he chose to ignore his own previous stories. The character returned in Avengers #4 (March, 1964) in which it is revealed that the original Captain America has been in a state of suspended animation since a battle he fought near the close of World War II. The story also reveals that the original Bucky apparently perished in that battle.
The 1950s stories were thus considered outside of official canon until Englehart's 1972 Captain America storyline (#153-156; September - December, 1972), which attempted to resolve the discrepancy by showing how a teenager (Monroe is simply referred to as "Bucky" throughout, the name "Jack Monroe" was introduced in later stories) and an unnamed man (later known as "The Grand Director") had assumed both the public and private identities of the original Captain America and Bucky as part of a government sponsored program which planned to replace the lost heroes to combat the "red threat".
The origin story of the two characters is given in Captain America #155, which reveals how the two gain super-powers by injecting themselves with a "Super-Soldier Formula" that they find in old Nazi files. The formula initially grants them abilities similar to those of the original Captain America (Steve Rogers). However, the formula made no mention of the essential Vita-ray exposure portion of the treatment and the absence causes its effects to eventually give them psychotic symptoms. As a result, the two are arrested and put into suspended animation by government agents.
This complicated origin is the reason that some sources list Young Men #24 (December, 1953; the first appearance of the communist hunting Captain America and Bucky) as Monroe's first appearance, though in actuality the issue in question was originally intended to depict a different character (the original Bucky). A later story, What If Vol. 1 #4, (August, 1977), further complicates the Bucky history by introducing another "Bucky" (Fred Davis) that takes on the role in 1945, many years before Monroe assumes the title, which makes Monroe the third "Bucky" chronologically. The What If storylines, however, are considered (albeit, by very few) outside of canon.
In Captain America #153-156 "Bucky" and his partner are reawakened decades after being put in suspended animation. In their delusional state, the man and teenager who were the 1950s Captain America and Bucky attempt to kill the original Captain and his partner the Falcon. However they are eventually captured and returned to a state of suspended animation.
In Captain America #232- 236 (April - August, 1979) - by writers Roger McKenzie, Jim Shooter and Michael Fleisher and artist Sal Buscema, "Captain America" is revived and brainwashed by the psychologist Doctor Faustus into becoming the Neo-Nazi "Grand Director". Under Faustus' control "The Grand Director" shoots and apparently kills his former partner Bucky. At the storyline's conclusion Faustus and The Director are defeated by the original Captain America and Daredevil after which The Grand Director commits suicide.
Writer J.M. DeMatteis resurrected the "Bucky" character in Captain America #281 (May, 1983), which is the first comic that names him as "Jack Monroe". That story reveals Faustus had loaded the gun with blanks as he intended to use Monroe in a later plot which was never realised. Monroe, it is revealed, had subsequently gone into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and seemingly been cured of his psychotic symptoms. In the story the cured Monroe seeks out Steve Rogers, who then gives him his former Nomad identity in Captain America #282 (June, 1983) after Monroe helps him defeat the female terrorist known as Viper.
Nomad then becomes Captain America's partner for the next two years of published comics, most notably helping him defeat the Red Skull and Baron Zemo in DeMatteis' last storyline, a conflict in which the Red Skull seemingly perished (Captain America #298 - 300; October - December 1984). DeMatteis' successor as writer of the series, Mark Gruenwald, had Nomad end the partnership in Captain America #309 (September, 1985), after the character completes a successful solo mission apprehending the deranged Madcap.
However Gruenwald continued to feature the character in Captain America intermittently. In Captain America #324 -325 (December, 1986 - Januuary, 1987) Nomad is shown dismantling the Slug's criminal empire. Monroe returns again in Captain America #336 (December, 1987) after Steve Rogers is stripped of the Captain America identity by the Commission for Superhuman Activities. In a storyline which continues for over a year of Captain America stories (#336-350; December, 1987 - February, 1989) Rogers continues being a superhero under the identity of "The Captain" and, wearing a black version of his regular costume, he begins travelling the country fighting evil with a group of his former partners, including Nomad, Demolition Man and The Falcon. The group also includes Nomad's then-girlfriend, a neophyte adventurer who goes by the codename Vagabond. During this storyline Nomad is depicted as a tetchy and insolent character who takes an instant disliking to Demolition Man, a dislike which only increases when it becomes evident that Vagabond and Demolition Man are attracted to each other.
Nomad's membership of The Captain's group comes to an end after an episode involving the Serpent Society (Captain America #342; June, 1988). When a faction of the Society under the leadership of the terrorist known as Viper attempts to poison the Washington, DC water supply, The Captain and his team intervenes. During these events, Nomad, Vagabond, and Demolition Man are captured by The Commission and held in jail. The former Serpent Society leader known as Sidewinder uses his teleportation ability to enter the jail and free Diamondback, a Society member who has remained loyal to Sidewinder and helped The Captain fight Viper, and as a result was in jail, too. Sidewinder offers to free the other heroes imprisoned there, but Vagabond and Demolition Man turn him down, saying that they think it was wrong to flee the authorities. Nomad scoffs at this notion, and decides to leave the jail with Sidewinder and Diamondback. This incident ends his relationship with Vagabond. In Captain America #345 (September, 1988) The Captain approaches Nomad for help, but finds Nomad in a bar, drunk. Upon finding out Rogers plans to give himself up to the Commission, Nomad refuses to help him and the two men part on bad terms.
The character is next seen in the eight page story "Angel in the snow" in Marvel Comics Presents #14 (March, 1989), which was written by Fabian Nicieza, a writer who would go on to script most of the characters appearances in the following decade and a half. The story is followed up in a back up story in Captain America Annual #9 (1989), again written by Nicieza, in which Monroe discards his spandex outfit choosing to become an urban vigilante.
In 1990, Nomad starred in an eponymous four-issue miniseries, written by Nicieza and pencilled by James Fry III (November 1990 - February, 1991). In the story, Monroe kidnaps an infant girl from her drug addicted mother, naming her "Bucky". The Commission, allied with the military, sends Steve Rogers (by now restored to the Captain America role) to try and subdue Nomad and in a subsequent firefight Nomad kills several drug dealers and government officials.
A Nomad ongoing series was launched in 1992. Again written by Nicieza the series lasted 25 issues (May, 1992 - May, 1994) and featured artwork from several artists most notably Pat Olliffe. In the series Nomad spends some time on the road, dealing with problems not usually the purview of superheroes, such as AIDS, homelessness, and hate crimes.
At one point in the series Monroe spends an extended period in Los Angeles, California and in one issue (#9; January, 1993) Nicieza addresses the subject of the 1992 Los Angeles riots which had recently occurred when the story was first published. While in L.A. Nomad becomes loosely affiliated with the "Undergrounders", a network of prostitutes, petty thieves and con-artists. During this phase of his life, Nomad sheds much of his previous acerbic, self-destructive personality, and becomes a more laid-back, compassionate person. Later in the series Nomad realises that both he and/or Bucky could be infected with HIV, Bucky due to her parentage and Nomad due to his time receiving medical care from the Undergrounders. He has himself and Bucky tested but it is never revealed if either of them are infected.
One notable storyline in the title, ("Dead Man's Hand" a crossover with the Punisher War Journal and Daredevil series also being published at that time), sees Nomad teaming up with the Punisher, Daredevil and Deadpool against a coalition of criminal organizations. The title was also involved in the 1993 Infinity Crusade crossover, in which Nomad is shown among dozens of super-heroes who travel into outer space. Nomad doesn't do much in the series as he and Forge literally hang around for much of the story. In his own series, Nomad confronts an evil clone of Gambit, who had gotten lost on the way to the battles.
At the close of the Nomad ongoing series the character is believed dead after a confrontation with his old hometown's Nazi militia (Monroe's father had been a Nazi sympathizer during World War II) but he had been placed in suspended animation. An innocent bystander's body was used to replace his. In Thunderbolts #49 (April, 2001) that he was in fact placed in suspended animation and later revived by Henry Gyrich who brainwashed him and turned him into a new version of the Scourge character. As "Scourge", he battled the Thunderbolts, who eventually freed him from Gyrich's control (Thunderbolts #34-50; March, 2000 - May, 2001).
Monroe is next shown by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting in Captain America (vol. 5) #3 (April 2005) being shot dead by a mysterious assailant as he leaves a bar. Captain America (vol. 5) #7 (July, 2005) by Brubaker and artist John Paul Leon then recounts the events of the last few days of his life. In the story Monroe returns to his original Nomad costume and identity and begins to relapse into some psychotic episodes and symptoms. The original Bucky, now the cyborg "Winter Soldier", is ultimately revealed to be Monroe's assassin.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Monroe had essentially the same powers as the original Captain America, Steve Rogers. While his strength, endurance, reflexes, and agility were not beyond the limits of the human body, they were superior to that of any Olympic athlete who ever competed. Unfortunately, as a result of not going through the Vita-Ray process Monroe's transformation eventually drove him insane and gave him a form of cancer.
