Every installment of I Love Ya But You’re Strange I spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories. Here is the archive of all the installments of this feature. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have a suggestion for a future installment!
Today, based on a suggestion from reader Steve M., we take a look at a storyline where Captain America had to date two sisters at the same time...
As established in this old Abandoned an' Forsaked, after Stan Lee established that Cap's first girlfriend of the Silver Age, SHIELD agent Sharon Carter, was the younger sister of Cap's French Resistance girlfriend during World War II (which, of course, based on old Captain America comics where he was dating someone else in the United States, would mean Cap was two-timing back then, as well) that plot was pretty much dropped entirely until Steve Englehart picked it up in a big way in Captain America #161-162 (Sal Buscema was the regular penciler on the title at the time), where we learn that Peggy has been out of it entirely for the last twenty-plus years...
But now she's back, but a "woman out of time" herself, as she doesn't remember any of the past twenty years, including aging.
So Sharon and Cap decide for Cap to pretend to still be in love with Peggy, so as to let her ease into the fact that Sharon and Cap are now together...
This drama is spotlighted in Captain America #165, as Cap has to leave them to go do Cap-type stuff...
The next issue, he calls Sharon (a bit of a problem with this arc in general is that it really sidelines Sharon a lot - she's basically just a girlfriend waiting at home for Cap's call despite being a badass SHIELD agent herself) and he learns that Peggy has left Virginia...
She has traveled to New York to be with Cap!
Go to the next page to see the stakes escalate and see how Cap ultimately (poorly) resolves everything!
The hijinx are ramped up the next issue when SHARON then shows up in New York City!
Even as the famous Secret Empire story arc becomes a bigger deal in Captain America #169 (as the media is turned against Cap and as the media turns, so, too, does the attitude of the American public, including SHIELD), Cap still has to deal with the whole love triangle thing (in #168, Falcon had a good zinger along the lines of "We have so many things to worry about, and the thing that's getting you down is a love triangle?!")...
Peggy is not around during most of the Secret Empire arc, as things get really dire for Cap and the Falcon, but in the final issue, she shows up to save Cap, alongside her new SHIELD partner, Gabe Jones, as they had been assigned to infiltrate the Secret Empire, but even as they save Cap, the personal drama stuff continues...
Even the next issue, as Cap debates giving up his Captain America identity, he has to do it while only kissing Sharon while Peggy is out of the room...
So Cap gives up the identity, but then continues to date Sharon as Steve Rogers, while NOT TELLING PEGGY, so she thinks Cap has just vanished. It's a really weird scene, as shown here in Captain America #178...
So finally, in Cap #179, he ends it with Peggy, but in pretty much the worst way you could imagine...
Dang, Cap! What was even the point of this whole thing if THAT's how you're going to let her down?
He runs into her again in Cap #184, after he has returned to the Captain America identity, and he apologizes for being such a jerk to her, and the whole thing is now resolved...
That was one funny little storyline.
Thanks to Steve for suggesting it!
If YOU have a suggestion for a future edition of I Love Ya But You're Strange, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!