{"id":21389,"date":"2019-12-29T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T08:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=21389"},"modified":"2019-12-28T09:22:14","modified_gmt":"2019-12-28T09:22:14","slug":"captain-america-epic-collection-1963-1967-captain-america-lives-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2019\/12\/29\/captain-america-epic-collection-1963-1967-captain-america-lives-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Captain America Epic Collection 1963-1967: Captain America Lives Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"
\nBy Stan Lee<\/strong>, Jack Kirby<\/strong>, Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Don Heck<\/strong>, Dick Ayers<\/strong>, George Tuska<\/strong>, John Romita<\/strong>, Gil Kane<\/strong>, Jack Sparling<\/strong> & various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-0-7851-8836-0 (TPB)<\/p>\n

During the natal years of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s Stan Lee & Jack Kirby opted to mimic the game-plan which had paid off so successfully for National\/DC Comics, albeit with mixed results. Beginning cautiously in 1956, Julie Schwartz had scored incredible, industry-altering hits by re-inventing the company’s Golden Age greats, so it seemed sensible to try and revive the characters that had dominated Timely\/Atlas in those halcyon days two decades previously.<\/p>\n

A new Human Torch<\/strong> had premiered as part of the revolutionary Fantastic Four<\/strong>, and in the fourth issue of that title the Sub-Mariner<\/strong> resurfaced after a 20-year amnesiac hiatus (everyone concerned had apparently forgotten the first abortive attempt to revive an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Atlas\u00e2\u20ac\u009d superhero line in the mid-1950s).<\/p>\n

The Torch was promptly given his own solo lead-feature in Strange Tales<\/strong> (from issue #101 on) where, eventually, the flaming teen fought a larcenous villain impersonating the nation’s greatest lost hero\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Strange Tales<\/strong> #114 changed the face of the Marvel Firmament forever. Written by Lee and illustrated by Kirby & Dick Ayers, it featured the return of the third of Timely Comics’ Golden Age Big Three<\/em> – or at least a devious simulation of him by the insidious Acrobat<\/em> – in a blockbusting battle entitled ‘The Human Torch meets\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Captain America!<\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s a quote from the last panel\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You guessed it! This story was really a test! To see if you too would like Captain America to Return! As usual, your letters will give us the answer!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/em>I guess we all know how that turned out?<\/p>\n

With reader-reaction strong, the real McCoy was promptly decanted in Avengers<\/strong> #4 and, after a captivating, centre-stage hogging run in that title, won his own series as half of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153split-book\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with fellow Avenger and patriotic barnstormer Iron Man<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This premiere Epic Collection – available as a blockbusting trade paperback and in assorted digital formats – assembles all those early appearances (Strange Tales<\/strong> #114, The<\/strong> Avengers<\/strong> #4 and Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #58-96, spanning November 1963 to December 1967) in chronological order and following the action-packed try-out reenergises the one and only original as the World’s Greatest Heroes return in their subsea vessel from a catastrophic clash with the Hulk<\/strong> and Sub-Mariner in abandoned World War II tunnels beneath the Rock of Gibraltar\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Inked by George Roussos, Avengers<\/strong> #4 was an epic landmark as Marvel’s greatest Golden Age sensation was revived for another increasingly war-torn era. ‘Captain America joins the Avengers!’<\/em> has everything that made the company’s early tales so fresh and vital. The majesty of a legendary warrior reborn in our time of greatest need: stark tragedy in the loss of his boon companion Bucky<\/em>, aliens, gangsters, antiheroes, subtle social commentary and – naturally – vast amounts of staggering Kirby Action.<\/p>\n

After his real resurrection in March 1964, Cap <\/strong>grew in popularity and was quickly awarded his own solo feature, sharingTales of Suspense<\/strong> with former teammate Iron Man <\/strong>(beginning with #59, cover-dated November 1964).<\/p>\n

Iron Man had monopolised the title since his own debut in #39, but ‘In Mortal Combat with Captain America’<\/em> (Lee, Don Heck & Ayers) featured an all-out scrap between the two heroes resulting from a clever impersonation by the evil Chameleon<\/em>. It was a taster for the next issue when Cap began his own solo adventures, dividing the monthly comic into an anthology featuring Marvel’s top patriotic paragons.<\/p>\n

Scripted by Lee and with the astoundingly prolific Kirby either pencilling or laying out each action-packed episode, the series grew in standing and stature until it became must-read entertainment for most comics fans.<\/p>\n

It began with eponymously initial outing ‘Captain America’<\/em>, illustrated by the staggeringly perfect team of Kirby & Chic Stone. The plot is non-existent, but what you do get is a phenomenal fight as an army of thugs invades Avengers Mansion because \u00e2\u20ac\u0153only the one without superpowers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is at home. They soon learn the folly of that misapprehension\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The next issue held more of the same, as ‘The Army of Assassins Strikes!’<\/em> on behalf of evil arch enemy Zemo<\/em> before ‘The Strength of the Sumo!’<\/em> proves insufficient after Cap invades Viet Nam to rescue a lost US airman. The Star-Spangled Swashbuckler then took on an entire prison to thwart a ‘Break-out in Cell Block 10!’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

After these gloriously simplistic romps the series took an abrupt turn and began telling tales set in World War II. ‘The Origin of Captain America’<\/em>, by Lee, Kirby & Frank Ray (AKA Frank Giacoia) recounts how patriotic, frail physical wreck Steve Rogers<\/em> is selected to be the guinea pig for an experimental super-soldier serum, only to have the scientist responsible die in his arms, cut down by a Nazi bullet.<\/p>\n

Now regarded as forever unique, he is given the task of becoming the fighting symbol and guardian of America, all while based as a regular soldier in a US boot camp. There he is accidentally unmasked by Camp Mascot Bucky Barnes<\/em>, who then blackmails the hero into making the kid his sidekick.<\/p>\n

The next issue (Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #64) kicked off a string of spectacular episodic thrillers adapted from Kirby and Joe Simon’s Golden Age classics with the heroes defeating Nazi spies Sando<\/em> and Omar<\/em> in ‘Among Us, Wreckers Dwell!’<\/em>before Chic Stone returned – as did Cap’s greatest foe for landmark saga ‘The Red Skull Strikes!’<\/em><\/p>\n

‘The Fantastic Origin of the Red Skull!’ <\/em>sends the series swinging into high gear – and original material – as sub-plots and characterisation are added to the all-out action and spectacle with the backstory of the most evil man on Earth revealed to a captive Sentinel of Liberty, after which ‘Lest Tyranny Triumph!’<\/em> and ‘The Sentinel and the Spy!’<\/em> (both inked by Giacoia) combine espionage and mad science with a plot to murder the head of Allied Command\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The All-American heroes stay in England for moody gothic suspense shocker ‘Midnight in Greymoor Castle!’<\/em> (illustrated by Ayers over Kirby’s layouts) before second chapter ‘If This be Treason!’<\/em> sees Golden Age and Buck Rogers<\/strong> newspaper strip artist George Tuska perform the same function. The final part – and last wartime operation – then reveals what happens ‘When You Lie Down with Dogs\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6!’<\/em> with Joe Sinnott inking a rousing conclusion to this frantic tale of traitors, madmen and terror-weapons.<\/p>\n

We return to the present for ToS<\/strong> #72 where Lee, Kirby & Tuska reveal that Cap has been telling war stories to his fellow Avengers for the last nine months. The reverie triggers a long dormant memory as ‘The Sleeper Shall Awake!’<\/em> kicks off a classic catastrophe romp as a Nazi super-robot activates 20 years after Germany’s defeat to exact a world-shattering vengeance.<\/p>\n

Continuing in ‘Where Walks the Sleeper!’<\/em> and concluding in ‘The Final Sleep!’<\/em>, this masterpiece of tense suspense perfectly demonstrates the indomitable nature of the perfect American hero.<\/p>\n

Dick Ayers returns with John Tartaglione inking ’30 Minutes to Live!’<\/em>: introducing both Gallic mercenary Batroc the Leaper<\/em> and a mysterious girl who would eventually become Cap’s long-term girl-friend: S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The taut 2-part countdown to disaster ends with ‘The Gladiator, The Girl and the Glory’<\/em>, illustrated by John Romita: the first tale with no artistic input from Kirby, although he did lay out the next issue (TOS<\/strong> #77) for Romita & Giacoia. ‘If a Hostage Should Die!’<\/em> again focuses on WWII, hinting at both a lost romance and tragedy to come.<\/p>\n

‘Them!’<\/em> sees Kirby take back the pencilling role and Giacoia assume a regular inking spot as the Star-Spangled Avenger teams with Nick Fury<\/em> in the first of many missions as a (more-or-less) Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s followed by ‘The Red Skull Lives!’<\/em> wherein the arch nemesis escapes from the grave to menace the Free World again. Initially aided by subversive technology group AIM<\/em>, he promptly steals their ultimate weapon in ‘He Who Holds the Cosmic Cube!’ <\/em>(inked by Heck), setting himself up as Emperor of Earth before his grip on omnipotence finally falters in ‘The Red Skull Supreme!’<\/em> (Giacoia inks).<\/p>\n

The dynamic dramas contained herein signalled increasingly closer links with parallel tales in other titles. Thus, with subversive science scoundrels AIM defeated by S.H.I.E.L.D. in Strange Tales<\/strong> ‘The Maddening Mystery of the Inconceivable Adaptoid!’<\/em> pits Cap against one last unsupervised experiment as their artificial warrior life-form – capable of becoming an exact duplicate of its victim – stalks Cap in a tale of vicious psychological warfare.<\/p>\n

Sadly, even masterfully manufactured mechanoids are apt to err and ‘Enter\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 The Tumbler!’<\/em> (inked by Ayers) sees a presumptuous wannabe attack the robot after it assumes the identity of our hero before ‘The Super-Adaptoid!’<\/em> completes an epic of breathtaking suspense and drama with the real McCoy fighting back to defeat all comers.<\/p>\n

Such eccentric cross-continuity capers would carry the company to market dominance in a few short years and become not the exception but the norm\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

‘The Blitzkrieg of Batroc!’<\/em> and ‘The Secret!’<\/em> return to the early, minimum-plot, all-action, overwhelming-odds yarns whilst ‘Wanted: Captain America’<\/em> (by Roy Thomas, Jack Sparling & Sinnott) offer a lacklustre interval involving a frame-up before Gil Kane takes his first run on the character with ‘If Bucky Lives\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6!’<\/em>, ‘Back from the Dead!’<\/em>, ‘\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6And Men Shall Call Him Traitor!’<\/em> and ‘The Last Defeat!’<\/em> (TOS<\/strong> #88-91, with the last two inked by Sinnott): a superb thriller of blackmail and betrayal starring the Red Skull.<\/p>\n

The fascist felon had baited a trap with a robotic facsimile of Cap’s dead partner, triggered it with super-hirelings Power Man<\/em> and the Swordsman<\/em> and then blackmailed the Star-Spangled Sentinel into betraying his country and stealing a new atomic submarine\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Kirby & Sinnott then detail ‘Before My Eyes Nick Fury Died!’<\/em>, ‘Into the Jaws of\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 AIM!’<\/em> and ‘If This Be\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Modok!’<\/em> as the Champion of Liberty battles a giant brain-being manufactured purely for killing\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

A portentous change of pace proceeds with the last two episodes in this volume as – in rapid succession – ‘A Time to Die\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 A Time to Live’<\/em> and ‘To Be Reborn!’ <\/em>see the eternal hero retire and reveal his secret identity, only to jump straight back into the saddle with S.H.I.E.L.D. for #97’s ‘And So It Begins\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6’<\/em> when a rash of would-be replacements provoke a campaign of opportunistic assassination attempts from the underworld<\/p>\n

Rounding out this patriotic bonanza is a brief gallery of original art pages by Kirby Ayers, Giacoia and Kane, taken from these tales of dauntless courage and unmatchable adventure: fast-paced and superbly illustrated, which rightly returned Captain America<\/strong> to the heights his Golden Age compatriots the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner never regained. They are pure escapist magic. Unmissable reading for the eternally young at heart and constantly thrill-seeking.
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 2019 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, George Tuska, John Romita, Gil Kane, Jack Sparling & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-0-7851-8836-0 (TPB) During the natal years of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s Stan Lee & Jack Kirby opted to mimic the game-plan which had paid off so successfully for National\/DC Comics, … <\/p>\n

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