{"id":27283,"date":"2022-12-30T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T09:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27283"},"modified":"2022-12-29T18:47:12","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T18:47:12","slug":"mighty-marvel-masterworks-captain-america-volume-1-the-sentinel-of-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2022\/12\/30\/mighty-marvel-masterworks-captain-america-volume-1-the-sentinel-of-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"Mighty Marvel Masterworks Captain America volume 1: The Sentinel of Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Stan Lee<\/strong>, Jack Kirby<\/strong>, Dick Ayers<\/strong>, George Tuska<\/strong>, John Romita<\/strong> & various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-1302946159 (PB\/Digital edition)<\/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\u2019s 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 amnesiac Sub-Mariner<\/strong> resurfaced after a 20-year hiatus (everyone concerned had apparently forgotten the first abortive attempt to revive an \u201cAtlas\u201d 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 (in Strange Tales<\/strong> #114), the flaming kid fought a larcenous villain impersonating the nation\u2019s greatest lost hero\u2026<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a quote from the last panel\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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!\u201d <\/em>I guess we all know how that turned out\u2026<\/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 \u201csplit-book\u201d with fellow Avenger and patriotic barnstormer Iron Man<\/strong>, beginning with #59.<\/p>\n

This premiere Mighty Marvel Masterworks Cap collection assembles those early appearances from Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #59-77, spanning November 1964 to May 1966) in a cheap, kid-friendly edition that will charm and delight fans of all vintages\u2026<\/p>\n

Scripted throughout by Lee, it begins with eponymous opening outing \u2018Captain America<\/em>\u2019 – 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 \u201conly the one without superpowers\u201d is at home. They soon learn the folly of that misapprehension\u2026<\/p>\n

The next issue offered more of the same as \u2018The Army of Assassins Strikes!\u2019 <\/em>on behalf of evil arch enemy Baron<\/em> Zemo<\/em>, before \u2018The Strength of the Sumo!\u2019 <\/em>proves insufficient when Cap invades Viet Nam to rescue a lost US airman. Incidentally, that flyer was a black serviceman, signalling early on Kirby\u2019s resolve to break comic books\u2019 colour bar\u2026<\/p>\n

The Star-Spangled Swashbuckler then took on an entire prison to thwart a \u2018Break-out in Cell Block 10!\u2019<\/em>: a glorious action riot simply dripping with irony\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

After these simplistic romps, the series took an abrupt turn and began telling tales set in World War II. Crafted by Lee, Kirby & Frank Ray (AKA Frank Giacoia), \u2018The Origin of Captain America!\u2019<\/em> recounts how patriotic, frail physical wreck Steve Rogers<\/em> is selected to be guinea pig for an experimental super-soldier serum, only to have the scientist responsible cut down by a Nazi bullet and die in his arms…<\/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, cover-dated April) kicked off a string of spectacular episodic thrillers adapted from Kirby & Joe Simon\u2019s Golden Age run, with the flag-bedecked heroes defeating Nazi spies Sando<\/em> and Omar<\/em> in \u2018Among Us, Wreckers Dwell!\u2019 <\/em>before Chic Stone returned heralding Cap\u2019s greatest foe in landmark saga \u2018The Red Skull Strikes!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018The Fantastic Origin of the Red Skull!\u2019 <\/em>sends the series shooting into high gear – and original material – as sub-plots and characterisation are added to the ardent action and spectacle. At last we learn the backstory of the most evil man on Earth: revealed to a captive Sentinel of Liberty… Then \u2018Lest Tyranny Triumph!\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018The Sentinel and the Spy!\u2019<\/em> (both inked by Giacoia) combine espionage and mad science in a late-exposed plot to murder the head of Allied Command\u2026<\/p>\n

The All-American heroes stay in England for moody gothic suspense shocker \u2018Midnight in Greymoor Castle!\u2019 <\/em>(illustrated by Dick Ayers over Kirby\u2019s layouts) before second chapter \u2018If This be Treason!\u2019 <\/em>finds Golden Age veteran and contemporary Buck Rogers<\/strong> newspaper strip artist George Tuska perform the same function.<\/p>\n

The final part – and last wartime operation – then reveals what happens \u2018When You Lie Down with Dogs\u2026!\u2019 <\/em>with Joe Sinnott inking Tuska over Kirby\u2019s layouts to deliver a rousing conclusion to this frantic tale of traitors, madmen and terror-weapons.<\/p>\n

We return to the present – that\u2019s 1964 to you – ToS<\/strong> #72 where Lee, Kirby & Tuska reveal that Cap has been telling war stories to his fellow Avengers<\/strong> for our last nine months. The reverie triggers a long dormant memory when \u2018The Sleeper Shall Awake!\u2019, <\/em>kicking off a classic catastrophe countdown as a dormant Nazi super-robot activates 20 years after Germany\u2019s defeat, programmed to exact world-shattering vengeance.<\/p>\n

Continuing in \u2018Where Walks the Sleeper!\u2019 <\/em>and concluding in \u2018The Final Sleep!\u2019<\/em>, this masterpiece of tense suspense deftly demonstrates the indomitable nature of the perfect American hero.<\/p>\n

With John Tartaglione inking, Ayers returns to pencil Kirby\u2019s breakdown designs in \u201830 Minutes to Live!\u2019<\/em>: introducing both Gallic mercenary Batroc the Leaper<\/em> and a mysterious girl who would eventually become Cap\u2019s long-term girl-friend. In deference to the era\u2019s fascination with superspies, S.H.I.E.L.D. was rapidly gaining dominance throughout Marvel continuity and one of their best was Agent 13<\/em> – Sharon Carter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The taut 2-part countdown to disaster ends with \u2018The Gladiator, The Girl and the Glory!\u2019<\/em>, limned by John Romita: the first tale with no official artistic input from Kirby, although he did lay out the next issue (TOS<\/strong> #77) for Romita & Giacoia. \u2018If a Hostage Should Die!\u2019 <\/em>again focuses on WWII, hinting at both a lost romance and tragedy to come, and a possible connection between Agent 13 and the girl Steve Rogers lost in the dying days of war\u2026<\/p>\n

Rounding out this patriotic bonanza is a brief gallery of original art pages by Kirby, Stone & Ayers, taken from these tales of dauntless courage and unmatchable adventure.<\/p>\n

Fast-paced and superbly illustrated, these adventures introduced a new generation to Captain America<\/strong>, restoring the Sentinel of Liberty to the heights his Golden Age compatriots the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner never truly regained. These yarns are pure escapist magic: unmissable reading for the eternally young at heart and constantly thrill-seeking.
\n\u00a9 2022 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, George Tuska, John Romita & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-1302946159 (PB\/Digital edition) 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 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Mighty Marvel Masterworks Captain America volume 1: The Sentinel of Liberty”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[94,74,54,98,120,72,79,39,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avengers","category-captain-america","category-fantastic-four","category-hulk","category-iron-man","category-marvel-masters-masterworks","category-marvel-superheroes","category-spider-man","category-x-men"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-763","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27283"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27287,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27283\/revisions\/27287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}