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This is the debut of the Silver Age Captain America tales, beginning with his appearance in Tales of Suspense #59, where he started sharing the title with Iron Man. Cap was resurrected shortly before in Avengers #4 and was destined to get his own title back again. I guess the TOS tales were training wheels for the time when he could sustain his own title. This collection contains TOS #’s 59-81, with all of them written by Stan Lee and most of them drawn by the inimitable Jack Kirby.
Spoilers Ahead
-Tales of Suspense #59- This was reprinted somewhere recently, I just don’t remember where. Anyway, this is Cap’s first appearance in TOS and he would share the comic with Iron Man for 40 issues. To everything, a beginning. Cap has one of his first nights alone at the Avengers Mansion on duty when a gang of brutes break in. See, they want to steal the Avengers plans and all for a boatload of money. Cap is subdued but makes a fighting revival, taking out all of them in a great show of theatrics and fighting ability. Cap is victorious and we have set the tone for what these comics are meant to be, a fun romp where the protagonist takes on all comers and comes out on top. How could you hate the Kirby art? You can’t.
-Tales of Suspense #60- Cap is attacked by a group of villains Zemo put together including a man with a fist made of iron, who they call Iron Fist! Cap easily takes out these thugs at a demonstration where he showcases his fighting and Zemo is none too pleased.
-Tales of Suspense #61- Cap is in Vietnam taking out the Communist bastards, like he did during the Atlas Hero Days, and gets captured so he can help save a man whose brother saved him during WW2. Cap battles a sumo wrestler who is in charge over there, defeats him and then saves the man he wanted to. This was a by the numbers tale but the Kirby art saves this.
-Tales of Suspense #62- Cap is brought to a prison for a demonstration but is shocked when he is attacked and taken prisoner. It seems the prisoners have taken over and wanted Cap there for his magnetic shield to open a magnetic door. Of course, Cap doesn’t use that shield anymore, he escapes and battles a prison full of thugs before being victorious. This was a very similar story to #60, and I think the ideas were running thin on new Cap stories, so something different was planned for next issue.
-Tales of Suspense #63- Lee and Kirby had the wonderful idea that the Tales of Suspense stories featuring Captain America should take place in World War II. So Cap is firmly entrenched in WWII with Bucky as well starting from this issue, which retells his origin. We see Steve Rogers get the super-soldier serum from Dr. Erskine who is then killed, taking the serum with him. We are introduced to Bucky, the mascot at Fr. Lehigh. Cap and Bucky team up for the first time to take out some Nazi’s. It was a genuis idea to stage these issues in WWII as it was clear Lee and Kirby still had stories to tell from the Golden Age era of Captain America. Great story.
-Tales of Suspense #64- Cap and Bucky team up to battle a duo named Sando and Omar. They are stage magicians who show in a crystal ball acts of nazi terrorism which comes true. It seems that a female FBI agent (known as Agent 13) is tracking the duo as well. Omar was just a pawn but Sando is really a Nazi! Cap and Bucky, with the help of Agent 13 stop the Nazi terrorist and restore faith in the US troops. Another solid tale.
-Tales of Suspense #65- Red Skull makes what I believe is his first Silver Age appearance. Cap and Bucky investigate some high ranking officials being taken out and find that Red Skull is behind it. Rek Skull is in the US with a horde of goons that Cap busts up. Cap and Bucky finally come face to face with Skull and unmask him, revealing an aircraft tycoon we saw earlier in the tale. The false Skull escapes and Cap and Bucky vow to take him down.
-Tales of Suspense #66- This is a classic for Cap TOS stories. The story starts with Cap being in the clutches of the Red Skull. Skull tells of how he had a troubled life but when he was a bellboy he had a fateful meeting with Hitler, who recreated the man as evil personified. Cap tries his best to fight off the Skull and escape but fails, falling under the Skull’s command. Skull has a mission for Cap, to kill the Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies! Even 40 years later this is the definitive Red Skull origin tale.
-Tales of Suspense #67- Cap is still under Skull control and is sent on a mission to kill a high-ranking official. Bucky was also captured last issue and makes his escape this issue, following along the troops that Cap is with. Bucky is shocked that Cap stares right through him and is so under the mental command of Skull. The issue ends with Cap face to face with the commander. Cap can’t bring himself to shoot so one of the Nazi’s does it for him!
-Tales of Suspense #68- Cap finally breaks free of the Skull’s command and puts a whipping on the Nazi’s. Skull learned he has failed but sets into order an operation to steal a US weapon capable of ending the war. Skull has one of his men in prison implement the act and the Nazi manages to steal the top-secret weapon that makes things vanish! Cap must tackle this man and the weapon head on and finally comes through victoriously.
-Tales of Suspense #69- We meet a US traitor who turned to the Germans since he felt unappreciated. He has a new ray that can shrink Cap and Bucky and they attack an Allied base to lure out the two heroes. They only capture Bucky since Steve Rogers is away on a mission but Steve finds out and flies to the castle they are hidden to stop them. They show amazing depth to the scientist. He is a man with a metal arm due to a lab accident caused by his sister. The sister stays with him now out of regret for the accident. I liked the dichotomy between Steve Rogers the soldier and Cap the super-soldier. As a note, Kirby did the layouts with Ayers providing the finishes. The nighttime scenes were inked very well in this issue.
-Tales of Suspense #70- Cap breaks into the castle to save his friend and valiantly fights off the Nazi’s, even getting help from the scientists sister. Cap is overwhelmed and knocked out thanks to a gas. The Nazi’s have plans to kill Bucky and Cap, and the scientist’s sister to which he protests. The Nazi’s knock him over, showing their power, and tell the scientist that a rocket will be fired that blows up London and the home of Churchill! Again Kirby did the layouts for the issue but Golden Age legend George Tuska did a great job on the finishes.
-Tales of Suspense #71- So Cap has been captured. He wakes up and fights back, soon to be joined by Bucky. The two fight off the Nazi’s and try to prevent them from firing the missiles. The scientists sister gets involved and doesn’t make it out alive, she’s shot by a Nazi. The brother is heartbroken and finally realizes his mistake. He gives his life to stop the missile from its original target. He instead sends it on the troop Cap was with the last issue. The castle that housed the missile is destroyed as Cap and Bucky escape. Again this featured a Kirby/Tuska team-up on art.
-Tales of Suspense #72- We begin with Cap finishing the story of last issue that he’s been telling the Avengers. We are back in the present (as demanded by the fans according to Lee) as Cap remembers his old friends who are no longer with him. He then remembers a promise from the Red Skull, that twenty years after Cap took him out that he would activate three sleepers. Of course, that 20 years is now and the first is activated. Cap tries to stop the monsterous robotic behemoth but is powerless to do so. This is another Kirby/Tuska art team-up.
-Tales of Suspense #73- Cap tries to stop the first sleeper but cannot. The second sleeper is activated at the end. There was some good action but pretty by the numbers Cap story. Kirby/Tuska again on the art.
-Tales of Suspense #74- The final sleeper is activated and Cap finds out what the goal is. The three sleepers combine to for a flying bomb headed for the North Pole and intended to destroy the world! Cap takes a plane and lands on the sleeper and is able to destroy it before it can finish its intended goal. This was a satisfactory ending to the three-parter. This would be the last of the Kirby/Tuska combining on art.
-Tales of Suspense #75- Cap returns home from stopping the sleepers in time to meet an oddly familiar woman (perhaps Agent 13). She has a cylindric package that is stolen a man. That man then is attacked by a new villain, a leaping Frenchman named Batroc, the Leaper. Batroc takes the package, which is going to be used by a group in shadows. Of course, Batroc realizes he has the wrong package and goes after the woman, leading to a showdown between Cap and Batroc. When Batroc tells Cap what is in the package, an explosive new element, and that it may have been activated, Cap teams up with Batroc to find the package. Kirby did the layouts and Dick Ayers finished them up.
-Tales of Suspense #76- So the two have teamed up and they locate the package but Batroc attacks Cap and takes it away to the shadowed men. Cap follows him and tells him he has been tricked, its not he real element he had wanted. Cap defeats Batroc but Batroc manages to escape but the girl from last issue is in serious condition after what happened. We never learn who the people in shadows are (possibly Them, or AIM?) but the art, which was handled solo by John Romita was very good.
-Tales of Suspense #77- Kirby rejoins the title for layouts which Jazzy John finished up. This is a story about a woman Cap loved in WWII who was captured by the Nazi’s. Cap tries to save her but learns she was missing after an explosion. He is heartbroken. We do see that the girl survived and is just amnesiac. It’s a touching story which shows a true human side to Cap.
-Tales of Suspense #78- Kirby flies solo on art on here. Cap and Nick Fury team up to stop an android created by terrorist group THEM than can adapt to anything. Cap and Fury have trouble but they manage to stop the robot in less than ten pages. Fury throws Cap an A-1 Priority shield at the end of the issue. The terrorist group THEM was renamed AIM I believe, since they were dressed the same. Who can hate on a Fury/Cap team-up drawn by Kirby? No one!
-Tales of Suspense #79- Cap is attacked by three helmeted men but no one can see the men and they think Cap is going crazy! It all turns out that Red Skull, who is alive and well, is behind it. He has teamed up with AIM to destroy Cap once and for all. Cap has another run-in with a helmeted man which his doctor can’t see and finally another meeting where Cap takes the guy out and learns that the Skull is behind it. Cap is now on a mission to defeat his hated foe. This featured some top-notch Kirby art and the Cosmic Cube is first mentioned this issue.
-Tales of Suspense #80- Cap saves an AIM agent who is trying to escape and learns that the Skull has a new device called a Cosmic Cube which makes him extremely powerful. Cap heads out to stop Skull and the two battle. Cap gets the upper hand but is ultimately felled thanks to Skul; and the cosmic cube. Cap finally faces a foe who may be invicinible!
-Tales of Suspense #81- So Cap faces Red Skull, who has the all-powerful Cosmic Cube and Cap is thoroughly defeated. Cap decides to bow to the might of Red Skull, lulling him into a false sense of security and then knocks the Cube out of his hands! Red Skull dives in after the Cube and seems to drown in the rubble he caused. Well, I am going to go out on a ledge and say that is not the end of the Skull. I liked this three-part arc.
-The Bottom Line- Stan starts us off with a foreword where he basically tells us that ACTION as the name of the game when writing these books. He then just spends the rest of the time briefly talking about the stories involved. Each of these stories are very short, running about 11 pages on average, which make them a very quick read. Now, don’t confuse quantity with quality. Most of the stories were great, the same greatness that permeated through almost all of the Marvel titles at the time. The first few stories really showed Lee and Kirby trying to get a feel for the character again and trying to figure out which direction to lead the character. Once they hit the WWII era stories, they were off and running, knocking out one classic after another. Once they returned to the present I felt the tales got a bit weaker. Still, the old stories served a purpose. They reestablished Cap as a top-notch fighter and a man out of time and place and brought reintroduced us to villains like the Red Skull and back-up characters like Agent 13. Issues 63-71 represented the best run of the series but many of the ideas were fresh once they returned to the present. New and lasting characters like Batroc and the Cosmic Cube were introduced and AIM was made a real threat. This really is some history here. I mentioned before that at 10-11 pages it makes for some quick reading. That is the magic of these old silver age tales. Lee and Kirby were just such masters by this time that everything they touched was gold and this is no exception. I don’t think this is the ultimate in classic Cap (that would come when Kirby took over the solo title) but this is pretty damn close. High recommendation.
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