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The fourth volume of Silver Age Captain America features 11 issues, #’s 114-124. This would be a huge departure from the previous three volumes of Cap. Gone is legendary artist Jack Kirby, who packed his bag and headed over to DC. Steranko’s short but fantastic run on the title was also over. Of course, Stan Lee was still there to pen the character he first worked on as a 17 year old back in 1941. You may miss the art of Kirby and Steranko but the three artists whose work appears here are no slouches. John Romita and John Buscema handle art chores for an issue each until Gene Colan took over the title.
Spoilers Ahead
-Captain America #114- Steve walks around, lamenting his life, and actually walks away from Avengers Mansion. Cap goes to see Fury to look for Sharon Carter, who has been taken on an AIM cell all by herself. She figures what is the use because Cap is dead. Cap and Bucky (Rick Jones at this time, not Bucky Barnes), burst on the scene and Sharon is happy Cap is alive. The three of them have to deal with an AIM robot called the Walking Stiletto. Luckily they defeat him. Cap tells Sharon she should quit but Sharon refuses. Cap leaves and try to live his life with an alias but can’t go anywhere. He eventually finds a hotel and is shocked when Red Skull shows up with the cosmic cube! Romita’s art is fantastic on here, it just leaps off the page.
-Captain America #115- So Cap valiantly tries to stop the Skull but Skull, who has the cosmic cube, is near-invincible. Skull tells Cap how he got the cosmic cube back (he took it from the man who found it) and Skull really just toys with Cap this issue. He sends him to many different worlds until finally bringing him back. He finds the name of his one true love, Sharon Carter, and brings her to where they are battling. Of course, Skull has one other trick up his sleeve, switching places with Cap! It’s the ol’ Dr. Doom/Reed Richards switcharoo. Rick also looks for Cap this issue. John Buscema handled the art chores this issue and did a bang-up job.
-Captain America #116- Gene Colan takes over art duty for the rest of the collection. Cap (who has the mind of the Skull) sends Skull (whose mind is that of Cap) all over the country. Cap must deal with people shooting at him, since he looks like the Red Skull. He goes on a wild car chase and ends up at Avengers Mansion, trying to get help. The Avengers don’t believe he’s really Cap and quickly capture him. Skull, who is enjoying all that fame has to offer, sends Sharon to finish the job. Sharon is there and has the urge to kill Skull but can’t bring herself to do it. Skull has another plan, sending Cap to meet his demise at the hands of the Exiles. Rick still looks for Cap and puts out an alert to the Teen Brigade for help.
-Captain America #117- Cap ends up on the island where all the Exiles are and fights his way (with the help of a falcon flying around) past the Nazi’s. He escapes into the jungle and takes off the Skull mask, hiding his features with clay. He meets a villager there from Harlem and learns that the village there was very peaceful until the exiles arrived. He wants to rally the villagers but is having a hard time doing so. Cap learns he has an affinity for birds and the falcon was sent by him. Cap has a great idea, he puts Sam in a costume and the Falcon is born. Skull, meanwhile, is still relaxing and enjoying what he thinks if Cap’s death. He also turns away Rick when Rick meets him and Rick is heartbroken. We also see AIM developing a way to stop the Cube. If they can’t have it, no one can.
-Captain America #118- Cap trains Falcon in the ways of fighting. The both of them confront the Exiles and Falcon does an amazing job, easily defeating them. Skull is watching the whole thing from a distance and his plans of sullying Cap’s good name seem to be forgotten. Instead, he wants to finally defeat Cap and his new ally. Rick decides he’s had enough and he is done with the whole Bucky thing. We are told to check for his adventures in Captain Marvel. AIM, led by MODOK, is progressing with its plans to destroy the cube.
-Captain America #119- Skull summons Falcon and Cap to his castle in Germany for a final confrontation. Skull gets his identity back and Falcon finally realizes his ally is Captain America. The duo battle the near-invulnerable Skull and after being sent through hell and high water they get a break. Cap knocks the Cube out of Skull’s hands and they all try to reach it. Just at that moment MODOK and AIM neutralize the cube. It starts to crumble away and Skull grabs on, seemingly getting wasted away as well! Cap is victorious and he has a new ally with him, Falcon. That was a really good 5-part story, though I would’ve liked to see Skull tarnish Cap’s name a little more. So much could’ve been done with it. The story was very fun and entertaining and it did a great job introducing Falcon to the world.
-Captain America #120- Cap and Falcon part ways and Cap meets with Fury looking for (who else) Sharon Carter. Fury tells him she’s away but they test a new dream device on Cap that puts the image in his head of working at a college which Cap does. Cap gets there and sees the school is in an uprise, the students are riotous. It just shows that Marvel was writing with what was current for the time. Anyway, the dissenting student leader seemed to be egged on by two men and Cap finds this very mysterious. Eventually he finds out that it is an AIM plot to kidnap a noted physics professor there. Cap eventually stops AIM and the student they were egging on was actually hypnotized. All is back to normal at the college, but Cap turns down an offer to stay as an athletic instructor saying it would be too tough for him. Amen, Cap.
-Captain America #121- A crazed scientist that Cap put away in jail years ago comes back and he wants revenge. He gets some guy from the street to test his version of the super soldier serum and the man, who was already strong, got even stronger. The scientist, Cragg, sets up Cap at a charity event in an orphanage and this new behemoth, has the great name of Man-Brute. Man-Brute and Cap battle at the orphanage and Man-Brute almost defeats the star-spangled avenger until an orphan comes and tries to stop Man-Brute. For some reason, this causes Man-Brute to leave and confront Cragg. He tells Cragg that the orphan was his son and he doesn’t want to be a monster. Cragg ends up dead and Man-Brute disappears into the night.
-Captain America #122- Cap looks for Sharon Carter (as usual) but before he does that we get a great monologue from Cap saying that he may be a relic from the past. Anyway, he goes looking for Sharon who is about to bust another spy ring. Of course, the spy ring gets wind of this and hire muscle to take her out. It is Scorpion, making his first appearance since Spider-Man #20. Cap actually meets Scorpion while still in street clothes and Scorpion goes after Sharon. Scorpion doesn’t even get there before Cap and Scorpion have another tussle. Cap beats the discarded Spider-Man foe but leaves before Sharon can see him.
-Captain America #123- Cap battles Suprema, a woman who wants to run the underworld and become the Queen of Crime! She takes over a bunch of small rackets then goes for the big-time, SHIELD. She even does it, taking control of Fury and almost everyone else (except Cap). Cap soon realizes that they are using their jet (the Wolverine Jet) to hypnotize people. Cap easily puts an end to them.
-Captain America #124- Cap fights some AIM agents and somehow knows that MODOK is behind it, though they never revealed that MODOK is alive and the cause of the Cosmic Cube being destroyed. MODOK creates a cyborg to defeat Cap and sets a trap to snare him. Cap, who asked Sharon to stay out of active duty with SHIELD. Sharon agreed but when she goes out to try and help Cap, Cap gets mad and says he can’t trust SHIELD or Sharon.
-The Bottom Line- Gene Colan pens the foreword this time around, and it is really touching. Here’s a guy who really wanted to work on his own title and getting Cap was like a dream come true for him. The first issue is really just an action issue to identify the status quo after Steranko’s run but with the end of #114 we start with an epic storyline, one that would run from #’s 116-119 and features Cap battling his longtime nemesis, the Red Skull. It was a Marvel plot that had been seen before (switching minds with someone) but this was a little different than when it happened in FF #10. For one, it was much more drawn out and featured Cap going through a lot of different obstacles than Reed did. Also, no one even found out that Cap was not the real Cap. The only ones that knew were Cap and Skull himself, and maybe Falcon. The run also did a great job in phasing out Rick “Bucky” Jones, who was never a formidable hero, and bringing in Falcon, a strong African-American hero. Although Falcon leaves with the next issue, he was so entrenched in Cap’s life that by issue #134, Falcon would appear on the title with Cap, a team up that would span until issue #215. After that initial 5-parter, we see Cap battle a couple of villains with no real lasting stories. The social commentary of issue #120 was very good, and the other stories were very enjoyable for fight scenes. Let me just say that another reason to get this collection is to look at the fantastic covers of these issues. Romita’s version of #114 is just majestic and a rough color draft as well as the original pencils are included as extras. The Cap/Scorpion cover (#123) is also pretty cool. I don’t think it’s the best volume (that would be the last one) but it is really good. Recommended.
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