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Unbelievably, this is the 99th volume of Marvel Masterworks, and who else to honor than one of the originals, Captain America. The stories were different, the writing was different, the format was different, but the heart of the character is the same. A man who is for his country and will help her no matter what. I actually read all four of these already in a Cap trade paper back I have, but sans the non-Cap stories. See, back in the day, Martin Goodman wanted people to get their money’s worth, so there were 64 pages in these bad boys with about 5-6 stories in each comic. A little different than we see nowadays.
Spoilers Ahead
-Captain America Comics #5- The first Cap story features him battling an evil Nazi circus ringmaster who has already killed two generals. Outcome in question? No. Fun Story? Yes. The first story was the best, but the other Cap stories were pretty decent, too. We have Cap stopping an “Asiatic,” dragon that is actually a massive submarine, Cap stopping a Nazi group in the States, Cap stopping some ruby robbers (in the novellette), and Cap saving a war prisoner. A nice collection of five Cap stories, the most in this collection. Stan Lee writes, “Headline Hunter,” about a reporter who stops crime, there’s an odd Tuk, Caveboy story that was just a waste of space and thankfully the last we’ll see in Vol. 2, and Hurricane (son of Thor) stops some mobsters. All in all, a fun collection, with classic Cap stories. There’re some great ads for All-Winners #1, Sentinel of Liberty memberships and Marvel Comics #21.
-Captain America Comics #6- Cap battles a whole horde of oddities here, all in the name of stopping Nazism and promoting patriotism. He has to stop a photographer who kills people with his camera, another Asiatic named Fang (who is perhaps a terribly un-PC stereotype of an Asian), a hangman in a good little mystery, and in the novellette a former foe, who I don’t remember if he was in Vol. 1. Stan Lee creates a new hero called Father Time, who parades around with a scythe to combat mobsters after his father is killed. Headline Hunter makes his second appearance, stopping another Nazi threat, and finally Hurricane solves a murder mystery in an inn of sorts. Ads for Marvel Comics #23, 2 Sentinal of Liberty memberships add another dimension, as well as a full-page Cap’s Corner page with some games and a column from Cap and Bucky make this an entertaining issue.
-Captain America Comics #7- Red Skull returns with his pipes of peace. Wait, that’s a McCartney song. No, his music kills people. Cap stops him and Red Skull “drowns.” I don’t think that’ll be the end of him. There’s a real fun baseball story where someone named Toad (who looks similar to Batman) is killing ball players (for a team similar to the Dogers who play the Blue Sox) and it’s a nice little mystery/action tale. The novelette is just Cap introducing us to the characters featured in his mag. The final Cap story is another music one, where notes lead to a bomb exploding in notable senator’s radios. Cap stops this Nazi plot as well. Getting to non-Cap stories, Hurricane has a new sidekick named Speedy Scirggles and Hurricane takes down more mobsters. Headline Hunter stops a Nazi plot and Father Time stopped a counterfeiting chain. There’s some cool extras, too: An ad for Human Torch #4 and The Sentinals of Liberty Club News.
-Captain America Comics #8- This features a classic cover of Cap kicking in Hitler. Cap stops a plot by some joe to steal a ruby by dressing up as Ra in a well-paced 13 page story, and he stops a Nazi scheme to set up French and American soldiers in a fake battle but use real ammo leading to death and mistrust. Headlune Hunter interjects in the Cap festivities by stopping a Nazi plan to cause death by spraying their crops with poison. We get a cool Sentinels of Liberty Newsletter with a page of games. Cap returns with a fun witch story and protecting a girl from staying in a “haunted house” for three nights and the novelette features the Sentinels of Liberty stopping a gang of Nazi’s with Cap’s help. Hurricane and Speedy stop a Carnival of Crime, though probably not the same ones Cap dealt with already. Finally, Father Time stops a band of bank theives. One final ad for four Marvel comic books ( USA Comics #2, Marvel Comics #24, Mystic Comics #6, and All-Winners #2).
-The Bottom Line- I was actually kind of let down when I saw Roy Thomas did not write the introduction here. Gerard Jones wrote it, and it’s a basic history lesson of Marvel (Timely) around the early 1940’s. Since it is decades old, not too many “extras” are included either. There is a house ad from Sub-Mariner Comics #1 and Young Allies #2, but all of the ads from the original Cap comics as well as the Cap and Bucky newsletter was just fantastic. I recently finished the Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 2 collection and was pretty bored by it. I was expecting that same challenge to get through this but was very happy to find it wasn’t all that challanging at all. The stories flew by, especially the Cap (which took up a good portion of the comics) and after issue #5, the back-up characters were pretty good. They were one-dimensional, but told good tales. It really doesn’t get much better than this, based on the few Golden Age volumes I have read, and this was just a fun collection. It is really Simon and Kirby and even Lee at their Golden Age best and the tone and feel of these stories would influence what would come with superhero books some twenty years later. For a fun Cap collection, this is a winner.
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