Randy Jackson reads Captain America

[Randy Jackson]

So yeah, another reading project. My Luke Cage project is nearing it's end, so I figured I'd start another.

As of right now, I'm not sure how far I'm going to go with this particular project. I'll definitely be covering Tales of Suspense #59-99. I may also cover guest appearances in other books that aren't named Avengers.

With that said, let's get this show on the road.

Tales of Suspense #59 - "Captain America!"
Cover Date: November 1964
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Captain America is stationed at Avengers Mansion awaiting any crisis situations. Jarvis leaves him a pot of coffee. As he  has little to do, he looks through one of his old scrapbooks.

Meanwhile, some mobsters are planning on taking on the Avengers. Their leader has two of them stretch a chain. To prove a  point, the leader--a guy named Bull--shatters the chain using karate! He explains that a chain can be broken if you find the  weakest link, and that link is Captain America, since he doesn't have any super powers.

At this point, a couple of the mobsters haul in Jarvis to ask him who's minding the store. Jarvis tells them it's no secret  that Captain America is there and that they could have found the information by using the telephone. Bull tells his men to  get their hardware as they're going to attack Captain America. They release Jarvis.

Back at the Mansion, Cap is looking through his scrapbook when he sees a photo of his former partner, Bucky. He feels pangs  of guilt. Suddenly he's attacked by the mobsters. They fight. The mobsters are well prepared, even having a man in an  armored suit. They get off a lucky shot (just a graze) while Cap is waiting for his magnetically attracted shield to return.   While he's knocked unconscious, they tie him up while they look for the Avengers safe.

They locate the safe and produce a torch to cut through the door. Cap regains consciousness at this point, and using the  heels of his boots--which are razor sharp--he cuts through his ropes. His feet are still tied, but Cap begins to fight  through the mobsters anyway until a stray flame from the torch cuts the rope around his legs free. The armored thugs grabs  Cap and boasts that he won't be able to break his grip. Cap breaks his grip and knocks him out.

At this point, the rest of the gang attacks. Cap recovers his shield, and despite all of them attacking at once holds his  own. The armored thug gets back in the fight, but can't touch Cap. Cap induces him to charge into a fireplace, knocking him  out again. Another thug plans to launch a sleep gas capsule. Cap blocks the gun barrel with his shield and forces the gas to   backfire.

Bull sends in his karate! team. However they're outmatched by Captain America. At this point, Bull charges and head-butts  Cap in the mid-section. He gets in another blow before Cap fights back, dropping Bull like a side of beef. He thanks the  thugs for livening up his evening and calls the police to pick them up.

My rating: 7/10

This is a good, if simplistic, reintroduction of the classic character in his first new solo story. Captain America has no  powers, but he's more than a match for as many criminals one can bring to an ambush. It's fun seeing Kirby allowed to draw  Cap as dynamically as possible, and the pacing is crisp and sharp.

There are some inconsistencies that are endemic to superhero stories however: why release Jarvis? If the thugs were willing  to attack Cap with guns before, why tie him up instead of shooting him? Also, why doesn't Bull ever get a last name?

All things being said, though, this is a solid effort.

[John Dunbar]

Randy, I added this but I'm not sure why you can't see it:

I agree with this review.  A great story, lots of action, which was nice to see after the Sleeper snoozefest.  Nice intro for Batroc.  I didn't miss George Tuska's art, as he didn't seem to mesh with Jack Kirby's layouts that well.  Dick Ayers, on the other hand, had inked a lot of Kirby's work, so I'm not surprised this issue looked so much better than the last few.

[Ronald Morgan]

I don't see anything either.

[Richard Willis]

Ditto.

If you are logged on to some other site (Yahoo, etc) you might be able to see it and someone who isn't wouldn't be able to.

[Randy Jackson]

Sorry John, I'm still not seeing anything. Is it a picture or something like that?

John Dunbar (the mod of maple) said:

Randy, I added this but I'm not sure why you can't see it:

[ClarkKent_DC]

I don't see anything either.

[John Dunbar]

Can you guys see it now?

John Dunbar (the mod of maple) said:

Randy Jackson said:

Tales of Suspense #75 - "30 Minutes to Live!"

Cover Date: March 1966

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

My rating: 9/10

Now this is more like it! Captain America shouldn't be battling giant robots, he should be fighting French mercenaries  attempting to steal secrets. Or something along those lines.

The comic may be just a tad padded out, but it's a good, exciting story hook, and I'm digging it. Also, full disclosure,  Batroc is one of my favorite villains (perhaps I'll do a favorite villains list some time) and it's nice to see a character  so well realized from his first appearance.

I agree with this review.  A great story, lots of action, which was nice to see after the Sleeper snoozefest.  Nice intro for Batroc.  I didn't miss George Tuska's art, as he didn't seem to mesh with Jack Kirby's layouts that well.  Dick Ayers, on the other hand, had inked a lot of Kirby's work, so I'm not surprised this issue looked so much better than the last few.

[Randy Jackson]

Yes, I can see it now. I don't know why we couldn't see it before.

[Ronald Morgan]

Doesn't work with gmail?

Tuska worked much better with Johnny Craig on Iron Man.

[John Dunbar]

Randy Jackson said:

Yes, I can see it now. I don't know why we couldn't see it before.

It has to be a glitch on my end, since more than one person couldn't see my original post entirely.  I think it has happened before when I cut and paste from someone else's post as opposed to using the reply function.

[Luke Blanchard]

Others have had similar issues in the past. Is it a browser thing? I can't see it in the first post but I can in the second. I use Explorer.

[John Dunbar]

I use Chrome.  I'm not savvy enough to pinpoint what the problem is or what caused it; I fixed it by clicking on the HTML button and deleting some things that seemed unnecessary.

[Ronald Morgan]

I use Internet Explorer. I'm not even sure what HTML is.