Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #214850 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Synopsis
This graphic novel is a bumper reprint collection of the earliest Captain America comics. More of captain America's classic silver age adventures feature Hydra, the Trapster, Modok, and the origin of the Falcon, by legendary creators like Stan Lee, jack Kirby, Jim Steranko and gene Colan.

Customer Reviews

A great selection of Captain America stories!
So, do you want to see the Silver Age Captain America, that all-American, red-white-and-blue defender of justice? If so, then this book is for you! This book is a black-and-white reproduction of the Captain America stories from the comic books Tales of Suspense #59-99 and Captain America #100-102 (1964-68). As an added bonus, the final story of this book is a Golden Age blast from the past, Captain America and the Terror That Was Devil’s Island, from Captain America #10, which pits Cap and Bucky against an evil Vichy-appointed warden of Devil’s Island (1941!).

This is a great selection of Captain America stories! In this book you see Cap, Bucky, the Avengers, Nick Fury and others take on a host of bad-guys including the Nazis, the Viet Cong, Batroc the Leaper, Baron Zemo, and (of course) the infamous Red Skull. The action is great, and the stories are riveting!

Now, this book is just shy of being excellent, as these beautiful comics have all been reproduced in black-and-while. But, that said, it is a great book for anyone who loves Captain America, and the price is very reasonable. My son (now a Captain America fan!) and I both highly recommend this book to you.

Classic Sixties Comic
The art is fantastic, especially when it is Jack Kirby, whose art gets better the further you get into the book. The stories are a bit silly to start with no real depth, but after a few issues, the whole thing came together. The origin of Cap. America and then The Red Skull are especially good. If you like sixties Marvel like I do, you'll love this.

Marvel's embodiment of the American Ideal
Volume 1 & 2 cannot be reviewed separately as they seem to be classed as the same item so here's 2 for the price of 1.
Volume 1 is another classic Stan Lee and Jack Kirkby collection, there are some other artists like Gil Kane here but Kirby does the definitive 60's Captain America in my opinion. Starting at a time when Captain America was already an Avenger, it does not take long for his major WWII villains to surface first up is Baron Zemo. There is a recap of Cap's origin when Steve Rogers takes the super-soldier serum and witnesses the only scientist who can recreate it being killed by a Nazi spy. Having only his strength, his agility and the legendary red,white and blue shield in his favour.
There's flashback stories with Cap and his teenage partner Bucky Barnes taking on the Red Skull, Hitler's personal creation, and all manner of Naxi spies. The Skull is to play a very large part in Marvel history.
The first 3 Sleeper takes were a little weak but the artwork rescues them. Some of the WWII tales used the talents of George Tuska a 1940's comic artist who was to go on to greater success with Iron Man.
Back in the 1960's there are some great villains, Batroc the Leaper with his sense of gallic chivalry. The Super Adaptoid 3 parter featuring the Avengers is a great story. The Swordsman and Power Man are briefly encountered, as for the Master Planner, well least said..... It is when the Red Skull reappears that the stories really take off and Kirby's artwork is brilliant, especially the fourth Sleeper tale.
From being a loner Cap is reunited with a woman he thought he had lost in 1945 who is now working for SHIELD, she is only known as Agent 13. This provides cap with an inkling of a normal life as he was one of the few 1960's characters who were almost always in uniform. The love interest is hampered by both of them being dedicated to the fight against evil and they never really get together here, except in real Marvel action. They take on the hordes of AIM, MODOK, and a fake Baron Zemo as well as fighting alongside the Black Panther. SHIELD's involvement also ensures a fair amount of Nick Fury guest appearances.
These early tales were a marvelous mix of action and lots of gung ho flag waving.
This is a good start and although not all the artwork transfers to B&W crisply it is a superb buy. Captain America gets better in the years afterward but the Red Skull tales alone give this a 5 star valuation. The stories end with the Skull realising that the way to get to Cap is through Agent 13, what a great way to keep you wanting to read on.

Volume 2 - the first appearance of the Falcon.
Volume 1 was stunning, volume 2 just gets better.
Not only are there some great stories but Stan Lee doesn't forget to focus on Captain America's life out of costume. His on-off love story with Agent 13 (Sharon Carter), his isolation and his fear for those close to him as his real identity is publicly known lead to some great set-pieces including the Death of Captain America arc where he buries his Steve Rogers past.
Of course it is an action comic too and we get The Red Skull and the Exiles, Batroc with the Swordsman and the Living Laser, The Trapster, a couple of dodgy robots, the Red Skull again in a great story-line with the Cosmic Cube featuring Modok, The Scorpion and the Mandarin.
Captain America even takes on Marvel regular Rick jones as a partner, albeit briefly, in Bucky Barnes' old uniform and for those of us with great memories of the 1970's the Falcon appears.
Not forgetting some great clashes with Hydra and AIM where Shield take an active part, expecially the leader Nick Fury and Agent 13, leading to a great fall-out near the end of this volume. The Avengers make the odd appearances too.
It has social commentary on racism and poverty, we even have CA wondering whether his values are the right ones, it even includes Vietnam as a reminder of the stories real timelines. And what is even better is there are more fantastic tales to come.
The artwork is outstanding, but the standouts are Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko and Gene Colan although there is no duff artwork here. Steranko's individualistic page layouts are great even in black&white.
These are more than just costumed knockabout tales. These stories have stood the test of time and it is a pleasure to read them again almost 40 years on.