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Captain America & The Falcon: Nomad 2007 (SC TPB) 200 pages

Written by Steve Englehart, with John Warner. Pencils by Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins, with Herb Trimpe. Inks by Vinnie Colletta, Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito, Joe Giella.
Colours: various. Letters: Artie Simek, Tom Orzechowski. Dave Hunt. Editor: Roy Thomas, Len Wein.

Reprinting: Captain America (1st series - Captain American & The Falcon on the covers) #177-186

Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

This follows immediately on the heels of the previous collection -- Secret Empire (reviewed below). And though it arises from the events depicted therein, it's enough of a separate arc that you don't have to have read that first book. But the set up is that after the events in Secret Empire (and the real life Watergate scandal), Cap's faith in America's institutions has been shattered and he renounces his Captain America identity.

While his erstwhile partner, The Falcon, continues fighting crime, Cap thinks he's comfortably retired to just being plain Steve Rogers. But the call to adventure is strong, and before too long he adopts the new alter ego of Nomad. Along the way there are various adventures and adversaries, as The Falcon must tackle an obscure X-Men foe, Lucifer, and Cap -- uh, Nomad -- takes on a re-formed Serpent Squad, now led by the ruthless former Madam Hydra, now calling herself Viper (as the Sub-Mariner says in a guest appearance: "Everything changes in this life"). But events force Steve to re-examine why he renounced his Cap identity, and to consider its repercussions (in a recurring sub-plot where various ill-equipped wannabes attempt to become the "new" Captain America), and so he reassumes his signature identity in time to battle his most notorious foe -- the ex-Nazi, the Red Skull!

And if that sounds like a lot, that's not even touching on the various character sub-plots and supporting cast relationships, or the philosophical ponderings and the blistering socio-political allusions.

The problem with a lot of TPBs culled from more recent comics is that they tend to either be a single plot, serialized over a few issues, or a bunch of unconnected adventures. But a collection like this boasts a wonderful complexity and richness. It's a story arc -- detailing Steve's renouncing his super hero life, adopting the new one as Nomad, and then returning to his Cap persona. As some letter writers commented at the time, they expected it to be a simple two or three issue gimmick...instead, it's seven issues before Steve re-dons his red, white and blue and writer Steve Englehart explores Steve's internal conflicts, both his pleasure at being free of the burden of being a "symbol"...and frustration that, without Cap's reputation, authorities treat the unknown Nomad as an amateur interloper (and some clever humour, like Nomad discovering the perils in wearing a cape!) Yet it's an epic comprised of various mini-arcs and adventures, so that it's zigging and zagging and isn't just one simple plot stretched out over multiple chapters.

It's rooted in its time and place...and I mean that in a good way. This was part of Englehart's attempt to deal with the shock to the American nervous system that was Watergate -- and, indeed, the turmoil of the times, from Vietnam to civil unrest. Even the Viper and her Serpent Squad are given a weird spin, as she presents herself as an urban revolutionary...and then you realize this was at a time when bombs were going off on campuses and newspapers were full of reports of quasi-cults and "liberation" groups. Viper also takes on a chilling prescience as her dialogue might also be lifted from the manifesto of a modern terrorist group, with her eager to die in the name of her cause. There are also attempts to deal with burgeoning Black Pride (with mixed results) and even suspiciously dated costume designs, with Nomad sporting a chest-displaying shirt.

Not being American myself, the archly jingoistic nature of (some) Cap stories can strike me as goofy, even uncomfortable. But it's in a saga like this that you begin to appreciate the point of the figure, as not just the character, but Englehart and his readers are themselves grappling with the chasm between the American Dream and American reality. Sure, the harping on the past as being a simpler, nobler time is just simple-minded and naive (the past...with its racial segregation, and Great Depression; heck, watch a movie like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and tell me people back then lived in blissful innocence).

Like with Secret Empire, Englehart is using his four colour heroics to try and tackle some pretty serious and heady themes, and maybe he pulls it off even better here, demonstrating perhaps a growing talent. The dialogue is a little more sure footed, the corny bits less common. The monologues and ruminations oft times genuinely intriguing and provocative. Granted, throughout Englehart's run, he had trouble really conveying a sense of true friendship between Cap and The Falcon, the latter a little too quick to angrily brush Steve off whenever they're going through a rough patch. One can also imagine there might have been a few raised eyebrows and protests with Englehart introducing a criminal background for The Falcon, since the "ex-con black man" seems a bit of an unfortunate cliche!

I had read a few of these issues as a kid, so there was an added resonance in re-reading these scenes, and seeing them -- finally -- in their proper context of the surrounding issues. In fact, one issue opens with Nomad standing before the Lincoln Memorial, and reflecting on a long ago speech Lincoln gave. In a subsequent issue, letter writer Ralph Macchio (who would go on to be a professional comics writer himself) comments how such a scene might be the first exposure a young kid might have to Lincoln and such themes. And he had no idea how right he was, because I'll admit, that scene has stayed with me for all these decades!

The first half of this collection is drawn by Sal Buscema, an artist with a clean, efficient style that tells the story well enough. I can be mixed on Sal in general, but I particularly liked his stuff here -- as I mentioned in my other review, maybe working on Cap inspired him. Then the reins are handed over to Frank Robbins. Robbins was arguably a bit of a polarizing figure in comics back then. A genuine old master (having being a successful comic strip artist decades earlier on Johnny Hazard and others), Robbins' art is a weird affair, with a raw, kinetic style, where bodies are almost literally flung across the pages, sometimes with limbs jutting out at impossible angles. It can be quite crude. Yet it can also be quite powerful and striking, telling the scenes with a dramatic impact, with a few scenes inparticular standing out as just a stunning display of narrative-in-pictures. There's something harsher, darker about Robbins' style that suits the progression of the themes as the issues themselves get grimmer. One can't help but think that with the return of the Red Skull, uttering his vile, racist epithets, or the poignant fate of Roscoe, Sal Buscema's cleaner style would've been less effective...even inappropriate.

And those interested in the evolution of creative types will recognize in the Red Skull issues echoes of Englehart's later semi-famous Joker story, with the Red Skull even adopting a "dust of death" similar to the Joker's "Joker venom". Of course, are we really supposed to believe the American economy can be destabilized simply by killing members of an economic think tank?

Part of the appeal of this collection, as noted, is that it's not just a simple, straightforward plot, but has a lot of threads going on -- moreso even than the previous Secret Empire. But that can be a problem. Even though it does come to a head, with Cap back in costume, the various villains defeated (or escaped to fight another, unspecified, day), with even a few sub-plots achieving some resolution (like a long teased along one involving Peggy Carter), it still ends with some open, dangling elements. It's particularly surprising because this was basically the end of Englehart's run on the series, so I assumed he would be wrapping everything up neatly. As such, the climactic issue...can also seem a bit anti-climactic. It doesn't help the momentum when it is one of those retcons where a chunk of the issue is devoted to re-capping events from long ago (issues collected in Essential Captain America, vol. 2) telling us how what we thought we knew....isn't what we knew.

Admittedly, that's a problem with older comics which, when they were first written, the notion of TPB collections wasn't even an idea in a publisher's mind! So there was not necessarily an expectation that a story need come to a complete closure as the next issue is just 30-days away. (Yeah, that was their excuse back then...what's the excuse for modern writers!?!)

But with that criticism aside (and one I level at many collections), Nomad emerges as a superior arc, mixing action and adventure, with ideological musings and character introspection, with so much going on, you really get your money's worth -- and a potent evocation of a tumultuous era.

Of course, all these issues -- and many more -- are also reprinted in the black & white Essential Captain America, vol. 4, so you have a choice of formats to experience them.

Original cover price: $__ CDN./ $19.95 USA

Captain America & The Falcon: Secret Empire 2007 (SC TPB) 160 pages

Written by Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich. Pencils by Sal Buscema. Inks by Vinnie Colletta, with Frank McLaughlin.
Black & White. Letters: Artie Simek, Charlotte Jetter. Editor: Roy Thomas.

Reprinting: Captain America (1st series - Captain American & The Falcon on the covers) #169-176 (1974)

Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

Secret Empire represents what comics used to do, but maybe don't so much these days. A mad, ridiculous mix of high brow and low brow, of goofy exclamations and broad characterization...with genuinely penetrating musings and examinations of society; over-the-top action and robots and hidden lairs...with genuine twists and turns that keep you turning pages to see where it's all headed. I've complained about a lot of modern story arcs -- and their inevitable TPB collections -- that are thin ideas stretched way beyond the number of pages they warrant. Here, the story rockets across the pages like an old movie serial where, if anything, you find yourself thinking they could've stretched it out even more. And though the action-plot is front and centre, there's still time for soap opera-y bits and romantic interludes.

Although some threads of the plot began a few issues earlier, this collection starts at a suitable jumping in point. Captain America is the target of a negative ad campaign sponsored by the Committee to Regain America's Principles. And soon Cap is a fugitive, framed for murder, while another super hero, Moonstone, is being promoted as the new idol of millions. Meanwhile, Cap's partner, The Falcon, feeling like a bit of a fifth wheel since Cap's strength was augmented a few issues before, skedaddles off to Wakanda, the African kingdom of the Black Panther, in order to get some extra abilities that will make him a more equal member of the duo. And after some adventure in Africa, he returns with his wings (yup, the Falcon started out as just an athlete, and didn't gain his flying powers till this story line).

Together, Cap and the Falcon learn the Committee's anti-Cap campaign is connected to an insidious secret society that is plotting to take over America. Teaming up with remnants of the X-Men (the original team) -- the Secret Empire having already kidnapped mutants for a hidden agenda -- Cap and the Falcon seek to infiltrate the evil organization.

Whew! And I didn't detail the jail breaks, double crosses, or fights with Moonstone, etc. Nor the soul searching angst!

On the surface, the saga is like an old movie serial -- it's fast paced, with twists, running about and daring do, and with the requisite underground, well, Empire. The villains even wear hoods, like in any number of old movie serials! There are a lot of continuity threads being woven in. Not only are their references to things from earlier issues, including Peggy Carter, a WW II-era lover of Cap's who, having spent the last few decades with amnesia, still believes Cap loves her...unaware he loves her sister, Sharon. Peggy is referenced in the first issue reprinted here...but doesn't actually appear until toward the end. As well, there are the guest appearances of the X-Men, and allusions to previous, non-Cap comics, like a defunct Beast solo series that Englehart had also written (in the pages of the 1970s Amazing Adventures), and the Secret Empire itself had appeared before. Despite all that, past knowledge isn't really essential to following this story (this is a "new" Secret Empire risen from the ashes of the old, so this doesn't follow directly from its earlier appearances). And it's all painlessly explained as you go.

There are some awkward, or dated bits. The treatment of the Falcon, and the attempt to evoke black "lingo" can seem a bit goofy. The Falcon's insecurity seems a bit like a reaction to fandom (as if maybe letter writers were complaining Falcon was just a poor man's Robin) but which itself seems a bit, um, racist -- even in its attempt to be non-racist by assuring us the Falcon is an equal partner. Did we need Green Arrow to prove he was worthy of being Green Lantern's partner? Or the Black Widow to prove she deserved to share a title with Daredevil? (And, to be fair, Cap himself is constantly dismissing the Falcon's inferiority complex). But credit where it's due: Falcon shared the title, was a more-or-less equal character (getting his own scenes and sub-plots) and was one of the few black heroes so featured in comics at the time!

Even if the writing lacks the subtlety of some modern comics whose dialogue seems lifted from some trendy TV script, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. As mentioned, there's a pulpy, raw vibe at work here that hurtles the story across the pages. And that applies to the characters, too. For all the heavy handed bits, you can't get away from the fact that the characters do emerge as...people. As living, breathing beings, struggling with dilemmas both internal and external. There is an unpretentiousness to the pretentiousness.

Cap's brooding about how the crisis is forcing him to do things counter to his ideals, like break jail, are often affecting.

What really makes the saga sing is the undercurrents of genuine social concerns. The initial emphasis on advertising, with the villains Madison Avenue ad men, reflects real fears at the time. And the fact that modern readers might look back and think there's something quaintly dated about being worked up about the power of the media...it might equally say something chilling about our own era, when we rarely even question the propaganda bombardment we endure every day.

There was also something else going on in the real world at the time, and it's not too long before the word itself is uttered in the comic: "Watergate"! The American people were only just processing a scandal that went to the very top, shaking their faith in everything they believed in. And you realize that Englehart and Friedrich aren't just writing a rip-snortin' serial, or putting their heroes through the emotional wringer, they aren't just warning about the dangers of media manipulation -- in their four colour, "Bam! Biff! Pow!" way, they're trying to deal with the very breakdown in public trust in authority. This leads to a climactic confrontation with "Number One" of the Empire that is, admittedly, a bit surreal, but can be excused because the writers were clearly trying to express their genuine outrage at what was happening. (Actually, given the story was developed over many issues, and Watergate was unfolding in the news in bits and pieces, you wonder how much Englehart planned from the beginning...and how much was it being re-shaped as revelations hit the papers.)

This leads to the story's epilogue where a shattered and disillusioned Captain America ponders whether he can continue to be a symbol of America...when he's no longer sure what that even means. It's a long, seeming jingoistic sequence that might have non-Americans rolling their eyes, as characters proclaim America is the "greatest" country in the world...but Englehart isn't being that simple-minded. And though the Secret Empire plot is fully resolved, the TPB finishes with an open ending that is dealt with in the next TPB (Nomad -- reviewed above).

Sal Buscema draws the saga, who I often had mixed feelings about. A genuine workhorse at Marvel, there was no doubt that he could deliver the goods, presumably on time. But I was never that found of him, seeing in his style a rather cartoonier, less refined version of big brother John. Yet his storytelling, if rarely exceptional, was nonetheless clear, his expressions conveying what needed conveying. (And I should point out that his style evolved, and some of his work by the 1990s showed some particularly nice use of panels and composition). Yet with all that being said...I rather liked his work here. I don't know whether it's simply because, in a story like this, the writing and plotting carries it and all you need from the visuals is to keep pace. Or whether this really is some of his best stuff. Maybe working on the "living legend" inspired him just a little bit more.

There's something overall that may have been inspiring writers and artist alike, a shared outrage that, while never undermining the adventure-fun of the saga, nonetheless may've set a fire under them all. There's a single panel on the second to last page, a close up of Cap's eyes that, I'll admit, thirty-plus years later...sent a chill down my spine with its intensity.

Maybe that's what distinguishes an early saga like this from more recent efforts like, say, Marvel's Civil War. Both would claim to be a reaction to current events, but one seems like the work of genuinely inflamed consciences...while the other seems like the product of an editorial committee, keen on hawking the next cross-over mega event.

Like a few 1970s Marvel epics I've read, I went into this unsure if it would be anything more than an antiquated, childish romp compared to modern, sophisticated comics, with their photoshopped art and colours. But what makes this work is precisely that delirious mix: the pure pulp and corny exclamations nestled side by side with deep ruminations and sober observations. And the fact that it is tackling profound concerns without seeming self-aggrandizingly pretentious.

You can enjoy it for what happens..or for what it's about. But you can enjoy it either way.

Of course, all these issues, and those collected in the follow up TPB, Nomad, are included in the TPB Essential Captain America, vol. 4.

Cover price: $__ CDN./ $24.95 USA.

Captain America vs. The Red Skull 2011 (SC TPB) 264 pages

Written and illustrated by various.

Reprinting: Captain America #143, 226-227, 261-263, 370, the lead story from Captain America Annual #13, and stories from Captain America Comics #1, Tales of Suspense #79-81, and Captain America: Red, White & Blue (1941-2002) - with covers

Rating: * * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

Reviewed: June, 2011

Just in time for the motion picture, Marvel released this sampling of tales of Cap battling his arch foe throughout the years. And it's a better than decent collection.

The stories selected range from as far back as the very first Captain America comic in 1941, to a tale from the 2002 graphic novel anthology Red, White and Blue. These aren't, of course, the entirety of the Red Skull's appearances, reflecting perhaps a selection of stories that haven't been reprinted too much elsewhere, and are short enough that they can be squeezed in -- yet even then, most are of a fair size, with some multi-part stories and a couple of double-length tales.

The stories also allow a glimpse of the evolving mythos of the two characters, if only through passing references to adventures not included here. Although the opening 1941 story both has the Red Skull die and be unmasked as an American industrialist-turned-Nazi spy, something which I'm not sure is explained away in the later stories here where the Skull is both alive, and clearly German (it might've been, I just don't remember if it was -- I read this collection off and on over a few weeks).

A problem with recurring foes is that one story can seem pretty much like another -- same villain, same motive, same modus operandi. Surprisingly, though, that isn't too much the case here. The Red Skull is not the most nuanced of villains -- he is a Nazi, after all, and if he had a mustache he'd be twiddling it malevolently. But the various plots and schemes can have some variety to them -- indeed, the Skull is often a manipulator, staying behind-the-scenes as his latest plan unfolds. Though that can make for an ironic problem as in a number of these stories the Red Skull's involvement is often treated as a mid-story surprise!

Among the best tales here are a Lee and Kirby storyline serialized in three 10 page chapters from Tales of Suspense. It's enjoyable and fast paced, and first introduces the Cosmic Cube -- a device later to recur in other comics (though none reprinted here). It even has the added appeal that the first chapter is slightly isolated from the next two, meaning it can actually feel like two Lee/Kirby stories, not just one. Roger McKenzie and Sal Buscema's story of Cap aboard the SHIELD heli-carrier populated by agents transformed into an army of Red Skull clones (#226-227) is suitably exciting and tense (one chapter is appropriately named "This Deadly Gauntlet!") with some nice character introspection (Cap temporarily loses his super soldier induced strength, reverting to "frail" Steve Rogers). The Roy Thomas-written Annual (#13) reflects Thomas' sometimes fetishistic obsession with continuity, but effectively so here. While Cap and the Skull are locked in a modern-day race to uncover a long lost Nazi doomsday weapon, the Skull reflects back on his previous attempts to acquire it, cuing flashbacks to World War II and the 1950s, incorporating more than one Skull and Captain America (the two characters' mythos having evolved to include temporary substitutes over the years). The result is a fast paced, highly enjoyable tale, mixing real life historical minutia and past comic book mythology, to seem effectively epic and grand...not muddled and incoherent (as it easily could). It's illustrated by Arvell Jones and inked by Dan and Dave Day competently enough.

In ways, J.M. DeMatteis can be one of the better mainstream comic book writers, often imbuing his superhero tales with themes and philosophical musings. With that said, his three parter from #261-263 isn't as impressive as I hoped he would be. His take on Cap here is a bit bland (as the character can easily be, writers too keen to write him as the unflappable embodiment of the American ego, as opposed to a flesh and blood man in a costume) and the dialogue and such merely okay. Yet it's a reasonably enjoyable effort involving Cap coming to Hollywood at the request of a movie studio making a movie about him (appropriate given this collection was released to coincide with the new movie) only to find L.A. plagued by an anarchist cult and with a new hero to defend the city, Nomad -- a hero that raises Cap's suspicions, since Nomad was actually an identity he had used a few years earlier. So there's a lot going on, from the action, to the obligatory satirical jabs at tinstletown, to character stuff, and references to past adventures (one of his foes is a giant-sized Captain America robot he'd fought before -- the Ameridroid) all orchestrated by a mysterious cowled villain -- hmmm, wonder who it could be? Adequately illustrated by Mike Zeck, the very length allows for a certain richness to the plotting.

Mark Gruenwald and Ron Lim's "House Calls" is a story that isn't really good, or bad, it just is. It's more an interlude type tale, but as a snapshot on a creative era, with plenty of references and recapping, it perhaps serves okay as a filler in such a collection, as it throws in a few secondary characters inspired by the Red Skull (including Crossbones). As a reflection, not so much of a creative era, but a socio-political one, Gary Friedrich and John Romita, Sr.'s "Power to the People!" could've been quite promising. A double-sized adventure (published during a month where Marvel expanded all its comics to 34 pages) it's rooted in its early 1970s period of social unrest in a way that I like in comics from that time -- but the results are problematic. Romita's art is a bit rough, lacking the clean finish another inker might bring to it, and Friedrich's dialogue is clunky and his Cap rather bland. And the whole thing borders on offensive as it involves Black Militants rioting at the behest of a masked agitator (guess who!). Friedrich does throw in a few token nods to moral complexity toward the end -- but it mainly comes across as a comic made by a bunch of white reactionaries nervous about the Black Power movement. It can come across as patronizing, almost racist -- though I'm not saying Friedrich or Romita are racist (it's unwise to assign too much import to a single story churned out to a deadline more than three decades ago!) It's the story I had actually looked forward to the most in this collection...and it turned out to be one of the more disappointing. Still, it does reflect both its historical period, and a time in the character's life (partnered with The Falcon, and working as a cop in his alter ego) so it serves a point in this decades spanning collection.

The opening story dates all the way back to Cap's very first comic, with a story by his creators Joe Simon & Jack Kirby. Obviously it reflects its time, with simple writing and art, and narrative logic tenuous. But it's neat seeing the Skull's first appearance, where Cap hasn't met him before (though, as mentioned at the start of this review, I'm not sure how it relates to overall continuity). While the final story, a 10 page short form Captain America: Red, White & Blue written and illustrated by Tony Salmons, is a suitable book-ends piece, once more taking us back to World War II -- but it's a forgettable piece, one of those comics common to the modern era of comics which seems oddly self-important...even as it is basically just mindless action.

Despite hit and miss quality of the stories selected, the decent-to-good reads outweigh the middling-to-poor ones, and even the lesser stories are forgivable sandwiched between the others, and themselves reflect different creative and political eras, which is surely the point -- the fun -- of a collection like this. The stories themselves -- even with continuity references -- are mostly self-contained, making for a perfectly good collection of Cap stories to be read when the mood strikes for some red, white & blue action. And the assemblage of talent is more than satisfactory, most of these writers and artists familiar names to long time comic book readers, and to Captain America fans specifically.

A good collection.

Cover price: $__ CDN./$24.99 USA.

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