Avengers: Falcon

Reprints The Falcon #1-4, Captain America #117-119, Marvel Premiere #49, Falcon back-up stories from Captain America #220, 276-278
Written by Christopher Priest (writing as Jim Owsley) , Mark Evanier, Scott Edelman, J.M.DeMatteis and Stan Lee.
Penciled by Paul Smith, Mark Bright, Sal Buscema, Mike Zeck, Gene Colan.
Inked by Vince Colletta, Mike Gustovich, Joe Sinnott, Dave Simons, Al Gordon, John Beatty and Josef Rubenstein.


Sam Wilson fights crime as the Falcon and works as a Social Worker in poor neighborhoods of  Harlem. He's accompanied by Redwing, his trained Falcon. Falcon is helped out by Sgt. Francis Tork of the NYPD. Tork respects Falcon, but they have very different approaches to law enforcement.

In addition to battling crimnals, Falcon spends lots of time counseling gang members, encouraging them to reject violent "solutions" to the problems in their neighborhood. One gang called the Legion is trying to move from gang fights to more productive, peaceful methods of problem solving.

Tork, Falcon & Redwing battle Nemesis.

Daryl Kane, a landlord and developer with a shady reputation is building new housing projects in Harlem. Falcon doesn't trust him and says the new buildings will be constructed with shoddy materials. But the buildings are attacked by a supervillain who calls himself Nemesis. Falcon, with some assistance from a member of the Legion, defeats Nemesis, but the villain's identity comes as a bit of a surprise.

Sometime later, Falcon is flying over New York when he is captured by a mutant-hunting Sentinel robot. The Falcon finds himself somewhere in Upstate New York. At the same time, a riot breaks out in Harlem between the police and the Legion. 

Left:The Legion tells Falcon they're done with crime;
Right:Falcon is attacked by a Sentinel!

Following that, the supervillain Electro returns to New York. He's hiding out in Harlem, but is paranoid and convinced the Falcon has found him. Electro decides to kill Falcon so he can't capture him and send him back to jail.

While Electro is at large, Pres. Ronald Reagan makes a fact-finding visit to Harlem. The Legion attacks the Presidential Motorcade and in the chaos, Reagan disappears. When the Falcon goes searching for the President, he's attacked by Electro. A brief battle leaves them both unconscious. But Electro wakes up and goes searching for the President. Falcon's old partner, Captain America, shows up and helps Tork look for Reagan.

Shortly after battling Electro, Sam Wilson decides to hang up his Falcon wings and run for Congress.  But Sam's candidacy is damaged by a Daily Bugle article that unearths Sam's petty criminal past, when he was known as "Snap" Wilson.

We learn that Snap is a separate personality that Sam has repressed, and he's struggling to understand who he is. Will this kill his chances of winning election to Congress?

But that's not all!

Falcon attends a soiree at the Bodavian embassy.

Falcon is invited to a party at the Bodavian embassy. The atmosphere is already hostile when a gunman breaks into the embassy. He calls himself the Silencer. His gun shoots a ray that renders people mute. Silencer captures Sigjid Roskoff, a famous Bodavian orator. Falcon pursues Silencer, but Roskoff is killed.

Roskoff wrote a note before he died. Falcon thinks it contains an anagram that reveals the killer. The Falcon becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of Roskoff's death. J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson of the Daily Bugle also try to decipher the anagram. 

Lastly, Mortimer Freebish, a wannabee supervillain armed with a crossbow, captures Redwing and tells Falcon to meet him at midnight. Will the Falcon be able to rescue Redwing and defeat Freebish?

Freebish captures Redwing.

Review:
Avengers: Falcon is a fun, if sometimes silly, tpb. In case anyone is wondering, Jim Owsley, who wrote the bulk of this book, has since changed his name to Christopher Priest, so I'll refer to him by that name in this review.

Falcon & Redwing rescue people from a burning building.

Story:
The first 4 issues are from the miniseries written by Priest, and it gets off to a good start. We get a nice balance of Sam Wilson, testifying in court as a Social Worker in the daytime, and Falcon fighting a supervillain at night. It has a good mix of "real life" problems such as poverty, arson and street gangs in Harlem and attacks by Electro and a Sentinel.

I enjoyed the interactions between Falcon and Sgt. Tork. They have very different philosophies of how to fight crime. But Tork is never demonized in the story. 

What didn't work was the kidnapping of Pres. Reagan. Even when I read this 30 years ago, this felt a bit silly. This story was published about two-and-a-half years after Reagan was shot. I can't buy that mere non-superpowered gang members could succeed in capturing a President surrounded by Secret Service.  Yes, it's silly to look for realism in superhero stories, but I think it's a fair criticism if the story is attempting to "make a statement" about social issues. On the whole, Priest writes a good story and it's obvious that he cares for and respects the Falcon as a character. 

The "Sam Wilson runs for Congress" arc was originally published as back-up stories in Captain America #276-278 and written by J.M. De Matteis. One of the worst things that was done to the Falcon was giving him the "Snap" Wilson backstory. De Matteis attempts to rehabilitate Sam and does the best he can with a damaged character.

The other two stories are standalones.

Mark Evanier wrote the story about Silencer and the Bodavians. It's a good old fashioned murder mystery, with Falcon playing detective. I enjoyed the way Evanier included J. Jonah Jameson and Joe "Robbie" Robertson in this story. It's always interesting to see supporting characters from one superhero's series interact with different heroes. Evanier (whose blog 'Newsfromme' is part of my daily reading), is a prolific writer of tv shows and comics, but he didn't write many superhero stories during the Bronze Age. This Falcon solo tale makes me wish he had.

Falcon believes an anagram will solve a murder;JJJ and Robbie Robertson have a similar theory.

The story that features Mortimer Freebish was written by Scott Edelman. It's short, funny and demonstrates how important Redwing is to Sam Wilson. I also liked the fact that it took place in Washington Square Park. I'm a big fan of stories that take advantage of New York City landmarks.

Art:
We get a bunch of different pencilers and inkers in Avengers: Falcon. I'd say the art is all pretty good.

Paul Smith draws the first issue reprinted in the book and it looks great. He's inked by Vince Colletta who does a nice job without over-inking Smith.

Electro zaps Falcon.

Mark Bright and Mike Gustovich take over as the art team for the rest of the miniseries. They give us some nice solid artwork. I especially enjoyed Falcon's fight scenes with Electro and the Sentinel. The only problem I had was their depiction of Ronald Reagan. Not a very good likeness.

Falcon & Captain America rescue Ronald Reagan.

Sal Buscema and Dave Simons did a great job on the Bodavian story. Bob Budiansky, inked by Al Gordon, make for a good team on the five-pager that features Mortimer Freebish. I liked the silly "arrow" costume worn by the hapless villain.

Mike Zeck, inked by John Beatty and Josef Rubenstein, penciled the story that involves the resurfacing of Sam's "Snap Wilson" personality. Zeck was one of the best artists who ever worked on Captain America and his work looks great when embellished by likes of Beatty and Rubenstein.   

How Does It Look?:
I've looked at a couple of the original stories. It looks like everything is faithfully reprinted. Here's a nice scan from the "Silencer" part of the book:

Extras:
The most important "extra" feature is the three-part story that introduced the Falcon (from Captain America 117-119), written by Stan Lee and penciled by Gene Colan. It was published near the end of the Silver Age (1969, to be exact), so I won't review it. But I'd never read the first appearance of the Falcon, so I'm glad it was included. It also contains Falcon's entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. We get three essays from Christopher Priest about why he wanted to write stories that featured the Falcon. The tpb also includes several pages of original art.

Avengers: Falcon is a good introduction to the Falcon, and fans who enjoyed these issues back in the 70s and 80s will appreciate the new, glossy reprints of the stories.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.

Captain America: Death Of The Red Skull

 Reprints Captain America #290-301
Written by J.M. De Matteis, Mike Carlin, Michael Ellis, Bill Mantlo.

Penciled by Ron Frenz, Herb Trimpe, Paul Neary.
Inked by Steve Leialoha, Jack Abel, Roy Richardson.


The Red Skull, Captain America's greatest foe, is dying! The chemical that slowed down his aging has worn off and he is now in his 80s. He plans to take Captain America to the grave with him.

But the Skull isn't working alone. He's allied himself with Baron Helmut Zemo, son of the original Baron Zemo who killed Cap's partner, Bucky in World War II. And Red Skull's daughter, Mother Superior, is also involved, leading her super-powered team, the Sisters Of Sin!

The people Cap cares for the most are kidnapped. His fiance Bernie Rosenthal, Cap's former partner the Falcon, current partner Nomad, and his childhood friend Arnie Roth. Captain America's friend Dave Cox is brainwashed by Mother Superior into attacking Cap & Nomad. Dave fights against this and winds up in a coma.

Nomad & Cap are stunned when they're attacked by Dave Cox.

As part of his revenge, Red Skull makes Captain America relive one of the worst days of his life: the day his partner Bucky was killed.

Cap & Nomad are tricked into thinking they're re-living Bucky's death.

Captain America is given a poison that restores him to his rightful age. Now both Cap and Red Skull will engage in hand-to-hand combat, to the death, as two old men.

Cap & Red Skull battle to the death, while Dave Cox lies in a coma.

If that isn't enough for any superhero to deal with, there's more!

On Christmas Eve, Captain America battles the Black Crow on top of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Plus, a man wearing the costume of Cap's old enemy the Tumbler appears in New York. Cap knows the original Tumbler is dead and wants to know who this is and what he's up to.

Captain America meets the new Tumbler.

Review:
This review contains some SPOILERS below,
Captain America: Death Of The Red Skull is a great, epic story from one of Cap's best chroniclers!  This is J.M. De Matteis' best Captain America story, the high point (and end) of his great run on the title. 

Zemo is introduced to the Sisters of Sin.

Story:
Here's the (30-year-old) SPOILER:
The title is accurate. The Red Skull does in fact die in this story. It was a gutsy move for De Matteis to kill off Cap's #1 antagonist, who was also one of the oldest characters (created in 1941) in the Marvel Universe. And in my opinion, he should have remained dead after this (he was resurrected a couple of  years later).

Red Skull tells Captain America his life story, including heretofore unknown information.

I recall reading the Skull's origin story reprinted here when it was brand new. It's one of my all-time favorite issues, and it adds a backstory that improves the character, something rare with retcons. This story was also the first time we learned the Red Skull's real name, Johann Schmidt. This is the name used for the character in the 2011 Captain America movie, which shows the lasting impact of this tale.

Falcon is attacked by the Sisters Of Sin.

Speaking of gutsy moves by De Matteis, Cap's friend Arnie Roth is gay, something you didn't see in comic books back in the 80s. It's never concretely stated, but if you read between the lines about Roth's "roomate" and other comments (Skull calls Roth a "fop"), you can tell that's the intent here.

Baron Zemo unmasks & tells the story of how his face became scarred.

The Black Crow is introduced early in this tpb. De Matteis does a good job showing that Black Crow has legitimate grievances, even if he's channeling them in the wrong direction.Black Crow seems like a one-shot character, but he plays a very important role in the final chapter.

Jesse Black Crow recounts how he went from an Indian Reservation to his current state.

This portion also takes place at Christmas and I've always been a fan of Christmas comic book stories.  This is an issue I've read every Holiday season for years, it's nice to have it reprinted in a glossy tpb.

Steve & Bernie are Christmas shopping when they encounter the Black Crow.

In addition to the Red Skull storyline, this tpb contains a fill-in story that focuses on a new Tumbler.  This was written by Bill Mantlo and has nothing to do with the rest of the stories here. But it's a fun story and I'm glad it was reprinted in this book.

Art:
Paul Neary pencils the bulk of this book and he does a great job here. He's embellished by six different inkers. Some of the inkers mesh well with Neary's style; others don't work so well, and the lack of a consistent look is distracting at times. But on the whole the art is good.   

The first two issues reprinted are penciled by Ron Frenz and Herb Trimpe and and their work looks good as well.

How does it look?:
Great. I didn't detect any weird recoloring here. Here's one more scan that shows how great it looks:

Captain America: Death Of The Red Skull is an important chapter in Captain America's 70-year-battle against his arch enemy. It's highly recommended for those who read this story when it was new or for readers who are just discovering Cap's 1980s adventures today.     
J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Captain America and the Falcon: Nomad

Reprints Captain America And The Falcon #177-186

Written by Steve Englehart and John Warner.

Penciled by Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins and Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Vince Colletta, Joe Giella, Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito.

Note:This is Part 2 in a series of reviews, Part 1 is here if you missed it yesterday.

Captain America is no more!  

 

Steve Rogers has given up the costume. His crime-fighting days are over. His dealings with the Secret Empire have caused him to grow cynical about the American Dream. He is dedicating his time to his private life and his relationship with Sharon Carter. The Falcon keeps trying to get him to re-form their partnership, but Steve tells him no. So Falcon is forced to go it alone, accompanied by Redwing, his trained falcon.  

Lucifer (a villain who previously fought the X-Men and Iron Man) is exiled in another dimension.  When he's able to return to Earth, he arrives in Harlem and teams up with some local gangsters. Lucifer is being transmitted back to his dimension and fuses his essence with a criminal named Rafe Michel.  He later breaks into a prison and frees the Aries from the Zodiac crime cartel and splits his essence between Rafe and Aries. Now Lucifer's power is divided between two "Lucifers". Morgan, a Harlem crime boss, wants the Falcon dead and hires the Lucifers to do the deed. Falcon is nearly killed, but Steve Rogers (in a ski mask) shows up and takes out the Lucifers.

Lucifer merges with Aries; Great art by Buscema & Colletta.

Shortly after Lucifer's defeat, Steve and Sharon are walking down 5th Street. Suddenly, an arrow flies towards them. More arrows follow, pinning Steve to a wall. The arrows are the work of a bowman who calls himself the Golden Archer. The archer flees, saying he will bring death to Steve Rogers. Steve is worried, since it seems like Golden Archer knows that he used to be Captain America.

Steve & Sharon's date is interrupted by the Golden Archer!

Steve tracks down the Golden Archer and easily defeats him. We learn that it was actually Steve's former Avengers teammate Hawkeye in disguise! It was a plan to get Steve back into the crime-fighting business. Hawkeye understands why Steve doesn't want to be Cap, but why not adopt a new alias?  Steve thinks it's a great idea, but Sharon isn't happy this development. She was enjoying the fact that Steve didn't run off in the middle of dinner to fight supervillains.  

A new superhero is born when Steve makes a new costume. His loss of faith in America has made him "a man without a country", so he takes the name Nomad.  

Nomad is born!

He's barely broken in his new threads when he stumbles on his old foes Viper (who previously battled Cap as Madame Hydra) Cobra, Eel and Princess Python, AKA the Serpent Squad! Nomad makes quick work of the Serpent Squad, but they get away when Nomad trips over his own cape.

The Serpent Squad gets away when Nomad steps on his own cape!

The Serpent Squad regroups and teams up with Warlord Krang of Atlantis. Krang has found the fabled Serpent Crown of Lemuria. Whoever controls the crown will rule the world. Nomad is able to defeat the Serpent Squad, but the Serpent Crown disappears.

Viper battles Nomad & shoots Cobra when he tries to escape.

At the same time, others are stepping forward to claim the identity of Captain America. The first two wind up with serious injuries on their first attempt at playing superhero. But a young man named Roscoe Simons steps up to become the new Cap. Roscoe knows Steve because they train at the same gym. The Falcon agrees to train and help Roscoe.

But disaster strikes. On Roscoe's first patrol, he and Falcon are attacked by the Red Skull! Roscoe is brutally murdered by the Skull and left as warning to Nomad. Steve feels somewhat responsible for this and realizes what it means. He must become Captain America once more. Steve dismisses his disillusionment with the United States as naivety and suits up. 

Cap and Falcon set out to find the Red Skull's hideout. They arrive and make easy work of Red Skull's minions, and Cap has Skull on the ropes. Suddenly, Captain America is jumped from behind and knocked out by...The Falcon! He's being mind-controlled by the Red Skull!  

Can Captain America escape? Or will his partner the Falcon kill Cap under the command of the Red Skull?

Review:
(Contains lots of major SPOILERS)

Captain America and the Falcon: Nomad starts out good.

It's interesting to watch Falcon patrolling the city on his own. Bringing back a fairly obscure villain like Lucifer was a nice touch. Steve Englehart writes some nice scenes of Steve and Sharon enjoying Cap-free romantic life. And I appreciated Sharon's reaction when Steve said he going back into the superhero game. It was understandable and realistic for her to be disappointed.

And I'm glad Englehart paired Peggy Carter off with Gabe Jones. The Cap/Sharon/Peggy love triangle was always awkward at best, and interracial romances were rare in comic books at the time.    

The rest of this story isn't very good.

I've always been a fan of the Serpent Squad, in its various incarnations. But the story built around the Serpent Crown contains tons of buildup with little payoff. Nomad beats up Krang and defeats the Squad with relative ease. He doesn't even call Namor for help. I'm not sure why Namor was even written into this story.

Gamecock is a silly villain (I'm not sure if that was intentional or not). He's just a bad guy in a rooster suit. Check out the image below: it's hard to buy the hype balloon that declares the story, "Another Classic!", when Gamecock is right next to the balloon.

Englehart at times seems determined to show that the Falcon is nothing without Captain America.  Falcon battles Lucifer for two issues and is about to be killed. Then Cap shows up and defeats Lucifer in a few panels.

And there's a weird line from Nomad when he's searching for the missing Falcon. He thinks Luke Cage might know where Falcon is, Nomad says "Cage's color is a very slim lead, but it's all I can come up with right now!" What's up with that? Does Steve Rogers think all African-Americans know each other? Why would Englehart write something like that?  

But the worst comes in the book's final chapter.

Through an extended flashback, we learn that Falcon has never been anything but a pawn of the Red Skull. His partnership with Cap (which had existed for 54 issues at this point) was set up by Red Skull as a scheme to kill his greatest enemy. He wiped Sam's mind and created a new personalty using the Cosmic Cube. It doesn't make sense and it pretty much ruined the Falcon for the next decade. The final insult comes when we learn Falcon was once a petty criminal who answered to the nickname "Snap".  Sam is depicted wearing a stereotypical 1970s "pimp" outfit .

 This is the worst thing Englehart ever wrote during the Bronze Age.   

Art:
Sal Buscema and Vince Colletta, the same art team from the previous tpb, pencil & ink the first 5 issues reprinted here. Their art looks good, giving us more great fight scenes, and some very nice full-page drawings.

But Frank Robbins takes over the penciling after that. It's a shocking contrast from the Buscema/Colletta portion.  Here's the last page penciled by Buscema:

When you turn the page of the tpb, you see this:

To my eyes, most of the characters look like crazed zombies. It's almost painful to look at some of it. Robbins had a long, great career in both comic books and comic strips. I don't like to speak ill of the dead, but Robbins' art doesn't work here.  

On a positive note, Robbins' pages are interrupted for one issue by Herb Trimpe's pencils, inked by Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito. Trimpe always delivered good, solid art and does that here.
The beginning of Captain America and the Falcon: Nomad is a solid follow-up to the "Secret Empire" story, but what follows isn't very good. They say it's hard to follow a legend and the stories contained in this are a testament to that statement. The art from Buscema, Colletta and Trimpe saves it from getting a lower rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

    
.5




2 and a half Sals.

Captain America and the Falcon: The Secret Empire

Reprints Captain America and The Falcon #169-176
Written by Steve Englehart.
Penciled by Sal Buscema.
Inked by Vince Colletta.

Captain America, known as Steve Rogers in his personal life, has always fought  for his country and pushed it to uphold its ideals.

Left: Falcon talks about his desire for super powers;
Right: Cap watches Harderman's campaign ad.

Cap is flabbergasted when he sees a campaign ad that attacks him. It's narrated by an advertising wizard named Quentin Harderman. It paints the superhero as an out of control vigilante who acts as a law unto himself.  The ad is sponsored by an organization called the Committee to Regain America's Principles. They believe Captain America is a serious threat to the American way of life. In reality, the Committee is a front for the criminal organization that calls itself the Secret Empire!

At the same time, Captain America's partner the Falcon (known as Sam Wilson when he's not fighting bad guys) is feeling like a fifth wheel. He doesn't believe he's pulling his weight in his crime-fighting partnership with Cap and is in search of more power. He takes off for the African nation of Wakanda.  The Black Panther, Wakanda's monarch, has promised to help Falcon become more powerful. 

After watching the ad, Captain America decides to confront Harderman face-to-face at his office.  Harderman says he'll back off his campaign if Cap will participate in a charity boxing match. But when Cap shows up for the bout, he recognizes his opponent as his old enemy, the Tumbler! Captain America chases the Tumbler, but the villain suddenly dies when Cap grabs him. Harderman (who is responsible for Tumbler's death) immediately blames Cap and labels him a murderer. The public quickly turns on Captain America, which deeply hurts the Avenger.

Cap is defeated by Moonstone, whom
Harderman then declares a hero.

Branded a criminal, Captain America is attacked by a man who calls himself Moonstone. He has super-strengh, eye-blasts and the ability to disappear and reappear at will. Cap is distracted, under stress, and is easily defeated by Moonstone in a short battle. Harderman is there to praise Moonstone and declares him a hero.

The next morning, Captain America wakes up in a jail cell. He is freed by a jailbreak, but it's part of the Secret Empire's plan to demonize Cap, who is now a fugitive.

Falcon gets wings, while Captain America is busted out of jail.

When the Falcon returns from Wakanda, he is wearing a winged harness (built by the Black Panther) that allows him to fly. He arrives in New York just in time to help Captain America prove his innocence. After another failed battle with Moonstone, the heroic duo escapes and is forced underground. Through some "detective" work, they theorize that Moonstone is from Nashville and hitchhike to the Music City.

When they arrive in Nashville, the heroic duo is attacked by the sonic scream of the Banshee! He thinks Cap and Falcon are mutant hunters. Their brief battle is broken up by Professor X, Marvel Girl, and Cyclops of the X-Men. They learn that in addition to framing Captain America, the Secret Empire has been hunting down and capturing mutants. Cap and Falc gain new allies, the X-Men will help them take down the Secret Empire.  Captain America is very grateful to have the X-Men stand with him against their common foe.

Before they can tackle the Empire, they're surrounded by Nick Fury, who's accompanied by (in Fury's words) "the pride o' S.H.I.E.L.D. and maybe half o' the Tennessee State Police!"  But the heroes are able to escape without harming Fury or any of the agents.

The heroes pull off a daring escape from Fury & S.H.I.E.L.D.

Using disguises, Falcon and Captain America eventually infiltrate the Secret Empire. They come face to face with the Empire's leader, who is known only as Number One.

Sam and Steve go undercover & wind up the Secret Empire's hideout.

Cap, Falcon and the X-Men team up and battle the Secret Empire. The final battle takes place on the White House lawn, where Captain America learns a shocking secret about Number One.

It turns out the Secret Empire has ties to the highest levels of power in the United States. This makes Steve Rogers very disillusioned about his country and he questions his desire to remain Captain America.
Could this be the end of his career as Captain America?

As if that's not enough, Falcon and Black Panther team up to stop the crimelord known as Stoneface. Plus, appearances by Captain America's Avengers teammates Iron Man, Thor and the Vision!
J.A. Morris says:

This is one of the definitive arcs of Captain America's 73-year history, and one of the best multi-part sagas of the Bronze Age.

Story:
Steve Englehart writes a great story here, filled with action and drama. It's one of Englehart's crowning achievements. We see the very symbol of America's ideals libeled as a murderer, stripped of his assets and forced to hitchhike to get around.  

The Secret Empire contains an almost perfect mix of action and drama. We get one great fight scene after another. In between, we see Steve slowly losing his faith in his country. The last issue reprinted here consists of nothing but Cap talking to his friends (and himself) about whether or not he will continue his crime-fighting career. But like the rest of the book, it makes for great reading.

Falcon and Black Panther take battle Stoneface.

The way the American public turns on Cap is believable. Harderman is shown to be an expert at telling "The Big Lie."  It's been said that the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it. This has been proven in real life more than once, and it works here for Harderman and the Secret Empire.

Falcon tries to talk Cap out of quitting.

Though Captain America is the main focus, his co-star the Falcon gets a good subplot with the trip to Wakanda. Giving Falcon the power of flight was a nice, long overdue improvement on the character.

One thing that makes this saga special is the villains. Most of them are B- and C-list criminals.  Harderman and Moonstone are one-shot villains. The Secret Empire appeared in a few more stories before and after this, but they've never been heavy hitters in the Marvel Universe. It's interesting that the villains that make Cap question his future as a hero have no ties to his arch foes (Red Skull, Zemo, etc). Behind the scenes, we're shown that the original Viper worked with Harderman to begin the campaign against Captain America. While Tumbler existed before this story, his only prior appearance was 8 years before this story. It's to Englehart's credit that I read this story more than once before I noticed its lack of major villains.

The original X-Men's appearance here is also worth noting. This story took place when the X-Men comic book series was nothing but a reprint title. The mutants made sporadic guest appearances in other series between 1970 and 1975. During that time, Englehart wrote solo stories that featured the Beast in Amazing Adventures. Englehart does a nice job tying those stories to the Secret Empire storyline as well. A year or so after this story, the X-Men series was revived and they went on to become the most popular superhero team of all time.

It may seem silly to say this about a 40-year-old story, but I won't "spoil" who is behind Number One's mask. Since I have a degree in History (minor in Poli-Sci!), I should point out that Harderman's name is a reference to H.R. Haldeman, Chief Of Staff in the Nixon White House, who was convicted for his role in the Watergate scandal. And Harderman's Committe to Restore America's Principals is an obvious reference to the Nixon campaign's Committee for the Re-Election of the President.

Number One's speech is interrupted by Captain America, and Moonstone gets run through a tree!

Art:
Penciler Sal Buscema and inker Vince Colletta make a great art team here. It's some of their best work. I've mentioned in other reviews that Colletta is far from my favorite inker, often over-inking and obscuring the pencilers. But he's great here, an asset to Buscema. And Sal draws many great battle and action scenes in The Secret Empire.

How does it look:

Great, as all pages scanned and posted above will demonstrate.  Here's one more:

Mutants good & evil are attached to a machine that siphons their brain energy!

Captain America and the Falcon:The Secret Empire is highly recommended to fans of Bronze Age stories and all Captain America fans. It's a product of (and a reaction to) Watergate-era America, but it's also a great story that's still highly entertaining four decades later.

J.A. Morris's rating:

4 Sals!


Coming tomorrow, Part 2 of this blog's first ever two-part review! Check back here for my review of the tpb that reprints the follow-up to the Secret Empire saga!