Captain America Epic Collection:Hero Or Hoax?

Reprints Captain America and The Falcon (1968) #139-159.
Written by Stan Lee, Gary Friedrich, Steve Engelhart, Gerry Conway and Steve Gerber.
Penciled by John Romita, Sal Buscema, Gil Kane and Gray Morrow.
Inked by John Romita, John Verpoorten, George Roussos, Joe Sinnott, Gray Morrow, Jim Mooney, Frank Giacoia and Vince Colletta.

Summary: New York City's police commissioner has a special assignment for Captain America.  He needs Steve Rogers to join the NYPD and investigate the disappearance of seven officers.  The commissioner isn't sure what's going on, but he says it's "something deadly--something strangely powerful out there."  

On his first night walking the police beat, Steve spots a shadowy figure, changes into his Captain America costume and chases it down.  Cap discovers it's the Grey Gargoyle, a super-villain who battled Thor and Iron Man in the past.  A lab accident turn his skin to stone and gave the Gargoyle the power to turn others to stone for one hour.  

Captain America's partner, the Falcon tangles with Grey Gargoyle, the criminal tries out a new power.  When Sam is turned to stone, Gargoyle also has control over Falcon and forces him to fight Cap!  Grey Gargoyle's primary objective is to steal Element X from SHIELD.  It's a very dangerous element that will enable Gargoyle to conquer the world.  Can Cap and Falcon stop him!

Subsequently, when Falcon returns to Harlem, he is stung by criticism that he's an "Uncle Tom" in his community due to his partnership with Captain America.  His girl friend Leila invites him to a meeting of the People's Militia, a revolutionary political organization.  

The militia's leader is a masked figure known simply as "The Man".  He stirs the crowd into a frenzy and leads them in an attack on a local boys club.  But things aren't quite as they seem.  Captain America and Falcon intervene and attack the militia.  The Man unmasks and reveals that he is actually Cap's deadliest foe, the Red Skull!

After a brief fight, the Skull imprisons Cap & Falcon in a deathtrap and it looks they're goners.  The only one who can save them is Sam's pet falcon Redwing!

Sometime later, there is some tension between Sam and Steve.  Falcon feels unique pressure being African American superhero.  Working with Captain America makes him an outcast in Harlem.  He breaks up their partnership and says he's dedicating himself to protecting his neighborhood.  Sam breaks out a new costume to signify his new direction.  

In his first "solo" mission, Falcon takes down a drug dealer and turns him over to the police.  This makes Sam a hero to Harlem and he's carried through the streets.  Cap is happy for his friend but also saddened that he's lost another partner.  

Shortly after that, Nick Fury has a new mission for Captain America.  The terrorist organization Hydra is back in business.  Fury knows the new Hydra base is located in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip and assigns Cap to find its exact location.  Captain America will be accompanied to Vegas by SHIELD's Femm Force, an all-women squadron led by Steve's girlfriend Sharon Carter (AKA Agent 13).  

Femme Force's second-in-command is Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, known as "Val" to her friends.  Val was romantically linked to Fury until he moved on, she now appears to have feelings for Cap.  This creates a problematic dynamic for everyone.  

Unfortunately for Captain America and his team, Hydra has infiltrated Femme Force and have been monitoring SHIELD.  When Cap arrives in Vegas, Hydra's agents are expecting them and a battle ensues.  When Sharon is shot, Captain America is furious and more determined than ever to take down Hydra.  Fearing the worst, Fury contacts Falcon and sends him to Las Vegas.  Sam is reluctant at first, since he wants to take care of Harlem, but eventually accepts the assignment.

When Cap tracks down Hydra's Supreme Leader, he's shocked to discover that the terror organization's real leader is the Kingpin Of Crime!  Falcon and Captain America go toe-to-toe with the gangster and defeat him.

However, everyone is shocked to learn that Cap's deadliest foe, the Red Skull has been running Hydra behind the scenes.  He's using it as a decoy to buy time for him to build a Nazi Fourth Reich!  

The Skull activates a giant "Sleeper" robot that will destroy all human life in its path.  If Captain America and Falcon want to beat Red Skull, they will need to team up with the Kingpin and his criminal empire in order to prevent Nazism from taking over the world!

Back in New York, children are disappearing from Harlem.  Falc and Cap discover it's the work of their foe Batroc The Leaper!  The French mercenary is working for an alien named Jakar who intends to take the souls of the children to space in order to restore life on his home dimension.   How can Captain America and the Falcon defeat a being like Jakar who has otherworldly super-powers?

Sometime afterwards, the super-villains known as Scorpion and Mr. Hyde are out for revenge.  They were placed in an experimental SHIELD prison and will exact vengeance on any SHIELD agent they can find.  They kidnap Sharon and use her as bait to get SHIELD rescue her.  Hyde and Scorpion may regret their plan when Captain America and Falcon show up instead. 

Following that, Steve and Sharon take a vacation in the Bahamas.  At the same time, Sam is shocked when his girlfriend Leila tells him that Captain America is beating people up in Harlem.  Falcon doesn't believe her.  While patrolling, he sees Cap attacking an innocent man and intervenes.  Sam has the upper hand until he's attacked from behind by...Cap's old sidekick Bucky! 

We learn that these two are duplicates who took over the roles during the 1950s, when the real Captain America was missing.  They've gone insane and accuse Falcon and Cap of being Communist sympathizers.  How can Captain America win a battle against a copy of himself?

Finally, the advertising executive-turned-super-villain known as the Viper attacks Cap and Falcon.  He hits the heroes with venom-tipped darts, which puts their lives in jeopardy.  In exchange for his freedom, Viper gives cap a vial of antidote and runs off.  Captain America later learns that when the antidote interacted with the Super-Soldier Serum in his blood, it gives him super-strength. 

Steve later learns that Viper is connected to the police corruption he was investigating.  Viper and the bad cops work for someone known only as the Cowled Commander.  Falcon is able to capture Viper, but he's rescued by a team of villains led by his brother the Eel. 

Who is the mysterious Cowled Commander?  Can Cap and Falcon defeat five super-criminals and simultaneously uncover the corruption in the police department? 

Review:
Captain America Epic Collection:Hero Or Hoax? contains another mixed bag of Cap & Falc stories, but it's mostly enjoyable.  

Story:
I'll start with the best parts of this book.  Steve Engelhart wrote the last seven issues reprinted here.  The conflict with the Cap and Bucky of the 1950s is a high point of the tpb.  Engelhart shows how a great idea and symbol like Captain America could lead to dangerous racist jingoism and nationalism and Steve is shown to be terrified of this possibility.  It's also just an exciting and dramatic story!

I also enjoyed the way Engelhart wrote the Viper.  The villain is a former ad man and talks like one, quoting popular commercial catch-phrases of the 1970s.  Viper's advertising skills are later put to use in Engelhart's famous "Secret Empire" story.  

Gary Friedrich wrote the stories in the middle of the book, including the Hydra/Kingpin/Red Skull saga.  It's important because Kingpin, prior to this storyline, was strictly a Spider-Man villain.  Friedrich introduces Wilson Fisk to the rest of the Marvel Universe, which opened the door for Frank Miller to later turn him into an arch foe for Daredevil.

Other storylines don't work as well.  Stan Lee wrote the beginning of the tpb that focus on Steve going undercover as an NYPD officer.  This is presented as a major change of direction for the character and the series.  But after that, it's dropped for the most part, only popping up again once or twice.  Engelhart wraps up the police corruption storyline but it feels more obligatory than anything else.  

Friedrich also writes a "love rectangle" of sorts for Cap, Sharon, Val and Fury.  It doesn't add much to the story and the women (who are professional secret agents) are written like they just fell out of one of Marvel's "Romance" series.  

Gerry Conway wrote the tale that features Batroc and Jakar.  I feel like this is a case of writer and artist not communicating.  Jakar is penciled to look like the Stranger, an earlier alien who made several appearances in other Marvel titles.  Jakar says he disguised himself as the Stranger, then drops the premise...because Cap and Falcon never heard of the Strange?  It's an odd story.  Conway does a better job with the story that  pits the heroes against Hyde and Scorpion.  

Art:
Hero Or Hoax? is penciled by some of the greatest comic book artists of all time.  Sal Buscema pencils the bulk of the book.  He draws lots of great fight scenes, these pages from the Scorpion/Hyde fight are a nice example:

John Romita penciled the the early part of Hero Or Hoax? and his work is also excellent, and Gil Kane provides about half an issue's worth of solid art.

Gray Morrow, who rarely drew Marvel's superhero stories, pencils ten pages in the tpb.  However, they're an important ten pages, since Morrow is the first to draw Falcon's red and white costume, which Sam would wear for several decades.  

How Does It Look?:

Here's a scan from Captain America and The Falcon #149:

And here's how the same pages appear in Hero Or Hoax?:

Extras:
In the back of the tbp, you'll find the cover to Captain America Annual #2 (which contained reprinted Silver Age tales), a house ad for Captain America #139 and ten pages of original art.

Rating:
Captain America Epic Collection:Hero Or Hoax? features great stories and art is full of action and character development.  It's weaker moments prevent me from giving it my highest rating, but it's fun and recommended for fans of Falcon, Cap and comics of the 1970s.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

3 and a half Sals.