Reprints Captain America (1968)#143, 226-227, 261-263 and #370 and material from Captain America Comics (1941) #1, Tales Of Suspense #79-81, Captain America Annual #13 and Captain America: Red,White & Blue.
Written by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Gary Friedrich, Roger McKenzie, J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Gruenwald, Roy Thomas & Tony Salmons.
Penciled by Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, John Romita, Sal Buscema, Mike Zeck, Ron Lim, Arvell Jones & Tony Salmons.
Inked by Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Frank Giacoia, Don Heck, John Romita, Mike Esposito, John Tartaglione, Quickdraw Studios, Danny Bulanadi, David Day, Dan Day & Tony Salmons.
Sam Wilson (better known as the Falcon) is getting criticized for being an "Uncle Tom" in his community due to his partnership with Captain America. His girlfriend Leila invites him to a meeting of the People's Militia, a revolutionary organization based in Harlem.
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 the Red Skull!
The Skull imprisons Cap & Falcon in a deathtrap. It looks like they're goners, but Redwing (Falcon's pet...Falcon!) comes to the rescue and sets them free, but the Red Skull gets away.
Some months later, Captain America is training on the SHIELD Helicarrier. Suddenly, a SHIELD agent transforms into the Red Skull and attacks Cap. He defeats this "Red Skull", but dozens of other SHIELD agents are also transformed. Cap finds himself surrounded by a veritable army of Red Skulls!
Things get more complicated when the real Red Skull kidnaps Nick Fury. Even if Cap gets through the army alive, he still must face the real Red Skull, and make sure Fury isn't harmed in the process. If Captain America fails, the Skull will increase the numbers in his Skull army and turn the world into a "Fourth Reich" under his control.
Lastly, Captain America is invited to Hollywood by Galactic Studios to promote a new movie based on his career. Upon arrival, he's attacked by a terrorist group called the Nihilist Order. Cap is assisted in the battle by a superhero who calls himself Nomad. This puzzles Cap, since Nomad was an alias he had used while he was disillusioned with representing the United States. This new Nomad also seems to fight crime just to get his face in front of tv news cameras. We observe Nomad speaking to a hooded figure behind the scenes. This man calls himself Teacher and appears to have complete control over Nomad.
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| When Cap is attacked by the Nihilist Order, Nomad arrives to help out. |
As part of the movie promotion, the studio holds a parade and declares "Captain America Day". Everyone is having a good time, until the Nihilist Order attacks. This time, they're led into battle by Cap's old foe the Ameridroid! He's a 12-foot tall android with a the brain of a Nazi scientist. Ameridroid guns down Nomad and captures Captain America.
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| Red Skull controls the Ameridroid by remote & forces him to attack Cap. |
When the Star-Spangled Avenger wakes up, he learns that the brains behind this operation is none other than the Red Skull! He has imprisoned Cap in an abandoned movie studio. The Skull orders Ameridroid to kill Captain American, and it will be captured on film. Can Captain America defeat both the Red Skull and the Ameridroid?
Review:
Captain America vs. The Red Skull was published as a tie-in to the Captain America movie released in 2011 and contains stories from the 1940s to the 2000s (more on that under the "Extras" section). This review will only cover the Bronze Age portion of the contents.
Story:
The first story, featuring the People's Militia hasn't aged well. Gary Friedrich's (mostly negative) depiction of the Black Power movement is a heavy-handed take on a complicated movement.
This is the weakest part of the book. I'm not sure why this was reprinted instead of the stories from Captain America #147-148 that featured the Skull and the Kingpin.
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| An army of Red Skulls attacks Cap on the SHIELD Helicarrier. |
The second tale, written by Roger McKenzie, is your standard "Red Skull attempts world domination" story, but it's pretty good, as Red Skull preys on Cap's guilt over Bucky's death while Nick Fury's fate is under Skull's control. McKenzie is an overlooked Bronze Age writer and it's nice to see some of his Captain America stories reprinted.
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| Josh Cooper, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson enjoy a pitcher of sangria and sing 'One For My Baby' |
The final story is a classic and a personal favorite of mine. J.M. Dematteis gives us a great tale with plenty of action, a bit of mystery and even a light moment featuring Steve Rogers drinking with his friends. Considering the title of this tpb, it's pretty obvious that Teacher will turn out to be the Red Skull. But the presence of Nomad, the Nihilist Order, and (especially) the Ameridroid make this story a lot of fun. The Ameridroid is a great "high concept" character: A giant version of Cap with the brain of a Nazi scientist? That's brilliant. I hope that the saga that introduced the Ameridroid (Cap #218-221) will be reprinted someday.
Art:
The art outshines the stories here. John Romita's tenure as Cap's penciler is somewhat forgotten, but his work here is just as good as his Spider-Man art.
Sal Buscema delivers his usual solid work in the second story. Some of his work is over-inked, but it still looks good.
Mike Zeck (one of the best 1980s Cap artists & a favorite of mine) gives us the best art of the book. The only problem is that Zeck is inked by "Quickdraw Studios" meaning there are multiple inkers. This is a bit distracting, but Zeck's contribution shines through the worst of the inkers.
How does it look?:
Great, there doesn't appear to be any odd recoloring decisions. This excellent Zeck splash page is a perfect example of how good it looks:
Extras:
Stories from every decade that feature Cap/Red Skull battles. Highlights include the Skull's first-ever appearance as well as his revival in the 1960s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
Captain America vs. The Red Skull is a decent book. I'm happy to have the Dematteis-Zeck story in a nice, glossy format. And the inclusion of stories from every decade makes it a nice intro to Cap and his greatest foe. The Bronze Age portion of the book is good on the whole, but it's not essential reading.
J.A. Morris' rating:
.5
2 and a half Sals.
