Captain America: Dawn's Early Light

Reprints Captain America #247-266
Written by Roger Stern, John Byrne, Bill Mantlo, Mike W. Barr, J.M. DeMatteis, David Michelinie, David Anthony Kraft, Al Milgrom, Jim Shooter and Chris Claremont.
Penciled by John Byrne, Gene Colan, Mike Zeck, Alan Kupperberg, Lee Elias and Marie Severin.
Inked by Joseph Rubenstein, Dave Simons, Mike Zeck, John Beatty, Al Milgrom, Marie Severin, Frank Giacoia and Quickdraw Studios.

Note: The first 8 issues of this book have been reprinted before in a tpb called Captain America: War And Remembrance. I reviewed that book here. And issues 261-263 were reprinted in another tpb that I reviewed titled Captain America vs. The Red Skull. So this review focuses mostly on the content that hasn't been previously reprinted.

Captain America is a member of the Avengers and a living legend of World War II. But what about his alter-ego, Steve Rogers?

Steve has recently relocated to Brooklyn Heights and is attempting to establish a career as a graphic designer. He's getting to know his neighbors, Joshua Cooper and Mike Farrell. They're eventually joined by a new neighbor, Mike's old friend Bernadette "Bernie" Rosenthal. Steve and Bernie are attracted to each other from the moment they meet, even if Steve's musical tastes are dated (just like Steve himself).

Bottom R:Steve Rogers meets Bernie Rosenthal for the first time.

Steve is having trouble remembering his past. He spent years in suspended animation and wonders if his memories are real, imagined, or planted. Steve sets out to find out the truth of his past.

In the process, Steve, as Captain America, encounters various villains:

-Baron Strucker, the former Nazi turned head of Hydra!

Captain America battles Baron Strucker, Nick Fury lends a hand.

-Machinesmith, master of robotics! He builds robot replicas of many Marvel heroes & villains and sends them after Cap!

-Dragon Man, a giant flying super-strong android. He has the mind of a child, but Dragon Man is one of the strongest and most dangerous beings in the Marvel Universe!

Batroc the Leaper teams up with the deadly, demented Mr. Hyde! They take control of a supertanker and hold it for ransom...a ransom that Captain America must deliver!

Hyde & Batroc take over a Roxxon Oil tanker.

 Cap is called to England to help fight an old foe: The Nazi Vampire known as Baron Blood!

Cap & Union Jack take on Baron Blood!

While in the UK, Captain America visits Greymoor Castle, home of his wartime enemy, Nazi scientist Cedric Rawlings. This foe was presumed killed during Cap's previous visit to the castle. Captain America learns that Rawlings is alive, and that the castle is haunted by a ghost. But the "ghost" may be another adversary from Captain Americas' past.

Greymoor Castle is full of surprises for Captain America.

Next, Cap flies to Northern England where he is captured by a team of criminals called Matrix Eight.  He learns that their leader is a former associate of his World War II era foe, Baron Zemo. Matrix Eight also kidnaps the Hulk and siphons off some of his gamma radiation to create the Gammadroid!

Matrix Eight try to capture Hulk & Cap.

Back home in New York, Steve Rogers' apartment is set on fire. It turns out to be the work of an arsonist who calls himself Blockbuster!

Cap tackles Blockbuster!

Later, Cap receives a letter from Ray Coulson, a friend of his from their service in WWII. Ray's son John has stolen money and taken up with a motorcycle gang called the Huns, so Ray seeks Captain America's assistance. Cap finds John but is attacked by Doctor Octopus before he can bring John home.

For the first time ever, Captain America battles Doc Ock!

Subsequently, Cap is sent to prison as part of a prison reform program. The warden has recently replaced the door, and asks Captain America to test its effectiveness...by staging a break-out!

Captain America travels to Los Angeles to investigate the appearance of a new superhero called Nomad. Steve is confused, since Nomad was the identity he took on when he lost faith in the United States government. Shortly after Cap arrives in California, he learns that this new Nomad is part of a the latest plot of the Red Skull!

Sometime after, we see Steve Rogers and his friend Congressman Sam Wilson watching a parade of Nazis marching through New York! John F. Kennedy is alive and still President, serving his 6th term.  Cap's wartime partner Bucky is still alive. But Captain America feels like something isn't quite right.  The star-spangled Avenger is summoned to a hotel in the Catskill mountains, where he will learn the truth. Cap is assisted in this adventure by the original X-Men!

The X-Men, Falcon & Cap battle Nazis.

Cap foils a terrorist plot in New York Harbor. He later learns that it's connected to a bizarre man named Samson Scythe, AKA Deathwatcher! The only pleasure Scythe gets in life is derived from watching other people die.

Scythe sends mechanical dogs to take out Cap.

Lastly, Captain America is captured by a villainous cyborg who calls himself Sultan. But just as he's taken, Spider-Man throws one of his Spider-Tracers on to Cap. Spidey learns that Sultan is a former weapons designer for SHIELD and the villain plans to attack Washington, DC with a nuclear missile. It will take the combined abilities of the two superheroes plus Nick Fury to defeat Sultan.

Cap, Spider-Man & Nick Fury battle Sultan's robots.

If that isn't enough, a small political party asks Captain America to run for President!

Plus, Cap's origin story and his first adventure are retold, narrated by none other than President Franklin Delano Roosevelt!

Review:
Captain America: Dawn's Early Light opens with reprints from one of the greatest eras of Captain America, followed by several fill-in stories. The best of this material has already been reprinted in the aforementioned War And Remembrance and Captain America vs. The Red Skull. So what about the rest of the book?  Is the book worth "double dipping" to get the stories that have never reprinted before? Read on.

The origin of Captain America is retold in this tpb.

Story:
The first part, written by Roger Stern, is the strongest portion of the book. The second-best story is the Red Skull three-parter, written by J.M. De Matteis. As I mentioned above, that was also reprinted before.  

I'd never read the Sultan story that guest-starred Spider-Man. It's a lot of fun, even if we never believe Sultan will blow up Washington, DC. Team-ups between Captain America and Spidey were always enjoyable during the Bronze Age and this one is no exception.

Spidey & Cap meet out of costume.

Bill Mantlo wrote a nice follow-up to the Silver Age Greymoor Castle story.

Rawlings warns Cap about  Greymoor's ghosts.

The story that features Blockbuster is a gritty, street-level tale focusing on arson and the often imperfect system of justice. It's co-written by David Michelinie and Chris Claremont. Like many Claremont stories, Cap doesn't really get a "clean" victory.

The portion reprinted from Captain America Annual #5 is offbeat and disturbing, but interesting. I can't recall any other Bronze Age villains who committed crimes simply because they enjoyed watching human suffering.

Some of the one-and-dones are light, but never bad. Even Mike W. Barr's Hulk story features a nice conversation between Captain America and Bruce Banner.

The only problem I had with these stories is the ease with which Cap dispatches of Constrictor and Doctor Octopus. Constrictor once battled the Hulk for an entire issue and Doc Ock always gave Spider-Man all he could handle. Michelinie has them beaten in a page or two and that's silly considering the villains' histories.

Art:
In addition to the fantastic art by John Byrne and Joseph Rubenstein that opens the book, we get some good work by other Bronze Age stalwarts. Mike Zeck pencils more pages than anyone else except for  Byrne. Zeck would go on to become Cap's regular penciler and his work in Dawn's Early Light is great.

The legendary Gene Colan drew two issues worth of reprints in this book. His art isn't quite as good as it was during the Silver Age, but it's still solid and gives the stories a "Film Noir" atmosphere.

How Does It Look?:
Better than ever. Here's a page from War And Remembrance:

And here's the same page as reprinted in Dawn's Early Light:

Looks the same...but better!

Extras:
Captain America: Dawns Early Light includes a nice assortment of bonus features.
This tpb reprints of essays written by Roger Stern that were originally published on the Captain America fan letters pages. And we get eight pages of original art from Byrne and Rubenstein. Unfortunately, they're shrunk down to fit on two pages, so we don't get them in the original size. Stern's introduction from the 1990 edition of War And Remembrance is re-presented here, along with a 2007 interview where Stern discusses his work on Cap.

Back in 1981, the main story from Captain America #257 (the Hulk/Matrix Eight story) was only 16 pages long, so the original issue ended with five pages of reprinted material from issues 11-12 of  Not Brand Echh, Marvel's Silver Age humor comic. Those pages are not included in Dawn's Early Light.

Rounding out the supplements are covers from earlier reprints of these stories, but again, they're reprinted in a reduced size. It's good to have them, but the original size would've been nice.  All in all, an excellent collection of extras.

Rating:
Captain America: Dawn's Early Light contains some of Cap's best Bronze Age stories and some more stories that are also enjoyable.  The writers and artists featured here are some of the best of the 70s and early 80s.  If you don't own War And Remembrance, picking up this book is a no-brainer.  Even if you do own it, the stories have never looked better and the additional content also makes this a must-have for any fan of Bronze Age Comics.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Fantastic Four/Spider-Man Classic

Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #1, Spectacular Spider-Man #42, Fantastic Four #218, Marvel Team-Up #100, 132-133 and Untold Tales Of Spider-Man Annual 1996.

Peter Parker goes on a cruise to Liberty Island with his fellow Empire State University graduate students. While on the ferry, he sees a message from the Human Torch, asking Spider-Man meet him at the Statue Of Liberty.

Peter & the ESU gang go on a cruise;
Bottom left: Mike Zeck (who penciled this image) makes a "cameo".

But when the wall-crawler arrives, he is attacked by "the Torch", who turns out turns out to be Spidey's old villain Electro in disguise.

We learn that Electro is not alone. He's the newest member of the Frightful Four! His teammates Wizard, Trapster and Sandman join in and easily take Spider-Man captive. Spidey is imprisoned in the Trapster's super-paste.

But the Frightful Four aren't finished yet. They attack the Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four. The villains manage to take down the Thing, Invisible Girl and Human Torch. They've got Reed Richards in trouble, when suddenly Spidey is able to break free and help Mr. Fantastic. Will Spider-Man and Reed be able to defeat the Frightful Four?

Shortly after that adventure, Spider-Man is swinging through New York when he's mentally possessed by someone. We observe a teenage girl on a rooftop who is amazed by how it feels to climb walls. The possessed Spidey is forced to attack a charity party held in a luxury apartment, where he tries to take two young children away from their uncle. The Fantastic Four are attending the party and try to stop Spider-Man.

When they fail, a young man named Tran intervenes. He tries to possess Spider-Man as well, enabling the FF to restrain the webhead. Spidey wakes up with no memory of the fight.

The Fantastic Four team up with Spider-Man and try to find out who possessed him. With the help of Professor X's Cerebro machine, they find the girl. We learn she is a Vietnamese immigrant named Xi'an Coy Manh. She tells the heroes that the kids at the party are her younger brother and sister, Leong and Nga. Their uncle Nguyen is a gangster and is holding the younger siblings against their will. Xi'an's brother Tran also has the ability to possess people but uses it for evil.

Will the combined might of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four be enough to stop Tran?

Months later, Reed is visited by a young man named Larry Ekler. Through flashbacks, we Larry's father Milton was a close friend of Reed. Larry grew up calling him "Uncle Reed." Milton believed in achieving the American Dream through hard work, but he was never able to pull himself out of poverty.

Reed looks back on Larry Ekler's life.

Milton's early death drove Larry insane and he became a costumed criminal called Everyman, declaring himself a hero for the working poor. Everyman killed two policeman before he was defeated by Captain America. Reed wonders how Larry got out of the metal institution where he was being treated.

Larry puts on a featureless mask and calls himself Everyman once again. Reed is shocked when Everyman attacks him and shows off his new super-strength. Everyman stuns Reed with a weapon called the Absorbascann that drains Reed's power.

Everyman then battles the police at the New York Public Library.  When Spidey and Mr. Fantastic arrive, Everyman overpowers them with brute force. But Reed is able to briefly reason with Larry, showing him the errors of his ways. Everyman runs away feeling terrible about what he's done.

Reed is determined to bring Everyman to justice. But we learn that Larry is not the real menace here.  He's being mentally manipulated and controlled by Dr. Faustus, an evil psychiatrist.  Reed sets out to capture Larry and Faustus, but his primary opponent in the battle will be his own mind and memories.

Review:
The stories reprinted in this fairly slim volume aren't classics (despite the title), but I enjoyed them. I can think of a few more Bronze Age team-ups of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four that could've been featured here, but I'll focus on what's in the book.

Story:
Bill Mantlo wrote the Frightful Four story and it's a good one. I've always been a big fan of the evil FF.  It makes sense to have the Frightful Four go after Spider-Man, since Sandman and Wizard had battled both the Fantastic Four and the wallcrawler. Mantlo scripts a very funny scene near the end where the Thing taunts Trapster over his former alias, 'Paste Pot Pete'.

The Frightful Four easily take out the Liberty Island police.

The next story, written by Chris Claremont is also good. The Vietnam War had been over for less than ten years. It was interesting to see the Vietnamese immigrant experience depicted in a Bronze Age comic. Claremont would bring back Xi'an Coy Manh as a member of the New Mutants a couple years later, giving this story some "historical" significance. 

J.M. DeMatteis, one of my favorite writers of the 80s, penned the portion that features Everyman taking on Reed & Spider-Man. Everyman was created by DeMatteis in a Captain America story and he's an interesting villain. His arguments about the American Dream (and those who can't achieve it) have some validity, but his methods, as Spider-Man says, stink. 

Art:
The art is excellent here, featuring some of the best pencilers of the Bronze Age.

Mike Zeck pencils the first part of the Frightful Four story. Jim Mooney inks Zeck and they're a great art team.

The next portion features John Byrne inked by Joe Sinnott, the regular art team on the FF at the time.  Sinnott tended to be a "heavy" inker, but I've always thought his inks worked well over Byrne's art. Byrne and Sinnott together were a wonderful combination of old school and (then) new school art.

Frank Miller and Bob Wiacek provide the art in the first Marvel Team-Up story. I don't recall Wiacek inking Miller elsewhere, but they work great together here. Here's a great scan that features Xi'an's story of how she became aware of her powers:

Sal Buscema pencils the Everyman story, with inks by Mike Esposito. This isn't their best work, Esposito inks are a little overpowering at times. But their work is still pretty good, demonstrated by the image below:

How does it look?:

The comics reprinted here look fine, with no odd recoloring. Here's another scan that shows how great the pages look:
 

I love the expression on Wizard's face in the center, great work by Byrne & Sinnott!

Extras:
This book opens with the classic, first ever meeting of Spidey and the FF, from Amazing Spider-Man #1. It closes with a story published in the 90s.  

Fantastic Four/Spider-Man Classic is a fun read, featuring some stories I enjoyed 30 years ago and enjoy just as much now and it features some of my favorite writers and artists of the Bronze Age. But as I said above, it's a thin book, which keeps it from getting a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.

Captain America vs. The Red Skull

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.