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 & Union Jack take on Baron Blood! |
 |
| 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! |
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. |
 |
| 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. |
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.
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!
 |
| 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!
