Captain America in 1968

Even at this early junction with the character, “Agent 13” (yes, I know who she really is) stands out quite ahead of Pepper Potts, Jane Foster, and some of the other plug-and-play supporting characters in 1960s Marvel Comics. It’s not even feminism; humans should exhibit something resembling agency, whether or not they’re they’re the supporting cast.

As with Cap’s monthly roommate, Iron Man, Tales of Suspense ends its run and both characters get their own monthly series. In the divorce, Cap gets the numbering, and his first solo of the Silver Age starts at a round issue 100. We’re going to see now if full length issues help or hurt the flow of Captain America stories. I tend to believe it hurt Iron Man during these early years.

That shift to solo issues happened in the middle of a story with Cap and Black Panther tackling Zemo. There was a neat framing mechanism in that first issue (#100) that seamlessly integrated a bit of Cap’s origin story right into the ongoing narrative. It was a really smooth few pages that didn’t waste an excess of time on retelling the same story again and again.

Batroc, Trapster, and Swordsman…are they Class C villains, or Class D? Willing to bump Batroc up a tier over Swordsman. The Frenchman has some interesting quirks that make him endearing.

Side note: did a look-up of Syd Shores, since I saw he was an inker and didn’t recognize his name. Interesting factoid: he was Kirby’s inker on the 1940s Captain America series. Wild that Lee-Kirby-Shores was effectively a Golden Age reunion team in 1968. Also noticed that it’s totally the inking style that gives comic art its Golden Age vibe. Deep oceans of black everywhere.

I don’t know if I could deal with it forever, but there’s a real charm to the effect. Silver Age pencils traced by Golden Age ink looks like a Vertigo comic that’s trying too hard. But Kirby + Shores is just too earnest and charming to look down upon.

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