Even though I'm just hemorrhaging money on this move, I have to remember to shell out for those Command picture hanging strips, since I've had a print of this issue on my wall for a couple years now. Even though I'm not sure I had read it until recently, save for possibly a reprint. The print is distressed-looking, but might be in better shape than the cheap copy I found! From 1975, Captain America and the Falcon #184, "Cap's Back!" Written by Steve Englehart, art by Herb Trimpe, embellishment by Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito.
Previously, short-lived Captain America replacement Roscoe had died, driving Steve into renouncing his Nomad identity and retaking the Cap mantle. I wonder if that was always intended as Roscoe's fate, if Nomad was only meant to last a few issues; and wasn't an experiment to see how much shaking the status quo could take. This feels like a return to the tried-and-true, as Cap faces off against his most classic foe, the Red Skull. The Skull had, of course, been responsible for Roscoe's demise; all part of a plan to destroy America and break Cap by April 30, 1975--the 30th anniversary of Hitler's suicide! (We all know in the Marvel Universe the android Human Torch killed Hitler, but I'm not positive that was ever common knowledge? Or maybe in the 616 the A&E Channel is chock full of Human Torch documentaries...)
While trying to piece together the Skull's scheme, Cap is ambushed...by three TV news crews! Cap back in uniform was a story, and while he doesn't feel like he has time to talk to the press, a reporter gets him with "too many people are hiding behind 'no comment' today." (As opposed to nowadays, where no one shuts up, ever...) Englehart seems to feel like while 1974 may have been a tough one, this was a new year and a new chance, although that optimism is hampered by the Red Skull murdering a guy with his new "dust of death" in broad daylight in Washington D.C. With a jetpack, he escapes from Cap and the Falcon, but taunts them with his next target: the next member of the "federal open market committee," who the Skull promises to kill at midnight. (The nature of that threat reminds me of the classic "the Laughing Fish," but it may even be more common than that.)
Before Cap goes to guard the next target, he visits long-time love interest Sharon Carter, who is markedly unthrilled with his return to form. His wartime girl Peggy was doing much better though: she was seeing fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Gabe Jones. Still, guarding the target in a lighthouse, Cap, Falcon, Peggy and Gabe all fail to save the victim, killed in a locked room, somehow. (Probably with a cat and a Joker-fish...no, this predates that one!) It's interesting that Cap's return wasn't a triumphant one, at least not right out of the gate. But, in an era not especially known for the best representation, Sharon seems to be a throwback to when girls were there to scream, or cry, or faint. She had been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent as well, but is completely defanged here. Geez, I think Betty Ross was written tougher than her here.
Sadly, my Marvel Value Stamp was clipped outta this one...and, President Supervillain used some panels from this issue the other day!
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