Featuring: Captain America
Release: March 1, 1948
Cover: April 1948
10 cents
12 pages
I don’t see any credits in the issue, so I’ll refer you to the GCD for their take on attribution.
Captain America and Bucky are tracking a villain named Lavender and catch up to her during an ambergris heist.
I did not know anything about ambergris before reading this comic. Apparently, it is fecal matter occasionally released by sperm whales who have digested squid. It was used for centuries to make perfume and is extremely valuable. It has been illegal to buy or sell in America for about 50 years now, but apparently was not illegal in 1948. Hence, Lavender plans to steal some.
You can learn more about ambergris from Scientific American and Business Today.
Unfortunately, in the course of events, Lavender shoots Bucky.
Maybe this is why you shouldn’t take children into battle with you against dangerous criminals, Captain. Batman, are you paying attention?
Apparently at some point Betty Ross started going by Betsy Ross. I guess that’s up to her. Presumably, her actual name is Elizabeth Ross. Betty and Betsy are both standard diminutives of Elizabeth.
Those dishes can’t wait until after hearing Captain America’s life-changing idea, Betsy?
Betsy rattles off a plethora of qualifications. Academic, athletic… Bucky was a random kid who walked in on Cap one day. Now Cap has strict standards for who he accepts as a partner? This woman has been helping him tackle Nazi spy rings for 7 years now and he still needs her to read him her resume? I think we all know what’s going on here. There was no question that Bucky could be Cap’s partner because he was a male. His utter lack of qualifications and the fact that he was 9 years old were no matter in the face of that. But this woman who has spent several years battling Nazis… Cap wants to see some credentials.
“Then Bucky is…”
“Bucky”
The most anticlimactic revelation ever. Even Lois Lane would have figured that one out. Note she visited Bucky in the hospital earlier this issue. She’s met both Bucky and Bucky Barnes several times. He wasn’t wearing the mask in the hospital bed.
Captain America is overly hard on his new partner given that she just saved his life.
The kiss scene is painful to read.
Nobody seems to be learning any lessons here. Cap looks forward to Bucky being his partner again. No thought that maybe the child he drags into battle getting shot could be a wake-up call. Maybe this is a good chance for Bucky to focus on his schoolwork, stay alive along enough to go to college and get an education. There’s an opportunity here, Cap.
I’m not quite certain why the editors decided to replace Bucky with Golden Girl. An attempt to shake things up generally? An attempt to appeal to female readers? Or an attempt to placate the growing concern that comics were warping young minds. Too many parents concerned about homoerotic undertones.
Bucky will eventually recover. He will have a couple more adventures with Cap after he gets out of the hospital. Cap and Golden Girl will also still have adventures even after Bucky’s recovery. But not that many. The series is about to be cancelled. Less than a year away now. Marvel will be giving up on superheroes altogether. America’s just not in the mood.
We then lose track of Golden Girl for a few decades. We’ll pick up her story when she’s a bit older and living with three other single women in Miami.
Rating: ★★★½, 61/100
Characters:
- Captain America
- Bucky
- Betsy Ross
- Lavender
Story notes:
- Not certain when Betty Ross became Betsy Ross.
- Betsy won woman’s 100-meter race in college and was champion weight lifter; studied boxing and wrestling.
- Betsy spends a “few days” in training.
- Mme Fifi targeted by Lavender.
- Golden Girl not actually named. Her name implied by issue’s title.
- Bucky reunites with Cap in issue 71. Golden Girl remains Captain America’s partner for rest of series.
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