al avison – Coke ⊕ Comics

PRELUDE: Captain America Comics #6, Story B

Meet the Fang, Arch-Fiend of the Orient

Featuring: Captain America
Release: June 25, 1941
Cover: September 1941
10 cents
9 pages

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Tales of Suspense #81	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #82

So long, Cap. I did my best. Long live liberty!

No credits are given in the issue. The opening page is by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. The rest of the art is by Al Avison, Syd Shores, and George Klein. Those are the credits given in the Golden Age Captain America Omnibus. The GCD credits the entire story to Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, but I believe they are incorrect.

We just read the beginning of Iron Man’s second battle with Titanium Man in Tales of Suspense #81. We had previously read the conclusion of that issue, which featured Captain America’s epic battle with Red Skull and his Cosmic Cube. Before we get to issue 82, I’d like to peek back at this old Captain America story, which introduces the villain Fang.

Fang is an Asian villain, and thus probably a racist stereotype of a character like most Asian villains in the 1940s. And the 1960s.

We learn Fang is based on San Francisco’s Chinatown. He meets with an agent of an “Asian aggressor nation”. I interpret that Asian aggressor nation to be Japan, particular given the agent’s surname of “Nushima”, though the comic prefers not to specify.

After all, America wasn’t at war with Japan in June 1941 when this comic was released.

PRELUDE: Captain America Comics #16, Story D

Red Skull’s Deadly Revenge!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: April 30, 1942
Cover: July 1942
10 cents
Story by: Stan Lee
Art work by : Al Avison
24 pages

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Captain America Comics #7	Prelude	Young Allies #4
Sgt. Fury #16	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #65

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Captain America and were the driving force and primary creators behind the first 10 issues. But they left for the competition, for the company that would be DC.

That perhaps understates what happened. They learned publisher Martin Goodman had been cheating them out of royalties with shady accounting practices, and so started considering leaving the company. Goodman learned of their intentions and fired them before they could quit, losing his most successful creators in the process.

Stan Lee, now 19 years old, has since taken over the role of editing the Captain America stories, and had long been the writer on many backup features in the series, including Headline Hunter, Hurricane, Father Time, and the Imp.

This is his first credited Captain America comic story. (His first Captain America story was the prose piece in issue 3.)

His distinctive narration style is already recognizable even at a young age, filled with excitement and hyperbole. “…most dangerous adventure of their amazing, thrill-packed careers!”

We get a cool double splash page for the feature image.

Was he wearing his skull mask in prison? Why?

Red Skull apparently died at the end of most of his appearances, but he was captured at the end of issue 7, so opening with him in prison is correct. Somebody is paying attention.

PRELUDE: USA Comics #6

The Ghost’s Gaze of Death

Featuring: Captain America
Release: October 28, 1942
Cover: December 1942
10 cents
15 pages

I don’t see any credits. Except for the publisher and “editorial and art director”. The GCD credits the art to Al Avison and Syd Shores.

We continue our survey of early Captain America comics in preparation for Avengers #4. We started out with some significant milestones and will mostly focus on significant milestones. But I wanted to get a sense of who Captain America was in a run-of-the-mill story, not in any way a milestone. This story fit the bill for its insignificance.

It was chosen specifically because there is a connection to Medusa, which will also tie into Avengers #4.