betsy ross – Coke & Comics

Tales of Suspense #64, Story B

Among Us, Wreckers Dwell!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: January 12, 1965
Cover: April 1965
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Illustrator: Jack Kirby
Delineator: Frank Ray
Letterer: S. Rosen
10 pages

Previous	#317	Next
	Prelude	Captain America Comics #1, Story C
Tales of Suspense #64	Reading order	Strange Tales #131
Tales of Suspense #64	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #65

This is an extremely close retelling of the second story from Captain America Comics #1, which we covered back when Captain America first returned in Avengers #4.

The original story is most notable for being Captain America’s first case and for introducing Betty Ross.

I see I didn’t go into great detail on the plot in that post, writing this:

The story of the comic doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I can’t begin to try to explain it and I’m not sure it’s worth considering all the many ways in which it makes no sense. Suffice it to say they stop the bad guys.

We’ll delve deeper here.

Last issue was a close retelling of the first story from Captain America Comics #1, which was the story of Captain America’s origin. Next issue will be a retelling of Captain America’s first battle against Red Skull from the same issue. It makes sense why one might want to revisit those two stories. And then there’s this one.

The original stories are by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Joe Simon’s name should probably have been in the credits of this comic, as it’s based so closely on his original story. The plot owes more to Simon than many of the comics Stan Lee claims “plot” credit on owe to Stan.

My issue with the original is that I didn’t really understand what Sando and Omar brought to the scheme. There were Nazi saboteurs in America successfully blowing things up. Why have a member of your crew go onstage and warn people about the attacks in advance by pretending to be psychic? The comic didn’t really try to explain.

Let’s compare the new one to the original. The first thing we will notice is the new one fits into very regular grid patterns that make it easy to crop out groups of panels. The original felt bound by no such structure, so the croppings will all be imperfect.

Looking to the opening splash pages, the crystal ball image is very close. The changes fit Kirby’s more dramatized style and generally make a more modern splash page. Omar is a little less freakish in the new one. The biggest loss is Sando, whose fingers had an unusual positioning in the original, almost suggesting his role as puppeteer. Kirby opted for a more standard-for-Kirby dramatized positioning.

The modern comic claims to be “introducing” Sando and Omar. This seems blatantly false, as they were obviously introduced 25 years earlier.

PRELUDE: Captain America #76

The Betrayers

Featuring: Captain America
Release: January 18, 1954
Cover: May 1954
10 cents
6 pages

Credits aren’t evident. My copy of the Marvel Masterworks claims John Romita is the artist, but I don’t think that’s correct. The GCD offers a different interpretation, citing the same Marvel Masterworks volume I am looking at. Perhaps they have a newer edition. I am anyways assured the GCD credits are correct by no less an expert than Michael Vassallo, and that this story is the work of Bill Benulis and Jack Abel, not John Romita. It is possible Romita touched up some of the faces.

It’s 1954. The publisher once known as Timely is now known as Atlas. It will eventually be best known as Marvel.

We last checked in with Captain America in 1948, when an injured Bucky was replaced as Cap’s partner by Betsy Ross, the Golden Girl. Let’s briefly review his publishing history in the interim.

Bucky recovered in issue 71 for a couple more adventures. Captain America Comics continued until issue 73, published in 1949. Golden Girl remained his occasional partner until the end.

With issue 74, the series changed its name to Captain America’s Weird Tales. We saw one final battle between Captain America and Red Skull along with a handful of horror short stories. This was the end of Marvel’s time publishing superhero comics. For the next several years, they would focus on romance, humor, horror, crime, and western tales. The final Sub-Mariner story had been published 4 months earlier, with the final Human Torch and Blonde Phantom stories 3 months before that.

Captain America’s Weird Tales #75 (1949) did not feature Captain America at all. His name adorned the comic’s cover, but he was nowhere to be found amongst the horror stories within. With that, the series ended. A somewhat ignoble end to the comic career of America’s favorite superhero.

Jump forward to August 1953. Young Men #24 gave us the return of Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner. We already reviewed that issue’s Sub-Mariner story. In that issue, we learned Steve Rogers had retired from being Captain America, but was still teaching at the Lee School, except it now seems to be a college. Bucky was now a college student, though he didn’t look any older. The Red Skull’s return convinces Captain America and Bucky to come out of retirement.

I plan to do a survey of Red Skull’s history separately, so am purposely not covering that story in any more detail now.

We turn now to Captain America #76. The numbering picks up where Captain America’s Weird Tales left off, but Captain America reclaims the book’s interior.

For 3 issues.

PRELUDE: Captain America Comics #66

Golden Girl!

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.

Incredible Hulk #6

Steve Ditko fills in for Hulk’s final issue.

The Incredible Hulk vs The Metal Master
Featuring: Hulk
Release: January 3, 1963
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
24 pages

I read this story in Incredible Hulk Omnibus vol. 1.

All good things must come to an end. Turns out things like this series also come to an end.

The great Steve Ditko takes over for Jack Kirby for the first full-length Hulk story since the second issue, and what is also the final issue of Incredible Hulk. Though no hint of that ending can be found in the cover or the letters pages. There simply isn’t an issue 7.

This Ditko guy draws a pretty good Hulk.

Perhaps it’s for the best. The first issue was one of the best comics we’ve read and showed so much potential. A dark psychological sci-fi drama, with elements of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. That potential was squandered on constant tweaks to the character, a series that had the feeling of throwing things at the wall until something stuck, then giving up when nothing stuck. It will take Steve Ditko to reshape the character into a more enduring form, but he won’t get a chance to do that now, as the series is being cancelled.