sgt duffy – Coke & Comics

Tales of Suspense #68, Story B

The Sentinel and the Spy!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: May 11, 1965
Cover August 1965
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Inker: Frank Ray
Letterer: Sam Rosen
10 pages

Previous	#359	Next
Tales of Suspense #68	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #25
Tales of Suspense #68	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #69

The story’s title, “The Sentinel and the Spy”, seems to refer to Captain America’s nickname, “The Sentinel of Liberty”. It’s not clear to me how established that nickname is at this point. It’s been associated with the character since his first appearance in 1941, as the Sentinels of Liberty was the name of his fan club.

At the end of last issue, Cap still seemed to be brainwashed, but he’s snapped out of it by the opening splash page.

PRELUDE: Captain America Comics #37, Story C

Frozen Death

Featuring: Captain America
Release: February 11, 1944
Cover: April 1944
10 cents
15 pages

Previous		Next
Young Allies #4	Prelude	Captain America Comics #61
Sgt. Fury #16	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #65

The GCD credits the story to Otto Binder, Al Gabriele, and Vince Alascia.

Mostly a miscellaneous story we won’t dwell on. Three things stand out.

First, we note all clues about the identity of the Red Skull. He’s taken to using more German phrases than ever before. “Himmel”, “Donnervetter”. He refers to Captain America and Bucky as “American scum”. So perhaps this is a German villain, and not George Maxon.

Captain America and Bucky unmask him and recognize him as the “real” Red Skull they’ve fought before. This also implicitly acknowledges there may be “fake” Red Skulls out there.

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

Previous		Next
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: Captain America Comics #7

The Case of the Red Skull and the Whistling Death

Featuring: Captain America
Release: August 4, 1941
Cover: October 1941
10 cents
Art and editorial by: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
13 pages

Previous		Next
Young Allies #1	Prelude	Captain America Comics #16, Story D
Sgt. Fury #16	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #65

We’re well into Captain America’s adventures, but it’s worth noting this still predates America’s entry into World War II.

The Red Skull’s modus operandi has all been variations on a theme so far. Originally, he had a death gaze; he killed you by looking you. (It turned out he was also injecting you with a poison while he looked at you.) Then, the death touch; he killed you by touching you. (It turned out his glove was electrified and shocked his victims to death.)

Now… the tune he plays on his flute is deadly.

This time, the explanation is simpler. Red Skull whistles Chopin’s Funeral March, but then just shoots the guy.

PRELUDE: Captain America Comics #1, Story D

Captain America and the Riddle of the Red Skull

Featuring: Captain America
Release: December 20, 1940
Cover: March 1941
10 cents
By: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
14 pages

Previous		Next
	Prelude	Captain America Comics #3
Sgt. Fury #16	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #65

When Captain America returned to the present in Avengers #4, we preceded that with a large read-through of a swath of his history from 1941-54. But we intentionally left out some pretty key issues. In particular, we neglected his battles against his nemesis, the Red Skull.

The last two issues of Tales of Suspense have both retold stories from Captain America Comics #1. This next one will do the same, retelling the first battle of Captain America and the Red Skull. We will then see some previously untold encounters between Captain America and the Red Skull in World War II. Eventually, the Red Skull will return in the present day to menace Captain America again.

In anticipation of all this, now seems like a good time to read through the early history of the Red Skull, starting with his introduction here in Captain America Comics #1.

Tales of Suspense #63, Story B

The Origin of Captain America!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: December 10, 1964
Cover: March 1965
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Illustrator: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Frank Ray
Lettered by: Art Simek
10 pages

Previous	#309	Next
Tales of Suspense #63	Reading order	Avengers #13
Tales of Suspense #63	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #64

Rather than trying to tell a new Captain America story, this comic will retell the origin of Captain America. Subsequent adventures will recap his earliest issues and others will be new stories set in World War II.

I can only guess what’s going on here. One, you can imagine Kirby would like a bit of a break from drawing 5 stories a month, and it may be easier on him to retell old tales. Or, perhaps he is looking back on those tales now that he has grown as an artist and is looking to revisit them and tell them better.

I also suspect that Stan is starting to notice how much his readers care about the intercontinuity of the titles, something he probably doesn’t want to think about at all. Telling Captain America stories set in the past saves him the trouble of worrying that they line up with current Avengers comics.

I tend to find the best thing to do with these retellings is just go in depth and try to spot any differences from previous tellings, particularly the original story in Captain America Comics #1 (1941).

PRELUDE: Captain America Comics #2, Story B

Trapped in the Nazi Stronghold

Featuring: Captain America
Release: February 10, 1941
Cover: April 1941
10 cents
By: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
15 pages

Notice that for the second issue in a row, Captain America is attacking Adolf Hitler on the cover. A disappointing thing about the first issue was that the scene was not reflected inside the comic. This comic makes up for it with this second story. Which is of course why we are reading it. To actually see Cap sock Hitler.

Note that it’s February 1941. Still 10 months before America enters the war. But Joe and Jack aren’t shy about letting their opinions out. They inform us that Cap and Bucky head to “Nazi enslaved France”. Quite the strong language.

PRELUDE: Captain America Comics #2

The Ageless Orientals Who Wouldn’t Die

Featuring: Captain America
Release: February 10, 1941
Cover: April 1941
10 cents
By: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
15 pages

This comic was released on my birthday, just 40 years early.

Our buildup to Avengers #4 continues.

Once again, the cover of the comic shows Captain America directly confronting Hitler, this time without the satisfying sock to the jaw. The interior of the first issue disappointed, as Captain America and Hitler did not actually meet. This issue will rectify that, but not with this story. We’ll see Hitler in the next post, concerning “Case No. 2”.

The title of the story alone–“The Ageless Orientals Who Wouldn’t Die”– tells you that this comic is probably extremely inappropriate, and it is. Popular culture depictions of Asian characters were problematic for decades. This comic at least only features giants, not meant to represent actual people.