Tales of Suspense #81, Story B

The Red Skull Supreme!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: May 3, 1966
Cover: September 1966
12 cents
Script: Stan (The Man) Lee
Art: Jack (King) Kirby
Inking: Frank (Good Guy) Giacoia
Lettering: Artie (Smarty) Simek
Recruiting: Irv (Fall Guy) Forbush
10 pages

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Tales of Suspense #80, Story BReading orderTales to Astonish #82
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There is nothing I cannot do! The universe itself must bend to my wishes, so long as I hold the Cosmic Cube! My every wish– my every command– must be instantly obeyed!

At this point, of the many many nicknames we’ve seen in credits, Stan the Man Lee, and Jack King Kirby are by far the most common.

I’m doing a thing I don’t like doing and skipping into the middle of this comic, skipping the Iron Man story at the start.

We had a choice as we have at least two cliffhangers to resolve. See what happens between Namor and Iron Man or between Cap and the Red Skull? I’ve chosen the latter. The fight between Iron Man and Namor continues in Namor’s title, so we have to read that before we get to this Iron Man story. And I was eager to see the resolution of this Captain America story.

Also, this issue’s Iron Man story begins a new saga, one I don’t want to entangle with the web of comics we’re in the middle of.

Red Skull has the Cosmic Cube, giving him godlike power.

He gets in a good villain monologue we use for the pull quote above.

While Cap’s thoughts form a good heroic response.

My life means nothing! The fate of all mankind is at stake! If he isn’t stopped– humanity itself is doomed!

Red Skull creates a creature called the Man-Thing to menace Cap. Won’t be the last Marvel character to use this name.

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Falcon & Winter Soldier: The Comics

The comics that inspired the show

I’ve spent the last several weeks reading along to the Falcon & Winter Soldier TV series, another excellent show to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the show finished last week, I’d like to share the comics the show inspired me to revisit: the adventures of Falcon and Winter Soldier, John Walker, the Power Broker, Flag Smasher, Batroc, Zemo, etcetera.

I also found myself very interested in the idea of the mantle of Captain America, and what happens when the shield passes to the hands of another. It turns out that happens all the time in the comics. We’ll read through at least 10 different times when somebody else has wielded the shield.

Let’s read some comics.

This post is broken into 4 pages.

  • Page 1: 1941-1979. Meet Captain America, Bucky, Zemo, Batroc, Sharon Carter, Falcon, and Contessa Valentina Allegro de Fontaine.
  • Page 2: 1972-1988. Meet 4 other heroes to assume the identity of Captain America. Visit Madripoor; learn about the Power Broker.
  • Page 3: 1985-1992. Meet the Flag Smasher. See John Walker become Captain America, with Battle Star as his partner.
  • Page 4: 2003-2020. Meet Isaiah Bradley, the true Captain America of the 1940s. Then see Bucky Barnes assume the mantle of Captain America. Then see Sam Wilson do the same. We end with some reading recommendations.
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