FORTRESS OF BAILEYTUDE

Looking back on the past few weeks worth of posts I realized that I have been talking an awful lot about the DC side of my comic fandom. Sure I made a reference to the Hulk at one point but man, I let that DC flag fly. It makes sense. I am a DC guy first and foremost but sometimes you just have to mix it up or at least sometimes I just have to mix it up.

Thinking of a non-DC topic wasn’t all that hard, actually. I was chatting with my buddy Big Honkin’ Steve the other night and he reminded me of a series of books that were put out in 1981 that were a mix of reprints and text giving the reader a history of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk and Captain America. Steve related the story of how he found the Fantastic Four and Incredible Hulk volumes in a library when he was a kid, which is always cool to hear. One of my first comic reading experiences came at the school library and with more libraries carrying graphic novels and trades I’d like to think that maybe a new generation of fans could get their start by reading comics for free. Sure it makes comic books sound like a drug; the first hit is always free, but frankly it is an addiction and the question you have to ask yourself is how much of an addict do you want to become?

Sure it makes you feel good, but at what cost, I ask you? What is the cost?

Getting back to the point; in talking to Steve I was reminded of the fact that I own one of the books that were in the series that Big Honkin’ discovered back in the halcyon days of his youth. In the summer of 1995 I was at a flea market with a buddy of mine from college and there were several booths that sold comics. I wasn’t aware of the fact that flea markets sold comics because I had never been one before but darn it all if they weren’t there.

I completely forget what I paid for this book but it wasn’t much. It couldn’t have been much because I had so little money at the time but it would have been hard to pass this book up. Then, as now, I am a sucker for reference material about super-heroes and comic book in general. I have grown more fickle over the past thirteen years or so but back then even if was a fluff piece I would devour it over and over and over again and this Captain America book was no exception.

Captain America: The Secret Story of Marvel’s Star-Spangled Super Hero had text by comic book writer David Anthony Kraft¹, which broke down the early history of Cap before giving us a reprint of The Red Skull Supreme, which first saw the light of day in Tales of Suspense #81². This is a fairly standard Cap story from that era. The Red Skull. The Cosmic Cube. Cap emoting like his life depended on it. It was a good story to lead off with, but it isn’t one that gets me all excited. I mean I like it. It’s Captain America. Cap is number four on my Top Five All Time Favorite Super-Heroes, so I gave it a read. Nothing too special, but then again this is a book from forty years ago, so my sense of context is a bit strained here.

This was followed by another text piece going through Cap’s Rogues gallery, which was an interesting read. David Anthony Kraft dredged up such foes as Modok, the Super-Adaptoid, Baron Zemo and Batroc the Leaper³. The text pieces were ostensibly written for younger readers, as the back cover will soon bear out, so it’s not like the prose is in-depth and encyclopedic in nature. It does serve its purpose though and leads us into the next exciting reprint Captain America Joins…The Avengers! which comes from Avengers (Vol. 1) #4⁴.

Captain America Joins…The Avengers! is a seminal story from the Silver Age of Marvel Comics. It is one of those tales that gets reprinted again and again and again because despite the fact that Sub-Mariner had been brought into the Fantastic Four this was Marvel truly stating that, “We have a past,those stories happened and we’re bringing these characters into the present.” Now it is true that Marvel has done a bang up job of convoluting its own history but at the same time they did manage to explain how Cap managed to stay active after he did a swan dive into the frozen waters of…whatever body of water he fell into.

I like this story. I really do. It is overwritten as most Stan Lee comics are but at the same time it had so much energy to it. The easy thing to say about a story such as this is, “Well if this story was told today it would be a six part story arc and Cap wouldn’t even be found until the end of the first issue and he wouldn’t even go into action until part four.” The reason this is the easy thing to say is because…well…it’s true. But I’m not going go there because I don’t feel like doing so. Let’s leave it that despite being a little dated this is a solid story from the days of yore.

Captain America Joins…The Avengers! is followed by yet another text piece. This one covers Cap’s friends and allies and once again the text gives you the basics in case you were curious. I gloss over this section every time I re-read this book because one reading was enough. Besides, I really want to get to the last story reprinted in this volume.

The Living Legend was first presented in Captain America (Vol. 2) #255⁵ and at the risk of losing whatever credibility of being an objective blogger I love this version of Cap’s origin. Love it to pieces. As my friend Big Honkin’ Steve would say; Oh my lanta.

This story is composed of fifty percent awesome and fifty percent kick ass.

For one thing it is written by Roger Stern. I am a big fan of Roger Stern’s writing. Not every single bit but enough that he appears on a number of my Top Five lists when it comes to writers. His run on Cap was short but it is still one fans of the character talk about and the fact that his run is in print as a trade paperback makes me a very happy comic book fan⁶. For another thing the art is by John Byrne. John Byrne is something of a lightning rod for controversy. I really don’t care about all of that anymore. I like the man’s art. John Byrne’s work on Superman is what got me into comics and for that I will be eternally grateful to the man. So you have one of my favorite writers combined with one of my favorite artists, which makes it an easy sell right off the bat.

What makes this story a classic⁷ is the fact that it is so well done. From the first page, which is Byrne’s version of the cover to Captain America (Vol. 1) #1⁸ to the last page, where Steve renews his faith in the mission, this is a great comic book story. It is not the most in depth retelling, but man it does it well. Seriously. When they make the Cap movie this story needs to be in the pile of comics the writers go through for research.

AWESOME!

(pant…pant…pant…pant)

All right, I’m good. Had a geek out. It happens. Eveything’s cool.

…

AWESOME!

(pant…pant…pant…pant)

Ok, that was the last time. I promise.

The back cover to this thing proves that it was written for a slightly younger audience. Even in 1981 an adult comic book reader would not be taken in by the phrase, “Now! Amaze your friends! Stun them with your cast knowledge of little known facts!” I kind of feel bad for the kid that bought into that too. I mean I just imagine some kid like me with an overbite that Satan runs screaming from trying to dazzle his classmates with the fact that he got every question on the little quiz that appears at the back of this book right and getting his head shoved into a toilet.

I hope the toilet was clean. I really do⁹.

In any case I really dig this…whatever you want to call it. It’s kind of trade but it’s not. It is actually more in line with books like The Great Comic Book Heroes by Jules Feiffer and Comix: A History of Comic Book in America by mixing prose and old comics. Whatever it is I am glad I stumbled upon this at that flea market thirteen years ago. This is one of those books I’ll never get rid of.

Unless someone offers me a million dollars for it.

Come on. I’m a fanboy, not an idiot.

More to follow…

Fortress Footnotes