Captain America #134
They Call Him — Stone-Face!
Captain America and the Falcon —aka Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson — have become a crime-fighting team and their first order of business is shutting down the Harlem criminal organization run by Stoneface. At a local bodega, the pair take down a gang of crooks trying to extort protection money out of the owner. The pair are a well-oiled machine and the goons are quickly taken down.
Meanwhile, Sam Wilson’s nephew Jody Casper, is at a meeting with Stoneface and his men. He instructs them never to talk and he will use the resources of his criminal empire to make sure they get off the hook of any arrests. Jody, who runs numbers for Stoneface, thinks the mobster is the greatest and looks forward to making it to the big times himself. Later, Jody pays a visit to his uncle at the office where he Sam works as social worker. Knowing that his nephew is getting involved with shady characters, Wilson tries to convince the boy to stop working for Stoneface. Unfortunately, the conversation becomes heated and Jody storms out when Sam loses his temper with the boy. On his way out, Jody bumps into Steve Rogers and dismisses him simply because Rogers is white and the boy doesn’t trust him. Inside the office, Steve learns about Sam’s cousin Jody and his his sister, Sarah, is at a loss over what to do with the boy.
Meanwhile, Jody has gone to a local shop to collect Stoneface’s take. As he exists the store, a police officer sees Casper with a stack of money and arrests him on the spot. This arrest is seen by Steve, who decides to use his leverage as Captain America to help the boy get out of trouble. When Jody is brought before the court, the boy’s clean record and the fact that Captain America to intercede on the boy’s behalf convinces the judge to let Jody off with a slap on the wrist. However, instead of learning a lesson, Jody assumes that Stoneface somehow managed to pay off Captain America to get him off the hook.
This is far from the reality as Stoneface was willing to let Jody go to jail. Hearing that the youth is being released, Stoneface assumes that the boy has squealed on him and orders his men to go and pay Jody a visit. Later, a pair of Stoneface’s men force their way into the apartment where Jody lives with his mother. Moments later, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson come by to check on them and spot Stoneface’s goons running for it. They rush upstairs and discover that Sarah has been shot. Racing outside, Steve changes into Captain America to follow after them and is led to Stoneface’s hideout by Falcon’s bird, Redwing. Catching up with the getaway vehicle, Captain America leaps onto the roof and holds on for the ride. Not far away, Sam has changed back into the Falcon and hops into a cab, ordering the driver to follow the escaping car.
When they all arrive at Stoneface’s hideout, Captain America and the Falcon attack the men who shot Sam’s sister. The battle bring Stoneface and his men out onto the balcony of his hideout. There they open fire on the two heroes, but they quickly run to cover and topple the balcony by smashing the support beam. It doesn’t take long for the fighting duo to disarm Stoneface and his men. Although the Falcon is tempted to take out his anger on Stoneface, he decides to turn him over to the police instead.
Not long afterwards, Sam checks on his sister who has been released from the hospital because the gunshot was only a flesh wound. Wilson is pleased to see that Jody has learned the errors of his ways and has decided to go on the straight an narrow. However, when Sam meets up with Cap later, he is depressed because even though he saved his nephew from a life of crime, there are still so many other children out there that are being tempted into this dangerous way of life. Steve understands and tells Sam that they’ll continue to fight for peace, justice, understanding, and tolerance.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Falcon, Stoneface, Sarah Wilson, Jody Casper
Topical References
The African-American characters in this story speak in the type of slang that was popularized in blaxploitation films of the era in which this comic was published, such lingo should be considered topical.
Likewise, should the use of the term “Whitey” as it is used to disparage the Caucasian characters in this story. This term is considered offensive by today’s standard and its use here should also be considered topical.
In one scene, the Falcon swings off the marquee of an adult movie theater. While these types of theaters were quite common in New York City when this comic was first published they have since become a dying industry following decades of gentrification and the advent of the internet. It’s presentation here as openly advertising an adult film should be considered topical.
Nit-Picks
This story spells Stoneface’s name multiple ways: Stone-Face and Stone Face. In all later appearances he is called Stoneface. I’ve opted to refer to him by the most common spelling of his name. If you don’t like it, suck it.
