Captain America in the 1970s

Jun 1

Jun 1 Captain America in the 1970s

When the 1970s came around, Captain America was in a constant state of identity crisis. It wasn’t just with the character in story, but also in the American identity of the decade that impacted who and what Captain America represented, as well as turmoil in the bullpen as different creative teams told staggeringly different tales. This was an era where Captain America’s raison d’etre was called into question as the Americans were protesting the Vietnam War, the Nixon presidency ended in scandal during Watergate. However, there was also a certain level of optimism and positivity as America prepared to celebrate the bicentennial, a time for celebration unless you were on the opposite end of colonialism, but I digress. In decades past, Captain America was always seen as the embodiment of America and was always depicted as a patriot that supported the government and fought for his country. Whereas the 60s had Captain America trying to find a place for Steve Rogers in the modern world, the 1970s had Captain America reflecting on who Captain America was, and what he represented.

But before we get into these rather introspective themes, we must first look at the dregs of Stan Lee’s tenure on the title. As I’ve said in past primers on other titles, the 1970s was a period of transition. Stan Lee was turning his focus away from writing and it was fucking showing. Every issue of Captain America he wrote in the 1970s was phoned in. Tired plots with circular logic and dated concepts even for the decade they were written in, Stan Lee’s final issues on the book were a pitiful gasp. Whereas other (younger) writers were able to adapt the counter culture of the day and commentate it the Marvel line. Stan Lee could not adapt and so he threw up his hands and gave up on even trying.

Stan Lee would continue writing Captain America until issue #141, working primarily with artist Gene Colan. As I’ve said previously Gene Colan is a great artist, however his time on Captain America is not great. His artwork seems rushed and his creations all look the same. You can’t really fault Gene for drawing enemies that all look alike when Stan would frequently use androids, cyborgs, and other artificial foes for Captain America to fight. In my Thor in the 70’s primer I complained that it seemed like Stan Lee phoned in a lot of his later stories, and it’s very evident in his waning days on Captain America. Stan, trying to recreate the same acclaim for past social commentaries, tries to address issues of race, the Vietnam War, as well as youth protests that were happening at colleges and universities at the time. I don’t know if Stan just really didn’t understand the nuances of the issues at hand or he was limited by what he could say by the CAC, but a lot of these stories grossly simplify the issues at hand. In the middle of all of this, he tries to take the romantic drama that was popularized in Amazing Spider-Man and do the same with Captain America.

While being a depressed loner works well with Peter Parker, having Steve Rogers — a World War II veteran — lamenting of a girlfriend who won’t quit her super-spy job and work behind a desk just come off pathetic. On top of that, the character is constantly depressed because he is still a man out of time and just doesn’t get the kids these days. So yeah, on top of being insufferably depressing he’s also an old man that yells at clouds. It’s not a good look. While Captain America trying to find continued meaning in an ever changing world has become a staple of the series in later years, this first attempt is just pathetic. It’s like Stan is trying to hard to try and “get it” but then just doubles down on being “square” because it’s too hard to understand the youth culture of the time.

At any rate, issue #127 has Captain America rage-quit his job at SHIELD and he goes riding across the country on a motorcycle starting in the following issue. The stories are… awful. Whereas most other writers would make this an opportunity for the character to travel across American and try to remind himself of what being an American is, this is just a plot contrivance surrounded by a bunch of lack-luster battles against foes like the Red Skull and Baron Strucker. The latter, from issues #130-132 has Bucky being found but he turns out to be a robot created by AIM to kill Captain America. It’s such a half-ass story that takes three issues just to explain the convoluted scheme that puts the android Bucky in place to kill Captain America. Also, as a great example of how Stan was just phoning it in, Baron Strucker was dead when this story was written. A reasonable explanation for his appearance here was not explained until issue #247, which — unoriginally — says this Strucker was a robot. So a robot that thought he was a man tricked an android that thought it was a man into thinking it was Bucky. Great work guys.

Stan did keep reintroducing the Falcon, who first appeared in Captain America #117. Issue #126 even has a brief moment where Sam Wilson puts on Captain America’s costume, something that he will eventually do full time some 44 years later. I suppose if there is anything good that came out of Stan Lee’s last squirt of creativity was issue #133 which saw Captain America and the Falcon officially become partners. For it’s time this was a very progressive move. However, as well meaning as Marvel was by including an African-American character to the regular cast of Captain America, it wasn’t without its problems as we’ll see later on. One thing is for sure, there is kind of a “white savior” vibe coming off these stories, in that it seems like Falcon could only fight crime (mostly in black Harlem) without the help of Captain America, a white man. The Falcon pretty much starts off his career as Captain America’s sidekick, as opposed to an equal partner.

Another interesting choice by Stan near the end happened in issue #139, where Steve Rogers decides to become a police officer when he’s not fighting crime as Captain America. This was kind of an attempt to go back to plots similar to the 1940s Captain America, where Steve Rogers had a job of authority where he acted like a bumbler and had a superior constantly grilling him. However, instead of being in the army he’s now a cop. This side-grind didn’t last very long and frankly and is totally a product of its time. Living in a day where there are some serious issues with police officers murdering black men in America, the idea of making Captain America a cop today would probably not be an ideal choice. Especially when Sam Wilson has grown to become an even bigger champion of the African-American community in the comics.

Working on the title during this period was John Romita Sr., who last worked on Captain America in the 1950s. What followed was an overly long plot that was started by Stan Lee in issue #139, which saw the Grey Gargoyle as the primary protagonist. Garry Friedrich takes over as writer to finish off the story in issue #142. It… doesn’t make a lot of sense. In it, the Grey Gargoyle has been kidnapping cops and a reverend for no real reason and then changes gears to try and steal the powerful Element X from SHIELD. This is followed up with issue #143, which had the Red Skull trying to incite a race riot in Harlem. I think this was supposed to be a commentary on the Black Panther (the political group, not the superhero) but as usual when a white writer tried tackling a complex issue like this they take the lazy way out and reveal the inciter is actually a white racist, a common trope that happened in the Avengers when they fought the Sons of the Serpent.

By this time, Romita was phased out of the book as lead artist, with half-issues drawn by him and the rest drawn by others. I suppose this was during the period he was working on Amazing Spider-Man. As far as writing goes, I don’t think Gerry Friedrich really knew what he wanted to do. Captain America’s civilian job as a cop was regularly interrupted by missions as Captain America and he kept having the Falcon flip flopping from being a solo crime fighter in Harlem and bailing Cap out of trouble. His final arc had Captain America clashing with Hydra in Las Vegas and it is a busy, busy story. Far too much going on. It introduces SHIELD’s Femme Force, an all woman team led by Sharon Carter, which I guess was trying to be groundbreaking for the time by Sharon was constantly getting injured causing Captain America to almost commit murder. Also, Hydra was resurrected this time by the Kingpin and his son Richard Fisk, but also they were being manipulated behind the scene by the Red Skull who was after a fifth Sleeper robot that was buried in Nevada for some reason that is not explained. If this isn’t too much already, Friedrich also tried to create a love triangle between Cap, Sharon and Countessa Valentina de la Fontaine, another SHIELD main-stay. Joining the book as regular artist during this period was Sal Buscema.

There is just way too much going on here and ideas are introduced and then immediately sidelined as Friedrich did these massive story arcs. One notable wrinkle here was Red Skull revealing that Hydra was created to bring back Nazism, an foundation that would be explored in greater detail in later stories for years to come. Friedrich’s stint on Captain America soon ended and Gerry Conway took over as writer and he tried to get some of the plot lines back on track, such as Cap’s job as a cop and Sam Wilson’s social work. Again, these stories dealt with a lot of social issues that impacted Harlem at the time. Again, for whatever reasons, I feel that these complex issues were grossly simplified. I’m pretty sure that a black writer could have told these stories a lot more eloquently, but they were a rarity in the industry at the time. Also, I’m sure the Comics Code Authority probably would have forced editors to water down anything that was “too real” anyway.

Case-in-point, Conway’s first arc in issues #149-150 had Captain America and the Falcon investigating children who were being kidnapped in Harlem and it turned out that it was the work of an other dimensional being who was pretending to be the Stranger for 30 seconds. Also Batroc the Leaper was involved. It’s a weird flex.

Steve Englehart takes over as writer starting in issue #153, and begins tackling a number of loose ends that have been dogging Captain America first years. First, in issues #153-156, he resolves a decades old conundrum of the time: If Steve Rogers was in suspended animation in 1945, how could have he appeared in the Timely/Atlas Captain America stories of the late 40s early 50s. Around this time, a lot of these old comics were being reprinted by Marvel and brought these questions into a new light. Englehart at least resolved question about the 50’s Cap by saying it was an obsessed fan who took on the mantle, became a xenophobic douchebag that was then tossed into suspended animation by the government. It was a way to explain that hardline anti-communist version of the 50s Cap, that was so out of character from his 40s and 60s counterparts.

He also ended Captain America’s association with the NYPD in issues #157-159, exposing Brian Muldoon as criminal called the Cowled Commander who was created a half-assed scheme to trick people into supporting the police again. It was a weak story that I think was tossed together just to be over and done with the Captain-America-As-A-Cop story that he inherited. It does have a distinction of introducing a new villain called the Viper, whom Englehart co-created with Steve Gerber. That Viper was an ad-executive gone bad smacks of the type of anti-corporate attitudes that Gerber puts into a lot of his characters, particularly when he started doing Howard the Duck. Gerber’s tiresome character tropes aside, this arc also had Captain America gain super-human strength for a time which will become the norm until Captain America #218 and fuel the endless debate among fans over if Cap still has superhuman strength or not because they are too stupid to understand what artistic license is.

Issues #161 and 162 also answer another loose plot threat, the identity of the woman that Captain America loved during World War II who bore a strike resemblance to his current lover, Sharon Carter. This character was last seen in the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby days of Captain America back-up stories in Tales of Suspense and after a few stories was not heard from again. Englehart reveals that this woman is Peggy Carter, Sharon’s older sister. Which to be honest, was already a stretch when this comic was published in 1973 and became increasingly outlandish in later years. When Marvel implemented the Sliding Timescale in later years Peggy was later relegated to being Sharon’s aunt, something that will probably change again in due time.

Subsequent issues where okay, with issue #163 introducing the Serpent Squad, and #164-167 introducing Falcon villain Nightshade and reintroducing Marvel’s Fu Manchu rip-off Yellow Claw. Issue #168 is a sleeper milestone as it introduces us to Helmut Zemo, the son of Cap’s old foe Baron Zemo. Here he appears as the ridiculously garbed Phoenix, but he will return in the following decade and become every bit as a menace as his father was.

By this time, the Watergate scandal and the resignation of Richard Nixon was in full swing and the political scandal had an impact on the stories that were being told in Captain America. Steve Englehart started a long running story arc from issues #169 to 183. It starts off with the return of the Secret Empire who were using mutants (who were out of the spotlight due to the X-Men being in reprint limbo at the time) to try and take over the United States. This arc ends with the leader of the Secret Empire being unmasked and revealed to be the President of the United States who then promptly commits suicide. The intent at the time that this was Nixon blowing his brains out, but later Sliding Timescale shenanigans have generalized the story, with some recollections — such as the one in Avengers Forever — suggesting it was a high ranking government official and not the President. At any rate, the discovery of this sort of high level corruption completely demoralizes Steve Rogers who decides to retire as Captain America, reinventing himself as a new costumed hero called Nomad. While an interesting direction it was quickly backpedaled using what will become a tired trope whenever Steve Rogers tries to quit being Captain America — a bunch of people try to succeed him only to get hurt, killed, or murdered — forcing Steve to realize that he’s the only Captain America and go back into the role.

This story grossly simplifies the Watergate scandal and, frankly, I find that the scene where Nixon blows his brains out to be juvenile fantasizing on the part of Englehart. At the time, writers like he and Steve Gerber tried to write edgy counter-culture stories that questioned the status quo. Gerber was more successful at this, Englehart on the other hand comes off sounding like a whiney bitch, especially after issue after issue of Captain America whining about his lost identity in the aftermath of it all. While the idea of Steve Rogers quitting as Captain America and taking on a new identity because he lost faith in America is an interesting concept, it was mired Englehart’s circular logic, histrionic characters, and the inevitability that Rogers would eventually do a 360 and return to the role after enough wannabes ended up injured or killed, just like when Stan and Jack did the same fucking thing a decade earlier.

A milestone in this collection of issues came from issue #181-182 which reintroduced the Serpent Squad. This time, they were led by the former Madame Hydra who had reinvented herself as the new Viper. Commanded by the Serpent Crown, the new Viper became even more nihilistic than ever before. Again, interesting concepts, but poorly executed as Viper sounds she’s trying too hard to sound edgy after reading an introduction to Nietzsche. The story also introduces readers to Roxxon CEO Hugh Jones who will have a larger role in Englehart’s run on the Avengers that ran at the same time.

Issue #183-186 is the expected back-pedaling, but also a very controversial story. not only had the return of Steve Rogers as Captain America, but also had the return of the Red Skull. In it, Captain America’s replacement — Roscoe Simmons — is murdered by the Skull. When Steve becomes Captain America he and the Falcon try to track down the Red Skull, who has gone back to his old tricks of killing government employees to the tune of Chopin’s Funeral March (something he did back in the Timely days this one time). This story also takes the controversial move of expanding on Falcon’s origins. It purports that Sam Wilson was actually a street thug who dressed like a stereotypical 70s pimp named Snap Wilson and that the Red Skull used the Cosmic Cube to rewrite his personality to make him an ideal candidate as a new partner for Captain America. This was all apparently a round-about way to one day have the Falcon kill Captain America.

During his entire run, I think Englehart was trying to be somewhat progressive while writing the Falcon and touching on topics like the inequities faced by people in Harlem at the time these stories were published. Grossly simplifying complex issues and maybe a little ignorant, but I believe he meant well. Which makes this “secret origin” of the Falcon really confusing because it is bordering on offensive by playing into negative stereotypes. What’s even more surprising is that future writers kept on running with this idea, revisiting the whole “Snap” Wilson thing for decades. Thankfully, in the more inclusive post Disney days, writer Rick Remender corrected this really offensive backstory by revealing the whole “Snap” Wilson thing was the fabrication — Sam Wilson was always a good guy — and had his life fucked over for years when the Red Skull used the power of a god to turn him into a racist stereotype. Which is a lot of backpedaling some problematic stories, but actually works for once when you consider the Red Skull is the #1 racist in the Marvel Universe.

Anyway, this run also sees a change in regular artist, with Sal Buscema leaving the book in issue #181 with Frank Robbins coming in the next issue. I’m going to say this out front, I am not a fan of Frank Robbins. His artwork is far too cartoonish for my likings and always looks really sloppy. My dislike for Robbins artwork is on par with that of Don Heck. It’s fucking awful. Robbin’s increasingly sloppy work will continue to appear in the pages of Captain America until issue #192, with the odd issue having Sal Buscema come back to fill in. Also departing from the title was Steve Englehart who was abruptly switched with writer John Warner. According to his a letter page in subsequent issues, Steve reluctantly left Captain America to work on a black-and-white Thor series for Marvel’s magazine publishing arm. This series never panned out and the only issue produced was later published as a Thor Annual.

Werner and Robbins would write the next few issues which are not much to write home about. Filling in after John Warner’s two issues Tony Isabella tied up loose ends in preparations for the next big shift. Isabella quickly dealt with Falcon’s criminal past with a trail in issue #191 where Sam is let off the hook and the issue ends up being neatly swept under the rug until the 1980s by J.M. DeMatteis who tries to do the Snap Wilson thing some justice but somehow makes it worse, but we’ll get into that some other time. Isabella’s final story was in issue #192, a sub-par Doctor Faustus story that is only notable because it introduces Karla Sofen, who will later become the new Moonstone of Thunderbolts fame.

In 1976, Jack Kirby returned to Marvel Comics and was given full control of Captain America. He acted as the series writer, artist, and editor from issues #193 to 214. Kirby also did the 3rd and 4th Captain America Annuals, which featured new stories instead of reprints, however the annuals were scraped after 1977 and the next one didn’t get published until 1981. Since Kirby’s return also coincided with America’s bi-centennial he also drew the Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, a oversized “Treasury Edition”.

Kirby came back onto the book after his stint at DC Comics and was given full control of the title. Kirby kept the Falcon as Cap’s partner but basically ignored all grey politics of the previous few years to really ramp up Captain America’s patriotic side. It was in part to celebrate America’s Bicentennial. While Kirby’s artwork is no less iconic than the decade before, these stories suffer from a lack of complexity. They have interesting ideas, such as the Loyalist Forest of America trying to restore an aristocracy, or the other-dimensional Night People of Zero Street. However, the stories themselves are simplistic. Almost the type of one-dimensional and an utter lack of depth that was more at home in the Superman stories he wrote for DC before hand. Although Kirby mercifully spared us any of his usual tropes, such as science based gods (ala the Inhumans, Eternals, New Gods and so on) he doesn’t make any attempt to hide that he is swiping his ideas from other popular fiction at time.

In fact his first arc, running from Captain America #194-200 even titles one of the stories (issue #195) after it’s major influence George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Even then, Kirby’s tendencies to grow bored with an idea and race through a plot to get to his next idea is on full display here because he it reads like a really bad fanfiction about Captain America trapped in Orwell’s classic story written by someone who would have probably failed a book report. The Bicentennial special isn’t much better. It involves Captain America being hurtled through time to various points in American history by the insensitively named Mister Budda (later renamed the Contemplator and revealed to be an Elder of the Universe) It’s 80 pages of Captain America getting mad that he is being allowed to visit key moments in American history, because apparently he has other things to do? The story goes around in circles as it seems like Kirby had no idea where he wanted to go with things.

Stories started off with Jack Kirby listing himself as writer, artist, and editor in the largest font possible in the credits section. However by the same “1984” issue, Marv Wolfman had been adding as “consulting editor”, I’m guessing that this was to reign in Kirby and stop him from doing anything too outlandish, because lets face it when left to his own devices Jack could go off the rails very fast. Starting in issue #201 Archie Goodwin took the place as Jack Kirby’s babysitter.

Overall, Kirby chooses to ignore any reference to any past Captain America stories almost as though they never happen. On the one hand, it quietly ignores the whole Snap Wilson nonsense from the previous arc. However, the writing is incredibly dated with characters shouting exclamations like “Jumpin’ Catfish!” and other hokey Golden Age non-sense. The stories, while touching on interesting subjects, had all the emotional depth of a child trying to explain complex ideas. Kirby was a very well read person, but translating his inspirations into stories came off sounding incredibly childish and dumb. Was Kirby trying to skew younger with his Captain America stories? Or was this an influence from his time at DC Comics who, around this time, were mostly targeting children with their stories. I can’t say for sure, but one thing is for certain is that Jack did not read the room. He took over the book after Steve Englehart managed to turn it around from a book on the brink of cancelation to one of the most popular ones being issued at the time. Englehart, without naming names, says the title went back into the decline he saved it from after his departure. I think he was talking about Kirby’s run, because while each issue is a short read, it’s not a very good one. It has to be the worst Jack Kirby stuff I’ve ever read.

Thankfully, Kirby’s run came to an abrupt end after a two part story in issue #213-214. By this point, Kirby was really on the dregs of his creative output since the villain he introduced was the Night Flyer, a villain who was really good at hang gliding. What didn’t help was that Kirby was working out of LA and Marvel was in New York. While there are stories about editorial interference on Marvel’s part — which led to Kirby calling it quits for good — at the end of the day, these stories are really really bad, even with all the editorial interference. I’m left wondering what sort of a non-sensical mess Kirby would have churned out without an editor going over his work. As I’ve said countless times: Kirby was a phenomenal artist who did not get proper recognition for his work, but his solo story telling was awful.

What’s notable about Kirby’s run is that he avoided referencing anything that going on elsewhere in the Marvel Universe and refrained from featuring any other known characters other than his supporting cast and the Red Skull. One iconic creation that came out of Kirby’s second run on Captain America was the mad geneticist named Arnim Zola, who attempted to resurrect Adolf Hitler as the powerful Nazi X in issues #208-212.

With Kirby’s sudden departure from the book, Marvel scrambled with a series of fill in issues. The first, in issue #215, was rehashing Captain America’s origins yet again, this time incorporating elements of Captain America history that were previously established in What If? and the Invaders in order to explain the Captain America appearances from 1945 on. It also set the stage to look into Steve Roger’s past prior to his becoming Captain America. It would have it’s issues, but we’ll get into that in a moment. The next was a reprint issue, reprinting the Human Torch’s battle with the Acrobat from Strange Tales #114, in which the villain disguised himself as Captain America in order to defraud a car show.

The series sets itself up trying to reveal Captain America’s past as well as try and expand on the Corporation, the enigmatic organization that appeared at the end of Kirby’s run. The title would go through a revolving door of writers which included Roy Thomas (issue #214, 216), Don Glut (issue #216-220), Steve Gerber (221-223, 225), and Peter Gillis (224). At least the artwork was consistent with fan favorite Sal Buscema returning and doing most the artwork except for the Gillis issue, which was guest penciled by Mike Zeck. The title wouldn’t get a stable writer until Roger McKenzie came onto the book with issue #226. This period also featured a few odd choices to deal with issues regarding continuity.

Issue #218-221 was a winding story that tried to explain how Captain America, who was lost at sea in England in 1945 ended up in the North Atlantic in Avengers #4 and a one-off line where he said he last remembered plunging into the waters off the coast of Newfoundland. This translated into a story about an old wartime foe named Lyle Dekker trying to transfer his mind into a giant android body fashioned to look like Captain America. It’s a really stupid conclusion to an already unnecessary story.

In issue #225, Steve Gerber attempted to retcon Captain America’s origins by revealing he was the pacifist son of a diplomat who was against the war until his older brother Mike was killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. This story is proof that hard retcons rarely work in the Marvel Universe as fans were eager to point out that this fucks up a lot of previously established continuity that showed Steve Rogers became Captain America before 1941. Eventually, Roger Stern and John Byrne would do damage control in issue #247 which revealed that these past memories were false and implanted in Captain America’s mind in the event he was ever captured by the Nazis during the war.

With Roger McKenzie taking over the title, the series went back the sort of stories that Steve Englehart was writing: Stories questioned what place Captain America had in an ever changing world. Closing out the decade, his best stories were told in Captain America #231-236. This story involved a plot by Doctor Faustus using a mind controlling gas to try and take over the world. As a smokescreen he form the National Front, a group of Neo-Nazis that were used to stoke racial tensions. The Grand Director of this group was later revealed to be the Captain America of the 1950s. Ultimately, the real Captain America stops this organization, but at the apparent loss of Sharon Carter who was brainwashed into joining the National Front and seemingly immolated herself instead of risking capture. Also appearing to die here was the 50’s Cap. However, these deaths would be reversed in later decades. This story is still poignant today, because asks the question: Is hate speech still protected speech? In a world that just went through the Trump presidency and the rise of racist groups like the Proud Boys, the Base, and Atomwafen, this story is even more relevant now than it was almost 40 years ago.

Another milestone issue of Captain America was issue #237. While it focuses very little on Steve Rogers mourning the loss of Sharon Carter, it does hit on something that no other Captain America comic delved into before: The Holocaust. Sure, Captain America’s early adventures were always set in World War II and there were many stories were all about punching Nazis. However, prior to this not a single on touched on the genocide that claimed 6 million Jews. Writer Chris Claremont pens a powerful story from the perspective of a woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp thanks to Captain America. While a lot of the horrors were likely toned down to appease the censors at the Comics Code Authority, it still told the story of a survivor. The grim details of the Holocaust would be used many times in the future to remind Steve Rogers why he continues being Captain America. Preventing horrors of the concentration camps like Auschwitz for happening again became more integral to the character than trying to figure out what the flag he wore on his chest meant.

And that about wraps up Captain America in the 1970s: It was a bumpy road that started with the apathy of Stan Lee, told some poignant tales about government corruption in the time of Watergate, almost ruined by the simplistic storytelling of Jack Kirby, before it got back on the right track and started telling stories that were relevant to the period in which they were written.