I Turned to Stone, When You Were Gone, I Turned To Stone...

Captain America #140 (August 1971)
"In the Grip of the Gargoyle!"
Stan Lee-John Romita/George Roussos

Doug: We remarked last week that we'd been guilty of shunning the Mighty Thor for the past year-plus. Well, lo and behold but Captain America's been getting the shaft, too! So over the next week, we'll also rectify that situation with a 3-part look at Cap and the Falcon vs. the Grey Gargoyle!

Doug: First impression -- Stan's writing is full of its usual hyperbole, George Roussos is perhaps not the best inker for John Romita, and where in the world did Artie Simek lose all of his punctuation?

Karen: Ah yes, the missing punctuation! There was a period of time where it seemed like you never saw a period at the end of sentences. One of our readers, Steve Pick, stated in comments on our review of Fantastic Four 112 that there was some sort of printing process problem (say that three times fast) going on at the time. But as a young reader, who was proud of her grasp of sentence structure, it drove me crazy. Actually, it still does.

Doug: We pick this story up just as a battle is beginning between Captain America and the Grey Gargoyle. Cap's been on the NYPD at the request of the commissioner in an effort to locate several cops who've turned up missing. The reason they are missing is because they've all been turned to stone by the Gargoyle, and it's this graveyard-looking scene that Cap comes into. If you're not familiar with the Gargoyle, he was a French chemist who accidentally stumbled on a compound that turns anything he touches with his right hand to stone. I've always found it somewhat funny that even though he's the person of masonry, he still wears a moustache -- sort of reminds me of Caesar Romero!
Karen: Yeah, the Gargoyle is a goofy guy -he seems exceedingly bulky, sort of reminding me of the Beast after he got hairy. He just never seemed that challenging a foe -certainly not for the likes of Thor, who I believe was his original enemy.

Doug: The Falcon soon catches up to Cap and joins the battle. We of course get the obligatory racial accusations, that Cap only keeps Falc around as a "token black"; Falc felt that Cap had gone off on his own to tackle the baddie. I've always found this talk somewhat offensive and certainly inflammatory, but I understand that's what Stan was going for. It just gets worn out when it occurs each issue. Later in the story it's really rough when Steve is looking for Sam at his social work office and is confronted by Sam's lady friend. She goes a step further and ridicules Steve for being in his police uniform. I suppose this running commentary was just one more difference between Marvel and DC in this era (the O'Neil/Adams GL-GA notwithstanding).

Karen: It's funny, I found this really the most interesting part of the story. I have to give Stan credit for addressing the issue and not playing it safe. Yes, at times it could seem heavy-handed, but I don't think it was that far removed from reality. I'm sure that an African American hero teamed up with a living legend would get no end of grief from some people in his community. The pressure to prove himself, to be his own man -that would be tough. As for Leila, well, she was pretty much always a b!tch, regardless of creed or color!

Doug: The Grey Gargoyle proves his mettle by even turning Cap's shield to stone. However, once there's a break in the fighting the Gargoyle slips away. It's not that he couldn't have continued, but he has other business to tend to. So we see Steve Rogers back in uniform and getting instructions from the commissioner while taking heat from his commanding officer (in a scene straight out of Steve's military days in WWII). We're also treated to a brief origin recap for the Gargoyle.

Doug: Next we see Falc has tracked, with the help of Redwing, the Gargoyle to his secret lab. Sam engages ol' Stoneface, they scrap, and Sam surprisingly holds his own. That is, until the Gargoyle exposes Sam to the same chemicals that turn people to stone -- but this time with a twist: the new composition allows the afflicted person to move, but places him under the mental control of the Grey Gargoyle. This is heading south for our heroes in a hurry!

Karen: You have to wonder what Falcon was thinking, kicking a guy made out of stone? Ouch! It doesn't seem like he had any real plan for capturing him, but I blame Stan more for that than Falc!

Doug: Cap is worried about Falc so goes searching for him. The aforementioned exchange at Sam's office takes place, and then Cap requests (through Stark technology) to be beamed up to the SHIELD helicarrier. There, he's reunited with Sharon Carter and Nick Fury. While catching up, Fury informs Cap of a project they're working on to isolate and study Element X. But the only thing that can withstand this dangerous chemical -- with the power to blow up the planet -- is solid stone. It's at that point that Cap connects the dots...

Karen: Why oh why is anyone working on Element X? "One drop can destroy the planet" -hello, what possible use is the stuff? This whole idea seemed like something Stan just had pop into his head and put down on paper with no real effort put into thinking it out.

Doug: This was a decent story -- lots of action, a little mystery, writing from Stan like you'd expect, solid if not spectacular pictures from Jazzy Johnny, and a cliffhanger ending. Yep -- everything you expect to get for your hard-earned 15c!

Karen: This was one of those go-go-go stories that Stan seemed to be doing a lot of towards the end of his writing career. It's not terrible but it's certainly not up to his earlier work. I did really enjoy the Romita art in this issue.