Just a Stone's Throw Away...

Captain America #142 (October 1971)
"And in the End..."
Gary Friedrich-John Romita/Joe Sinnott

Doug: So I guess I'm not sure the ending was so "unbelievable", but I'll give you that this one was chock fulla "Action in the Marvel Manner!" Pretty good ending to a decent Bronze Age story, was this. Let's have a look!

Doug: Gary Friedrich takes over for Stan Lee, who last issue ended his run on the title. The transition is pretty seamless, as I'm sure Stan and Jazzy Johnny had it all plotted out and Friedrich had only to word it up. The story opens just after the Grey Gargoyle has holed up in the mountain where the ultra-dangerous "Element X" is stored. Remember -- just a few drops of that chemical could destroy the Earth. Only pure stone can withstand this dangerous substance. There is some really strong art by Romita and Sinnott in the opening pages. As I remarked last ish, with their facial representations they'd do any romance artists proud. I have one bone to pick, and it's been bugging me throughout this series -- why in the world does Sharon Carter let Cap speak down to her so much? Yeah, yeah -- I get that he's old-fashioned and she was being written by Stan Lee. But come on -- with her credentials as a SHIELD agent and whatever that PhD is that Fury was talking about last issue... It's just really over the top.
Karen: Marvel women still had a long way to go. I think it would be a few more years until we saw any real change in how women were written. Certainly some of the younger guys, like Steve Englehart, and later, Chris Claremont, would start to write more empowered, strong female characters.

Karen: I have to say I thought it was kind of funny that we get this big romantic reunion of Sharon and Cap, and then Falcon gets his big reunion with...his bird, Redwing!

Doug: As we get rolling in this one, the Gargoyle faces some resistance inside the mountain. A group of soldiers use all of the technology at their disposal to try to defeat this gruesome baddie, but to no avail. I continue to find it laughable that this guy is the strongest, most invincible creature in the Marvel Universe! Come on -- no building, street, or rock formation could withstand even the smallest of explosive warheads available at this time, yet the Gargoyle just thumbs his nose at it all. He's really over-powered in my opinion. Cap and Falc send Nightwing to scout ahead for a place to enter the mountain, and soon spring into action with an aerial assault through the top. I had to smile, though, when Sam called for "Plan D" -- that didn't work so good on the SHIELD helicarrier last isue! There are some great action panels in this sequence.

Karen: The art really is gorgeous. Romita has always drawn great faces, and the action sequences are exciting and unambiguous. But - you knew there was a 'but' coming didn't you? - the Falcon's dialogue is so terrible. It is just over the top with the effort to make him sound like a character out of Superfly. I mean, read this and tell me you don't cringe: "Outtasite! Keep jivin' like that, and I may be able to make a soul brother out of you yet!" Or this: "I hear you knockin' brother! How about lettin' me in? Hold everything! I think I'm homing in on your vibrations! You're thinking maybe we can get him inside the stone receptacle?"

Doug: After we see the Gargoyle finally procurring Element X (which he promptly "stones" to protect it), we get a little vignette with my favorite bi-atch Leila. Wow -- I can't really express how much I don't like her. Her looks are obviously based on blaxploitation star Pam Grier. But that personality... Fortunately, the other characters in the scene aren't buying the venom she's spewing.

Karen: I always had a hard time figuring out what a positive-thinking guy like Sam was doing with a vile, nasty girl like Leila. The way she's portrayed, she just has no redeeming features. I understand what they were doing with her in the book, as a character to open some doors to comment on the social/racial issues of the times, but why Falcon would put up with her was always a mystery to me.

Doug: Back in the mountain, our heroes engage the Gargoyle in some serious fisticuffs, and Sharon Carter displays her women's intuition on steroids again. The Gargoyle is finally undone when tricked into entering what amounts to a rocket capsule, which Cap seals and Fury activates. Blast off, and no more Gargoyle. Because Sam had swiped the cannister of Element X, all's well that ends well! Curiously, the last two panels contain some soliloquizing by scribe Friedrich that would have done Stan, Roy, or even Denny O'Neil proud!

Karen: The comment about men learning to live as brothers was one thing, but where did Falcon's comment about wishing "all nuclear weapons" had been aboard the rocket come from? That really felt a bit forced.

Doug: As a story, this was a fun Bronze Age yarn. Sure it has its faults, but you know what? It wasn't decompressed, the story had a defined beginning, middle, and end, the heroes behaved like heroes and the bad guy was over-the-top, and in the end the good guys won. What more could a comics fan ask for?

Karen: I don't know, Doug, this three parter was a bit hard for me. I was disappointed in Stan's work, and I can't say much about Friedrich here, as he was locked into the story that was already started. The Romita/Sinnott art however, was lush and dynamic, so not a total bummer!