Doug's First "Rubber Mask" - Captain America 179

Captain America #179 (November 1974)(cover by Ron Wilson and Frank Giacoia)
"Slings and Arrows"
Steve Englehart-Sal Buscema/Vince Colletta

Doug: I didn't own this comic as a youngster, but a close friend of mine did. We were great pals, spending all our summer days reading comics, drawing, and playing Megos in his basement. Along the way we listened to AM radio and sang along with Wings, Elton John, and whatever one-hit wonders came our way (I'm looking at you, Carl Douglas, and your Kung fu Fighting). I'd missed the whole of the "Secret Empire" arc, but having the Cap Mego and having enjoyed some of the animated Tales of Suspense adventures on reruns of the Marvel Super-Heroes show, I was all-in to read this issue. Then, and especially now with my adult fixation with rubber mask reveals, it didn't disappoint.

Ah, the rubber mask. What is it about that corny comic convention that appeals to me? How about HOW INCREDIBLY STUPID IT IS?? Really... any "master of disguise" schtick is going to require a large helping of suspension of disbelief. But when some shmoe does it and gets away with it? No way. See this Man-Bat story if you don't believe me. How in the world does one obtain or create such a lifelike mask, only to later reveal something like an iron mask or a furry face, or even humongous bat-ears lurking beneath? The mind boggles. And that, I suppose, is why I like it -- for sheer lunacy. Zanier than our boy Bob Haney, that's for sure.

Sink your teeth into a 100-Word Review: 

Just three issues removed from the fall-out of the Secret Empire adventure, Cap and Falc have split ways. Cap has stuck to his word of hanging up the shield, and he’s settling into a civilian life alongside his love, Sharon Carter (SHIELD’s Agent-13). But a new menace has attacked – the Golden Archer. A sun-hued relic seemingly from the age of Robin Hood, he attacks Cap multiple times. Subplots involve Falc trying to beat the Harlem mob, Cap telling Peggy Carter that they’re through, and more would-be fill-in Caps across the country. Cap finally bests the Archer, who turns out to really be…

The Good: Usually I begin by lauding the art team. I'll get to that in a moment or three. But what struck me as I read this was the pacing of the story, and its organization. Many authors are masters of the subplot (John Byrne comes to mind specifically). Here Steve Englehart gives us a whirlwind of topical points between the comic's 18 story pages. We see our main arc for four pages, then a Falcon vignette, back to Steve Rogers for one page, then to a biker gang whose leader wants to become the new Captain America. A page later we're back to Steve for five pages, then one page to see how it turned out for our wannabe shield-slinger. The book concludes with a five page climactic battle between Steve and the Golden Archer. It's nicely laid out, with each interlude serving to heighten suspense for what was really a pretty basic plot in the main tale.

Englehart chose some sort of old English form (which is certainly debatable, I'm sure) of speech for the Golden Archer. The "real" Golden Archer had actually appeared in Avengers #85 as part of the Squadron Supreme. His costume was different from what we see here; the next time we'll see the Archer, he will be in this same outfit. I liked the Archer's depiction here -- very much a swashbuckler, and the fact that he was stalking Cap and could turn up at any time was fun. In fact, the Archer seemed to know some of Steve Roger's habits, patterns of movement...

I was not enough of a regular Cap reader to make too much of a judgement on the Steve/Sharon/Peggy love triangle, but I will say that from a distance the Steve and Sharon pairing made more sense than the Steve and Peggy relationship. That being said, Steve seemed to sort of take advantage of his fountain of youth, trading in for a younger model. His prerogative of course, but the ditching of Peggy in this issue seemed cruel. Come to think of it, why is that in the "good" category? I guess because the relationship, any relationship, humanizes Cap -- he of the "duty first" devotion.

Although the Falcon's solo adventures were on hold for 90% of this issue, I really liked in this era that he got to be featured as his own guy. A solo series would have been an easy sell to me in the Bronze Age; I enjoyed his one-off in Marvel Premiere.

Lastly, the big reveal at the end of Hawkeye as the Golden Archer, rubber mask and all, was excellent. What a dopey scene. Sure enough -- ol' Hawk's mask popped right up into form, no mashing or flattening at all. It's just silly -- silly as a Silver Age DC -- but I love it. And I loved how Hawkeye threw some shade at Thor's Asgardian-speak.

The Bad: Wait, you say -- you didn't talk about the art. You are correct. I saved it for this space. Oh it isn't bad bad. In fact, it's really pretty consistent from what we'd seen throughout the "Secret Empire" arc. But for whatever reason, in this issue I am seeing Sal Buscema and I am seeing Vince Colletta. Not a conglomeration of the two, as in previous issues. Instead, I just see Sal's forms and Vinnie's feathery inks. There's no blending here. It's tough to put my finger on, and I don't know if you'll get the same vibe from the art samples provided (perhaps my best example is the full page scan at the top of the post). But if you use the link just above and check out some of the books from a few months prior, I think you'll see that Vinnie's inks were a little heavier in general. I just see all the featheriness that many of his detractors cry out about. So it's not awful. But I noticed. In my opinion, I shouldn't notice. I should see the combination, the sum of the parts, and it should be pleasing to me as an art gestalt. Tell me if I'm off base.

The Ugly: Nuthin'. Unless you thought Steve was a HUGE jerk to Peggy. Then you might be mad.

Overall this was another fun one. I have come to really enjoy most of the solo adventures of my favorite Avengers -- Cap, Iron Man, and Thor. There were some solid creators on those books in the Bronze Age. Sure, sometimes there was a little hit-and-miss, but more often than not one could certainly get their quarter's worth of fun. Makes me want to be a kid again and feel that as I stand in front of the drug stores shelves.

Happy Labor Day to our Stateside friends. Enjoy the holiday!

Oh, I've Got to Set Myself Free

Doug: Today we'd like some lists, and some specifics attached to those ideas. As has been said, the main reason I moved away from the comics reviews and urged Karen to join me in our current "Arc of Triumph?" series was that the writing and art scanning just wasn't fitting in well with an increasingly busy personal life and professional schedule. So a few weeks ago I decided that I could use an hour or so of this new "free time" to just read some comics, sans the written summaries and opinions. I went downstairs and grabbed the Captain America and the Falcon: Nomad trade paperback off my shelf. I'd purchased it many moons ago, and had never taken the time to crack it open. As a kid, I had a buddy who had a few of the issues collected within, notably the Golden Archer issue that featured a wonderfully stupid rubber mask panel with Hawkeye. But I've long wanted to read the entire arc, so it seemed to be time.

Doug: The first several issues were a joy -- the Falcon solo, Steve Rogers wrestling with staying out of action after his retirement as Captain America, and some goofy villains like Lucifer and Aries from the Zodiac cartel. Author Steve Englehart was riding the crest of the wave he'd built up in the "Secret Empire" saga, and was keeping me entertained through the first half of the tpb. And then... and then it happened. Sal left. Gone. And in his place? Frank Robbins. Now I know there have been a few Robbins apologists among our readership through the years, and I'm not going to rain on anyone's parade by starting an argument. So I'll do what I do in my classroom when I have something of great personal import to bestow upon the young minds -- "Hear me: this is MY opinion!" and then I go on. I bought the Invaders mag for a long time, and never felt satisfied. Sure, the stories were OK, and I really liked the WWII settings. But that book never ever went all the way for me. And you get one guess as to why.

Doug: So here's my problem, and here's where you come in. That Cap/Falc trade has been sitting on the shelf of one of our end tables for a month now. It's half-read. And I am harboring serious doubts as to whether or not I'll pick it up to finish it! So what I want you to do today is reminisce on those books from the past where you had a little run going and then (either gradually or suddenly) said "I'm out!" List 'em, and tell what that impetus was for your departure. As is the case here, we're not doing any rip jobs because we're all mature and just flat-out nice in this corner. But we all have personal tastes, and it's just OK to not like something. I'm looking forward to some stories!

PS -- Doug: I wrote the body of this post on October 29. Later that evening I didn't have anything pressing to do, so I decided to pull the book out. Seriously -- I found that I could enjoy the first two Robbins-penciled issues if I did not look at the pictures. Seeing them only out of the corner of my eye I could allow Robbins to move me through Englehart's words and make sense of it all. But whenever I'd get to the bottom of a page I'd stop and give some time to the individual panels. And I'd miss Sal... I did see that there's a 2-issue break coming up where the art is by Herb Trimpe and it actually looks pretty good. Then it's back to Robbins for the conclusion. But if I'd been buying this off the rack way back when, I think I'd have dropped the book. It's just that jarring.