MARVEL
MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 6 (Marvel, 2012;
Hardcover)
Collects
Captain
America Comics
Nos. 21-24 (cover dates December, 1942- March, 1943)
Writers:
Stan Lee and other unidentified writers
Artists:
Syd Shores, Vince Alascia, George Klein, Mike Sekowsky, Pierce Rice,
Don Rico, Ed Winiarski, Ernie Hart, Harry Fisk, Edd Ashe, Al Avison,
Al Gabriele, Bob Oksner, Guy Blythe, and other unidentified art
assitants.
Golden
Age comic books are fascinating to me. As stated in this book's
introduction, creators were being drafted or were volunteering for
the armed forces during this time, so multiple art assistants handled
these strips assembly line style. Syd Shores keeps things tight and
provides a consistent appearance throughout in spite of this. While
the artwork isn't quite as good as the team of Simon and Kirby it has
grown on me over the course of the post-S and K volumes.
Golden Age comics were 52 page anthology series. Captain America was the headliner and got two or three stories per issue, with a Human Torch back-up story and recurring back-up strips The Secret Stamp and Dippy Diplomat as well as a two page text story. Those were included due to some ludicrous Post Office regulation from the late 19th century which stated that a periodical must have at least two pages of text to qualify for a specific mailing rate.
While
the Nazis remain Captain America's foes, they are not his only foes
this time out. Unlike the stories in Volume 5, Cap is back home
fighting Fifth Columnists and the like. His enemies are mostly
macabre-tinged, such as The Creeper, The Sorcerer, Satan (yes, the
“real” Satan), Dr. Eternity, The Reaper, Count Varnis The
Vampire, and some not-so-macabre villains, like The Turtle-Man, The
Eel, Izan, and Prince Ba'Rahm, an “Oriental Mystic” who appears
to be Arabic. I am sure that it was all Greek to rural folks in the
1940s.
I
love Carl Burgo's work on the Human Torch. Every one who handled him
after Burgos enlisted seemed to miss the point about this character.
He was a fricking android and yet he is always portrayed as being
knocked out by gas, so on and so forth. It is annoying and silly and
the character has worn thin over the course of these Golden Age
Masterworks.
Dippy Diplomat is a highly stylized strip with gags that are sometimes amusing but are often groan inducing. Comics were typically aimed at children but there was a large adult audience as well, particularly soldiers. Some of the gags in this strip were aimed squarely at adults. It is a pleasant enough read but could never carry a collection of it's own, which is why I am glad that Marvel takes the completist route for these anthology titles. Imagine how many gems are buried in those early issues of Action Comics and Detective Comics that we will never see.
The
Secret Stamp, on the other hand, is geared for the kiddies. Roddy
Colt is a newspaper boy who sells War Bonds while peddling
newspapers. It is one of those quaint reads that is more of a
historical curiosity than it is a compelling read.
Like
all Golden Age comics, there is a sort of almost casual racism
throughout. While modern politically correct comic fans are
uber-sensitive, I can accept what the mores of society were during this
time. Your mileage may vary.
Marvel seems to have mothballed Golden Age reprints, since not one collection of material was or is scheduled to be released this year. Contrary to what the Disney conspiracy theorists think, I believe that this has less to do with political correctness at the corporate level and more to do with lack of enthusiasm on the consumer end. I know that I did my part and bought them all. I hope that we see more of these someday but I won't be holding my breath.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.
The
OCD zone- Marvel Masterworks are
my poison of choice. For Masterworks
of this book's vintage, rest assured
that this is the definitive Blu-Ray edition of this material.
DVD-style
Extras included in this book: Introduction
by Will Murray. (5 pages)
Cover
to the squarebound 1942 all-reprint Canadian Captain America
“Annual”. (1 page)
Linework
and color restoration:
5 out of 5. Think of the post-2007 Masterworks
as
definitive Blu-Ray editions, with painstakingly restored linework and
a color palette that is 100% faithful to the source material.
Paper
rating: 5 out of 5. Thick coated semi-glossy stock that has that
sweet, sweet smell that all Chinese manufactured books have. I
theorize that this delectable aroma is caused by the toxic stew of
broken asbestos tiles, lead paint chips, heavy metal industrial
waste, and mercury from recalled thermometers combined with the
blood, sweat, and tears of the Chinese children working the sweatshop
printing presses. The frosting on this delicious cake scent is the
paper which is likely sourced from virgin Amazon rainforests.
Binding
rating: 5 out of 5. Rounded book casing and Smyth sewn binding
(six stitches per signature) allow this book to lay completely flat
in one hand as Godzilla intended.
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