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Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Captain America #5
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Captain America, Vol. 5
It's World War II, and the heroes of the Golden Age stand united against the forces of evil! Captain America! Bucky! The Sub-Mariner! The Human Torch and Toro! The Patriot! The Vision! The Angel! And little-knowns like Rookie McQuirk, Jimmy Jupiter and the Fighting Yank! Facing undead monsters, tombs of horror, and super villains, Cap and his pals have their work cut out for them!
271 pages, Hardcover
First published June 29, 2011
5 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Stan Lee
7,561 books2,347 followersStan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 24, 2016
This book collects Issues 17-20 of Captain America Comics from the 1940s as we get into World War II properly. The stories are mostly typical Captain America fare, and begin to split between fighting Nazis and Japan and more pure horror stories. The stories maintain a pretty high quality for the era. The highlight of the book has to be issue 19 which has a moving four page Captain America appealed by war stamps and then has, "On to Berlin" an epic 24 page story when Cap goes behind enemy lines to rescue an imprisoned officer and runs smack into Adolf Hitler and somewhat predictable yet awesome happens next. Both stories are are written by Stan Lee.
Beyond that, we also have adventures of the Secret Stamp which are a little less propogandistic than other stories. He still sells war stamps but he's a kid vigilante superhero and the stories are a lot more fun int his volume.
The other main comic story varied. "The Fighting Yank" battled the Japanese in Issue 17 in a somewhat typical story. It was pointed out that the character had already been used by another company. The character was replaced by the Fighting Fool in Issue 18, which was interesting in that the character was from Australia and had been discharged from the military and decided to come to America to help us fight fifth columnist. With everyone in the Timely Universe who was doing that back then, Nazi fighting was a cottage industry. Issue 19 had a 7-page Human Torch story that just needed more space to tell. Issue 20 is a Sub-mariner story that's enjoyable despite me not caring for this version of the character's drawing. Sub-mariner smashes Nazis is a pretty simple yet powerful story.
The book is rounded out by humor strips which are of variable quality and contain some of the more racially portrayals in the book particularly of Black Americans.
Still, the book is an enjoyable golden age romp with most issues made up mostly of Captain America stories.
Beyond that, we also have adventures of the Secret Stamp which are a little less propogandistic than other stories. He still sells war stamps but he's a kid vigilante superhero and the stories are a lot more fun int his volume.
The other main comic story varied. "The Fighting Yank" battled the Japanese in Issue 17 in a somewhat typical story. It was pointed out that the character had already been used by another company. The character was replaced by the Fighting Fool in Issue 18, which was interesting in that the character was from Australia and had been discharged from the military and decided to come to America to help us fight fifth columnist. With everyone in the Timely Universe who was doing that back then, Nazi fighting was a cottage industry. Issue 19 had a 7-page Human Torch story that just needed more space to tell. Issue 20 is a Sub-mariner story that's enjoyable despite me not caring for this version of the character's drawing. Sub-mariner smashes Nazis is a pretty simple yet powerful story.
The book is rounded out by humor strips which are of variable quality and contain some of the more racially portrayals in the book particularly of Black Americans.
Still, the book is an enjoyable golden age romp with most issues made up mostly of Captain America stories.
October 29, 2023
Golden Age comic books are absolutely fascinating to me. The fact that the original comics are obscure and expensive coupled with the historical significance makes the curiosity factor high. Combine that with my Roy Thomas-level quest for continuity completism with Captain America and you have a winner!
Al Avison does the art on the Captain America stories here, and he has really come into his own. Stan Lee is credited with two stories. Given the jingoistic and hyperbolic nature of the dialogue it wouldn't surprise me if he wrote more. Stan has a notoriously bad memory and doesn't remember what he had for breakfast let alone which comics he worked on, so unless work orders ever surface we may never know who worked on these comic books. There are comic historians who work on identifying the artists. Many of those guys left clues throughout their work, and those familiar with the material can sometimes ascertain inkers. Writers...not so much.
In #17's Sub-Earthmen's Revenge! we find future I, Robot/ Adam Link writer Otto Binder doing one of the most bizarre stories...ever. The Sub-Earthmen are giant worm riding neanderthal types who are led by their surface world-looking leader, Queen Medusa. Much of this stuff doesn't make sense but there is an air of fun to it. Then you get The Spook, a red hooded and garbed villain who is actually a Fifth Columnist trying to get the Sub-Humans to battle the US Army. He succeeds, and proceeds in getting appropriate battle garb for his army.
Yup, he dresses them like members of the Ku Klux Klan. No, this doesn't make any sense to me, either. Yes, I can see how this is offensive to folks today. No, I don't think that The Spook is going to be part of any upcoming Marvel crossover or brought back to fight Captain America again any time soon.
While many Golden Age comics are rife with racist caricatures, it must be stressed that these were different times. We were at war, and the Germans and the Japanese were very real threats to to the way of life of everyone alive back then. To look back at these comics and be offended by the caricatures is disingenuous. If you are not aware of the values and societal mores of this era then you need to read up on your history.
To be fair, all non-white folks are stereotyped here. French, Indian (not Native American), Chinese, Australian...all are written with their thick dialect phonetically spelled out. Can you imagine if comics portrayed minorities like this today? The fanboy butthurt would light up Twitter like a Christmas tree. This stuff is unintentionally funny. Of course it is ridiculous to stereotype ethnicity here in the 21st century. That's what makes this so shocking and unintentionally funny. I found myself chuckling and thinking to myself Oh my God, I can't believe that this stuff was ever published. Anyone who thinks that we have made no progress in race relations as a society needs to sit down and read some of this stuff. You will soon realize that things are much better today than they were in 1942.
In #18's The Mikado's Super-Shell! we see the myth that Cap never used a gun or shot anyone cut to ribbons...literally. While on a covert mission to dismantle the Japs' gun that can shell the US, Cap and Bucky are overwhelmed by superior numbers. Captain America not only handles a machine gun, but uses it to cut down a ton of soldiers. He states “I hate to do this, Bucky, but this is war!” No ret-cons, kids, it really happened. End of discussion.
This was a 64 page anthology series, and it had many back-up strips. One of these, The Secret Stamp, is a lot of fun. It's about Roddy Colt, a kid who delivers newspapers and sells war stamps. He always seems to get into trouble and fights criminals. It's silly and outdated but quaint and charming all the same.
Golden Age Captain America rules. Marvel has seemingly moved away from doing Masterworks of Golden Age ('30s/40s) and Atlas Era ('50s/early 60s) material in favor of lower hanging fruit. I really wish that they would reconsider this. There are lots of great vintage comics that need to be reintroduced to the world.
Marvel Masterworks are my poison of choice. While the line has certainly had some missteps and mistakes over the years, it has been pretty much perfect since 2007-2008. When it comes to earlier printings I would advise folks to avoid them for the most part and buy the softcovers. For Masterworks of this book's vintage, rest assured that this is the definitive Blu-Ray edition of this material.
Al Avison does the art on the Captain America stories here, and he has really come into his own. Stan Lee is credited with two stories. Given the jingoistic and hyperbolic nature of the dialogue it wouldn't surprise me if he wrote more. Stan has a notoriously bad memory and doesn't remember what he had for breakfast let alone which comics he worked on, so unless work orders ever surface we may never know who worked on these comic books. There are comic historians who work on identifying the artists. Many of those guys left clues throughout their work, and those familiar with the material can sometimes ascertain inkers. Writers...not so much.
In #17's Sub-Earthmen's Revenge! we find future I, Robot/ Adam Link writer Otto Binder doing one of the most bizarre stories...ever. The Sub-Earthmen are giant worm riding neanderthal types who are led by their surface world-looking leader, Queen Medusa. Much of this stuff doesn't make sense but there is an air of fun to it. Then you get The Spook, a red hooded and garbed villain who is actually a Fifth Columnist trying to get the Sub-Humans to battle the US Army. He succeeds, and proceeds in getting appropriate battle garb for his army.
Yup, he dresses them like members of the Ku Klux Klan. No, this doesn't make any sense to me, either. Yes, I can see how this is offensive to folks today. No, I don't think that The Spook is going to be part of any upcoming Marvel crossover or brought back to fight Captain America again any time soon.
While many Golden Age comics are rife with racist caricatures, it must be stressed that these were different times. We were at war, and the Germans and the Japanese were very real threats to to the way of life of everyone alive back then. To look back at these comics and be offended by the caricatures is disingenuous. If you are not aware of the values and societal mores of this era then you need to read up on your history.
To be fair, all non-white folks are stereotyped here. French, Indian (not Native American), Chinese, Australian...all are written with their thick dialect phonetically spelled out. Can you imagine if comics portrayed minorities like this today? The fanboy butthurt would light up Twitter like a Christmas tree. This stuff is unintentionally funny. Of course it is ridiculous to stereotype ethnicity here in the 21st century. That's what makes this so shocking and unintentionally funny. I found myself chuckling and thinking to myself Oh my God, I can't believe that this stuff was ever published. Anyone who thinks that we have made no progress in race relations as a society needs to sit down and read some of this stuff. You will soon realize that things are much better today than they were in 1942.
In #18's The Mikado's Super-Shell! we see the myth that Cap never used a gun or shot anyone cut to ribbons...literally. While on a covert mission to dismantle the Japs' gun that can shell the US, Cap and Bucky are overwhelmed by superior numbers. Captain America not only handles a machine gun, but uses it to cut down a ton of soldiers. He states “I hate to do this, Bucky, but this is war!” No ret-cons, kids, it really happened. End of discussion.
This was a 64 page anthology series, and it had many back-up strips. One of these, The Secret Stamp, is a lot of fun. It's about Roddy Colt, a kid who delivers newspapers and sells war stamps. He always seems to get into trouble and fights criminals. It's silly and outdated but quaint and charming all the same.
Golden Age Captain America rules. Marvel has seemingly moved away from doing Masterworks of Golden Age ('30s/40s) and Atlas Era ('50s/early 60s) material in favor of lower hanging fruit. I really wish that they would reconsider this. There are lots of great vintage comics that need to be reintroduced to the world.
Marvel Masterworks are my poison of choice. While the line has certainly had some missteps and mistakes over the years, it has been pretty much perfect since 2007-2008. When it comes to earlier printings I would advise folks to avoid them for the most part and buy the softcovers. For Masterworks of this book's vintage, rest assured that this is the definitive Blu-Ray edition of this material.
July 19, 2020
I continue to worry about Bucky's mental and physical health. It was bad enough with Captain America always putting this child into mortal danger. Now the U.S. Army is using Bucky as a human dummy to test out parachutes!
*Not recommended reading material for SJW's. You'd just have a conniption fit.
*Not recommended reading material for SJW's. You'd just have a conniption fit.
August 11, 2022
includes different side stories
April 29, 2025
The stories are so repetitive I think they were just recycling the same plot with different villains. One more dumber than the other.
February 5, 2016
Great collection of the Golden age Captain America stories. Very recommended to comic enthusiasts.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews