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Marvel Masterworks: Captain America #9
Marvel Masterworks: Captain America, Vol. 9
Collects Captain America (1968) #176-192 and material from Foom (1973) #8.
Englehart, Buscema and Robbins bring you one of the most influential Captain America sagas of all time in the latest Marvel Masterworks. Disillusioned by government corruption and the revelations behind the Secret Empire, Steve Rogers renounces his role as Captain America. The Falcon fights on while Rogers wrestles with his place in the world, becoming Nomad, a man without a country. In his new identity, he must overcome the power of Madame Hydra and the mystical Serpent Crown. Then, the return of the Red Skull forces our hero to make a choice, with the Falcon's life hanging in the balance.
Englehart, Buscema and Robbins bring you one of the most influential Captain America sagas of all time in the latest Marvel Masterworks. Disillusioned by government corruption and the revelations behind the Secret Empire, Steve Rogers renounces his role as Captain America. The Falcon fights on while Rogers wrestles with his place in the world, becoming Nomad, a man without a country. In his new identity, he must overcome the power of Madame Hydra and the mystical Serpent Crown. Then, the return of the Red Skull forces our hero to make a choice, with the Falcon's life hanging in the balance.
343 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 12, 2017
14 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Steve Englehart
1,396 books97 followersSee also John Harkness.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 12, 2026
This is very much a book of two halves. The first half is the end of Steve Englehart's absolutely classic run, featuring Steve Rogers giving up his Captain America identity in disgust after witnessing the president's suicide after being exposed as the leader of the fascist Secret Empire in the previous volume. Steve eventually decides to create a new heroic identity and, lo, is born Nomad, the man without a country! Englehart does the unthinkable and pulls it off in style. I'd say this was one of the most important Cap stories ever.
The second half of the book consists of a bunch of fill-in issues sandwiched between Englehart's run and Jack Kirby's return to the character he co-created. The various writers who penned these issues clearly knew they were just killing time and it shows. A shame after such an epic first half.
The artwork is similarly split. The first few issues are illustrated by Sal Buscema and his work is solid and dynamic as always. The rest of the book is drawn by Frank Robbins who, while not a bad artist, has a much more cartoonish style that really doesn't fit the tone of the book.
So, to sum up:
First half of the book: story - 5 stars, artwork - 4 stars
Second half of the book: story - 3 stars, artwork - 3 stars
Overall, this gives this collection a rating of 3.75 stars, which I'm rounding up to four as the first half of the book is THAT good.
The second half of the book consists of a bunch of fill-in issues sandwiched between Englehart's run and Jack Kirby's return to the character he co-created. The various writers who penned these issues clearly knew they were just killing time and it shows. A shame after such an epic first half.
The artwork is similarly split. The first few issues are illustrated by Sal Buscema and his work is solid and dynamic as always. The rest of the book is drawn by Frank Robbins who, while not a bad artist, has a much more cartoonish style that really doesn't fit the tone of the book.
So, to sum up:
First half of the book: story - 5 stars, artwork - 4 stars
Second half of the book: story - 3 stars, artwork - 3 stars
Overall, this gives this collection a rating of 3.75 stars, which I'm rounding up to four as the first half of the book is THAT good.
November 29, 2018
Even a man like the great Captain America can have a crises of conscious. The 1970's were a difficult time for America and Cap's comics reflected this as he gives up the shield and becomes Nomad, a man without a country. Only Stan Lee and Marvel would write such a story about one of their flagship character. Great plot and art. Very recommended.
April 4, 2022
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: reading older Marvel comics is way more difficult for me compared to older DC comics. I don’t know why? I’ve thought “maybe it’s just the writer?” But it’s been pretty standard across Iron Man, Cap, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and. X-Men comics. Pre 1990, a lot of Marvel comics are tough for me to get through.
This was no exception. It also suffered from the racism of this time period where Black Panthers and black activists are treated like criminals spreading hatred instead of activists trying to gain better treatment and civil rights for black people in society. It’s such a shame that it appears no black comic book writers had a say in any of these plots. I can’t imagine what it was like being a black person picking up comics back in the day. They had to suffer through all of this bullshit.
Then there's the whole Snap Wilson retcon which is problematic for way too many reasons. It was retconned out in All New Captain America - decades after this awful change began. It should've never existed in the first place. The original story was one in which Sam answered a call for work, ended up stranded on an island where the native population was being harrassed by colonizers. In that story, Sam was the hero that helped fight with a version of Captain America to chase the colonizers away. Then the writers said, hey, what if we retconned in a sh*tty backstory where Sam was a criminal and basically Red Skull's slave. What was the reason? I refuse to acknowledge that it exists because it was awful, racist, and so freaking unnecessary.
I’m sure it was praised for progressivism in having Cap’s partner be Falcon and pushing a romantic relationship between Gabe Jones and Peggy Carter but so much of this book was cringe worthy.
Anyway, I enjoyed the Nomad storyline. I’m always a fan of when writers show Cap realizing he’s been misled and turning his back on his country to try to fight for real justice. Coates is doing a similar thing now and I appreciate that.
All in all, I say just read the Nomad bits. The rest isn’t necessary.
This was no exception. It also suffered from the racism of this time period where Black Panthers and black activists are treated like criminals spreading hatred instead of activists trying to gain better treatment and civil rights for black people in society. It’s such a shame that it appears no black comic book writers had a say in any of these plots. I can’t imagine what it was like being a black person picking up comics back in the day. They had to suffer through all of this bullshit.
Then there's the whole Snap Wilson retcon which is problematic for way too many reasons. It was retconned out in All New Captain America - decades after this awful change began. It should've never existed in the first place. The original story was one in which Sam answered a call for work, ended up stranded on an island where the native population was being harrassed by colonizers. In that story, Sam was the hero that helped fight with a version of Captain America to chase the colonizers away. Then the writers said, hey, what if we retconned in a sh*tty backstory where Sam was a criminal and basically Red Skull's slave. What was the reason? I refuse to acknowledge that it exists because it was awful, racist, and so freaking unnecessary.
I’m sure it was praised for progressivism in having Cap’s partner be Falcon and pushing a romantic relationship between Gabe Jones and Peggy Carter but so much of this book was cringe worthy.
Anyway, I enjoyed the Nomad storyline. I’m always a fan of when writers show Cap realizing he’s been misled and turning his back on his country to try to fight for real justice. Coates is doing a similar thing now and I appreciate that.
All in all, I say just read the Nomad bits. The rest isn’t necessary.
February 17, 2026
The end of Engleharts classic run, with the fall out from the superb Secret Empire leading into Caps crisis of identity and purpose. He becomes Nomad for a number of issues until a tragedy tied to the Red Skull brings him back. The Red Skull story is a great finale as the nazi really shows his cunning with economic assassinations. The final twist with ‘Snap Wilson’ sadly didn’t work for me, as I felt it devalued him as a character having to bring in some edgy past with load of contrived situations as a sort of retcon.
The stories that follow are a very mixed bag that comes with fluctuating writers: the Druid and some chemical minions was jarring in the middle of the Falcon crisis story; Nightshade and SHIELD gone bad; Stiltman and the Falcons trial; and a bonkers Faustus and a plane full of hoods.
The uneven art really impacted upon my enjoyment and drops this to 3 stars. Frank Robins would perhaps suit pulp detective like Shadow, Spirit, Dick Tracy with his Eisner style. It isn’t my thing, I’m afraid.
For the subplots:
So definitely a book of two halves with the stories, and consistently patchy with the art.
The stories that follow are a very mixed bag that comes with fluctuating writers: the Druid and some chemical minions was jarring in the middle of the Falcon crisis story; Nightshade and SHIELD gone bad; Stiltman and the Falcons trial; and a bonkers Faustus and a plane full of hoods.
The uneven art really impacted upon my enjoyment and drops this to 3 stars. Frank Robins would perhaps suit pulp detective like Shadow, Spirit, Dick Tracy with his Eisner style. It isn’t my thing, I’m afraid.
For the subplots:
So definitely a book of two halves with the stories, and consistently patchy with the art.
March 29, 2021
Reading this story in rapid succession was not beneficial. In these pages we see Cap drop the mantle to start a new superhero career as Nomad. I actually kinda liked that, but it felt like it went by in a flash. Then Sam Wilson is giving a pretty awful retcon thanks in part of the Red Skull. I don't really understand the point of giving him a criminal past and I wasn't a fan. As the Steve Engelhart run ends there's a bit of a vacuum where other creative teams spin some wheels. Overall, there was a lot I enjoyed, but the collection as a whole feels a little disjointed. I'm soon running out of track with the Masterworks series and will have to switch to single issues.
I interviewed Steve Englehart over on the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/in...
I interviewed Steve Englehart over on the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/in...
December 6, 2017
My original years with Captain America
This volume represents the years I was first introduced to Cap. It gets four stars because I struggle with Frank Robbins artwork. I thought he would be better drawing Eisner's The Spirit. All in all, good stuff, Maynard.
This volume represents the years I was first introduced to Cap. It gets four stars because I struggle with Frank Robbins artwork. I thought he would be better drawing Eisner's The Spirit. All in all, good stuff, Maynard.
April 27, 2018
I couldn’t give this five stars because of the drop off in quality and seeming lack of direction after Englehart left the book. It was noticeable and glaring.
August 4, 2025
read all the captain america and the falcon run.
the sam wilson/red skull storyline was one of the best things i’ve ever read in a comic just because i wasn’t expecting it. i’m not joking. whoa. will say it has weird racial undertones tho :/
the sam wilson/red skull storyline was one of the best things i’ve ever read in a comic just because i wasn’t expecting it. i’m not joking. whoa. will say it has weird racial undertones tho :/
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews