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Captain America (1968) #177-186
Captain America and the Falcon: Nomad
Disillusioned by government corruption, Steve Rogers lays down uniform and shield -- but it's not as easy to set aside half a lifetime of heroics, so a new legend is born: Nomad, the man without a country. But who will take up the forsaken red-white-and-blue, and what will it cost him to hold onto it? Boss Morgan, the Viper and the Red Skull are on hand with enough villainy for any hero, old or new Plus: the origin of the Falcon Guest-starring Nick Fury and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Collects Captain America and the Falcon #177-186.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 10, 2007
3 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Steve Englehart
1,397 books98 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 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 29, 2014
La storia é datata ma carina ed i disegni di Buscema e Trimpe belli, ma la parte disegnata da Robbins é a dir poco inguardabile!
September 13, 2007
Loses points for some very contrived story points (Captain America wouldn't make rookie mistakes just because he changed codename and costume -- he'd still be the same experienced hero), and the awful awful art by Frank Robbins.
September 30, 2023
Steve Rogers has quit being Captain America, leaving The Falcon flying solo. Things start out with a ridiculous, it could only happen in the '70s storyline where C-Lister Lucifer returns to our dimension. He ends up spotting a store and, missing our Earthly food, breaks into it and eats a snack cake that bears more than a passing resemblance to a Twinkie. I swear that everyone that worked at Marvel in the '70s was high, because a chemical in the snack cake causes Lucifer to slip back into his own dimension. He quickly possesses another body, but sensing that he is burning out the frail human form, decides to split his power across two humans. Again, everyone was high back then, because these are some overly labored stories. I have a soft spot for Englehart's writing in spite of his flying by the seat of his pants because he is so stoned and has no idea where he is going style of writing.
Issue 179 shows Hawkeye return a favor to Steve Rogers. By posing as a villain called The Golden Archer, Hawkeye convinces Steve to become a superhero once again. This issue has a DC Silver Age feel to it. #180 finds Steve reinventing himself as The Nomad, a man without a country. Tapping into the zeitgeist is what Englehart did best. Everyone was disillusioned with America in 1974, with the Viet Nam War and the Watergate scandal. Steve Rogers decides that he can no longer be the symbol of a country and Government that he no longer trusts. Nomad's first battle is with the Serpent Squad, who by the end of that issue team up with Warlord Krang to use the lost Serpent Crown of Lemuria to enslave the entire world. One thing is for sure, villains in the Bronze Age of comics went in large or they stayed home. No two bit heists in the '70s.
#182 and 183 are marred for me by Frank Robbins' overly cartoony artwork. I loved his stuff as a kid, as he did many of my 1980s quarter box finds favorites (Adventure Into Fear with Morbius The Living Vampire, Man From Atlantis, etc.). I find that his work leaves me cold as an adult. I know that I am in the minority, but I dislike his art.
This is all revealed to be the grand scheme of none other than The Red Skull. It is fitting that Steve Rogers faces The Red Skull as his first battle after becoming Captain America, as he was the villain that Cap fought in his first issue back in 1941. As a nod to that issue, the Skull once again plays Chopin's Funeral March before murdering his victims with an overly elaborate and dramatic method.
I was severely disappointed with the ending of this book, as the Red Skull convinces Cap that The Falcon was really his sleeper agent all this time. While we know that this wasn't the case, it was the plot that Steve Englehart envisioned and it stuck for a time before someone else thankfully ret-conned it away later.
The writing was very good and the art was a mixed bag, but all in all I had a good time reading these comics. The Bronze Age are seldom considered a high point in the history of the artform, but I enjoy these comics for their sheer lack of self-importance. The people who made these comics didn't even care enough to take themselves or the material too seriously, which is something that is healthy for everyone to do once in a while.
Issue 179 shows Hawkeye return a favor to Steve Rogers. By posing as a villain called The Golden Archer, Hawkeye convinces Steve to become a superhero once again. This issue has a DC Silver Age feel to it. #180 finds Steve reinventing himself as The Nomad, a man without a country. Tapping into the zeitgeist is what Englehart did best. Everyone was disillusioned with America in 1974, with the Viet Nam War and the Watergate scandal. Steve Rogers decides that he can no longer be the symbol of a country and Government that he no longer trusts. Nomad's first battle is with the Serpent Squad, who by the end of that issue team up with Warlord Krang to use the lost Serpent Crown of Lemuria to enslave the entire world. One thing is for sure, villains in the Bronze Age of comics went in large or they stayed home. No two bit heists in the '70s.
#182 and 183 are marred for me by Frank Robbins' overly cartoony artwork. I loved his stuff as a kid, as he did many of my 1980s quarter box finds favorites (Adventure Into Fear with Morbius The Living Vampire, Man From Atlantis, etc.). I find that his work leaves me cold as an adult. I know that I am in the minority, but I dislike his art.
This is all revealed to be the grand scheme of none other than The Red Skull. It is fitting that Steve Rogers faces The Red Skull as his first battle after becoming Captain America, as he was the villain that Cap fought in his first issue back in 1941. As a nod to that issue, the Skull once again plays Chopin's Funeral March before murdering his victims with an overly elaborate and dramatic method.
I was severely disappointed with the ending of this book, as the Red Skull convinces Cap that The Falcon was really his sleeper agent all this time. While we know that this wasn't the case, it was the plot that Steve Englehart envisioned and it stuck for a time before someone else thankfully ret-conned it away later.
The writing was very good and the art was a mixed bag, but all in all I had a good time reading these comics. The Bronze Age are seldom considered a high point in the history of the artform, but I enjoy these comics for their sheer lack of self-importance. The people who made these comics didn't even care enough to take themselves or the material too seriously, which is something that is healthy for everyone to do once in a while.
March 12, 2026
The people who had custody of the American dream had abused both it and us. There was no way I could keep calling myself "Captain America," because the others who acted in America's name were every bit as bad as the Red Skull.
This is the first Captain America comic I ever read. Out of the colorful cast of Marvel heroes, he was definitely never high on my list of interest. Though a while ago I learned about this moment where Cap gets disillusioned by a corrupt government and abandons his title when he loses his patriotism for the USA. That storyline always intrigued and with recent events, it seems more than appropriate to recover the Nomad.
The first couple issues in this collection carry a lot of the expected goofy adventure-of-the-month nonsense with random minor character appearances to have quarrels with and I was jokingly lamenting that this concept was done in the 70s rather than a a later decade. I don't expect much bite, edge or coherence from 70s comics. So the first half or so were just lighthearted entertainment for the most part. It's also a bummer that this collection doesn't actually include the issue in which the crucial moment of disillusionment happens that made him reject his superhero title in the first place. It seems to have been left behind as the finale of the chronologically preceding collection, which is a bit unfortunate.
But this collection redeemed itself quite a bit in the second half and the finale of the Nomad chapter. Issues 182 and 183 especially had me very engaged. Not only did I think nihilistic Madame Hydra donning the Viper alias was an interesting type of villain for this storyline about different ideals, even clashing with the other villains. Cap also experiences some decent character development with pretty good monolog writing as he moves from blind follower of a country to critical servant of the people.
Sure, none of it is super deep or nuanced. But for a shallow 70s superhero comic, I was pretty satisfied with how they brought this Nomad chapter to a close and I wasn't even too mad about the character eventually slipping back into the classic Captain America suit again.
I was also surprised that Red Skull, who shows up in the last couple of issues of the collection, is actually not as one-note and stale as I would have expected and I actually really enjoyed his destructive and scheming personality. Also, shoutout to them timing a line about Hitler's suicide at the end of WWII on the 30th anniversary month of that moment in which the issue released. Classy.
I'm glad I picked this up because despite the quaint and naive concept of the Captain America, it showed that the character can definitely be interesting. It does make me wonder though what they're doing with this guy in modern times when patriotism, especially US patriotism, has a difficult tinge to it. I would love to see another return of the Nomad but at the same time I have my doubts a company as huge as Marvel would let such a prominent character be this critical towards its government again, even in times of crisis.
November 9, 2020
What does Captain America do when he no longer believes in America? How does a nation recover from the defaming of its highest office?
January 16, 2021
Rather uneven illustration styles between Sal Buscema, Trimpe and Robbins. To me this was a potentially good idea that went largely untapped in regards to the plotline of Steve Rogers quitting being Cap and briefly becoming a character called Nomad. Predictably lured and forced back into his role by the murderous Red Skull. And there are a lot of murders. A lot more violent than i remembered for a 1970s Captain America kids comic. There is even a young man crucified. Peggy and Gabe's budding relationship while Sharon and Steve drift apart provided the soap opera element. Another aspect that i felt could have been developed better was Falcon going solo. Alas that was saved for a different time. Krang, Viper and Skull were so nihilistically one dimensional that they were basically the same character. I enjoyed the cover art though--Romita and Kane. Brought back memories of mid-70s. Nuff said.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2013
Wasn't sure how I'd take to classic 70s Cap... but I love it. Thoroughly enjoyable romp, and an oddly touching meditation at times on social change, politics, race, the role of the individual as change agent, and the base of personal ethics. Which is a lot to find in what is essentially a Superhero Has Existential Crisis story. But it's there, and it engages, and it raises some interesting questions about not only Cap as an individual but as a symbol - and by extension validating the role of the Falcon as an individual, not simply a Black representative. A bit hamfisted at times, but that's the medium (at that time)... it still reels you in and makes you hope that Steve and Sam come out the other side with their friendship and self-efficacy intact. Can't wait for the next volume though! bit cheeky cutting it off just as Sam's "true" origin story is revealed...
June 9, 2009
Oh, 70s comics.
This alternates between unintentionally hilarious and heavy-handedly political, and yet it's also incredibly awesome. It's fascinating to watch Steve Rogers' psychology as he transforms from Captain America into "Nomad," and what that means for him -- not just his struggles with his concept of America, but his internal struggles to become something that isn't what's expected of him, to be free and able to try new things for the first time since his adolescence. The villain plots in here are negligible at best (and the less said about the introduction of the Falcon's criminal past as "Snap" Wilson, the better), but for the character moments it's completely worth it.
This alternates between unintentionally hilarious and heavy-handedly political, and yet it's also incredibly awesome. It's fascinating to watch Steve Rogers' psychology as he transforms from Captain America into "Nomad," and what that means for him -- not just his struggles with his concept of America, but his internal struggles to become something that isn't what's expected of him, to be free and able to try new things for the first time since his adolescence. The villain plots in here are negligible at best (and the less said about the introduction of the Falcon's criminal past as "Snap" Wilson, the better), but for the character moments it's completely worth it.
July 16, 2014
Good character development and plot twists. It is still 70s comics with the undeveloped bad guy like Lucifer, and overabundant internal monologue explaining to the reader what the characters are doing, but Captain America does a good job of struggling with his disillusionment and need to be a hero. Falcon also does a good job of wanting Cap to be Cap but not wanting to be sidekick. It would have been nice if this collection had included the story (or story arc) that led to Cap quitting in the first place.
June 7, 2016
Great Captain America storyline. Loved the Nomad, and how Steve Rogers finds himself forced to face the fact that he is the one, true Captain America. Steve Englehart was most definitely the best writer for Captain America and here's why.
April 10, 2014
Dopo la saga dell'Impero Segreto, cosa farà Steve Rogers? E qualcuno prenderà il manto di Capitan America al suo posto? Diversi i pretendenti, ma ce ne sarà qualcuno all'altezza?
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews