Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1970-08-01 00:01:15 |
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Captain America #128
Issue(s): Captain America #128
Cover Date: Aug 70
Title: "Mission: Stamp out Satan's Angels!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Gene Colan - Penciler
Dick Ayers - Inker
Review/plot:
According to the UHBMCC, a 2010 Marvel Index (written by the Marvel Chronology Project guys!) says that this issue was actually inked by Wally Wood. Not sure if there's support for that or if it was just a mistake carried over from the fact that Wood did ink last issue.
Captain America is bummed out by his situation with Sharon and the fact that SHIELD set him up as a fall guy last issue, and on top of that the kids today think that he's a square.
So, clearly in mid-life crisis mode...
...Cap runs out and gets himself a motorcycle.
We're reminded that Cap has some experience with motorcycles, although the experience is tied to unpleasant memories (and, as the footnotes indicate, inconsistent flashbacks).
So Cap drives off into the countryside, and is almost immediately arrested for not wearing a helmet by police that assume the clean cut Steve Rogers is part of the Satan's Angels motorcycle gang.
Well, Cap didn't want to be thought of as a square anymore, so if people are mistaking him for a member of a Hell's Angels stand-in gang, mission accomplished!
The actual Satan's Angels hear that one of their brethren has been jailed, so they go to bust him out, hurting a cop in the process. When Steve stays behind to help the cop, he earns the Angels' ire.
Later, the Angels decide to break up a hippie music festival...
...Cap jumps in to stop them.
I love that the leader of the gang's name is Whitey. No one puts Whitey down!
The fight ends when Whitey accidentally injures his younger brother, and Cap really lays the guilt on him.
Oh, also, the Red Skull is watching.
This begins Captain America's Easy Rider phase, but more on that in the next entry.
Quality Rating: C
Historical Significance Rating: 2 - beginning Cap's Easy Rider period
Chronological Placement Considerations: Cap's motorcycle period from this issue to Captain America #132 takes place between Avengers #79-80.
References:
- Cap was shown in his army fatigues, not his super-hero costume, during Bucky's death scene in Avengers #4. I believe the second footnote, which refers to issue #52, was really meant to be a reference to the fix to Cap's inconsistent flashbacks, which was in Avengers #56.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
No way are those Wally Wood inks.
Steve was gonna throw government-issue chainmail into an apartment incinerator?
The whole scenario is uncomfortably close to the Altamont incident, and this story would almost certainly have been written after those sad events. I'm not sure how I feel about having Captain America turn up to stop the Marvel-Earth version of those events.
Just to confirm your point, Omar: Meredith Hunter was killed by a Hells Angels member at Altamont in December 1969, eight months before this issue appeared.
Although the quality of specific instances varies, I've always generally approved of attempts at "relevance" and "engagement" in comics or sequential art.
"eight months before this issue appeared."
That wouldn't be quite the case, given that this issue was cover-dated August 1970, meaning it would have been on the shelves in May.
Still probably plenty of time, given that this wasn't part of some multi-issue epic.
An aside about Altamont: I must have read or seen a dozen mentions or reports of the Meredith Hunter stabbing, but it wasn't until I actually saw Gimme Shelter that I learned for the first time that Hunter had a gun and had taken it out and pointed it toward the stage when he was swarmed by the Angels. Literally every reference I'd seen prior to that was along the lines of "bikers murder black guy." I guess the truth was too complicated.
Good point about the cover date.
Just for the record: As I understand the real-life incident, Hunter, who was high on meth, initially tried to get on stage with some other Stones fans and was violently driven off (punched, etc.) by the Hells Angels. Only after that did he very unadvisedly return with the drawn revolver. The guy who reportedly stabbed him five times in the back, Alan Passaro, was later acquitted on grounds of self-defense.
It was complicated, and I guess one reason we dream up superheroes is because we want the world to be simpler, safer, and more just.
I agree, Mark, those are Dick Ayers inks. The title page lists Ayers under "embellishment" and GCD at comics.org also lists Ayers under "inks."
Besides that, it *looks* like Ayer's work. That's a very abrupt last panel, incidentally- as if Cap was that hard to find!
