Issue(s): Captain America #130
Cover Date: Oct 70
Title: "Up against the wall!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Gene Colan - Penciler
Dick Ayers - Inker

Review/plot:
It seems Gene Colan went off script for the beginning of this issue. I guess he decided he wanted to draw the Hulk, so he drew in a scene where Steve Rogers is watching a movie where Captain America is fighting the Hulk.

And that may only be part of the problem. Stan responds with snarky blurbs on both the cover...

Give yourself a special No-Prize if... you figure out what the Hulk is doing in this one!

...and on the inside splash page:

This one has to be seen to be believed! Based on an original theme by Stan the Man, Genial Gene got so wound up in the artwork that he tossed in everything but the kitchen sink!

Hence, what follows is like a wild and wacky build-up to the startling surprise that awaits you next ish!

It may not make much sense -- but we guarantee you won't be bored! So settle back, relax, and enjoy it, culture-lover (and if you can figure it out -- explain it to us!).

Honestly, i like a nice tightly packed plot with lots of super-villains, so i've got no complaints. The Cap vs. Hulk movie scene was easy to follow, too.

Still doing his Easy Rider thing, Cap encounters a student protest that's getting a bit out of hand (we'll learn in the next arc that the protest was instigated by AIM).

When he helps stop a riot, a TV producer asks him to come on television giving a speech for law & order and denouncing dissidents. The producer is working for a mysterious guy called the Hood (who will soon turn out to be Baron von Strucker and then much later turn out to actually be a robot von Strucker created by Machinesmith). The Hood is looking to use Cap to sow chaos and distrust in America.

When Cap instead gives a speech that praises dissidents and compares them to the founding fathers, the Hood sends in Batroc, Whirlwind, and the Porcupine to stop him.

Cap handles these three super-powered foes a little too easily, which probably relates to the problem that Stan Lee was complaining about.

While i assume this is all taking place at or near a small mid-western college town, Peter Parker shows up to take pictures. I guess it could be upstate New York or something

Chaotic fun.

Update: I should mention that Cap's actions and speech, and his initial hesitation in deciding how to react to the student protestors, produced an uproar in the lettercol of issue #135.

Sample:

The day you can't look at a policeman's proud blue uniform and realize that his is the side to take, then there is no justice, goodness, or righteousness left in this country. Our nation was founded on certain principles: freedom, liberty, justice, and most of all Faith in God. Now, the contents of this particular issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, which is a magazine based on symbolism of the United States, are in many ways in direct contrast to the basis of our nation.

Let's take a look at Cap's little speech... He says that our nation was founded by "dissidents," by people who wanted something better. True! Our nation was founded by "dissidents." BUT, those dissidents fought against a tyranny, for a democracy! Today's dissidents, whom I sincerely believe are being spurred on by Communists, are fighting against our country, which is a democracy, and they appear to be fighting for an anarchy or tyranny or some other such form of government.

I've said this type of thing before, but it bears repeating. When i first read this issue, i really didn't give it a second thought. I was a little impressed with Cap's speech, but also a little disappointed that the riot was really a ploy by the Hood. But either way, i didn't think of it as a huge deal. Sean Howe expressed similar sentiments in his Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, complaining of Stan Lee's middle-of-the-road liberalism. But when i read the reactions to some of these stories in the lettercols, i realize that we don't really have the context to understand the significance of these stories. The impact of Captain America saying maybe the protesters aren't so bad, or of putting a black man in a supporting role in a comic, is hard for modern readers to appreciate.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 2

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this between Avengers #79-80. For Spider-Man, it just shouldn't occur between Amazing Spider-Man #86-87, since Peter is sick in between those issues. The MCP pushes this earlier in publication time, between ASM #85-86, whereas i've got this between ASM #87-88, which works slightly better for me due to the Avengers dependency.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I appreciated it, a 26 year old of today didn't expect Sam to become Steve's partner. I expected the Falcon to become a one shot hero that would disappear. It helps I started with the Essential line so being exposed to so many WASP heroes and 60s sexism prepped me for when stories started to get sophisticated.

This is a really bizarre period for the country; around this time, the film Joe, starring Peter Boyle as a psychopathic factory worker who kills hippies and causes the protagonist to murder his own daughter when they shoot up a commune, drew *cheers* from audiences in some parts of the country. There was a very real sense, arguably on both sides, that a war was being fought over the future of the country.

Switching gears with all the grace and subtlety of Roy Thomas dialogue: boy, Whirlwind sure is off-model in this comic, but he's in the right outfit on the cover.

Excellent Analysis Supermegamonkey guru. I don't know your name so I will call you SMM-GURU. Ok so this was a cool book and I wish the comic critics and genuises would bow their respective heads in honor of"Batroc's Brigade" which was the name of this cool Super-Villain team. I live for the likes of these cool alliances and I wish we'd see more of them. That includes The Lethal Legion, Wrecking Crew and all incarnations of the Masters of Evil! All right off to bed!

I have a genuine fondness for this issue. I don't want to be controversial, but the message of Cap's speech is *still* very relevant in America today. More than ever, protestors and dissenters expressing their grievances against the government and corporations are being labeled as "unpatriotic" or "anarchists" or "traitors" by both politicians and pundits, or condescendingly being told to "get over it."

A few years ago I wrote about this issue on my blog...

https://benjaminherman.wordpress.com/2014/07/04/captain-america-130-a-message-for-july-4th/

Considering current events, I think Cap really is getting at the heart of the matter. People unfortunately will always claim otherwise though but that's why they fight.

Omar Karindu: I'm guessing Whirlwind isn't so much off-model (unintentionally anyways), as much as Gene Colan gave him a new costume which ultimately didn't take. Colan also slightly redesigned Electro's costume in Daredevil, circa Daredevil 87, but I don't think that lasted with the next artist to draw Electro either.