Tales Of Suspense #75-76 (Captain America)Issue(s): Tales Of Suspense #75 , Tales Of Suspense #76 (Captain America stories only) Review/plot: Cap sees Sharon Carter (who he thinks looks like someone he knew in WWII. This will be revealed as Peggy Carter, who Sharon currently refers to as "Sis" but will later be changed to an Aunt in attempt to accommodate Marvel's sliding time scale; even an Aunt is pushing it at this point)... ...swap a cylinder with another undercover SHIELD agent and sort of blunders into the operation. Cap helps Sharon (Sharon is unnamed in these issues. She will first be identified as Agent 13 and then finally as Sharon Carter) fend off an attack from Batroc. Cap identifies Batroc as a "Master of La Savatte, the French art of boxing with the feet!" (we call it 'kicking'). Batroc seems to have a great respect for Captain America and is honored to fight him. Batroc's respect for Cap and his willingness to switch sides to enter an uneasy alliance with Cap will be a recurring theme. As Sharon runs off Batroc realizes that the cylinder is cracked and getting ready to explode. Batroc and Cap team-up to find Sharon. Sharon of course misinterprets the Team-Up and thinks Cap has switched sides. Sharon passes out from exposure to the Inferno 42, and Batroc runs off with the cylinder. However, somehow, SHIELD managed to swap the cylinder for another fake and Cap follows Batroc back to the mysterious group of schemers. Both the mystery group and Batroc manage to escape, and Sharon is hospitalized. Batroc is truly ridiculous even in his first appearance, although he is portrayed as being dangerous and having some moral complexity. Quality Rating: C- Chronological Placement Considerations: #75 begins with Cap falling into the arctic waters - a direct continuation from #74, although he seems to have lost his parachute along the way. This issue takes place concurrently with Strange Tales #136-144, since Fury checks on the status of the Inferno 42/Batroc situation during that story. References: N/A Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: Captain America Annual #1, Marvel's Greatest Comics #28 Inbound References (6): show 1966 / Box 3 / Silver Age CommentsPeggy Carter is referenced here as the girl Steve Rogers(not Cap)loved "back home", not overseas. This eventually spawns an extremely unlikely revelation during Steve Englehart's run. Posted by: Mark Drummond | August 3, 2011 12:00 PM Yay Batroc! Posted by: David Banes | November 15, 2013 1:59 AM I'm French and what I find most ludicrous about Batroc is not his accent (though his French accent, French grammar, and random use of French expressions ARE insane) but his "Napoleon III" facial hair : this kind of moustache must have been out of fashion in France since 1914 ! His fighting style is funny, too : he is supposed to be a master of savate (not "savatte" or "savette" as it is spelled in some issues) a.k.a. "French boxing", but what he does actually looks like kung fu or, if you like, a mix between kung fu and savate. What I really liked, though, is that in the second Captain America movie, they managed to make a believable Batroc. Georges St-Pierre has a French canadian accent you could cut with a knife but, other than that, he looks like and fights like exactly how Batroc would if he existed in real life. Also, St-Pierre is a mixed martial arts fighter and I guess he got the fighting style exactly right by looking at the comics, because he actually uses a pretty believable mix of savate and kung fu, like I mentioned above. Posted by: JeaF | May 15, 2014 7:42 AM I sort of agree on both accounts regarding Baltroc. On one hand, I like seeing Baltroc in "The Winter Soldier" as a tough French mercenary with honor who happens to use Savatte. But on the other hand, you can't help but love the utter ridiculousness of him in the comics with the appearnace and a voice you can't really only imagine being spoken by John Cleese like in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". ("I'm French; zis is why I have zis OUTRAAAAAGEOUS ACCENT!") Posted by: Ataru320 | May 15, 2014 9:07 AM "Savate" with one T, mon ami ! :) Yes, that was exactly my impression : they managed in the film to be faithful to the source material AND to make him believable, which I think is quite a feat given how goofy the character is. As a Frenchman, I've never been annoyed by Batroc in the comics. He may be stereotypical, but he doesn't make the French look bad at all, since he is a "good bad guy". Captain America #251-252 was really cool on that respect in showing the dfference between him and Mr Hyde. The only thing that makes me tick is when the writers have him use totally wrong French expressions. I remember an issue where he basically exposes his philosophy of life, and he is supposed to say something like "Every man for himself !"... except that what he says is "Sauve qui peut", which means more or less, in French, "Run for your life !" (he says that as he is sitting in a living room, having a quiet drink) I guess they must have looked a dictionary for the French equivalent of "Every man for himself" and used the first thing they found without double-checking. :))) Posted by: JeaF | May 15, 2014 10:20 AM Yeah I knew movie Batroc wasn't going to be so goofy but at least they got the bad ass part spot on. Only thing missing, and I know he was just the movie's starter villain, was a few touchs of his honor. Posted by: david banes | May 15, 2014 5:45 PM True, he was much less flamboyant (I guess it's also a matter of limited screen time) but they did show him as someone who likes a good - and fair - fight. His smile during the fight was a touch of that, IMHO (like "hey, cool, I'm having a good tussle !") Posted by: JeaF | May 16, 2014 1:23 AM I gotta admit, I also love Batroc. I imagine his accent as a cross between Cleese in MPATHG and the chef in The Little Mermaid (I can just see Batroc cooking and singing "Les Poissons"). He brings a smile to my face in every appearance. Posted by: Erik Beck | January 11, 2015 8:37 AM I also like Batroc but instead of John Cleese I've always imagined him with Peter Seller's Insp. Clouseau voice. Posted by: Bobby Sisemore | November 4, 2016 8:58 PM We can all agree that cap needs a sharon in his life ❤❤ Posted by: Roy Mattson | May 30, 2017 4:38 PM I think it's funny how Batroc's chin whiskers look like real facial hair, yet his moustache looks like he swiped someone's spectacles, removed the earpieces and had them grafted to his face. As far a his mannerisms, the only illustrated character more of a French stereotype is Pepe LePew, who of course was based on Charles Boyer. Considering the time these stories came out, I would imagine Batroc speaking more like Yves Montand, the French actor who had an affair with Marilyn Monroe and whom I personally remember best for his role as the doomed Indy-car driver in John Frankenheimer's 1966 racing epic "Grand Prix". Of course, Stan went for a gaudier Frenchman. Now if Batroc were rebooted as a Jean Reno type, that would be damn cool (coming from an unabashed fan of Frankenheimer's 1998 thriller "Ronin", featuring Reno and Robert DeNiro in hot pursuit in one of the all-time badass car chase scenes). Posted by: Brian Coffey | July 6, 2017 10:43 PM Comments are now closed. |
|||||||||
SuperMegaMonkey home | Comics Chronology home |