Issue(s): Tales Of Suspense #93, Tales Of Suspense #94 (Captain America stories only)
Cover Date: Sep-Oct 67
Title: "Into the jaws of... A.I.M.!" / "If this be... MODOK!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker

Review/plot:
Captain America uses SHIELD's long-distance mini-cruiser to get to AIM's submarine...

...where he is captured. Agent 13 Sharon Carter, also a prisoner, manages to rescue him...

...and then they get captured again. Sharon is sent to AIM's mysterious new leader, MODOK.

Meanwhile, AIM analyzes Captain America's shield...

...and determines it must be made out of extra-terrestrial metal (love that Kirbytech analyzer). This is actually correct: contrary to what some people think, Cap's shield is not made of adamantium. It's a steel-vibranium alloy. And vibranium is an extra-terrestial metal which came to earth via asteroid. None of this was actually determined yet, of course, but this is the first confirmation that Cap's shield is indestructable.

It turns out that the rest of AIM (actually they keep getting referred to as 'AIM, Reborn') don't like being run by MODOK, so they send Cap after him.

MODOK of course turns out to be a giant head in a floating chair, which is incredibly awesome and anyone who doesn't want that for a boss doesn't deserve to wear a yellow beekeeper suit in the first place.

MODOK handles Captain America with ease...

...but then the traitorous dogs from AIM launch a cowardly attack from behind killing causing a temporary set-back for the Great Domed One. MODOK thinks he is dying, or pretends he is to give the comic reading audience a greater sense of drama, and he causes the AIM sub to self-destruct...

...but Cap and Sharon have already hitched a ride out in an escape pod along with half of AIM. (Presumably the AIM troops are brought into SHIELD custody but that's not shown; it seems to me that Sharon Carter and Captain America stuck in an escape pod with a bunch of AIM troops is a dangling plot point and could have made for an interesting story, but i guess we were supposed to assume they were captured.)

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 8 - first MODOK, continuing the Cap/Sharon romance, hints about Captain America's shield.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place in between Avengers #44 and #45. In #44 Cap helps the Avengers rescue the Black Widow while he is (my interpretation) waiting for SHIELD to set-up and get intel on Sharon's situation as an AIM mole. Issue #45 is when Cap really gets heavy in his feelings for Sharon and starts considering giving up being Cap, which makes better sense after these issues.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Double Feature #17, Marvel Double Feature #18

So am I correct in assuming that no matter how good a Silver Age story is, you just won't give it above a C+ rating? Are you one of those guys who can't enjoy stuff written before he was born?

I realize i can't expect people to read The Rules and the Q&A before commenting, so i expect we'll have these sorts of comments periodically, but you can find an explanation of my ratings in those sections.

I think i pretty clearly enjoy this story, but i'm not going to give an A rating to a comic that introduces a villain by having him give a little elevator speech about his origin in the first panel he appears in. It's a reflection of the fact that the comics were still being written for a younger audience and weren't as sophisticated. I still think it's great. I wouldn't spend months and years working on this website if i didn't love all these books.

All that said, i also provide the tools for other readers to provide their own ratings and reviews, whether they agree or disagree with mine. And the Advanced Search lets you search by my ratings, if that's really of interest to anyone (pointing that out is probably just asking for more trouble, i know).

Actually, that is of interest. I would like to see some of your higher-rated stories to get a better idea of why you seem to grade as you do. Grades are subjective, but I personally don't judge a 1937 movie by 2013 standards and I treat comics the same. Your mileage may vary of course.

Despite my tone I do think you're doing a good thing here and you deserve credit.

Thanks. One thing you'll find is that the Quality Rating isn't necessarily indicative of my enjoyment of a story. The most obvious example is the Marvels Project, which i gave a good rating to but (as you'll see) i kinda wish it was never written. An underlying argument i've been making over the years is that it's not necessarily the individual stories that matter so much as the Big Story. And in recent years Marvel has been leaning towards more sophisticated stories but to do it (they think) they have to sacrifice the focus on continuity and story consistency.

So that's why it's a Quality Rating instead of just a rating. I'm judging it more from the sophistication and the technique and natural dialogue and things like that, not just whether or not i love it. I think "What would my non-comic reading friends think of this?". I recognize that's going to be confusing and that's why i try to explain it in the sidebar.

I think I've finally worked out just what the mysterious anomaly was in the process of Myron MacLain creating Captain America's shield.

Odin put some Uru metal in Maclain's mix to give the Allies a weapon against the Nazi’s. This could explain why Thor's hammer can't dent it and why it returns to Cap so easily!? This would also resolve AIM's scientists declaring "Whatever this metal is, it was not mined on this Earth!" when they captured the shield here. The fact that Maclain mysteriously falls asleep could further suggest godly involvement.

I really liked this one. I love the stuff about the shield and of course Modok is a classic villain. As far as your ratings system, I really don't pay it much attention. You have your opinion and we each have our own. I like what you said about loving this books is why this site exits. I feel the same way about my reading list and other projects inspired by this wonderful comics.

Judging by the cover of TOS #94, the Cap story should be called "Where be MODOK ?" because he is hiding away in the corner, whilst center stage is Cap beating an anonymous AIM guy. Hardly promoting a great menace here !
In general the cover seems overcrowded with too much going on, making it difficult to know what to focus on.
What's more, ten years later, by sitting in the corner there, MODOK would be completely obscured by the bar code box !!!
Probably why they had Kirby draw a new cover for the Marvel Double Feature reprint.