Issue(s): Tales Of Suspense #96, Tales Of Suspense #97, Tales Of Suspense #98, Tales Of Suspense #99, Captain America #100 (Captain America stories only)
Cover Date: Dec 67-Apr 68
Title: "To be reborn!" / "And so it begins--!" / "The warrior and the whip!" / "The man who lived twice!" / "This monster unmasked!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Joe Sinnott / Syd Shores - Inker

Review/plot:
Steve Rogers has given up being Captain America. The police know his identity (as does the entire world), and they call him in to show him that a number of Cap imitators have been attacked.

The mob is gunning for him. With the help of SHIELD, Steve rescues another imitator from a sniper called... the Sniper, and Nick Fury convinces him that he needs to keep being Captain America.

Meanwhile the Black Panther is having trouble with invaders in Wakanda...

...and he contacts Cap to ask for help. He sends a remote flying vehicle, and tells Cap to check his credentials with the Fantastic Four. Cap says "No need for that. I've heard of you." which is interesting in light of retcons where Cap met BP's father.

After the prerequisite fight, Cap and the Panther team up to fight some high tech troops who also have a Solar Heat Projector in orbit.

The two are subdued and the leader of the troops seems to be Baron Zemo.

Sharon Carter, in an undercover role (Irma Kruhl)...

...shows up, and is ordered to kill Captain America.

However, she aims high and Cap and the Panther manage to escape...

...stop the satellite, and unmask "Zemo". There's a fight with a robot in there somewhere too.

Once it is revealed that the Zemo character is a nameless thug (he was Zemo's pilot from Avengers #5), the rest of the troops surrender to the Panther, who offers them a fair trial. Cap then persuades the Panther to take his place on the Avengers. The Panther's acceptance of this was later revealed to be due to the Panther wanting to investigate the Avengers as a potential security threat.

Similar to Sif in Thor, Sharon Carter is shown as a very capable woman who nonetheless gets treated like a delicate flower by the male star of the book.

Since the title changes from Tales Of Suspense to Captain America, we get a flashback to Avengers #4 in issue #100, but otherwise it just continues the regular story with no fanfare.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Captain America/Black Panther meeting.

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Cap was accidentally de-thawed by the Sub-Mariner and rescued by the Avengers in Avengers #4.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Double Feature #20, Marvel Double Feature #21, Marvel Super Action #1

This is Syd Shores' first work on Captain America since the late 1940s.

Captain America #100-111 lost 2 pages each when reprinted in Marvel Super Action# 1-3, 5-13.

Have you ever given a Silver Age story an A?

I liked all this especially when Cap unmasks the phony Zemo.

Personally I've always enjoyed seeing team-ups with Cap and T'Challa because it's not simply two costumed heroes meeting up, but two national symbols working together for a common cause. A superpower summit, after a fashion.

Does Zemo's pilot need a tag, since he recurs from Avengers #6?

It's not important, but i'd tag him if he's been given a name somewhere.

Franz Gruber.

Thanks AF. Added him.

He also appears in the Avengers #15, btw.

Thanks again.

was he Gruber name used in a comic, or just in the Avengers/Thunderbolts novel by Pierce Askegren?

And is Franz related to Hans "Shoot the glass!" Gruber?

He was named Gruber in the comics, I think Franz does indeed come from the novel but it was adopted by the handbooks (which is where I know it from).

And there IS a Die Hard link - they were both inspired by the same 1966 novel which had a villain called Tony Gruber.

Kirby's art was at its peak at this point, and I really like the Kirby/Shores combination.