This week’s recommendation is Captain America Omnibus Vol. 3, the big one when Steve Englehart jumped on and redefined Captain America to basically the iteration we have now. He contributed quite a few ‘forwards’ that were first printed in the Marvel Masterworks edition. But to sum it up, the sales for Cap’s mag were low at the time and Steve was tasked by Roy Thomas to bring them up. If he didn’t, then he was fired.
So what did he do?
For starters, the stories in the Omnibus run between the years 1972 – 1975. Americans were very much against the Vietnam war and since Captain America symbolized America, Cap was at odds with Marvel’s readership. Then Watergate happened, which was a time of Richard Nixon who was a very aggressive President and challenged US systems of government.
Sound familiar?
The result was that Englehart owned the situation and decided to bring Cap directly in conflict with the government. Cap does a whole lot of soul searching, continually analyzes his relationship with both Falcon and Sharon Carter, and basically tries to figure out who he is and what place he has in the world. Which was also what the readers were doing at the time.
The result is an incredible run that is not only thought provoking but also very relevant for today. On one hand, it’s refreshing to see the creatives grappling with something that feels very familiar, while on the other it’s very frustrating because you wonder just how far we have come since then.
And of course what really makes this Omnibus pop is we get Sal Buscema’s art almost the entire time. He had such a good handle on Cap and this whole Omnibus just rocks. Sal could really ratch up the action but also create those quiet moments as well as portray the inner turmoil that Cap experienced throughout. The art alone is definitely worth the price of admission. As a tribute to Sal Buscema, I created the above image that is directly taken from Captain America #156 right in the art-style of expatNERD.
Tschüss,
Franka