From Advertising Exec to Super Villain. Is anyone really surprised?

I remember buying Captain America and the Falcon #157 (January 1973) off the 7-11 spinner rack. This was a few years after we moved to Florida and a store that carried comics became easily accessible and I had been reading many of the Marvel superhero books, so I'm sure this isn't the first C.A. book I bought. But its the first one of which I have a strong memory. I'm not sure why. It's the first chapter of a three-parter, which we'll be looking at over the next few weeks. And its a very good, enjoyable story, but its not exceptional in any way. Something about it, though, spoke to my 12-year old mind and made it stand out in my memory.

Written by Steve Englehart and with fun, kinetic art by Sal Buscema, it begins with Cap heading towards the police station, called there by the police commissioner. Along the way, he's jumped by three men who say someone called the Cowled Commander" has told them to stop that particular meeting.

This takes place not long after Steve Rogers had gone undercover as a cop while working on a previous case. Rogers is still officially a cop and the commissioner is aware of his double identity, so Steve seems to be the best person to investigate charges of corruption in the department. Several cops have been nailed for taking bribes and several others are suspended while under investigation. This includes Sgt. Muldoon, a tough and not terribly likeable cop, but Steve had worked with him and is convinced he's probably innocent.

But before he can start looking into things, the precinct house blows up. Or presumably the room Cap is in blows up, since no other casualties are mentioned, though the subsequent art work makes it unclear just how much of the building is wrecked.

For much of the remaining issue, Cap is assumed to have been killed in the explosion. It turns out that he was protected from the brunt of the blast by his shield. He's just hiding nearby in hopes of smoking out the person who planted the bomb. The assumption that the bomber would still be in the area or somehow give himself away is a bit of a stretch, but since this does turn out to happen that way, I guess I can't argue.

The story breaks away after the explosion to focus on the Falcon, which includes some stuff about a possible love interest and a conflict he's having with a local crime boss. I'm skipping over this, since it isn't connected to the main story, but its well-written and gives Sam Wilson some ongoing character development.

When Sam learns about the explosion and Cap's presumed death, he jumps head first into the main story. Soon, he's spotted the bomber on a nearby rooftop. This is the first appearance of the lower-tier Marvel villain called the Viper, a former advertising exec who spouts ad-related dialogue while fighting heroes. His M.O. involves using lots of poison and in the ensuing struggle, he manages to peg Falcon with a poisoned dart. He also conveniently mentions that he's been hired by the Cowled Commander to kill Captain America.

This is when Cap shows up and begins to clean Viper's clock. But the villain distracts Cap by tossing a vial of antidote to his poison on to the rooftop, then manages to peg Cap with a dart as well. The issue ends with Viper making a getaway while Cap and Falcon are slowly dying.

As was typical of many writers in the Marvel bullpen in the 1970s, Steve Englehart's dialogue is often over-written. ("Someone may be alive in there!" "Don't count on it, chief. Looks like that flag-wavin' Avenger finally bought it!") and "Cowled Commander" is a terrible villain name. But those would be minor quibbles. The story is a lot of fun and moves along at a brisk pace, with Sal Buscema choreographing some effective fight scenes. I honestly don't remember now why this story stuck so strongly in my memory from first reading it 46 years ago, but it is representative of entertaining storytelling that I like to celebrate on this blog.

Next week, we'll find out if Cap and Falcon survive.