Dead Bad Guys Who Aren't Dead

 

cover art by Sal Buscema

Steve Rogers is walking home after seeing Sharon Carter--perhaps for the last time, because he's on the outs with Nick Fury and has been told to stay away from SHIELD and SHIELD agents.

Mr. Hyde and the Scorpion, though, are looking to take revenge on SHIELD and, seeing some guy in the company of an agent, decide to capture him to get more information.

This is how Captain America #151 (July 1972), written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Sal Buscema, starts out. And it's a good slam-bang opening for a good slam-bang issue.

Steve fights back effectively, but to protect his secret identity, he runs away rather than finish the fight. We then get a flashback that sets up why the two villains are working together and why they are mad at SHIELD.

It's a bit complicated and because of that takes up a page or two more of this issue than it should have. The two were supposed to have been killed fighting Daredevil and the Black Widow not long ago. But those were robot duplicates. The real Hyde and Scorpion have escaped from the super-villain who made the duplicates and mistakenly assumed that SHIELD was behind their capture.

Anyway, Cap goes to Falcon for help. Falcon is dealing with some other black people in his neighborhood calling him a sell-out, but he's always available to help his best friend. 

 

Because Sharon had mentioned being followed, Cap and Falcon head to her apartment. But, because of Fury's decree, he's locked out and can't warn Sharon. It's then that the two bad guys show up.

There's a fight, with Buscema doing his usual superb job of depicting action scenes. The good guys are winning, especially when Falcon begins to take out his personal frustrations on Scorpion. But Hyde manages to capture Sharon, forcing the heroes to back off. The issue ends with the villains escaping with Sharon and, when Nick Fury arrives, a frustrated Cap decking the SHIELD leader.

It really is a slam-bang issue, despite having to take a little too much time explaining the complicated Hyde/Scorpion backstory. It mixes in the heroes' personal issues without slowing down the pacing and gives us several really good action scenes.

Next week, we'll look at the second part of this story.