Captain America #105-107

Captain America #105-107

Originally released in 1968

Written by Stan Lee

Art by Jack Kirby



Zees is one of ze first appearances of Batroc Ze Leaper! ...sorry. I figure I could have fun with looking up early appearances of random decently-known villains, and when looking through a list of villains, Batroc stuck out. He got a good development in the Gwenpool series, but otherwise, he's a mercenary who kicks things and jumps high while being extremely French.



The issue starts off with some World War 2 footage of Captain America and Bucky beating up Nazis.  By Stan Lee's own admission, this doesn't have much to do with the rest of the issue, but if Jack Kirby wants to draw it, you can't really argue.



Steve angsts over Bucky's death, along with his concerns about a budding relationship with Sharon Carter. In the newsreel footage, Bucky gives what I assume was intended as a V for victory sign, but it winds up being the British equivalent of the middle finger; I'm guessing that was accidental, though it's funny to think that Bucky is cheerfully flipping the camera off.



An enemy spy has brought a seismo-bomb into New York City. Captain America wants to find it, and so do a trio of villains: Batroc, the Swordsman (Hawkeye's mentor who was briefly an Avenger), and the Living Laser. Batroc is delightfully hammy throughout the issue, with such a wonderfully over-the-top accent.



The issue largely consists of action scenes as Captain America battles his foes one at a time, often without his trusty shield.  Kirby does a great job at making the action flow from one panel to the next, along with giving plenty of variety despite the short length of the fights and similar settings.



Issue 106 involves a Chinese plot to steal SHIELD's Life Model Decoy technology, create a Captain America doppelganger, and use it to discredit Captain America.  This plot also involves a bankrupt Hollywood studio for some reason.



Seemingly out of arrogance, the masterminds of the attack decide that the LMD Cap will get his uniform from the genuine article, sending the duplicate to Hollywood to kill Captain America.  Some of the dialogue surrounding Cap is cheesy, with lines like "it's not just my life that's at stake... but freedom itself! A freedom... that must never fail!!", but it's Captain America - he makes it work.



Issue 107 is the first appearance of a recurring Captain America villain, Doctor Faustus.  Operating as an ordinary psychiatrist, Faustus intends to drive Steve mad. (Steve's identity is apparently public knowledge; it's been a while since I read some of the silver age comics, so I can't remember if it was initially secret when he returned or if it was public back then as well)



After using prescriptions to force Steve to have nightmares, Faustus has his minions mess with Steve's perception of reality in the middle of the day as well. (though walking around New York City in some of those costumes might be seen as being in poor taste, to say the least)



Steve isn't the first Marvel hero to visit a psychiatrist (I think that would be Spider-Man), let alone a psychiatrist who's actually a supervillain in disguise (also Spider-Man, during Mysterio's first appearance)  Faustus preys upon Steve's trauma surrounding Bucky's death, but Steve grows wise to the doctor's tricks and outsmarts him.



These were fun issues; cheesy at points, but in a way that perfectly fit the character in question.  You can really tell that Lee and Kirby were having fun with making these, or at least it comes across that way.

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