This Deadly Gauntlet!

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CAPTAIN AMERICA — Issue no. 227, August 1978

Book: Captain America

Issue No.: 227

Published: August 8, 1978

Title: “This Deadly Gauntlet!”

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Original paper copy

Sometimes the setup is better than the payoff. And that’s OK! The setup here, established in the previous issue of Captain America, is that the Red Skull (he’s a Nazi super-villain who has been hounding Captain America since the Second World War) has somehow turned all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents aboard a helicarrier into an army of Red Skulls (or at least stooges who look like the original Red Skull). That is admittedly a fun setup.

This payoff story, appropriately titled “This Deadly Gauntlet,” is light on story and heavy on action. Basically Captain America fights all of those Skulls while attempting to find the real Red Skull and also to rescue his pal, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury.

Two panels from this issue. In the first, Captain America is fighting two Red Skulls. Cap says, “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I aim to —” In the second panel, the Red Skull (maybe the real one) points a gun at Nick Fury’s head. The Skull says, “Enough, Captain! Drop your verdammt shield — now — or Fury dies!” Fury mumbles, “Ohhh… wha — ?”

I say light on story because this issue of Captain America features two regular splash pages and also a double-page splash. That’s a lot of splashes for a seventeen-page story! And again, that’s OK, since the penciler of those pages is the great Sal Buscema (assisted by inkers Mike Esposito and John Tartag and colorist George Roussos). The more of these 1978 Marvel books I read, the more I am sure that Sal Buscema is the archetypal Marvel Bronze Age artist. He’s not necessarily my favorite (don’t make me pick a favorite, but it might be John Byrne on Uncanny X-Men), but he does excellent work. And if somebody asks to see one comic book that embodies the stuff I cover for Marvel Time Warp, I’d probably hand them a copy of a Sal Buscema book.

(I keep referring to Sal Buscema by both his first and last names to avoid confusion with John Buscema, another giant of Marvel’s Bronze Age and also Sal’s older brother.)

Week 32 Wrap-Up

I read seven books that Marvel published the second week of August 1978 — five 35-cent books, a 60-cent issue of Marvel Classics Comics, and that Silver Surfer graphic novel, which was $4.95. (As usual, I skipped Crazy magazine.) Total cover price for all of those books is $7.30. Adjusted for 2024 inflation, that’s about 35 bucks.

Next time — On to week 32 of 1978!

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