3 out of 5

This was another “I’m here and then I’m gone” Gerber run, this time maybe interrupted by Howard the Duck.  It’s also a seemingly odd book to put Steve on, same as Daredevil was (though this was much earlier in his career and before he was an established go-to guy), but perfect evidence of how Gerb wouldn’t just default to bonkers mode and would take the character into account.  His four issues of Cap sacrifice nothing of CA’s stalwart, patriotic nature, and yet show just the very hints of the lateral thinking Steve was great at for plotting devices.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t a fresh start for four issues – Cap was wrapped up in a storyline where he was trying to discover ‘the real Steve Rogers’ – having forgotten what his life was before the super soldier serum and finding conflicting / missing records and information to help fill in the gap – and so Steve not only had to spend one issue on a concluding battle to a previous book, but then lay seeds for his own storylines while continuing / tying up this existing one.  Which is where it did make sense to bring him in as a writer, because he seemed to be plugged in when stories were wandering or sales were needed, and the Steve Rogers arc, if the letter columns are any indication, wasn’t really all that popular with fans.

During this time we also quietly switch the title of the book from ‘Captain America and Falcon’ to just ‘Captain America’ (without fanfare or notification – Sam hadn’t been in the book for a bit, apparently), so changes were definitely in the woiks.

Buscema’s reliable pencils are up to the task for this brief run, perfectly paneling the wacky action Steve is able to jam in for a couple book – a VW Beetle crashing into Cap’s apartment, automated and on a rampage; the Lincoln statue coming to ‘life’ and attacking the hero; a encephalitic-headed pink-skinned dude named ‘Animus’ who pulls off a loincloth pretty well.  And after a pretty clever solution to a Cap vs. Cap battle in 221 (the attacker realizes they’re a freak and gives up (heh)), 222 and 223 are a lot of fun, giving us cool hints of something big in store related to a mysterious ‘Corporation’ that had also been kicking around causing problems in previous issues.  But time to wrap up that pesky ‘the real Steve’ storyline in ish 224, which we’re promised is a major revelation…  …and then 224 is an unrelated fill-in issue.  Troubles.  So 225 picks up right after 223, and our MAJOR REVELATION isn’t really anything major at all.  It’s a pretty straight forward tale, done diligently and without flash by Steve to effectively close that unpopular chapter and set things up for the next writer.  Because though promised otherwise (as usual), Steve was outta there for other pastures.

I’m not a Cap reader, but I doubt this is highly regarded CA fare.  But as a Steve reader I think it’s a good example of how flexible he was.  At the same time, it can’t amount to much because of the short time frame and his having to slip around existing loose ends.