| Characters |
Captain America [Steve Rogers]; The Hulk [Bruce Banner]; Bucky [Rick Jones]; HYDRA; Madame Hydra (Introduction) |
| Synopsis |
Cap runs across the Hulk on a rampage in NYC. As the Army tries to stop him, Rick Jones warns him how uncontrollable he can be. The Hulk escapes, and Cap vows Rick must never put himself in danger until the monster can be tamed. Back at Avengers Mansion, Rick finds Bucky Barnes' old uniform, and rejects Cap's protests against wearing it. After putting him off for years, Cap finally accepts Rick officially as his new partner! Almost immediately, they uncover a plot by HYDRA to contaminate the city's water supply. After a series of battles, the HYDRA goons are driven off, and Cap tells Rick he survived his "baptism of fire"-- like a man! |
| Genre |
Superhero |
| Script |
Jim Steranko |
| Pencils |
Jim Steranko |
| Inks |
Joe Sinnott |
| Colors |
Jim Steranko |
| Letters |
Sam Rosen |
| Notes |
Part 1 of 3. James Bond had faced a "Madame Spectra" in the 007 newspaper strip story "The Spy Who Loved Me" in The Daily Express (December 18, 1967-October 3, 1968); see James Bond 007 #[7] (Titan Books, August 2005). Last previous appearance of HYDRA in Strange Tales #159 (July 1967); its subsidiary, A.I.M., had effectively split off to become a separate organization and continued to crop up in the Nick Fury, Captain America & Iron Man series. Cap had first asked Rick to be his partner back in The Avengers #4 (March 1964), but kept hemming and hawing over it for almost 5 years! The sequence in the sewers is strikingly similar to the one in "Spy Ambush" in Captain America Comics #10 (January 1942). The Spirit had also once faced a female villain who planned to poison NYC's water supply in an early story. |
| Reprinted |
in Marvel Super Action (Marvel, 1977 series) #12 (February 1979); in Captain America Sentinel of Liberty (Simon and Schuster, 1979) #[nn] ([October] 1979); in Captain America's Collector's Edition (Marvel UK, 1981 series) #nn (1981); in Essential Captain America (Marvel, 2000 series) #2 (2002); in Marvel Masterworks: Captain America (Marvel, 2003 series) #3 (July 2006) |