“Monumental Menace!”

CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON — Issue no. 222, March 1978

Book: Captain America and the Falcon

Issue No.: 222

Published: March 14, 1978

Title: “Monumental Menace!”

Cover Price: 35¢

This issue opens with Cap being attacked by a purple Volkswagen Beetle and ends with him being attacked by the (somehow animated) giant Lincoln statue from the Lincoln Monument in Washington, DC. Yep, it’s a Steve Gerber (writer of the weird and wild Howard the Duck comic book) joint. Come to think of it, last issue Cap fought a giant android replica of himself (how could I forget the Ameridroid?). Cap’s fighting a lot of giant stuff lately.

Crazy fight scenes aside, Captain America’s alter ego Steve Rogers spends most of his time in this story researching his past — apparently he doesn’t remember his pre-Captain America life, or he’s come to believe his memories of that life aren’t real. A note in this issue’s letters column indicates that we’ll find out the “real” story of Steve’s early years in an upcoming issue.

Also, this is my second Captain America and the Falcon book and still no Falcon. Cap mentions him while he’s on the phone with Nick Fury, but that’s all we get. There is also an appearance by an agent of “The Corporation,” a group that the narration explains are clandestine foes of SHIELD. This is the first I’ve heard of them after all these years of being a Marvel fan, so I am obviously intrigued.

The issue ends with Cap, after defeating the giant Lincoln statue, being attacked by some dude named Animus. We only see him once on the last page (a splash page) of the story, so I can’t tell if he’s actually another gigantic foe, but he certainly has a gigantic head.

Next time — Doctor Strange teams up with Nighthawk to investigate an unusual robbery.