Once the Captain had graduated (along with TALES OF SUSPENSE bunkmate, Iron Man) to his own ongoing solo title, he and the Red Skull crossed swords more times than can be readily numbered by even the most devout red-white-and-blue groupie.

While attempting to evade capture by the Cap/Skull's assembled forces, Captain America met a young black man by the name of Sam Wilson. Their friendship -- one which has endured even to the present day -- blossomed into one of comic's most memorable crime-fighting partnerships; after having been trained in combat by the Living Legend himself, Sam Wilson took on the costumed identity of "the Falcon," and battled alongside the Captain for a good many years -- even sharing cover"co-billing" for five or six of these -- until (eventually) veering off to follow his own chosen flight path.

The Falcon (it must be noted here) has been inconsistently used since striking out on his own, from under the Captain's penumbra. Certainly, he was an exciting (if not an integral) componet to the creative and sales success enjoyed by the Caaptain's title during the 70's -- the last memorable "run" said series has enjoyed, in fact, until the recent assumption of same by "fan-favorite" comics scribe Mark Waid, nearly twenty years later -- and well merits consideration of his regular inclusion within these pages once more.

Many of those landmark stories of the 1970's were, in fact, written by one of the brightest stars in that decade's comics firmament: Steve Englehart. And -- with all apologies to the aforementioned Mr. Waid -- no one has ever handled the character with as deft and sure a hand since the days of Jack "King" Kirby himself.

Closing this narrative with the cover for what is probably the best-remembered issue of the Englehart run (in which the Captain -- his faith in his country shaken to its very foundations by the revelation of "Watergate"-style mendacity at the very uppermost reaches of the government -- undergoes his own personal "dark night of the soul")... I think it fitting to observe that, in recent days, Marvel Comics seems to have come to a newly-won understanding and appreciation of just how very important and iconic a character Captain America truly is...

... not that the fame-eschewing Captain would want us to make too much of that sort of thing, of course.

A good solider doesn't need plaudits, or brass bands, or medals.

He just does his duty. That's all.