Captain America (1968 series) #131

Review: And so Cap suddenly finds himself free of the past! Doing motorcycle tricks on the beach! And about to be dragged back into the past by someone who is even stucker—Baron Strucker (I know he’s an android but the rhyming pun had to work). Robot Strucker searches high and wide for a Bucky Barnes double he can use to lure Cap into a trap. It should be noted that he didn’t really need to find a double for Bucky his trap to work, the phony news report brought Cap to the mansion by itself but we discover in the next issue that Strucker was being manipulated by MODOK. And what happens? There’s some pretty cool fight scenes between Cap and the weapons master Strucker while “Bucky” tries to deal with repetitive patterns in his head. And then Strucker captures Cap and stuffs him in a murder device stolen from the old BATMAN TV series for Bucky to save him from. Hmm, maybe Strucker didn’t think it through, the idea of giving Cap a partner… Anyway, nice action-packed issue is a lot of fun and in the next issue we find out who this kid really is. Because we know it isn’t Bucky!

Comments: Part two of four parts. Baron Strucker died in STRANGE TALES #158, explaining why he must be an android here; he was resurrected in NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. (1989) #21-22; he was killed again in SECRET WARRIORS (2009) #26-27 and returned again in WEAPON X-MEN (2025) #2-3, or something like that. Most of page 20 redrawn by John Romita, according to GCD. And Strucker should lose his membership in the Villains’ Society for that utterly unimaginative costume of a dark sweater, gloves, and a bag over his head; the guy looks like a basic housebreaker, not a Nazi mastermind!