The first story is a generic Iron Man tale. He takes on yet another disgruntled employee who becomes a supervillain and is never seen again. Tony goes missing during the story because, hey, he’s Iron Man and can’t be in two places at once.
Tony is believed dead at first but then is deemed too rich to die. Grade: C-
The back-half of #63 is a Cap story with his origin being re-told, with magnificent Jack Kirby art.
He draws on his own military background.
Steve Rogers, to keep his super-identity secret, acts like a fool.
He’s kind of like Clark Kent.
The story goes all the way back to the magic potion.
It shows Bucky learning Steve’s secret.
BDude. Lock the tent when you’re changing clothes!
At least he acknowledges his own faults. If this scene happened in the 1990s, I’m sure Bucky and Cap would have had two pages of fistfighting. Still, he can’t resist speechifying.
Bucky’s already in uniform. I think he knows the Nazis are bad.
They team up.
They fight Nazis with guns that look pretty high tech for WW2.
They also have the sound effect that’s the punchline for the joke, “What”s the difference between a saloon and an elephant fart?”
(Answer: One is a bar room, the other is a BAR-OOM!)
And they go on to make headlines.
It’s fairly true to what everyone knows—the only major difference between it and the movie is that he serves in the military undercover as Steve Rogers, where he acts all bumbling, and also where he meets Bucky for the first time. B+
This is also the first time I’ve seen a mention of The MMMS, “The Merry Marvel Marching Society.” You could have joined for a buck. And look at all the merch you’d have got…
Overall, the second half of this comic is stellar. The Iron Man story can’t bring it down too much–it’s not bad, just meh, and even more meh-like when it is side-by-side with Kirby Cap.