Captain America #245
Published and © by Marvel, May 1980
Title: “The Calypso Connection!”
Synopsis: One of Steve Roger’s apartment neighbors encounters a Nazi doctor from her time in a concentration camp.
Writer: Roger McKenzie
Penciler: Carmine Infantino
Inker: Joe Rubinstein
Review: This is a surprisingly strong issue of Captain America. While the A-plot is fairly typical of the Nazi-hunter genre, there’s a fullness of story that comes from Captain America/Steve Rogers personal life: Stopping off for a slice of apple pie. A surprise birthday party with friends from his apartment building. Stress related to his career as a freelance artist. Cap’s life feels fuller – and more real – than it did through much of the Silver and Bronze ages. The art is also better than expected, with Joe Rubinstein’s finishes providing a welcome solidity to Carmine Infantino’s often-sketchy work.
Grade: B
Cool factor: Props to Joe Rubinstein for some top-shelf finishes.
Notable: Cameo appearance by Jake “Moon Knight” Lockley.
Collector’s note: According to the Grand Comics Database, there is a 12p British variant of this issue. … According to MyComicShop.com, there is also a Mark Jewelers variant.
Character quotable: “Murder is the only solution left. The final solution. This … this butcher… taught me that at Diebenwald.” – Anna Kapplebaum, Holocaust survivor
Editor’s note: This review was written July 8, 2024.
