Marvel Comics · Captain America #172 · April 1974 · $0.20 · 32 pages
Grade: VF+ 8.5
Cover by Sal Buscema.
Steve Englehart's Secret Empire arc is Bronze Age Captain America at its most pointed — a superhero story written in real time as Watergate unraveled, with a conspiracy reaching all the way to the highest levels of American government. Issue #172 continues that storyline, with the Banshee — Sean Cassidy, better known today as an X-Man — deployed here as an antagonist against Cap and the Falcon. Sal Buscema draws the whole thing with the kind of kinetic, no-nonsense clarity that defined Marvel's action books in the early seventies: nothing showy, everything readable, and the fight choreography exactly where it needs to be.
Englehart's run on this title — roughly #153 through #186 — is the one most Bronze Age Marvel collectors point to when the conversation turns to socially engaged superhero writing. The Secret Empire arc specifically (#172–175) builds toward one of the era's most audacious finales. This issue is a working chapter in that build: the conspiracy tightening, Cap's faith in American institutions visibly fraying, Banshee pressed into service as muscle for forces Cap is only beginning to understand.
Collectors chasing the complete Secret Empire arc need #172 through #175 plus the concurrent crossover issues in other titles. This is the arc's second chapter — the machinery is in motion, and Englehart isn't letting up.
Condition VF+ 8.5 — .
We use what the scientists are calling artificial intelligence to research and write our descriptions — it gives us more time to add books to our website and provide you with a wider array of inventory. We think Klaatu would approve. Details are verified but the robot does slip up. We're not infallible. Every book is graded by a human collector who has actually held it. If anything ever looks off, reach on out at robopictocomics@gmail.com.
Marvel Comics · Captain America #172 · April 1974 · $0.20 · 32 pages
Grade: VF+ 8.5
Cover by Sal Buscema.
Steve Englehart's Secret Empire arc is Bronze Age Captain America at its most pointed — a superhero story written in real time as Watergate unraveled, with a conspiracy reaching all the way to the highest levels of American government. Issue #172 continues that storyline, with the Banshee — Sean Cassidy, better known today as an X-Man — deployed here as an antagonist against Cap and the Falcon. Sal Buscema draws the whole thing with the kind of kinetic, no-nonsense clarity that defined Marvel's action books in the early seventies: nothing showy, everything readable, and the fight choreography exactly where it needs to be.
Englehart's run on this title — roughly #153 through #186 — is the one most Bronze Age Marvel collectors point to when the conversation turns to socially engaged superhero writing. The Secret Empire arc specifically (#172–175) builds toward one of the era's most audacious finales. This issue is a working chapter in that build: the conspiracy tightening, Cap's faith in American institutions visibly fraying, Banshee pressed into service as muscle for forces Cap is only beginning to understand.
Collectors chasing the complete Secret Empire arc need #172 through #175 plus the concurrent crossover issues in other titles. This is the arc's second chapter — the machinery is in motion, and Englehart isn't letting up.
Condition VF+ 8.5 — .
We use what the scientists are calling artificial intelligence to research and write our descriptions — it gives us more time to add books to our website and provide you with a wider array of inventory. We think Klaatu would approve. Details are verified but the robot does slip up. We're not infallible. Every book is graded by a human collector who has actually held it. If anything ever looks off, reach on out at robopictocomics@gmail.com.
