Let’s finish up the Captain America part of the countdown with the ending of Yellow Claw’s story.
Capitan America vol.2 #29 (1983)
Published by: Corno
The cover is from Captain America #165, which started last issue and ends in this one.
But since last time I reviewed the whole #165, let’s see the follow-up.
Captain America #166 (1973)
by Steve Englehart & Sal Buscema
How do you make Yellow Claw even more random? In addition to a legion of giant spiders, he also has mummies under his command.
Yellow Claw gives a recap of the ending of the previous issue, but he also brings up a fact I forgot to mention: in this period Captain America has super-strength for complicated reasons.
He then escapes Yellow Claw’s base after fighting a giant scorpion. Did I mention how random Yellow Claw can be?
Randomness aside, it’s a pretty cool scene.
Cap brings the injured Nick Fury back to S.H.I.E.L.D, and by this point Contessa Valentina Allegro What Do You Mean I Can’t Give My Daughter This Many Names De Fontaine is thankfully no longer in love with Captain America.
Surprisingly Cap seems to be a bit disappointed of the loss of this potential love triangle.
I think he might be the only one; did ANYONE enjoy that subplot? Because I certainly didn’t.
One of the reasons why Yellow Claw faded into obscurity is undoubtedly that he’s, well, literally yellow.
Which used to be how comics colored Asian people in general, but Yellow Claw lingered longer than most… I guess the idea was that the skin was yellow because of whatever he’s done to himself.
Last issue, for example, the Chinese soldiers were colored more realistically… but now he has his own minion with the same complexion.
Yellow Claw has a complicated relationship with his niece Suwan. She both follows his order and constantly betrays him, while Yellow Claw puts her in suspended animation so that she can’t bother him anymore…
…and yet at the same time, one of his goals is to revive her? Uh?
Meanwhile, Captain America is experiencing how it feels to be Spider-Man: first he’s kicked out of his apartment..
…and then he’s also denigrated by the media!
Falcon is keeping busy. Good thing they eventually gave him wings, because having him swing around like that doesn’t work.
I don’t know WHY it doesn’t work… Daredevil makes it look cool, but Falcon doesn’t.
Maybe that’s because he doesn’t seem to be doing any crazy acrobatics.
Also, while Redwing CAN be cool… it’s a bit ridiculous how often Falcon needs him.
The cover promised us mummies. And sure enough, Yellow Claw sneaks into an Egyptian museum to steal the mummy of Princess Fan-Le-Tamen.
I’m no Egyptologist, but that doesn’t sound like an Ancient Egyptian name.
So when Captain America and Falcon are called to deal with the museum robbery, Yellow Claw unleashes mummies to stop them.
Not really sure where we are in the museum.
You know the rule of “never mention a better movie in your movie”?
I think we need a “never mention a better supervillain in your superhero story” rule as well.
So to recap Yellow Claw has employed werewolves, giant spiders, giant scorpions, mummies and now some kind of zombies.
Told you he can be random!
Yellow Claw completes the ritual to… uhm, I’m honestly not sure WHAT he’s trying to accomplish here…
…but it’s cool enough!
Hands down the best sequence of the issue.
And so the story ends with Yellow Claw allying himself with the now resurrected Egyptian princess, who now has the body of his niece.
Historical significance: 2/10
This is the formal introduction of Yellow Claw in the main continuity, since after his pre-Fantastic Four stories the version we saw was revealed to be an impostor.
Considering that basically nothing from this storyline carries through…
Personal significance: 6/10
Just like last issue, this made sure I will always have a soft spot for Yellow Claw.
That sequence with the Princess taking over Suwan’s body stuck with me.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
The giant spiders were random enough, but on the Marvel scale we increase the nonsense.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Pretty much on par with the previous part. The weakest part are, ironically enough, all the subplots specific to Captain America. It’s hard to be invested in the fact that Steve Rogers lost his apartment when we never see him there!
I didn’t have the following issue, but for completion’s sake: the conclusion.
Captain America #166 (1973)
by Steve Englehart & Sal Buscema
Honestly, Yellow Claw, you’re so random that I wouldn’t find it strange if the armor really was just for show.
As mentioned Cap is super-strong now, but he’s not THAT strong.
I guess Suwan just inherited the evil of the Princess since A) she still calls Yellow Claw “ancestor” B) she knows what steel is, so she can’t be the Ancient Egyptian princess.
Yellow Claw’s deal is that he’s, well, he’s Fu Manchu with another name.
Fu Manchu DOES exist at Marvel in this period: Shang-Chi is his son! So it’s kind of weird that we never had a story where Suwan meets Shang-Chi, since they have a similar relationship with their insane father figure.
Meanwhile Nick Fury isn’t doing so good.
Good thing nurses don’t wear black shoes. Wait, what?
Otherwise Contessa Valentina Can You Believe This Time I Get More Screen Time Than Sharon Carter Allegro De Fontaine would not have foiled this clumsy assassination attempt.
Speaking of assassinations: Yellow Claw has put Cap and Falcon in a deadly trap.
They manage to escape, thanks in no small part to Captain America’s super-strength.
You’d think they would then try to follow Yellow Claw, but nope!
And then it’s time for some personal relationship subplots.
You know things are awkward when both Cap and Falcon have to show up in their hero identities, because Leila knows that Cap is Steve Rogers but doesn’t know Falcon is Sam Wilson.
It’s an awkward plot to say the least. Sure, according to the dialogue it’s just about Peggy wanting to become an agent again and Cap telling her she’s too old for it…
…but come on, it’s actually how Peggy is now too old for him and Sharon is just the right age.
Meanwhile, some VIPs are getting a visit to the Helicarrier.
That thing falls out of the sky every other Thursday, so the fact that it has a nuclear reactor is not good news!!!
Two of the VIPs are actually Yellow Claw and Suwan in disguise.
You know, it shouldn’t be surprising that Yellow Claw’s armor covers all of his body, but he looks considerably lamer like this.
Too bad Yellow Claw never investigated too much on who created his robot double.
I for one would have loved to see a fight between him and Doctor Doom.
The Englehart run includes some truly great stories, even though the ones I’m reviewing are not exactly among them.
He does seem to have problem with writing women, though.
Now that they’re all on board the Helicarrier, Cap and Falcon fight the Yellow Claw once more… and they’re knocked out by gas.
However it turns out that giving Suwan the personality of an insane would-be conqueror was not a great idea. Ironically, Yellow Claw did it exactly to avoid being betrayed!
Yellow Claw then gives the heroes an antidote to the knockout gas, and a big dumb fight ensues.
Yellow Claw has the last laugh…
…and once again Suwan gets the best scene.
She SOMEHOW survived this, because we will see her again years later.
And that’s the end!
If you’re curios about what happens next, I reviewed #168 as part of the supervillain retrospective.
Historical significance: 2/10
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Same scores of the previous issue. Despite the amount of screen time Yellow Claw receives, the storyline doesn’t seem all that interested in fleshing him out… he’s basically interchangeable with most other world conquerors.
In retrospect, I guess I wasn’t exactly lucky in the selection of Captain America stories at my disposal. Thankfully I read MUCH better stories later on, because based on those in particular I don’t think I would’ve become a fan of the Living Legend.
Next up is Thor! But we’ll see Captain America again, because sometimes he was the backup feature there.