One of the most famous and oft-reprinted of the Kirby cover-only books, inked by Steve Ditko (obviously quite heavy on the Spider-Man figure, which looks like almost pure Ditko). I do love the layout, with the Torch’s flame circling around the rest of the FF and Spider-Man.

Published 1963

Another from the series of cover-to-cover reprints Marvel did in the 1990s, this one reprinting AVENGERS #4 from 1964. Very odd issue when you try to describe it, with lots of stuff going on. Namor finding Cap, the Avengers finding him later, the Avengers getting turned into statues, Cap finding the alien resonsible, who had been working for Namor and now gets the Avengers’ help, Namor attacking the Avengers. Fun, but kind of reads like they didn’t know where they were going from one page to the next.

Lots of great artwork in the story, though, scenes that are at the heart of Marvel mythology. The death of Bucky, scene, of course, the retrieval of Cap. I’ve always been fond of the cop who had seen Cap as a kid with his “Forgive me, Cap, willya? I- I seem to have something in my eye” line.

George Roussos inks the 23-page story and cover (and they use the cover they always have in the reprints, with the skewed wings on Cap’s mask instead of the even ones the original printed version had). Can’t say I cared for the look much, just like most of his FF, this one seemed especially rushed especially with the backgrounds, although some bits are nicely done.

Published 1995