Captain America #211 [1977] – Nazi “X”

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Cap continues his confronation with Arnim Zola, evil Nazi scientist, who takes it up a notch this time by revealing that he saved Hitler’s brain!

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And put it in a giant yellow and purple robot without sight or hearing. When you consider what Zola did with his own body that doesn’t seem quite so absurd, I guess. And for some reason Kirby doesn’t mention Hitler as the identity of the brain in this issue, although he will in the next.

There are a lot of interesting visuals as Cap and Donna Maria try to escape from the living house that Zola controls with his mind, before they’re captured again and Zola reveals his plan to put Hitler’s brain in Cap’s body. Meanwhile, Sharon Carter has unmasked the Red Skull, the mastermind behind Zola’s plans, and delivers a favourite line of mine:

Why should I believe you — a known Nazi war criminal — with a record of unparalleled evil! You could be lying!

Anyway, a lot of moving the story forward with some great villains in this issue. The Red Skull and Arnim Zola sort of represent the definitive examples of two types of Kirby villain design, the Skull being the very simple but striking concept and Zola being the boldly surreal and endlessly complicated.

Mike Royer inks the 17-page story and Frank Giacoia inks the cover.

Published 1977

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