Origin of the Red Skull's Dust of Death

Thanks to the runaway success that's the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you'd have to be living under a rock to not know recognize both Captain America (so ably portrayed by Chris Evans) and the Star-Spangled Avenger's eternal nemesis, the Red Skull. Fans who only know Cap and the Skull through the MCU, however, are missing out on a lot of rich lore.  For example, they may never even have heard of the Red Skull's signature weapon (at least as of the late 1980s):  the Dust of Death!

I vividly remember how these panels affected me when I first read them in Captain America #350 (February 1989)

According to its entry in the Marvel Database, the dust would kill:

...by making contact with [its] victim's skin, causing the skin on the...head to tighten, shrivel, and take on a red discoloration...causing all the hair on the victim's head to fall out...[and leaving the corpse with the appearance of having] a "red skull"/"masque of the red death" for a head. The Red Skull would many times dispense "the dust of death" from a large cigarette holder...[but] could also fire [the dust] from a special handgun. (Dust of Death. Marvel Database)

Conventional wisdom is that the Dust of Death first appeared in Captain America #184 (APR 1975).  (see here and here), but there's also a contention by Marvel Comics Chronology commenter Mark Drummond that the Skull, "used the Dust in the Golden Age; [Writer, Steve] Englehart just revived it."

Given the prominence of the Dust of Death--at least by the time of my comicdom (i.e., 80s-early 90s), you'd think it would be pretty easy to source Drummond's claim. However, I've not been able to find any specific references to these supposed Golden Age appearances.

However, during some other reading in Golden Age comics I ran across a story entitled, "The Meeting that Death Attended" from Fox Feature Syndicate's The Big 3 #7 (JAN 1942).  In it writer Jay Foster treats us to the conflict between the patriotic V-Man and the nefarious (and hilariously named) Baron Von Und Zu Schutz.  Check out these panels featuring the Baron's weapon of choice:

It may not be red, but doesn't that pilot's face look kinda skull-y?

And in the first direct clash between V-Man and Baron Von Und Zu Schutz

And, finally, after his initial defeat and return for the closing act, the Baron is hoisted on his own petard.

Since the Red Skull's first appearance was in Captain America Comics #7 (OCT 1941), it is possible that he made use of the Dust of Death first and Jay Foster copied the idea here in The Big 3 #7 (JAN 1942). 

However, in the synopses that I can find online of comics: (1) featuring the Red Skull and (2) published prior to January 1942, to wit:

• Captain America Comics #1 (MAR 1941)
• Captain America Comics #3 (MAY 1941)
• Young Allies Comics (JUN 1941) 
• Captain America Comics #7 (OCT 1941)

I'm not seeing any evidence that the Dust of Death was part of the story-line.  Consequently, unless someone can point me to some counter-evidence, I think I have stumbled across the first instance of this concept.

NOTE:  I realize one could argue that all the Dust of Death stuff is ultimately derivative of the concept of Joker Venom.  If you buy that argument--and, frankly, I don't--then Joker's weapon has precedence since it appeared first in Batman #1 (APR 1940)

Homage to the Greatest Cold-War Cap Opponent: The Red Guardian!

Red Guardian (Josef Petkus) as depicted in Captain America #353 (MAY 1989)

This post is dedicated to one of my favorite iconic Cold War characters:  Marvel's Red Guardian!  One needn't trace the history of the Red Guardian very far before being struck by how many "Red Guardians" there have been--at least seven, by my count! 

This particular post is concerned only with the Josef Petkus version and--even more specifically--with the first time I ran across RG in Captain America #353.  As a kid of the 80s I grew up on moves like Rocky IV and the high drama of Olympic showdowns between East and West.

"What a great concept!," I remember thinking.  "I can't wait to find some more comic books featuring this guy's rivalry with Captain America!"  Alas, my dreams were to be dashed.  In less than two years, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics would officially dissolve...and with it any real raison d'etre for the Red Guardian.  At least I had that one shining moment of comic greatness.  I invite you to join me in that reminiscence now.

Captain America #353
This issue began in dramatic fashion--with three dying Soviet Super Soldiers.  They had arrived at Avengers' Island in the previous issue requesting political asylum; but were subsequently attacked by an "unknown force." 

The force was only "unknown" to folks like me who had missed Captain America #352, where it was revealed that the Super Soldiers had been targeted by a second team of Russian operatives known as the Supreme Soviet.  For reasons that are never explained, the Supreme Soviets had disguised themselves as Avengers for the duration of the assault.

Meanwhile, Captain America was en route to the Soviet Union for a goodwill tour.  While his public purpose was to explore the possibility of expanding Avengers peacekeeping operations into the Communist bloc, secretly he suspected the attack on the Super Soldiers might have been a Kremlin-sanctioned operation, and he wanted to gather intelligence on this possibility. 

This covert intention evidenced  some less-than-meticulous attention to narrative logic.  Everyone in Russia knew Cap was in the country, and the Soviets seem to be keeping pretty tight tabs on him.  It's difficult to imagine how even he could've imagined getting the kind of privacy necessary to actually dig up Kremlin dirt.

Of course, this wasn't a critical piece of the narrative, and so they suffered the fate of all throw away lines.  Cap would never have to face the espionage challenge because his attention would quickly be focused upon a beast of pure black energy that would randomly appear and start rampaging down the Moscow boulevards.

Side note:  I really like the way Cap is depicted as leaping into the panel from somewhere outside.  Nice touch.

Despite Cap's best efforts the beast disappears as quickly as it appeared and nothing much is resolved.  I'm guessing that the narrative purpose of this first encounter was to let the first avenger to prove his sincerity about wanting to "serve the Soviet people in times of emergency."

The Red Guardian later shows up (in the opening panel of this post) at Cap's hotel room.  The Soviet superhuman has been assigned to be Captain America's handler for the duration of the trip. The two icons aren't together very long, however, before the beast shows up again and we get to see both shield slingers go into action.

Notice how R.G. is a little accusatory in his tone (e.g., "the behemoth you claim ravaged our streets)?

This was my favorite panel of the whole comic!  Again, Cap comes off as a humble dude who's just interested in stopping the threat.  The Guardian comes off as petty and self-centered.

Despite how battle savvy R.G. looks in the above panel, by the end of this particular fight he was absorbed into the beast.  Later when the rest of the Supreme Soviet attack the beast, they suffer the same fate as R.G.

Ultimately, writer Mark Gruenwald accessed his inner Golden-Age self to wrap this one up.  It's revealed that the beast was really some sort of mysterious psychic amalgamation of the comatose Soviet Super Soldiers.  Though their intent was to punish the Supreme Soviets' treachery by stealing their life forces, an impassioned plea by Captain America reaches the Super Soldiers' better angels, and they refrain from killing their attackers.

This sort of cheesy self-reflection was pretty standard in the Gruenwald Cap...Man, I loved that stuff!  I still do.  It may have been pollyanna, but it appealed to idealism.  I wish there was more writing like this now.

Returning to my titular claim, I recognize that "greatest Cold-War opponent" is quite a claim.  Nevertheless, I personally think it fits.  I can't think of anyone else who it could be legitimately put forward as Cap's Soviet rival....but maybe I just don't know enough about comics.

What say you veteran Marvelites?  Is there someone (or someones) that I'm leaving out?

On Vagabond's costume change in the late 1980s

Priscilla Lyons (Vagabond) first appeared in Captain America #325 (January 1987)
At that time, she was simply an anxious older sister hitchhiking to Miami to rescue her brother who'd fallen in with crimelord Ulysses X. Lugman (AKA -- The Slug). She was picked up by Nomad (Jack Munroe) in Kentucky and after relating her story, Nomad offered to investigate on her behalf.

Despite being surprised at Nomad's I-wanna-be-just-like-Magnum-P.I.-moustache, I was even more put off by the somewhat ambiguous quid pro quo here.  Did Nomad decide to help Priscilla and she simply kissed him in gratitude...or is there something a bit more...adult implied here?

Priscilla's next appearance (and her first in costume as Vagabond) comes almost a year later in Captain America #336 (December 1987).  In the interim, Steve Rogers has surrendered the Captain America identity and is wandering somewhat aimlessly across America.  Concerned for Rogers, three former partners:  Nomad, Falcon, and D-Man have teamed up to search for him.  Nomad brings Priscilla along for the ride, who has by this time adopted the costumed identity of Vagabond, featuring an outfit obviously inspired by her lover's.

This was also the first time Cap actually met Priscilla.  (During the great rescue-Nomad-from-the-Slug caper, Priscilla had only called Cap's hotline then.)

Since Priscilla has nothing more than a domino mask, Cap has the good sense to forbid her from tagging along when he and partners take on a group of serpent-themed super-villains in Captain America #337 (January 1987).  (You'd think this is the kind of solicitous concern that...I don't know...maybe a boyfriend would point out!  Hello Nomad?  Are ya listening?)

Priscilla's mimickry of Nomad lasted until Captain America #342 when she changed her costume to the red-white-and-blue themed workout duds she sports in this entry from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe:

I had started regularly collecting Captain America only a couple of issues earlier (i.e., with #340)  At the time, most of Cap's entourage appealed to me precisely because--with the exception of D-Man--they were not "super-powered."  Vagabond, however, was in a class by herself.  She basically had nothing but a mask and a fighting spirit.  She didn't even carry a particularly techie gadget or anything.  As a rather non-athletic little dude myself, I felt a gut-level admiration for this "normal" young woman who wanted to put herself in harm's way purely in the service of justice.  Vagabond was inspiring in a way that not even Cap was.  She was, literally, the "every (wo)man" of the group.  

To the best of my knowledge, the costume change in issue #342 was never explicitly explained.  I'm wondering if this was a case of the art being used to imply some character development.  In other words, was the costume change intended to represent Vagabond growing into her own person--rather than just being a "plus one" for Nomad--as she observed her lover in contrast to his peers and made the choice to pattern herself after Steve Rogers rather than Jack Monroe?

Of course, the fly-in-the-ointment with this interpretation is that this was precisely the time when Rogers himself was wearing the darker garb of his Captain persona (later adopted by the USAgent).  So maybe this artistic decision was as simple as the editorial staff saying, "Hey, we call this book 'Captain America' so maybe somebody on this team outta be wearing red-white-and-blue!"

I know I like my interpretation better...but what say you?

The Peerless Power of Comics!: It's Not Easy Being Captain America

The Peerless Power of Comics!: It's Not Easy Being Captain America: There's little argument that Captain America holds the respect and admiration of not only his country's citizens, servicemen/women,...

I'd hoped to put out some new content today, but I couldn't quite get
it done to the degree I'm satisfied with.  Thus, rather than throw
something out there half-baked, I'm going to supply a little free
advertising for The Peerless Power of Comics! blog.



As a long-time Captain America fan, I had a strange love-hate response to
this post.  I guess most of my Captain America exposure came shortly
after the Shooter-period ended.  Perhaps that accounts for why I don't
recall seeing the "dark(er) side" of the Sentinel of Liberty that is
chronicled here.