I received Marvel Tales: Captain America as a Christmas present! I was even more excited to receive it with Jen Bartel's lovely cover art.

Containing Tales of Suspense #59 & #77 and Captain America #255 & #307, this collection shows Steve at his best. In the first issue, Steve receives a mafia visit while on Avengers Mansion protection duty. In the second, we see Peggy Carter's feminist origin story. The third issue is a seminal comic that re-established Steve's official origins, complete with shout outs to the Invaders (yay!) and Avengers. The final issue is a nod to one of the odder parts of Steve's history, and a little disappointing. Remember that time a mentally ill man named Jack thought he was Captain America, and Steve, uh, decided to allow Jack to fight crime with him under the Nomad title? Yep. That happened.

I've griped before about how modern Captain America is almost unrecognizable from his original character or Chris Evans' sparkling MCU interpretation. Marvel Tales shows off the Steve Rogers I love, the one who pines for those he's lost, fights bullies, and supports women and marginalized communities. Ralph Macchio's introduction did a nice job explaining each comic's place in Captain America's history, though the mimicry of Stan Lee's hyperbolic alliteration was a little trite.

Overall, I recommend this to Steve fans who want to either try pre-Ed Brubaker Steve for the first time or a cozy reminder of what Steve was like before he became a toxic testosterone beefcake.