Captain America 110: A Muffled Pounding

From Captain America #110: "A dull, muffled pounding... getting closer! Growing louder each second... behind that wall!"


Building suspense sometimes seems like a lost art in superhero comics. This story begins with Cap chillin' in civilian clothes, and smoking a pipe (it was considered cool at the time). 🤨 We actually jump into the action pretty fast (the Hulk promised by the cover is here and we're only on page 2!), but it's still enough time for a strong storyteller to "milk" the anticipation for all it's worth.
We get a wide shot framing Cap between his poster's eyes, then a sequence that slowly zooms in, as the tension rises. After a brief moment to brood about the loneliness of the Captain America lifestyle, we get to hear Cap's thoughts through that OTHER forgotten art: word balloons (why did mainstream comics abandon one of the best comics-specific narrative tools, one of the very things that make comics distinctive from film?).


Steve briefly wonders about a distant pounding noise. In this page, Cap's thought balloons serve the same purpose of the special music that they use in Wrestling, to hype the guest-star's upcoming entrance. When the Hulk shows up, it's almost gratifying. We are ready to ruuuumble! 💚
And again, this is page 2! The economy in Steranko's storytelling is remarkable. It's not a matter of how much space you have, it's a matter of what you do with it.

Words by Stan Lee, Art by Jim Steranko and Joe Sinnott.