Captain America (1) #164-167 (1973)
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Alan Lee Weis (164, Sal Buscema (165-167)
Inker: Frank McLaughin (165-166), Frank Giacola (167)
Colorist: Jim Starlin (164), Dave Hunt (165-167)
Letterer: John Constanza (164), Charlotte Jetter (165,167), Arti Semmeck (166)

Captain America and Falcon investigate an old prison where they find werewolves, unleashed by Nightshade, the latest ally of the Yellow Claw. S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives and Fury informs Cap and Falcon that they busted up thier operation poised to capture the Claw. Later when Cap tracks the Claw down to his lair, he battle him nearly to the death, but then realizes he's been fighting Nick Fury all along. .

• Continuity Notes
• Appearence by Dum Dum, Sharon Carter and the Countessa.
• The Claw breaks his ties with China, having pledged his aid in Yellow Claw #1
• This is the first battle between the real Claw and Captain America and Fury, the prior Claw in Strange Tales being a robot duplicate built by Doctor Doom.
• The remains of the robot duplicate of the Yellow Claw seen in Strange Tales were housed aboard the helicarrier.
• U.S. Congressmen perform regular inspection tours of the helicarrier

Review
The Yellow Claw returns, for the first time, again...ahem. In an attempt to resolve the long gestating mystery of Strange Tales Englehart continues to infuse Cap's relationship with Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. with unneccsary friction, and Val's venom agaist Cap borders on making her look scitzo when compared to her hanging on his every word not so long ago. On the bright side, the return of the Yellow Claw is actually very well written, with plenty of nods to both his 1950's appearences and those in Strange Tales. One wonders what would have happened in a Claw Vs Doom showdown. The art is quite strong, especially in #164, however why Nick Fury looks like a gypsy rebel, only to have his regular S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform in the following issue is never explained. The introduction of Nightshade, Queen of the Werewolves is fun. The later attack on the helicarrier is exciting enough with plenty of S.H.I.E.L.D. action there, although Fury remains sidelined for all of it, but even from bed he manages to save the day. These are worth getting if and when they show up in some Essential trade, although one wishes that whatever story Alan Lein Wiess wanted to draw would have continued.

Rating