1: American Trilogy

Peter Benno Gillis was born in New York in 1952. He was a voracious reader of everything he could get his hands on, particularly gravitating towards science fiction and comic books. Bilingual from an early age, Gillis went on to study Medieval German Literature at the University of Chicago. But his heart remained in comic books. As well as an established Marvel letter writer, Gillis become a frequent contributor to the burgeoning fanzine scene, along with friends and luminaries including Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Peter Sanderson, Richard Bruning and David Kraft. 

By 1977, Gillis had returned to New York and was regularly submitting scripts to Marvel, yet getting noticed by editor in chief Archie Goodwin was proving tricky. Goodwin's assistant Jim Shooter had shown some interest in his scripts, so as soon as Shooter was promoted to the top job at the start of 1978, Gillis knocked on his door. Shooter handed him a fill in on the perennially late Captain America, which Gillis wrote overnight, and rewrote the following night, incorporating Shooter's amendments. It would be the first of a dozen fill in assignments during Gillis' first 5 years at Marvel, before securing regular books.

Although the straight laced Cap A isn't a character you would associate with the more esoteric Gillis, he ended up writing 4 issues plus an annual, not counting a later now well known What If.

Captain America #224 (1978)

Pencils: Mike Zeck
Inks: Mike Esposito & John Tartaglione

Gillis' first published story revolves around the old night before/short term amnesia sthitck, as Cap is pulled from a river with no memory of how he got there, wearing a new face. I first read this as a kid in a UK Spider-man reprint, and found it fascinating but rather confusing. The intriguing premise carries it through, if let down a little by choppy storytelling. The reliable Mike Zeck makes a great Cap debut on pencils.

Captain America #238-239 (1979)

Pencils: Fred Kida
Inks: Don Perlin

A 2 part by the numbers all action espionage mission. Gillis seems to be having fun dreaming up the bad guys' OTT lair, as they ride around on giant eagles and dodos. The simple plot is a bit fight heavy and stretched over 34 pages. The whole thing is capped off by a cool but icky twist: the alluring damsel in distress beckoning Cap turns out to be a young girl using a telepathic disguise. 

Captain America #246 (1980)

Pencils: Jerry Bingham
Inks: Al Gordon

Here, Gillis brings back a guy named Joe from early Spidey obscurity, for a social realism tale of a father's anguish. Its heart is in the right place, but it feels too rushed to have much emotional impact. Plus the stuff about disabilities may be well intentioned, yet seems jarringly dated. It's notable as the first teaming of many with the solid if unflashy Jerry Bingham.

I'll get to the 1983 Annual soon enough...