This is difficult to say (and do), but The Virtues of Captain America Blog will be on hiatus for the first half of 2023, as work intensifies on the revised edition of my book of the same name (due out in 2024). Try as I might, I don't think I can continue to write about... Continue Reading →
This is the last issue of Captain America before the game-changing "Fighting Chance" storyline begins, and it sees our hero reunite with Diamondback at long last... as well as one of her former Serpent Society colleagues, in a story that reminds me of classic Spider-Man tales in which a member of his rogues gallery is... Continue Reading →
This is a catch-all post, gathering a handful of minor appearances of Captain America over these two months. We start with his very minor role in a two-part fill-in Avengers tale, followed by Monica Rambeau's second Captain Marvel comic (coincidentally, this post appearing one week after her excellent new miniseries as Photon began), the second... Continue Reading →
The final issue of West Coast Avengers (or Avengers West Coast, if you're so inclined) sees the team calling it a day—not entirely voluntarily, though. And as you may have guessed based on the subtle hints on the cover, this does not sit well with some of its members, most of whom immediately make plans... Continue Reading →
We start 1994 with a flashback issue of Captain America written by Roy Thomas—breaking Mark Gruenwald's streak begun with issue #307—telling the story of our hero's first meeting with Namor the Sub-Mariner. Fittingly, this month also sees the debut of Marvels, the landmark miniseries by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, the first issue of which... Continue Reading →
Captain America #422 is very much a "day in the life" story, touching on a number of aspects of Captain America's routine, including touching base with various members of his supporting cast (as well as tangling with the "nut job" on the cover). Most important, we start to see hints of the next big challenge... Continue Reading →
These five comics comprise the "Bloodties" storyline, a crossover event that commemorated the 30th anniversary of both the Avengers and the X-Men. The huge cast of this story necessarily minimizes Captain America's role (other than many impressive heroic poses), but a central theme of the Avengers aspect of the story deals with the obligations under... Continue Reading →
These two issues comprise a mini-crossover (that technically began in the last issues of both titles) that brings Captain America together once again with Jack Monroe, the Bucky of the 1950s who later took up Cap's former identity of Nomad, but went in a decidedly different direction with it. (Hint: the rifle.) Captain America #421... Continue Reading →
Captain America #420 starts off a run of five relatively disconnected issues that suggest the creators are running out the clock until the beginning of "Fighting Chance" storyline in issue #425. Here, we meet a new Blazing Skull—and the existence of another Blazing Skull, seen in the recent Invaders miniseries, is not even mentioned until... Continue Reading →
This post corrects an egregious oversight: specifically, the baker's dozen of issues of the weekly Marvel UK comic Captain Britain in which Captain America guest-starred in early 1977, which I seem to have skipped. It's a fun, fact-paced story that calls back to Cap's early adventures in Tales of Suspense, and I'm happy to bring... Continue Reading →
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 