This issue is a fill-in story, written by Roy Thomas and Tony Isabella before regular writer Steve Englehart's epic "Secret Empire" storyline begins, and it both recaps Captain America's current status and introduces a villain who will become a major player once he truly embraces the family business. (And before you ask, the Phoenix in... Continue Reading →
Avengers #116-118 and Defenders #10-11 (October-December 1973)
These five issues, plus Defenders #8 and #9 and an epilogue to Avengers #115 (in which Captain America does not appear), comprise the "Avengers/Defenders War," by all accounts the first extended crossover between two different comics titles, in that the story went back and forth in each titles over four months, amounting to a biweekly... Continue Reading →
Marvel Team-Up #13 (September 1973)
This comic is the first team-up book featuring Captain America, and serves better as an example of how Marvel did team-up books versus DC than a meaningful Cap story as such. Future issues of Marvel Team-Up with Spidey will do much better by Cap (I cited both #106 and #128 in my book), and his... Continue Reading →
Captain America #165-167 (September-November 1973)
After the prelude in issue #164, we have here the main three-parter featuring Captain America and the Falcon fighting the Yellow Claw, a Fu Manchu-type villain (see also: the Mandarin) who starred in his own short-lived Atlas comic in the 1950s, who reappeared in the 1960s to fight S.H.I.E.L.D. (including behind the scenes in Strange... Continue Reading →
Captain America #164 (August 1973)
This issue is a prelude of sorts to a tale that sees Captain America and the Falcon facing the Yellow Claw, a villain from the 1950s who makes an appearance here after being pursued by Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. in the pages of Strange Tales. But first, we introduce a new villain to the Marvel... Continue Reading →
Captain America #163 (July 1973)
In this issue, as the cover indicates, we meet the Serpent Squad, who are actually more imposing than their name suggests (and who become a fixture in the title for many years). More important for our purposes, we also meet a conscientious objector, who butts heads with... well, you may be surprised who. After a... Continue Reading →
Avengers #110-115 and Captain Marvel #27-28 (April-September 1973)
These half-dozen issues of Avengers (three of which are shown above) and two issues of Captain Marvel (leading to a crossover a year later) do not feature Captain America very heavily, but there are a few meaningful scenes in which he displays some moral wisdom, righteous anger at hatred, and rational suspicion. In issue #110,... Continue Reading →
Captain America #160-162 (April-June 1973)
These three issues (re)introduce an important character only glimpsed once before, as well as adding new wrinkles to Captain America's relationships with both the Falcon and Sharon Carter. Issue #160 opens with Cap and Sam fighting some random thugs, and Cap reminds us of his new super-strength (picked up in the last storyline), although not... Continue Reading →
Captain America #157-159 (January-March 1973)
After the blockbuster story in the last four issues (starting here), the pace slows a bit for this three-parter, as the loose ends of Steve Rogers' time on the police force are tied up, and he goes through a surprising physical transformation. (No, not Cap-Wolf, not yet.) The police commissioner summons Cap to an out-of-the-way... Continue Reading →
Avengers #106-108 (December 1972-February 1973)
These three issues are the first Avengers stories from writer Steve Englehart we're seeing on this blog (although he also wrote #105, in which Cap did not appear). It is a particularly wild story that reimagines some past Cap stories, using a villain from before his days as an Avenger—that is, from before Avengers #4!... Continue Reading →