These two issues see Captain America and the rest of the Avengers in space for the first time in quite a while, summoned by their former teammate Moondragon to help her and her father Drax (later to be a Guardian of the Galaxy) deal with some strife on the planet Ba-Bani. But all is not... Continue Reading →
Captain America #269 (May 1982)
On the surface, this issue seems like an editorially-mandated lead-in to a series based on a toy line—which it most certainly is—but there is still plenty to talk about in terms of Captain America's ethics, thanks to masterful writing on the part of J.M. DeMatteis (complementing the beautiful line-work of Mike Zeck). We start our... Continue Reading →
Avengers #218 and The Death of Captain Marvel (April 1982)
This issue of Avengers was co-written by the regular writer of the title, Jim Shooter, and the writer of Captain America at the time, J.M. DeMatteis; like Captain America #268, it is a sequel of sorts to DeMatteis's story in Captain America #264, which dealt with a man who harnesses and magnifies psychic forces in... Continue Reading →
Captain America #268 and Defenders #106-107 (April-May 1982)
This story in this issue of Captain America, which concludes in Defenders with an aftermath in the next issue, is one of two follow-ups to issue #264 (the other one being Avengers #218), all written by regular Captain America and Defenders scribe J.M. DeMatteis. In Captain America #268, after an introduction to the Defenders' part... Continue Reading →
Avengers #217 (March 1982)
This issue is centered around the downward trend in Hank Pym's life, but also contains some interesting moments for Captain America, as well as two significant changes for Janet van Dyne, aka the Wasp. (Normally I wouldn't have dedicated an entire post to this issue, but it fell between two more significant ones, so I... Continue Reading →
Captain America #267 (March 1982)
This issue is one of my favorite from J.M. DeMatteis's several years as the writer of the title, in which he address Captain America's understanding of and relationship with the American dream. This story represents another epiphany for Cap, similar to Stan Lee's later stories (such as issue #122) and the end of Steve Englehart's... Continue Reading →
Captain America #266 (February 1982)
This issue wraps the team-up between Captain America, Spider-Man, and Nick Fury begun in the last issue, in which Cap continues to be overly dramatic, using some lines best saved for the Red Skull on Sultan, a would-be world destroyer-slash-dictator. Naturally, this issue begins with the cliffhanger left over from the last, in which Nick... Continue Reading →
Avengers #215-216 (January-February 1982)
These two issues comprise a two-part tale highlighting Tigra and featuring the Silver Surfer, who helps the Avengers battle Owen Reece, a.k.a. the Molecule Man, a classic Fantastic Four villain with near-infinite power over matter (although we only see hints of it here). This is an... odd story, to say the least, but it does... Continue Reading →
Captain America #265 (January 1982)
This issue, the first installment of a two-part storyline, seems more like a Marvel Team-Up story: It features Spider-Man almost as much as Captain America, and even brings in Nick Fury for good measure. But for a straightforward superhero tale, this issue and the next contain plenty of commentary on Cap's ethics, even if some... Continue Reading →