This issue continues the story of racial hatred on the part of the Grand Director and his National Force begun in the last issue, including some very odd Dark Knightish behavior on the part of Captain America, a solid page of introspection on his part, and most immediate, an answer to the fate of Peggy... Continue Reading →
Captain America #183 (March 1975)
As you can guess from the cover, this is quite the eventful issue, bringing Steve Rogers' time as Nomad to a sudden end in the most painful possible—although less painful for him than for someone else. (Look at me, trying to be coy while it's right there on the cover, beautifully rendered by legendary artist... Continue Reading →
Captain America #177-178 (September-October 1974)
The two issues represent the beginning of Steve Rogers's "retirement," after the pivotal issue #176 in which he decided, after much pointless advice from his friends, to give up being Captain America out of disillusionment with the American government. Much of these two issues is taken up by the Falcon's battle with a bad guy... Continue Reading →
Captain America #168 (December 1973)
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 →
Captain America #130 (October 1970)
Although this issue has a tremendous statement about Captain America's position on law and order versus protest and dissent, on the whole it's more a set-up for the next two installments, introducing a mysterious new villain and what I'm sure was a very shocking re-introduction of a beloved character in the next issue. In fact,... Continue Reading →
Captain America #128 (August 1970)
In this issue, Captain America finally gets away from Nick Fury, Sharon Carter, and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., hopping a motorcycle (as he is wont to do from time to time), not so much to find America... as to find himself. (If you didn't "aww" at that, I'm not doing my job.) But before we... Continue Reading →
Captain America #122 (February 1970)
Don't let the cover, featuring Spider-Man's foe the Scorpion, fool you—the first five pages of this issue are dense with existential introspection and political musings that could keep us busy for days (and which I quoted quite a bit in my book). And later, we see a good old-fashioned fight with an injured Cap... and... Continue Reading →
Captain America #103-104 and Daredevil #43 (July-August 1968)
These two issues of Captain America continue the storyline with the Red Skull that began in issues #101 and 102, now that the villain knows about Captain America's love for Sharon Carter. More important, Cap finally learns Sharon's name (as does the reader)! Maybe now he can stop calling her "girl" and "lady" (not that... Continue Reading →
Captain America #101-102 (May-June 1968)
As is appropriate for the first full story in Captain America's new title (which in issue #100 wrapped up a storyline from Tales of Suspense #97-99, as detailed in the last post), we see the return of Cap's archfoe, the Red Skull. How about this great Kirby splash page to open issue #101? Here we... Continue Reading →