While we eagerly await the heroes' return from the "Heroes Reborn" universe, this issue of Thunderbolts provides a welcome flashback to earlier days: specifically, the beginning of "Cap's Kooky Quartet" from Avengers #16, as told by Black Widow to two members of the Thunderbolts. (Also, we have a bonus page from a Spider-Man one-off that... Continue Reading →
Captain America #8-9 (June-July 1997)
These two issues see Captain America, having severed his ties with SHIELD in the last issue, taking to a motorcycle to reacquaint himself with America and eventually confronting white supremacism (operating under a familiar name). As issue #8 opens—and as is prominent on the Jim Lee cover above—Cap explains to his partner of five minutes,... Continue Reading →
Captain America #450-451 (April-May 1996)
These two issues comprise the first half of the "Man without a Country" storyline, the first time in years that our hero has found himself on the wrong side of the United States government. At the end of the first "Secret Empire" storyline, Steve Rogers resigned the Captain America identity out of disgust with his... Continue Reading →
Captain America #449, Avengers #396, Iron Man #326, and Thor #496 (March 1996)
These four issues compromise the "First Sign" crossover that was meant to fully bring the "Avengers Prime" back into the team after they were all brought into the aftermath of "The Crossing." (Why is the Iron Man cover missing above? Cap ain't on it, of course!) Fair warning: Most of the interesting material with Captain... Continue Reading →
Captain America #446 (December 1995)
This second issue of Mark Waid and Ron Garney's first extended storyline on Captain America finds our hero working very uncomfortably alongside his greatest foe, the Red Skull, and his former love, Sharon Carter, who he (and we) had believed dead since issue #237—and we learn exactly how she has been alive all this time... Continue Reading →
Captain America #445 (November 1995)
This issue reveals (finally) what happened to Captain America after he appeared to die and then disappeared in issue #443, his still body glimpsed only at the last page of issue #444, along with two shadowy figures whose identities are revealed here as well. All in all, this is the proper first issue of Mark... Continue Reading →
Tales of Suspense #1 (January 1995)
This one-off issue of Tales of Suspense honors the title in which Iron Man debuted in 1962 and in which Captain America had his first modern-age solo stories starting in 1964. They shared the title until 1968 when it changed to Captain America with issue #100 and Iron Man got his own shiny #1 (after... Continue Reading →
Namor the Sub-Mariner #57-58 (December 1994-January 1995)
These two issues feature Captain America, first by himself and then with the Avengers, getting involved in Namor's business in reference to an attack on New York by the giant whale creature Giganto—an attack actually engineered by Llyra, a Lemurian mutant with limited shape-changing abilities, and Llyron, the child Llyra had with Namor's half-brother who... Continue Reading →
Marvel Holiday Special 1994
This Marvel stocking stuffer not only features a very poignant short story about Captain America by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake—who collaborated on a fantastic Spectre run earlier in the decade, as well as much other amazing work by each—but also a beautiful George Pérez cover (as you see to the right or above). The... Continue Reading →
Captain America: The Medusa Effect #1 (March 1994)
This oversized one-shot (64 pages!), written by Invaders scribe Roy Thomas, is a fairly routine wartime adventure that takes place in January 1943 and fleshes out the backstory of both Barons Zemo—and the complex woman behind them. Our story begins with Captain America and Bucky sneaking into an apartment and fighting Nazis they find there,... Continue Reading →