These issues see a return to normalcy after the controversial Avengers #200, if by "normalcy" you mean the return of Ultron—not to be defeated, unfortunately, by Jarvis, seen above in one of my favorite Avengers covers. (The cover refers more to the solo Jarvis back-up story, from which we'll see only one panel here). Plus,... Continue Reading →
Captain America #251 (November 1980)
This issue and the next are a return to traditional superheroics after the presidential diversion of the last issue as two classic villains—at least one of them beloved on this blog—team up to face Captain America, who continues to adjust to his new life as Steve Rogers, freelance artist, with new friends and neighbors in... Continue Reading →
Avengers #200 (October 1980)
As mentioned in the last post, Avengers #200 is very controversial (and rightfully so), and even though Captain America has little to do directly with the controversy itself, the issue merits its own post, with copious links to more thorough treatments below. (Warning: There is discussion of sexual violence later in this post.) The main... Continue Reading →
Captain America #250 (October 1980)
This well-timed anniversary issue, published just several months before the 1980 United States presidential election, deals with an obvious hypothetical: Should Captain America be president? I actually dealt with this issue years ago when the Ultimate Universe version of Cap actually did become president in his world, but in a very different political context—there, the... Continue Reading →
Avengers #197-199 and Fantastic Four #220 (July-September 1980)
These three issues of Avengers are great action-packed superhero comics, but not ones with a lot of ethically interesting Captain America content, except for demonstrating his strong leadership. (These issues are perhaps better known for setting up the extremely controversial issue #200, as we'll see near the end of the post.) As an added bonus,... Continue Reading →
Avengers #192-196 and Daredevil #164 (February-June 1980)
These six issues—only one of which even has Cap on the cover—have very little ethically interesting Captain America content, but they do include the Falcon leaving the Avengers, the new Ant-Man meeting the team for the first time, the introduction of the Taskmaster, a badly beaten Man without Fear, and Cap confronting a new and... Continue Reading →
Avengers #190-191 (December 1979-January 1980)
These two issues contain a battle against the Grey Gargoyle, primarily a foe of Thor who also faced Captain America and the Falcon in Captain America #139-142, which is bookended by a more interesting story—at least for the purposes of this blog—featuring a Senate hearing on the issues of the Avengers' security clearance, which anticipates... Continue Reading →
Avengers #188-189 and Avengers Annual #9 (October-November 1979)
These three issues are three separate stories, the first of which is most interesting from our point of view, but all with something to offer fans of this blog. As with most of the recent issues, the relevant underlying story threads are Cap's leadership of the team (in Iron Man's absence, as explained in the... Continue Reading →
Captain America #237 (September 1979)
This issue serves as an aftermath to the six-issue storyline, which began in issue #231 and ended in the last issue, involving Captain America fighting against the white supremacist Grand Director (who ended up being someone from his past—see the last issue if you don't know who), his National Force, and the man behind it... Continue Reading →
Avengers #186-187 and Iron Man #125 (August-September 1979)
These two issues of Avengers continue the storyline about Wanda and Pietro's past, while our interest is mainly in Captain America's leadership of the Avengers in Iron Man's absence—about which more in the Iron Man issue that precedes them—as well as continued tensions with government liaison Henry Gyrich. Although the Cap content in the two... Continue Reading →