This issue continues Captain America's battle with Machinesmith from the last issue, with the addition of a Fantastic Four character, the robotic Dragon Man (seen both on the cover to your right and earlier, behind the scenes in Avengers #42). We also touch base with Steve Rogers's personal life, watching him as he looks for... 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 →
Captain America #246 (June 1980)
In this issue—a fill-in before the legendary run by Roger Stern and John Byrne begins in the next issue—Captain America once again encounters a villain with more to his story than he initially appreciates, emphasizing the theme of mercy made at the end of the last issue. The issue opens with a NYC school board... Continue Reading →
Captain America #243-244 (March-April 1980)
These two issues bring us back to Captain America's main storyline (after the last issue), in that it references Steve Rogers's burgeoning artistic career, while still having the feel of a fill-in story, this one about a fella named Adonis who definitely isn't. (No judgment... neither am I!) Issue #243 opens with Cap fighting unknown... 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 →
Captain America #241 (January 1980)
In this issue, Captain America meets Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, in one of Frank's earliest appearances outside of Amazing Spider-Man, two years before he appeared in Daredevil and six years before he got his first title. Accordingly, we get our first look at the differences between the two men, which we will see from... 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 #233 (May 1979)
As we continue the story, begun in issue #231, of Captain America fighting the white nationalist Grand Director and his National Front, we finally learn the identity of the person behind the hate movement (who was glimpsed in silhouette in the last issue) as well as a hint as to who the Grand Director himself... Continue Reading →
Avengers #181-185 and Doctor Strange #35 (March-July 1979)
Most of the "action"—as far as this blog is concerned, that is—in this post comes in the first issue, when government liaison/busybody Henry Gyrich imposes conditions on the Avengers for official privileges, the most controversial of them regarding membership, with one requirement that the Falcon is distinctly uncomfortable with. Actually, it is Sam's issue with... Continue Reading →
Captain America #231 (March 1979)
This issue begins a six-issue storyline that includes a change in Sharon Carter's status quo, a reunion of the Winghead-Hornhead team, the return of a forgotten character, and most important—as can be seen clearly on the cover—very disturbing words and images of race hatred, always a poignant topic in Captain America stories and one that... Continue Reading →