The third issue of this expanded retelling of Captain America's origin and early years brings in more familiar moments and some new ones, as our hero heads overseas in pursuit of the enhanced Nazi agents we met in the last issue—but he will not go alone. As our story resumes, Cap checks out the diner... Continue Reading →
The Adventures of Captain America #1 (September 1991)
This amazing four-part miniseries—the first devoted solely to Captain America—is written by Fabian Nicieza and drawn by master of facial expressions Kevin Maguire, and elaborates significantly on Cap's earliest days, providing additional details and emotional weight to Steve Rogers' desire to serve his country, the Project Rebirth procedure and the training that preceded and followed... Continue Reading →
Captain America #379 (November 1990)
Like last month's Avengers #325, this issue of Captain America bridges a gap, this time between the twice-monthly story, "Streets of Poison," that began in issue #372, and the three-part Diamondback-centered storyline starting in the next issue (with a preview in this issue's back-up, which is touched on at the end of this post). The... Continue Reading →
Avengers #305-307 (July-September 1989)
These three issues start with the assemblage of a new Avengers line-up (as well as a change in the status of the West Coast Avengers) before turning to a fight against the Lava Men (first seen here way back in Avengers #5). Issue #305 starts with Captain America welcoming almost all current and former members... Continue Reading →
Captain America #341 (May 1988)
This issue follows up on the "disagreement" between Iron Man and the Captain in Iron Man #228 over Tony's ongoing campaign to reclaim or disable all of his tech in other people's hands, including the U.S. government, and by whatever means necessary. This is just one of many examples of Tony's utilitarian approach to ethical... Continue Reading →
Avengers #281-285, Fantastic Four #306, and Mephisto Vs. #4 (July-November 1987)
This post mainly covers the last adventure Captain America joins the Avengers on in their regular title before the events of Captain America #332—a comic which, you should be warned, is slightly spoiled by the end of Avengers #285. Also, we see the Avengers' installment in a curious little miniseries in which Mephisto tussles with... Continue Reading →
Marvel Fanfare #31-32 (March and May 1987)
This two-part story is quite a curiosity: Written by longtime Captain America scribe J.M. DeMatteis and plotted with penciller Kerry Gammill, it functions as a team-up between the Sentinel of Liberty and Frog-Man, an offbeat character introduced by DeMatteis and Gammill in Marvel Team-Up #121. In issue #31, we first see Cap saving the man... Continue Reading →
Captain America #326 (February 1987)
This Halloween issue takes us out of the current storylines about Nomad, ULTIMATUM, and John Walker—for the most part—and instead returns us to Skullhouse, the setting of "the death of Red Skull" from issue #300, where Captain America will see some ghosts, revisit some memories, and engage in a lot of internal monologue. (A lot.)... Continue Reading →
Captain America #307-308 and Secret Wars II #1 (July-August 1985)
These two issues of Captain America launch Mark Gruenwald's decade of writing the book, much of which sits among the very best Cap stories, but it gets off to a slow start: The first issue deals mainly with Cap's crime-fighting partner Nomad, and the second had to tie in with Secret Wars II, the first... Continue Reading →
Captain America #305-306 (May-June 1985)
These two issues contain the first significant meeting between Captains America and Britain, after some minor appearances together in Captain Britain's Marvel UK title and the licensed book Rom. It also finishes off Mike Carlin's short "interlude" run on Captain America, following J.M. DeMatteis's epic run and preceding Mark Gruenwald's decade on the book that... Continue Reading →