I'm not sure if I said anything about this before, but this issue is a game-changer—any comic with Abraham Lincoln weeping in the corner box has to be important, right? And just look at that Mike Zeck artwork on one of the most iconic Captain America covers ever: His defeated posture, head hung down, while... Continue Reading →
The final Avengers story featuring Captain America before the cataclysmic Captain America #332 is this crossover between the annuals of the two teams. These comics were actually published after Captain America #332, but for continuity reasons I'm letting them jump the line and be covered first. It's a fairly routine "split up and fight" story,... Continue Reading →
This looks like a miniseries about the Avengers fighting the X-Men—and, to be sure, it is—but at its heart it's a story about Magneto and his continued struggle to try to be the hero Charles Xavier believes he is, while protecting mutantkind the only way he knows how (which is not Charles' way). There are... Continue Reading →
These three issues are even lighter on Captain America content than usual. Each focuses on a separate character—the Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Jarvis, respectively—as they consider some major life changes. Issue #278 opens with some not-too-bright burglars trying to loot Avengers Mansion, only to run into the Wasp—and, unfortunately for the one who thought he... Continue Reading →
I'm covering these two issues together because a significant portion of each issue is taken up with the adventures of Nomad (last seen in issue #309), whom Captain America joins up with at the end of the story. More interesting for our purposes is Cap's ongoing confrontation of the fallout from killing an ULTIMATUM agent... Continue Reading →
This post covers, in very little detail, the Avengers' underseas adventure with Namor in Avengers and Alpha Flight, as well as Captain America's two minor appearances alongside the team in the final issues of Eternals and Power Man and Iron Fist. (Not a good sign to have the Avengers guest-star in your book, I guess—watch... Continue Reading →
This final issue of the legendary "Born Again" storyline in Daredevil, by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, finds Captain America helping Matt Murdock battle against the Kingpin's final attempt to break him. Although the entire Daredevil story is deservedly heralded as a classic, the portrayal of Captain America in this issue is simply stunning, and... Continue Reading →
This issue is the first of three that focus on the story of the Scourge of the Underworld, a mysterious individual who has been killing minor villains across various Marvel titles for the last few months, including Captain America #311, in what was actually an editorial "housecleaning" mechanism designed by editor and current Captain America... Continue Reading →
This time around we cover all three of a month's appearances of Captain America in one post: Most of Cap's action in February 1986 occurs in his own title, where he struggles with issues of duty and extradimensional jurisdiction, while he features in just one page of each of this month's Avengers and Secret Wars... Continue Reading →
This is a significant issue for a couple reasons. First, we see Captain America get his latest idea for serving the American people off the ground. Second, a new ideologically-based villain name Flag-Smasher is introduced—yep, that's him on the cover—who will be a presence in the book for some time, prompting interesting discussions about nationalism... Continue Reading →
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 