With this post we reach the end of Captain America's run in Tales of Suspense and the beginning of his first self-titled book (continuing the previous title's numbering while co-star Iron Man gets his own #1). And this four-part story features the first appearance of Black Panther outside the Fantastic Four book, and leads directly... Continue Reading →
Tales of Suspense #95-96 (November-December 1967)
This two-part story shows Captain America trying to solve his existential crisis of purpose and identity in an extreme way—and also proposing to Sharon Carter before learning her real name. Issue #95 opens with Cap busting two thugs named Turk (not Daredevil's Turk) and Whitey (not One Tree Hill's Whitey) looking for their boss with... Continue Reading →
Avengers #45-47 and Annual #1 (September-December 1967)
We wrap up the relevant issues of Avengers in the 40s, and the title's first annual, in this post, which closes with Cap once again leaving the team (although not for long). The annual sees the first gathering of the original and current Avengers teams (minus the Hulk, natch) to battle a group of their... Continue Reading →
Avengers #34-38 and #40 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3 (November 1966-May 1967)
With this run of seven issues of Avengers, issues #34 through 40, we reach a rather fallow period for Captain America as far as ethically interesting content is concerned—in fact, Cap does not appear in issue #39 and in only one panel in #40, warning his fellow Avengers about something that happened in his own... Continue Reading →
Tales of Suspense #75-78 (March-June 1966)
I’m taking these four issues together because they all deal with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ... kind of. Notably, the first three issues introduce a new reason of Cap to despair his past—the loss of a woman he knew and loved during World War II, whom we now know to be Peggy Carter—and a new reason... Continue Reading →
Avengers #25 (February 1966)
This issue sees the Avengers fight Doctor Doom for the first time, which should have been epic, but ol' Vic was not then the majestic villain we now know him to be. Furthermore, little of the material of interest to us here has to do with Doom, one of the few comics villains I find... Continue Reading →
Avengers #21-24 and Fantastic Four Annual #3 (October 1965-January 1966)
I'm taking this kooky quartet of Avengers issues together because, honestly, there's not a lot of ethical interest to Captain America here. The most interesting thing to me about these issues is that they feature the Avengers breaking up and getting back together, for the first time but definitely not the last, and Cap's tortured... Continue Reading →
Avengers #17-18 (June-July 1965)
In these issues we see Captain America’s first two adventures leading the Kooky Quartet with Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch. Much of these early stories are spent laying out the three new members’ attitudes toward Cap and each other, as well as Cap testing out his new leadership role, tested for real for... Continue Reading →
Tales of Suspense #59 (November 1964)
After the case of mistaken identity from the last issue, Cap finally get his own feature in Tales of Suspense (albeit slightly shorter than that of the “star” of the book, that infamous diva, Iron Man). This first story is similar to Avengers #4 in that it showcases both his grief over Bucky and his... Continue Reading →