This post is somewhat of a grab-bag, centered on Avengers Annual #11, written by then-regular Captain America and Defenders writer J.M. DeMatteis, followed by a few panels from assorted other Cap appearances that month, including two other annuals. (The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 from the same month—which introduced Monica Rambeau, the new Captain Marvel—is covered... Continue Reading →
Captain America #229-230 and The Incredible Hulk #232 (January-February 1979)
These three comics finish up Captain America's search for the Falcon that began in the last issue, and which also brings in the Hulk for a cross-over at the end—and we find out who the mystery Jim is who the Falcon went looking for in the first place! Captain America #229 opens where the last... Continue Reading →
Captain America #228 (December 1978)
This issue leads off a four-issue search for Captain America's former partner, Sam Wilson (aka the Falcon), but not before some soul-searching on the part of the Sentinel of Liberty... with help from an unlikely source. (Let's just say that when you need advice from this guy, you're know you're in trouble.) Our story opens... Continue Reading →
Captain America #226-227 (October-November 1978)
These two issues shift from the "Who Is Steve Rogers?" storyline that concluded in the last issue and launches into "Am I Still Captain America?" beginning from that issue's cliffhanger ending: Cap's super-soldier serum was apparently neutralized, leaving him no longer a perfect physical specimen, but rather the original scrawny Steve Rogers, as we see... Continue Reading →
Captain America #223-224 and Marvel Team-Up #71 (July-August 1978)
These two issues of Captain America are oddly related: Only the first continues the current "Who Is Steve Rogers?" storyline, while the second is a fill-in which also deals with confused identity (which must have been even more confusing for readers at the time). On the bright side, the fill-in also features the first cover... Continue Reading →
Captain America #222 (June 1978)
In this issue, Captain America finally starts to get some answers to his quest, begun in issue #215, into his forgotten life before Project Rebirth... but those answers will sound strange, and for good reason. We also get some flattering exposition, and sound introspection on Cap's part, while he struggles against the villainous Corporation, acting... Continue Reading →
Captain America #216-218 (December 1977-February 1978)
These three issues—really two, because the first is a reprint with only one new page—continue the "Who Is Steve Rogers?" storyline that began in issue #215, in which Captain America searches for information about his life before Project Rebirth. This leads into a Newfoundland adventure starting in issue #218 that eventually reveals some new... Continue Reading →
Captain America #215 (November 1977)
With this issue, the Captain America series launches an examination of "Who is Steve Rogers?", which unfortunately is not the sort of juicy existentialist dilemma that might interest us here, but merely a matter of Captain America being unable to remember anything about his life before Project Rebirth transformed him into the Sentinel of Liberty.... Continue Reading →
Avengers #125-126 and Giant-Size Avengers #1 (July-August 1974)
These three issues of Avengers fall between Captain America #125 and #126—that is, between the end of the "Secret Empire" storyline, in which he was confronted with how high corruption could go in the American government, and the beginning of the next storyline, in which... well, I won't spoil that for you. As such, the... Continue Reading →
Captain America #176 (August 1974)
This is perhaps the most pivotal and significant issue we've covered yet on this blog, encapsulating so many problems that Captain America has struggled with, not only since the beginning of the "Secret Empire" storyline (in issue #169) but ever since emerging from the ice as a "man out of time" in Avengers #4. Also,... Continue Reading →