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 →
This issue wraps up the storyline involving the Hood (actually Baron von Strucker, actually a robot) and the supposedly reborn Bucky Barnes (who seems, based on the cover, to have grown considerably upset since the last issue). It also manages to introduce yet another level of WTFery to this already convoluted tale, courtesy of everybody's... Continue Reading →
In this issue, Captain America finally gets away from Nick Fury, Sharon Carter, and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., hopping a motorcycle (as he is wont to do from time to time), not so much to find America... as to find himself. (If you didn't "aww" at that, I'm not doing my job.) But before we... Continue Reading →
This issue is another entry to Captain America's ongoing saga with both his love interest, Sharon Carter, and his erstwhile allies, Nick Fury and the rest of SHIELD. I have to warn you, Cap is not at his best in the issue, being a neanderthal with respect to Sharon and then flying off the handle... Continue Reading →
In this post we cover the last two of Jim Steranko's three issues of Captain America, in which he crafted the first significant "Death of Captain America" story (even if it was very quickly resolved) and, in the process, restored Cap's secret identity (which Sternako thought diminished his value and stature as "the quintessential symbol... Continue Reading →
Here we start to discuss the legendary Jim Steranko's all-too-short run on Captain America, including plotting, pencils, and colors on issues #110, 111, and 113 (with Jack Kirby doing his last work on the book for almost a decade with issue #112). In his short time on the book, Steranko put his distinct and unforgettable... Continue Reading →
In this issue we get an updated telling of Captain America's origin, first told in his very first comic, Captain America Comics #1, and retold more recently in Tales of Suspense #63. (See this blog post by Marvel Comics editor Tom Brevoort comparing the three versions.) This time around, we get several new details that... Continue Reading →
These four issues are rather uneventful in terms of Captain America's ethics, so I'll discuss them as a batch. They do, however, include Batroc the Leaper, the introduction of Dr. Faustus, and Paste-Pot Pete the Trapster, so there will be some cool villains to see (as well as the Trapster). Issue #105 opens, like Tales... Continue Reading →
These six issues—the first two of which Captain America barely appears in—continue the fallow period for Cap in Avengers, especially concerning ethically interesting content. Even issue #56, which fills in some gaps in Cap and Bucky's fatal last adventure in World War II, is more curiosity than meaningful (although it does serve as an early... Continue Reading →
In this four-part tale, we get the return of the Red Skull and a rare example of Captain America actually using the black-and-white ethical thinking he’s so often accused of—accusations against which I defend him in The Virtues of Captain America. (You’re making me look bad, Cap!) Plus, welcome artist supreme Gil Kane to the... Continue Reading →
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 