We start 1994 with a flashback issue of Captain America written by Roy Thomas—breaking Mark Gruenwald's streak begun with issue #307—telling the story of our hero's first meeting with Namor the Sub-Mariner. Fittingly, this month also sees the debut of Marvels, the landmark miniseries by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, the first issue of which... Continue Reading →
These five comics comprise the "Bloodties" storyline, a crossover event that commemorated the 30th anniversary of both the Avengers and the X-Men. The huge cast of this story necessarily minimizes Captain America's role (other than many impressive heroic poses), but a central theme of the Avengers aspect of the story deals with the obligations under... Continue Reading →
This post covers the five issues featuring Captain America in the 14-part "Massive Carnage" event that ran through the Spider-Man titles from May through August 1993, with Spidey and his amazing friends fighting Carnage and his gang of Carnies. (Wait, no, that's not right... or is it? We'll see.) Not only are Carnage and friends... Continue Reading →
These four issues of Avengers continue Captain America's recent return to the team as a rank-and-file member rather than leader, although he has trouble avoiding that role entirely. (He's not even on any of the covers—only his shield is on the one you see here!) Although Cap's participation in these stories is not front-and-center, we... Continue Reading →
The Marvel Comics annuals of 1993 each introduced a new character who received the majority of the issue's focus, in this case the Bantam (seen to the right), a welcome Puerto Rican addition to the ranks of Marvel heroes (who unfortunately was little used afterwards). Captain America only appears in the second of the three... Continue Reading →
With these issues, Captain America returns to the Avengers for the first time since Operation: Galactic Storm ended, finding himself in the middle of a typical 90s Avengers story full of evil doppelgängers, evil space aliens, and evil jackets. (OK, maybe the jackets aren't evil... but do we really know?) It's an auspicious return for... Continue Reading →
Having found Rachel Leighton, aka Diamondback, in the previous story, in this issue Captain America can now turn his attention to searching for his other missing friend, Dennis Dunphy... but he doesn't. D-Man will have to wait some more, because Cap chooses instead to help Rachel hunt down one of her foes, Snapdragon, which happens... Continue Reading →
This issue concludes the miniseries that brings Captain America and the Punisher together for the first time as partners, to combat a government conspiracy involving money, drugs, guns, and fascism abroad and at home. Just as the first issue ended with Frank (unsuccessfully) assassinating Cap, the second issue ended with General Navatilas, the dictator of... Continue Reading →
This three-part miniseries brings Captain America and the Punisher together for their first substantial team-up, having occasionally encountered each other in passing since they first met in Captain America #241. They don't actually meet in this first issue, although Frank definitely has an impact on Cap by the end—we do, however, get some fascinating thoughts... Continue Reading →
These two issues launch the summer of 1992's six-part biweekly storyline, "Man and Wolf"—and if you don't know what this, you can all too easily guess. It's not a particularly ethically deep story—especially compared to the last issue—but we still find things to discuss, more so in the first half than the second (which we'll... Continue Reading →
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 