These two issues continue the storyline focused on the Red Skull that began in the last issue and serves as a gap-filler between the last biweekly summer story, "The Superia Stratagem," and the line-wide crossover "Operation Galactic Storm" that starts in issue #398. The story itself is underwhelming, and much of these two issues deals... Continue Reading →
Captain America #393 (October 1991)
This issue serves as a transition between "The Superia Stratagem," which ended in the last issue, and the beginning of a five-part storyline focused on the Red Skull (with "Operation Galactic Storm" looming on the horizon beginning with issue #398). We're also introduced to Captain America's German counterpart, Hauptmann Deutschland, seen on the cover... but... Continue Reading →
Avengers: Death Trap – The Vault (September 1991)
This is a fun graphic novel with a combined Avengers team made up of East Coast and West Coast members, working alongside the mutant team Freedom Force to combat a prison break led by Venom and featuring a huge number of super-criminals. (I think this is the first time Captain America has met Venom, no?)... Continue Reading →
Avengers #332-333, Thor #433, Amazing Spider-Man #348, and X-Factor #66 (May-June 1991)
As previewed at the end of the last issue as well as the covers above, these two issues of Avengers have Doctor Doom himself visiting the team, but this is no normal throw-down between capes, mainly owing to the purpose and motivation of Doom's visit. If that weren't enough, we get some minor Avengers appearances... Continue Reading →
Captain America #384 and Namor the Sub-Mariner #13 (April 1991)
This issue may seem like a disposable fill-in, but it actually resolves an issue that the Marvel brass may have wanted, as the title of the CBR column goes, abandoned and forsaken: the removal of the super-soldier serum from Captain America's bloodstream in issue #377 and the ensuing (as was expected, at least) decline in... Continue Reading →
Nomad #1-2 (November-December 1990)
These are the first two issues of Jack Monroe's first miniseries, which followed a short tale in Captain America Annual #9 (which wasn't covered in the post on the issue). There, the former Bucky of the 1950s, who later adopted Steve Rogers' short-lived Nomad identity, decided to abandon Captain America's noble mission and methods altogether... Continue Reading →
Marvel Comics Presents #60 (October 1990)
More than most comics stories, this short tale from the anthology title Marvel Comics Presents is placed firmly within a particular point in history: the battle between the Sandinista party, which ruled Nicaragua throughout the 1980s, and the Contras, backed by the United States, who opposed the Sandinistas' communist ideology. (See more here.) This story... Continue Reading →
Captain America #373-374 (July-August 1990)
These two issues pick up the "Streets of Poison" story begun in the last, which ended with Captain America caught in an explosion in a warehouse where he was investigating a new drug called Ice. We won't see much of the Black Widow, who, as one of the covers above suggests, "meets" Diamondback, but we... Continue Reading →
Captain America #351 (March 1989)
This issue serves as an aftermath to last month's game-changing issue #350, a breather if you will, that reintroduces a beloved classic supporting character, reconnects Captain America with an old pal (and explains the recent tensions between them), and signals a change in the fortunes of one John Walker after his abbreviated term as the... Continue Reading →
Captain America #350 (February 1989)
This is it: the issue we've been waiting for ever since Steve Rogers resigned his identity of Captain America to the Commission on Superhuman Activities in issue #332 and the Commission replaced him with the former Super-Patriot, John Walker in the following issue. Whatever else happens in this issue—I'll get to it in a second,... Continue Reading →