This four-part story is light on ethically relevant material, focusing instead on Captain America's battle alongside the Falcon, Sharon Carter, and Nick Fury against the uninspiring Grey Gargoyle. (Only one shade to this fella, and it's a drab one.) However, it does start with some soul-searching on Cap's part, inspired by an intriguing offer from... Continue Reading →
In this two-parter, Captain America and the Falcon meet Spider-Man, but this is a not your garden-variety team-up—both Cap and Sam are dealing with things that threaten to pull this new partnership apart just several issues after it began. Issue #137 picks up when the last issue left off, with Cap and Falcon emerging from... 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 →
Don't let the cover, featuring Spider-Man's foe the Scorpion, fool you—the first five pages of this issue are dense with existential introspection and political musings that could keep us busy for days (and which I quoted quite a bit in my book). And later, we see a good old-fashioned fight with an injured Cap... and... Continue Reading →
This issue begins an on-and-off period of self-questioning for Captain America along several angles, including continued angst about his own identity and purpose in life, as well as more outward-looking concern with the state of American society (befitting the time and the increasing social consciousness of comics). You have to hand it to Stan Lee,... Continue Reading →
In the aftermath of Captain America's faked death and his subsequent return—sans his Steve Rogers identity—in the last issue, the Sentinel of Liberty finds adjusting to life somewhat difficult. And that's only until things get really wild on the final page! As the issue opens, Steve "Don't Call Me Steve Rogers" Rogers is wandering the... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
This story finds Captain America going against AIM, finally reconnecting with Sharon Carter while constantly patronizing her, and meeting MODOK for the first time. Issue #92 opens as all great comics epics do… at the airport, where our hero bemoans his mess of a life. Isn’t that little girl creepy? Who’s she waving at? STOP... Continue Reading →
This story introduces the Adaptoid, a creation of A.I.M.—the organization that also brought us the Cosmic Cube and evil beekeeper suits—that takes Captain America’s form but finds out that stunning good looks are not enough to be the Sentinel of Liberty. (But they do help.) As many early stories both in Tales of Suspense and... Continue Reading →
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 