These two issues of Avengers start off "The Crossing Line," a six-part story that brings together three super-teams (and none of them is the West Coast Avengers), which means that Captain America's appearances in these next three Avengers posts will be few, but happily substantial. Also, we have the first issue of New Warriors, featuring... Continue Reading →
These four comics are not especially significant, but hey, Captain America was in a lot of books in late 1989! All of them tie in to the "Acts of Vengeance" event, described in the last post, although that matters little for our purposes here. Avengers #312 sees Cap return to the book after a month... Continue Reading →
This issue is hardly significant, being a done-in-one fill-in, but it also comes between two longer storylines, and was published the same month as an important issue of Captain America, so it's most easily dealt with on its own. (Listen, they're not all going to be epic posts, OK?) It does feature a small group... Continue Reading →
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 →
This "giant-sized issue" picks up where the last left off and wraps up the serpent-saturated storyline of late, with Viper's attack on the White House bringing the Captain back to Washington, DC, for the first time since he relinquished the shield and stripes to the Commission in issue #332. And yes, just to get it... Continue Reading →
I'm not sure if I said anything about this before, but this issue is a game-changer—any comic with Abraham Lincoln weeping in the corner box has to be important, right? And just look at that Mike Zeck artwork on one of the most iconic Captain America covers ever: His defeated posture, head hung down, while... Continue Reading →
This looks like a miniseries about the Avengers fighting the X-Men—and, to be sure, it is—but at its heart it's a story about Magneto and his continued struggle to try to be the hero Charles Xavier believes he is, while protecting mutantkind the only way he knows how (which is not Charles' way). There are... Continue Reading →
The two parts of this crossover between the two Avengers teams in their 1986 annuals are very different, as reflected in the covers: The Avengers annual focuses more on the big fight with a team of apparent ne'er-do-wells, while the West Coast Avengers annual is much more character-based and tied closely to the mystery figure's... Continue Reading →
This issue serves as the aftermath of the last one, which ended with Captain America shooting a terrorist ULTIMATUM agent to stop him from massacring hostages in a monastery in the Swiss Alps. Like the last issue, Captain America #322 is one of the most cited comics in my book, due largely to the fact... Continue Reading →
This epilogue to Secret Wars II focuses on the Molecule Man, not the Beyonder, and guest-stars the Silver Surfer (as seen on the cover) and the Fantastic Four (who didn't make the cut, apparently, or else Reed forgot when the photo shoot was). With this issue we finally say goodbye to this sad sequel to... Continue Reading →
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 