These six issues contain minimal Captain American content for our purposes, so I'm bundling them all together for your convenience—and value! As I do in these cases, there will be less story synopsis than stories in which Cap is the focus, though I encourage you to seek out the full stories in the links at... Continue Reading →
Captain America #250 (October 1980)
This well-timed anniversary issue, published just several months before the 1980 United States presidential election, deals with an obvious hypothetical: Should Captain America be president? I actually dealt with this issue years ago when the Ultimate Universe version of Cap actually did become president in his world, but in a very different political context—there, the... Continue Reading →
Captain America #246 (June 1980)
In this issue—a fill-in before the legendary run by Roger Stern and John Byrne begins in the next issue—Captain America once again encounters a villain with more to his story than he initially appreciates, emphasizing the theme of mercy made at the end of the last issue. The issue opens with a NYC school board... Continue Reading →
Avengers #190-191 (December 1979-January 1980)
These two issues contain a battle against the Grey Gargoyle, primarily a foe of Thor who also faced Captain America and the Falcon in Captain America #139-142, which is bookended by a more interesting story—at least for the purposes of this blog—featuring a Senate hearing on the issues of the Avengers' security clearance, which anticipates... Continue Reading →
Avengers #188-189 and Avengers Annual #9 (October-November 1979)
These three issues are three separate stories, the first of which is most interesting from our point of view, but all with something to offer fans of this blog. As with most of the recent issues, the relevant underlying story threads are Cap's leadership of the team (in Iron Man's absence, as explained in the... Continue Reading →
Avengers #186-187 and Iron Man #125 (August-September 1979)
These two issues of Avengers continue the storyline about Wanda and Pietro's past, while our interest is mainly in Captain America's leadership of the Avengers in Iron Man's absence—about which more in the Iron Man issue that precedes them—as well as continued tensions with government liaison Henry Gyrich. Although the Cap content in the two... Continue Reading →
Avengers #181-185 and Doctor Strange #35 (March-July 1979)
Most of the "action"—as far as this blog is concerned, that is—in this post comes in the first issue, when government liaison/busybody Henry Gyrich imposes conditions on the Avengers for official privileges, the most controversial of them regarding membership, with one requirement that the Falcon is distinctly uncomfortable with. Actually, it is Sam's issue with... Continue Reading →
Invaders #26-28 (March-May 1978)
These three issues focus more on Bucky than Captain America, but the historical background is of such importance that I'll feature many panels without Cap nonetheless. (Fair warning: Some of the images and terms in this post are very disturbing, and the reason why will be clear very soon.) Also in these issues, two... Continue Reading →
Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles (1976)
Released in June 1976, this 84-page Marvel Treasury Special—really more of an early graphic novel than a comic—is a massive tribute to Captain America and America herself from Jack "The King" Kirby on the year of the country's bicentennial. In it, Cap is sent by a strange being named "Mister Buda" on a time travel... Continue Reading →
Avengers #147-149 (May-July 1976)
These three issues finish the Serpent Crown storyline begun in Avengers #141 and interrupted by the two-part fill-in story in issues #145-146. This second half of the story actually brings in the Serpent Crown itself and its implications for the politics on the Squadron Supreme's world (and its links with the Avengers' own). Issue #147... Continue Reading →