Captain America #420 starts off a run of five relatively disconnected issues that suggest the creators are running out the clock until the beginning of "Fighting Chance" storyline in issue #425. Here, we meet a new Blazing Skull—and the existence of another Blazing Skull, seen in the recent Invaders miniseries, is not even mentioned until... Continue Reading →
This post corrects an egregious oversight: specifically, the baker's dozen of issues of the weekly Marvel UK comic Captain Britain in which Captain America guest-starred in early 1977, which I seem to have skipped. It's a fun, fact-paced story that calls back to Cap's early adventures in Tales of Suspense, and I'm happy to bring... Continue Reading →
The first of these three comics focuses mainly on Dennis Dunphy's subterranean struggles and his eventual emergence into daylight, with Cap playing a lesser role—but he has a much larger one in the following two-issue crossover with Silver Sable and the Funky Bunch, which contains some fine examples of necessary moral compromise (an issue also... Continue Reading →
These two issues finally reconnect Captain America with Diamondback, aka Rachel Leighton, his sort-of ladyfriend, who was abducted in issue #396 and held hostage by Crossbones, as shown in recent back-up stories (for the most part not covered here). To be fair, Cap's been busy, what with Operation: Galactic Empire, Citizen Kang, and being a... Continue Reading →
These three annuals—plus Fantastic Four Annual #25, in which Captain America does not appear—comprise the "Citizen Kang" storyline, in which the master time manipulator puts the various heroes through their paces before bringing them together at the end for a grand showdown. (Sadly, he does not escape at the end on his time-sled Rosebud.) Most... Continue Reading →
Can't put it off any longer, so here we go... the second half of the "Man-Wolf" story that began in issue #402 concludes in these three issues, following the events at the end of the last issue (shown again at the beginning of issue #405 below). Because Captain America is... not himself for most of... Continue Reading →
This low-key anniversary issue of Captain America manages to use the main story to pay tribute to the title character and also continue the larger storyline in which this issue fell. There are two other stories in the bonus-sized issue, neither featuring Cap; our hero does, however, appear briefly in this month's issue of Namor... Continue Reading →
This final issue of Captain America's first miniseries shows us his first encounter with the Red Skull, as well as the fallout from the revelation about Lieutenant Cynthia Glass from the last issue, and sets the stage for Cap and Bucky's lives going forward. (Warning: Some of the imagery in this issue may be disturbing.)... Continue Reading →
These two issues finish up the current storyline involving the Red Skull and his cronies, also featuring the current Thor, Eric Masterson, whom Captain America has been mentoring recently in both this title as well as Avengers and Thor's own book. Issue #396 picks up where the last one left off, with Cap and Thor... Continue Reading →
The third issue of this expanded retelling of Captain America's origin and early years brings in more familiar moments and some new ones, as our hero heads overseas in pursuit of the enhanced Nazi agents we met in the last issue—but he will not go alone. As our story resumes, Cap checks out the diner... Continue Reading →
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 