Avengers #290 (April 1988)

This issue sees the Captain return to the Avengers' side temporarily, before rejoining on a more permanent basis in issue #298—and no time like the present, when the Avengers are facing "Heavy Metal," a short-lived group of malevolent androids/AI. The main threat among them is the Super-Adaptoid, an invention of A.I.M. based on a Cosmic... 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 →

What If? #4 (August 1977)

This comic—the only issue of What If? that takes place in the mainstream "616" Marvel Universe rather than creating new timelines with alternative versions of canonical stories—represents what may be the pinnacle of writer Roy Thomas's original sense of retroactive continuity (or retconning) at Marvel, filling in details in old stories to address inconsistencies and... Continue Reading →

Avengers #101-104 (July-October 1972)

These four issues finish Roy Thomas's legendary run on Avengers—with a help from a special guest in issue #101—and sets the stage for Steve Englehart to take over with issue #105 in November (after he starts writing Captain America in September with issue #153). The special guest writer for issue #101 I alluded to above... Continue Reading →

Avengers #13-14 (February-March 1965)

We’ll tackle these two issues together because they are actually linked in a way unusual to the Avengers (or any Marvel Comics) at this point—with an actual cliffhanger (which, to be honest, is the only truly interesting thing to happen in the first issue). TWO FUNNY THINGS IN ISSUE #13 During a battle, Iron Man... Continue Reading →

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