These two issues of Captain America launch Mark Gruenwald's decade of writing the book, much of which sits among the very best Cap stories, but it gets off to a slow start: The first issue deals mainly with Cap's crime-fighting partner Nomad, and the second had to tie in with Secret Wars II, the first... Continue Reading →
These four issues, like most Avengers comics of this period, contain only occasional content relevant to this blog, and not much of it having to do with the adventures shown on the covers above. We do, however, see Captain America interacting with teammates and colleagues, reacting to calamitous events, and lashing out at government agents...... Continue Reading →
These two issues contain the first significant meeting between Captains America and Britain, after some minor appearances together in Captain Britain's Marvel UK title and the licensed book Rom. It also finishes off Mike Carlin's short "interlude" run on Captain America, following J.M. DeMatteis's epic run and preceding Mark Gruenwald's decade on the book that... Continue Reading →
This post brings the long "Absolute Vision" storyline to its conclusion, as the synthezoid Avenger finally kicks his plan for world control into motion. (See the last post for a quick recap, because Captain America had not been in the book for a while before issue #251.) In issue #253, we see Cap still addressing... Continue Reading →
These three issues of Captain America, written by Mike Carlin, are part of the short transition between the legendary runs of J.M. DeMatteis, which ended with issue #300, and Mark Gruenwald, which starts with issue #307 (and lasts, with the exception of one issue, to #443!). Although we won't see him much here, this story... Continue Reading →
This post and the next together bring the "Absolute Vision" storyline to a finish. Quick recap: As we saw in issue #233, Vision was knocked unconscious, only to be revived later by Starfox and ISAAC, the computer that runs his home planet of Titan. ISAAC's corrupting influence, combined with a malfunctioning "control crystal" implanted by... Continue Reading →
This issue is notable for being (if I'm not mistaken) the only Captain America story pencilled by Frank Miller (who also drew the front and back covers you see above). Inspired by a story by Roger McKenzie, this comic is credited to Miller and Roger Stern—of the classic Stern/Byrne run on Captain America starting with... Continue Reading →
This issue serves as an epilogue to the "Death of the Red Skull" saga (as the subsequent trade paperback collection was titled) that began in issue #290 and ended in the last issue. In case you didn't read the last post, the Red Skull died in Captain America's arms after the hero refused to kill... Continue Reading →
With this issue we reach the culmination of the Red Skull's most recent and very personal campaign against Captain America, whom he considers his equal and opposite (as we saw in the last two issues), and with whom he is locked in eternal battle to the death (helped by the fact that he poisoned both... Continue Reading →
This Avengers annual, which reunites the team with former members Hank Pym, She-Hulk, and the Beast, is most notable for its art team: Steve Ditko on pencils and John Byrne on inks, which makes for a very interesting combination, especially with a script by the Avengers writer at the time, Roger Stern, which helps maintain... Continue Reading →
