This issue marks the end of the run by Roger Stern and John Byrne and celebrates the 40th anniversary of Captain America by presenting the canonical version of his origin, reconciling previous versions (especially from Captain America Comics #1, Tales of Suspense #63, and Captain America #109) together with the history of young Steve Rogers... Continue Reading →
Avengers #204-206, Incredible Hulk #258, and Dazzler #1-2 (February-April 1981)
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 #254 (February 1981)
This issue concludes the story begun in the last issue in which Captain America returned to England to reunite with Lord Fallsworth (the original Union Jack from World War I) and Jackie Fallsworth (Spitfire from Cap's WWII team, the Invaders) to investigate mysterious murders that turned out to be the work of Lord Fallsworth's archfoe... Continue Reading →
Captain America #253 (January 1981)
The two-part story beginning in this issue reintroduces some old friends and one villain from Captain America's past (and a beloved series covered in its entirety at this very blog)... After opening on the discovery of a murder north of London, England, and a glimpse of the issue's special guests, the focus turns to our... Continue Reading →
Captain America #252 (December 1980)
This issue wraps up the story begun in the previous one, in which Captain America faced Batroc the Leaper and Mr. Hyde and ended up in quite a pickle, as shown in the opening splash page below—and as you would expect, Cap remains defiant as ever. Poor Mr. Hyde is frustrated by how strong... Continue Reading →
Avengers #201-203 and Marvel Two-in-One #69 (November 1980-January 1981)
These issues see a return to normalcy after the controversial Avengers #200, if by "normalcy" you mean the return of Ultron—not to be defeated, unfortunately, by Jarvis, seen above in one of my favorite Avengers covers. (The cover refers more to the solo Jarvis back-up story, from which we'll see only one panel here). Plus,... Continue Reading →
Captain America #251 (November 1980)
This issue and the next are a return to traditional superheroics after the presidential diversion of the last issue as two classic villains—at least one of them beloved on this blog—team up to face Captain America, who continues to adjust to his new life as Steve Rogers, freelance artist, with new friends and neighbors in... Continue Reading →
Avengers #200 (October 1980)
As mentioned in the last post, Avengers #200 is very controversial (and rightfully so), and even though Captain America has little to do directly with the controversy itself, the issue merits its own post, with copious links to more thorough treatments below. (Warning: There is discussion of sexual violence later in this post.) The main... 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 #249 (September 1980)
This issue concludes Captain America's battle with Machinesmith that began in issue #247, finally bringing the Sentinel of Liberty face to face with his foe as well as a number of other familiar faces (kind of). We also touch base with Cap's new friend, Bernie Rosenthal, although you'll have to tell Cap about it, as... Continue Reading →