This Week’s Updates: Cap and Spider-Woman
Jan 23, 12
First up we present the latest issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA (2011): it’s issue #7 and Cap is still "Powerless" (sort of) as his strength is coming and going while he must deal with the Serpent Squad and the threat of the Madbomb.
Then in NEW AVENGERS #14 and 15 (of the original series) Cap confronts Spider-Woman over her double agent status with SHIELD and HYDRA, then announces the new Avengers line-up—the one we had been reading about since issue #1! Sometime the public is the last to know!
This Week's Updates: Cap, Bucky and Other Stuff
Jan 16, 12
First up: the most recent issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY, #625 to be precise, which kicks off a story arc that focuses on a forgotten Bucky, Fred Davis. Who, you say? Fred Davis, who became Bucky after the original "died" in the War and served with the first two replacement Caps, William Naslund and Jeff Mace. He’s still alive and in danger, good thing Steve Cap is around to help.
Plus we’ve added CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #275, a classic wherein the ever-sweet Bernie Rosenthal discovers that Steve Rogers is Captain America. She’s no Lois Lane, folks.
And Avengers Aficionado Rob Johnson contributes AVENGERS (1963) #85. While Cap and half the group are attending a charity event, the other half is doing deadly battle with the Squadron Supreme! Who has the better set of priorities? I vote for Rob!
This Week’s Updates: Cap and the Widow!
Jan 9, 12
CAPTAIN AMERICA #6 begins a new story arc "Powerless" wherein Steve Rogers loses the benefits of the Super-Soldier Serum, leaving Cap at the mercy of his enemies, including the new Serpent Squad! See the details here!
And Rob Johnson sends us BLACK WIDOW: DEADLY ORIGIN #1 and 2 which relates the history of everyone’s favorite ex-Soviet seductress and features guest appearances by Bucky Barnes, the once and future Winter Soldier. Synopses and commentary can be found here and thanks again Rob for untangling the twisted Marvel continuity for us!
This Week: New Cap!
Jan 2, 12
The delayed CAPTAIN AMERICA #5 has appeared, wrapping up the "American Dreamers" story arc involving Codename: Bravo and the Land of Nowhere. Synopsis and review to be found here.
Plus, we present "Prisoners of Duty" from CAPTAIN AMERICA: THEATER OF WAR, where the focus is on Steve Rogers, out of costume, engineering a breakout from a Nazi POW camp! The great escape can be found here.
Friday Special: All Good Things….
Dec 30, 11
Great series deserve great endings: whether the one-armed man is caught, the Korean War ends, or it all turns out to be an autistic kid’s fantasy, the way a TV series ends will stick in the mind for years. And the same goes for comic books; so what did Marvel do in NEW AVENGERS FINALE to finish up the first volume of NEW AVENGERS? An epic battle? A major death? An all-new lineup? None of those, they ended with an eighteen–page speech by Captain America. What did I say? An eighteen-page speech?!? It’s one of those "Why we fight" homilies that one usually finds in war comics—and not one of the better ones, either. No problems, it’s only there to showcase some nice reprinted pages from previous issues. So it could have been worse—it could have all just faded to black as the heroes were sitting in a restaurant….
And speaking of fading to black—this is the last Friday Special, at least for the foreseeable future. I will be cutting back to updating once a week, Mondays only.
This Week: Ronin the Barbarian
Dec 26, 11
Since the regular Captain America comic seems to be having trouble lately, we've added NEW AVENGERS #11-13, which introduced the enigmatic warrior known as Ronin! This is the first one, joining the team at Cap's invitation, not Clint Barton taking over the costume. (Recall, Clint has a history of adopting other heroes' discarded identities, right, Goliath? You can see his point, as Hawkeye has been described as the hero whose superpower bcame obsolete when gunpowder was invented.) No, here we have the original, mysterious one, who kicks a lot of ninja tail and confuses Spider-Man and Iron Man. If you don't already know the secret of Ronin, check here! And if you do, look anyway! It's free!
Friday Special: Hippy Dippy Heroes!
Dec 23, 11
Cosmic Cubes need love too! That’s the message of "The Last Enchantment" in CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL #7. Cap teams up with Aquarian (a/k/a Super-Hippie) to recover the omnipotent device which is cranky because of self-esteem issues. To do this they have to fight a bunch of A.I.M. guys in powder blue bucket-headed costumes instead of yellow, led by an overgrown nerd. Finally the Cube throws a tantrum until the Shaper of Worlds (half robot Skrull, half-tank) arrives to share that he was once a cranky little cube too. He then takes his little buddy and promises to hold and nurture it until it achieves its full potential as a well-adjusted Cosmic Cube. And Cap, Aquarian, and the villain all smile warmly as the Cube lives happily ever after—at least until the next one comes along and falls into the hands of the Red Skull again. The story is so full of good vibes and groovy pseudo-mysticsm it could only have come from the 1960s—except it was published in 1983. Was Ronald Reagan briefed on this?
This Week: Man-Ape, Zodiac, and Red Wolf!
Dec 19, 11
Avengers Aficionado Rob Johnson sends us AVENGERS (1968) #78-82 wherein Earth’s Mightiest Heroes take on Black Panther’s arch-enemy Man-Ape (a burly dude in an ape suit) along with the Grim Reaper and some other second string baddies, then team up with Red Wolf (Native American superhero who derives his power from accumulated stereotypes, apparently) and Daredevil against Zodiac. And Captain America is with them the whole time, a rarity for this Avengers era. Thanks, Rob.
Meanwhile, what’s up with Cap’s new title? Issue #4 was a month late, ish 5 rescheduled for this month, a week after #6’s release date. And now #6 failed to ship this week. And apparently neither issue will ship next week. C’mon, I want to know what’s going on in the dream world (#5) while #6 begins "Shattered Heroes," this year’s big annoying event! (Relax, Peter. Remember, it’s only a comic book.)