Return to Dimension Z---No, Wait! Fooled Ya!

The new Cap issue has been delayed two weeks so to tide us over until Cap punches Arnim Zola’s ugly, uh, face, here’s the latest in the classic saga of The Captain. CAPTAIN AMERICA #343 has the old Cap battling anarchic terrorist Viper to save the nation, while new Cap is waylaid by the pro-mutant terrorists known as the Resistants. For unexplained reasons both plots take place in the sky, for some literally high-flying action!

Then in FEAR ITSELF: THE FEARLESS #3 it’s Valkyrie and the Secret Avengers versus vampires. Lot of vampires. More vampires than you can shake a stake at. And then to the rescue comes—a vampire. But it’s a good-guy one, Raizo Kodo from HULK VS. DRACULA. So…vampires.

Meanwhile, in UNCANNY AVENGERS #8, the Unity Team faces the Apocalypse Twins—and find they aren’t a 1950s pop group—or even an 80s punk one! We have the Avengers Aficionado Rob Johnson to thank for this one, as always.

And in the epic AGE OF ULTRON #8, Rob untangles the new timeline created by Wolverine’s murder of Hank Pym in #6: it’s the Defenders versus Morgana le Fay! Revelation: our favorite hero has been promoted to Colonel America! 'Bout time, I'd say! 

But the big story is the return to writing by the founder of these Superhero eLibraries, Julio Molina-Muscara! He is mightily impressed with Mark Waid and Walt Simonson’s new Hulk series and contributes INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #6 which guest stars the God of Thunder himself! Head on over to the Hulk or Thor Libraries and check it out!

The Most Hissable Villain in the Snake Pit!

Who else but Viper? The Captain and company are called in to rescue the Serpent Society, of all people, from the former Madame Hydra (now with poisonous fangs!) in CAPTAIN AMERICA #342. Her nefarious plot will not becomes clear until the next issue—but it is a doozy!

Then in FEAR ITSELF: THE FEARLESS #2, it’s Valkyrie versus vampires—and the Secret Avengers—for the next hammer in the collection! Meanwhile, Crossbones picks one up for the bad guys! The epic continues in an exciting sequel!

Cap makes a cameo appearance in another Fear Itself-releated issue, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #629, along with most of the Avengers as we see the fall of Thor and the Serpent! And Loki does his big thing in this issue!

This is a Lot of Stuff for the Weekend Iron Man 3 Opens in America!

An unusual structure marks CAPTAIN AMERICA #341, the next installment of the classic The Captain arc: three stories in one issue! Haven’t seen the like since the 60s, when comics cost 12 cents! Anyway this triptych gives us the denouement of Steve’s vendetta against Tony Stark in the aftermath of Armor Wars (the metal dude’s classic arc from this time); a surprise for new Captain America John Walker which will have hellish repercussions in the near future; and the first chapter of the Serpent Society adventure which will occupy the next few issues. Fun all around—but only if you don’t know where the second story is going!

Then there’s the follow-up to FEAR ITSELF: after the fall of the Serpent and the sacrifice of Thor, there is still the little matter of eight massive magical hammers scattered all over Earth. In THE FEARLESS #1, the hard-charging Valkyrie is dispatched by Odin to regather them for Asgard; mean while Sin and Crossbones want them for their own twisted shenanigans—and the current owners of each piece of hellish hardware aren’t just going to hand ‘em over. Join us as we go through what is Marvel’s closest thing to a video game in years! And wait till you see the end boss!

Avengers Aficionado Rob Johnson gives us the details on this year’s big event, AGE OF ULTRON #7; herein we see the aftermath of Wolverine’s scheme to prevent the Ultron War by heading back in time to kill Hank Pym! What’s that? Everything got worse? That’s what happens when you second-guess a Marvel writer, as any fan of WHAT IF? should know!

Rob also contributes UNCANNY AVENGERS #7 with the Unity Team involved in a cosmic adventure featuring the Celestials and Apocalypse!

Rob also sends us AVENGERS: SEASON ONE #1, another look at the earliest days of our favorite superhero team. Two notable things stand out: a) it’s by Peter David, and, b) it is a new story, not another rehash of their origin. Lookin’ good.

Wasn't able to see the new movie but my son assures me that this is the best "3" of them all--no Topher Grace as Venom, no nipples on the costume, and especially no Richard Pryor dominating the film. Instant classic!

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Continuing the saga of the classic Captain arc, we offer CAPTAIN AMERICA #340 where The Captain (formerly Captain America) Steve Rogers leads his team against a gang of supervillains who have escaped from the maximum security prison known as The Vault. And how did they escape? Well…Iron Man shut off the security system so he could take out the guards who were wearing unauthorized versions of Stark’s armor—and he forgot to turn it back on because he was too busy betraying his old pal Steve Rogers to remember. This was part of Shellhead’s classic "Armor Wars" arc—and maybe we shouldn’t tell Rob over at the Iron Man Library about it. He’d only get upset….

Then in NEW AVENGERS (2005) #20, the gang, led by Cap, trails the supermutant known as The Collective (at home he’s just "Michael") to Genosha where they get caught in the middle of Magneto versus Xorn!

Then Avengers Aficionado Rob Johnson sends us UNCANNY AVENGERS #5 as the new Unity Team of Avengers and X-Men makes its public debut—and things go horribly, horribly wrong. Greet new members Wasp, Wonder Man, and Sunfire—and marvel at the fact that it all goes down the loo in record time!

And Cap is also in AVENGERS (2012) #10. Rob brings us the story of a massive dome in Canada containing a superbomb—and Validator is there to sort things out with the Avengers. Might not be the best idea, though.