Captain America #616

A-story: Ed Brubaker // Ed McGuinness
B-story: Ed Brubaker // Mike Deodato
C-story: Howard Chaykin
D-story: Cullen Bunn // Jason Latour
E-story: Mike Benson // Paul Grist
F-story: Frank Tieri // Paul Azaceta
G-Story: Kyle Higgins & Alec Siegel // Pepe Larraz
May 2011
A-story: ***
B-story: ***
C-story: ****
D-story: ****
E-story: **
F-story: ***
G-Story: ***

Double-sized to celebrate Cap’s debut in May ’41. True Cap gets the A-plot, New Cap gets the B. Narrative gravity starts to pull Rogers back into action, Bru’s chance to indulge a Batman brood. The tone clashes w/ McGuinness’ helium style. Deodato’s noirish shadows fit Bucky’s tale better, tho’ his he-man physiques grate. The non-Brubaker back-ups are good too, esp. a Chaykin period piece!

last issue: Captain America #615.1
next issue: Captain America #617

also indexed for May ’11
Annihilators #1 of 4
Avengers: The Children’s Crusade: Young Avengers #1 of 1
Captain America #615.1
FF #1
Secret Avengers #10

Captain America #10

Ed Brubaker // Lee Weeks
October 2005
***

Week’s fill-in art adds little to the long-perspective reminisce that provides backstory for the alt-timeline that’s swept across Marvel’s comics. In one early fork, Cap & Bucky kill Baron Zemo then capture Hitler! But Cap makes enemies in the ’50s “Mutant Scare”—& walks on the moon in ’55!

last issue: Captain America #9
next issue: Captain America #11

also indexed for Oct. ’05
Daredevil #76
Iron Man #4
Runaways #7
Young Avengers #7

The Fantastic Four #605.1

Jonathan Hickman // Mike Choi
July 2012
****

The “bonus” ish is less a jump-in point than another JH done-in-one w/ set-up for a later payoff. It flashes back to sketch a member of the Council of Reeds, who destroyed his alt-‘verse where the FF were Nazis! Choi’s work is better than his covers suggest, w/ lovely colors from C. Peter.

last issue: The Fantastic Four #605
next issue: The Fantastic Four #606

also indexed for Jul. ’12
The Fantastic Four #606
FF #18

Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles #1 of 1

Jack Kirby
June 1976
****
Kirby fetes his first & most popular hero as well as the US Bicentennial in a King-size special. The issue’s plot sends the Man Out of Time thru his country’s history, courtesy of a mystic yogi. Its best moments see Cap connecting w/ the downtrodden, like miners, Indians, & an escaped slave, or shaking his head at a lunar war & at patriotic pomp. Like a lot of Kirby’s work in the late 1970s, it’s uneven but sections inspire awe. Take the first dozen pages: Windsor-Smith’s inking adds dimensional contours to Kirby’s pencils. This Cap kinda resembles Jack’s WW2-era collab w/ Joe Simon!
[see also Captain America & the Falcon #198]

Tales of Suspense #67: Captain America

Stan Lee // Jack Kirby
July 1965
B-story: ****
Hitting the height of his creativity, Kirby creates the sort of WW2 Cap stories w/ Lee that you wish he’d done w/ Simon. All of ’41 Europe is his theater, from Hitler’s Berlin to blitzed London. Sidekick Bucky Barnes escapes a POW camp to rescue CA, who’s now the Red Skull’s Manchurian Candidate.
[A-story: Iron Man]
[last issue: Tales of Suspense #66]
[next issue: Tales of Suspense #68]

Tales of Suspense #66: Captain America

Stan Lee // Jack Kirby
June 1965
B-story: *****
Lee & Kirby quit recounting 1940s tales to create original missions. The Red Skull brainwashes Cap, but not before he reveals his past. Hitler himself oversaw the training of a bitter German teen (an everyman, like Rogers was), but now the Fuhrer worries that his protege has amassed too much power!
[A-story: Iron Man]
[last issue: Tales of Suspense #65]
[next issue: Tales of Suspense #67]