(I originally read these comics in early/late October 2016)
Picking up what I've long considered to be the J.M. DeMatteis/Mike Zeck run of Captain America after long intending to, I came to discover that's a misnomer. They first combine to good effect in issue # 261, but it's not till later, perhaps # 270, that they start to gel and produce anything very memorable with the introduction of Cap's boyhood friend, Arnie Roth. Once the weakling Steve Rogers' protector, he's now just a tubby, balding schlub whose best years are behind him. You know, like the rest of us. (He's also a 'gay' - but don't whisper it too loudly.) Roth's a worthy addition to Cap's supporting cast, which for a change is quite fleshed out here. In particular, Steve has a romance with neighbour Bernie Rosenthal on the go that experiences its ups and downs when she declares her love for him before he's ready to do the same and also when she finally twigs to his secret identity.
The unstable creative team means the earlier part of DeMatteis' run is littered with fill-in stories by Dave Kraft, though he maintains a decent standard. Issue # 275 memorably introduces Baron Helmut Zemo, son of Cap's wartime nemesis and future Thunderbolt. Rat-man Vermin, now best remembered from 'Kraven's Last Hunt', debuts in # 272. Viper makes a worthwhile return and the writer resurrects forgotten rogue the Scarecrow with some success; less so the Porcupine. The most significant return is that of Jack Monroe, the 1950s Bucky, who after being resuscitated after a long period in suspended animation much like Cap himself, becomes his new crime-fighting partner, Nomad. Issues 286-288 conclude the future saga of cyborg, Deathlok (reviewed in full here).
DeMatteis' run begins to rumble towards its conclusion as early as # 290 with the debut of Mother Superior, the Red Skull's daughter, though with a pleasing fill-in from Bill Mantlo and an on-form Herb Trimpe in # 291. DeMatteis indulges in some bleeding heart white guilt in # 292 and attempts to make a virtue of pacifism in # 293. In this story, Cap berates Nomad for punching out an armed felon. Let's just repeat that: Cap berates Nomad for punching out an armed bank robber (a "mixed-up kid") WHO WAS POINTING A GUN AT HIM. Oh, well. I guess it was asking too much for DeMatteis to rein in his moronic hippy tendencies forever.
It's around this point my interest started to wane. Paul Neary is not an adequate replacement for Mike Zeck (and he draws some particularly lousy women's faces). The overlong return of, and supposedly final battle with, the Red Skull meanders for too long and proves to be more than a bit anticlimactic.
The annuals produced during this period are all below par. The later two-issue story in Marvel Fanfare, probably originally intended for DeMatteis' run on Marvel Team-Up, is enjoyable, but then I always did have an inexplicable fondness for guest star, Frog Man.
One of Marvel's first limited series appeared in 1983, starring Cap's high-flying, sometime-partner the Falcon. It's routine stuff by Jim Owsley (latterly Christopher Priest), Paul Smith and Mark Bright, with Sam Wilson confronting gang-bangers, battling Electro and ending with a kidnapped Ronald Reagan being lectured as to how tough life is in "da hood." Good grief...
As an extra, here's Mike Zeck's cover art for the 1993 trade paperback, 'Captain America: Deathlok Lives'.
Captain America (1968) # 261-266 and Captain America Annual # 5 are collected in:
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Captain America (1968) # 261-263 are collected in:
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Captain America (1968) # 268 and The Defenders (1972) # 106/107 are collected in:
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The back-up strips from Captain America (1968) # 276-278 and The Falcon (1983) # 1-4 are collected in:
Softcover:
Captain America (1968) # 280 is collected in:
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Captain America (1968) # 286-268 are collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
Captain America (1968) # 290-300 are collected in:
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