Captain America #372 (Early July 1990) - Review

Hello, and welcome to Classic Comic Showcase, the segment on my blog where I look at an old comic and see if it is good or not!

Comics can draw from all sorts of things for inspiration from stories. One source of inspiration they have turned to since the Golden Age is well...current events. Many of the longest-lasting superheroes emerged around the time of World War II. One of them was the First Avenger, Captain America!

Appropriately, Captain America's creative teams have drawn from the headlines for stories. Post-9/11, Cap dealt with terrorism. In WWII, he dealt with the Nazis. And in the early 90s, he dealt with the War on Drugs, one of the big issues of the time.

I also would like to correct a little mistake. In my last comic review, I said we would take a trip to 1991. I made a mistake, this issue came out in 1990. Yeah, it may be no big deal to many of you, but it does bother me a bit. You may also notice that this issue was said to come out in EARLY July. I'm reviewing this issue from the Streets of Poison Epic Collection (By the way, I LOVE the Epic Collection line, and I'm trying to get every one I can, even the Star Wars ones), and according to the issues collected, Captain America must've come out twice a month for a while. The series went back to monthly with October 1990's Captain America #378. I'm not sure why that is, maybe the comic had a surge in sales for a while. Or maybe it was for the story. I don't know.

"Sold On Ice!"
Mark Gruenwald - Writer
Ron Lim - Pencils
Danny Bulanadi - Inks
Joe Rosen - Letterer
Steve Buccelatto - Colors
Ralph Macchio - Editor
Tom DeFalco - Editor-in-Chief

The comic begins with Captain America flying through New York City in his skycycle. I'm guessing the other Avengers saw Hawkeye using one and thought "Hey, Clint's on to something, we should make those for everybody!".

"Did I leave the oven on in Avengers Mansion? Ah, this'll bother me all day..."

Cap thinks about taking Diamondback, his Catwoman to his Batman at the time on a spin on it when he sees what appears to be a costumed person watching the building she is residing in with binoculars. Amusingly, that person is singing "Bust a Move".

"Hey, I love that song! Maybe he's up for a duet!"

Cap discovers that it is Boomslang, a member of the Serpent Society...who are essentially a supervillain trade union. I love the concept. They're not to be confused with the Sons of the Serpent, Marvel's answer to the KKK. Anyway, Boomslang realizes that Cap is behind him, and freaks out.

"OMIGOD! CAP'S AFTER THE PIZZA ROLLS! I HAVE TO GET SOME BEFORE HE EATS THEM ALL!"

Cap chases after him, and desperate to hide, Boomslang runs into an alley. Gunshots are heard, and Cap discovers a group of gang members have shot the supervillain. You'd think the members of the Serpent Society would make sure their costumes are bulletproof at the least.

"Oh my God, they killed Boomslang! You bastards!"

The gang members, feeling cocky and being stupid...Seriously, this is Captain America! This guy has battled super-villains and beings that would make those punks wet themselves! Anyway, being stupid, the punks try to shoot Cap. Cap demonstrates his being the real deal by whupping the gang members' butts, and then gets the wounded Boomslang to a hospital, where there's a 50/50 chance he will pull through. If he does, he'll be very thankful he's part of a union. Actual benefits and all that.

His mood soured by these events, Cap decides to go back to Avengers HQ and relax when one of the Avengers' ground crew tells him something is up with one of the other workers: one Fabian Stankiewicz. Yes, at the time, the Avengers had a ground crew to help with maintenance of the Quinjets and the Mansion and the like. I always liked this concept, and it's a real shame current Avengers team don't use such a crew. Or if they are, they don't really give them any spotlight.

As for Stankiewicz himself, he has an interesting history. A mechanical genius, he started out as the supervillain Mechano-Marauder out for attention, only to get his butt kicked repeatedly by the Avengers. After a while, he got tired of getting his butt handed to him by the Avengers, so he tried to become a superhero called Mechanaut. He failed to join the Avengers, but Captain America offered him a spot in the ground crew, figuring his inventive skills would come in handy.

Fabian's been acting weird and hasn't slept in days, so Cap wants to see if he is alright.

Cap checks up on him, seeing him building something. He also notes that Fabian, normally rather chunky, has slimmed down quite noticeably. Fabian explains that he is working on a debugging device. When Cap asks what its for, Fabian immediately goes bugnuts.

"The Jeffersons have unleashed horses in my brain bootybootybooty I AM BATMAN!"

I love that panel. I don't know why. Maybe because it makes me think of Beavis. Heh heh, heh heh, fire fire fire, heh heh, heh heh, heh heh...

He thinks Cap is an impostor, so Cap asks if he is on something. After initially denying it, Fabian admits he is using drugs. He says he used them to help him deal with the pressure he felt working for the Avengers. He always felt he never truly earned the team's trust due to his supervillain past, and the high allowed him to work harder than ever. He explains the drug is called Ice, and it's essentially crack on steroids. He pleads with Cap not to kick him out, as the job was his life. Cap reassures him that he won't kick him out, as long as Fabian agrees to go to rehab.

Cap also explains that the Avengers are role models, and they can't tolerate illegal substance use. This makes Fabian retort that Cap technically owes his own abilities to a drug: The Super-Soldier Serum.

"How is that different?" "Uhhh...IT JUST IS! Now let's get some ice cream."

Later, at the scene of the crime, two men arrive at the site of Cap's battle, no, utter curbstomping of the gang members.

"I don't care if you're supposed to go under the pole! I'm steppin' over! I can't bend that low, man!"

These two men are called Lowlife (the white guy), and Groundchuck (The black guy). How did these two guys get those names? I'm guessing Lowlife got his name because, well, look at him. He looks like the creepy guy you find at street corners who want to show you something cool. And Groundchuck got his name because he really likes meat. That makes sense. A ground chuck is a cut of steak, after all.

The two men are sent packing by an unknown woman in spandex.

"Lowlife, you know I HATE cosplayers!" "Dude, they're not bothering anybody."

Cap does some research on the drug Fabian was taking. The drug is called Ice, a form of meth.

"Computer screens hurt my eyes."

Something about that computer screen does bother me, though. Besides that it's clearly plain text on a bright green panel. It says that it was only a matter of time before the drug reached the American mainland from Hawaii. Yeah, I think that entry was a little late as Cap discovered that Ice is in New York City already.

There is something about that scene I do like, though. Cap recalls a point Fabian had made about the Super-Soldier Serum that made Cap what he was being a drug in itself. Cap admits Fabian may be on to something, as despite the fact that the Serum only benefitted him and he never suffered because of it (Cap was a sickly person before the Serum), so technically, he used a drug, too. He also wonders if the Super-Soldier Serum may have been a forerunner to illegal steroids. In the Marvel Universe, that would not surprise me if that was true.

He decides to start doing something about the drug problem. Yeah, because a complex problem like that can easily be solved by shield-slinging.

We cut to a jail cell with unusual accommodations. After all, the prisoner himself is unusual. Spoiler Alert: It's Bullseye.

"Just because I will remorselessly kill someone with it doesn't mean I don't deserve solid food!"

Bullseye's jail cell is specially designed so he can't use any objects in it to kill anyone, as he is a remorseless killer, and he can use any object with lethal force. The comic says the ACLU were fighting against this, which makes me wonder if they are even the slightest bit aware of who this guy is and what he can do, I think they'd be understanding.

Despite the special measures, Bullseye is able to get out by knocking his head against the wall and loosening one of his teeth. When the guards come to his aid, he is able to overpower them, and uses one as a hostage to escape.

"FREEDOM, HERE I COME!"

Back at Avengers Headquarters, Cap finds out where Fabian got his Ice, and uses a disguise to meet the dealer. In a moment of cleverness, Cap takes advantage of a pusher mistaking him for a disguised Punisher.

"So...you got any of that Street Fighter thing the kids are into these days?"

Using the ploy, Cap is able to, make a long story short, find the warehouse where the Ice is supplied from. Unfortunately, the warehouse is not refrigerated, so they have to move the Ice quick, or it will all melt away. Yeah, bad joke, I apologize.

Cap bursts in, noticing that no one is there...except for one man, calling himself Napalm. He explains he can do this really cool party trick, but only one time. What's the trick?

Kablooie.

"We're going out with a BANG, baby! WHOO!"

Will Captain America survive this? Well...yeah. He does.

The rest of the issue is a backup tale, focusing on Lemar Hoskins, aka Battlestar. He is camped out in front of the West Coast Avengers compound in Palos Verde, California. Yes, the Avengers had a West Coast-based team for a while in the 80s and early 90s. It was a concept I always thought was really cool, and it would be nice to see one of all the Avengers teams running around these days be based on the West Coast.

Hoskins finds his target: John Walker, aka USAgent, who was a West Coast Avenger at the time. He uses a special sniper rifle to get his attention. Walker claims to not recognize him, even though they were old friends. Hoskins recaps to Walker about their friendship and their time working together, and even Walker's time as Captain America when Steve Rogers quit in the "Captain America No More" storyline. Hoskins himself first got the superheroic identity of Battlestar during that time.

He also recaps Walker's faked assassination, which is another story. Hoskins explains that he got suspicious of Walker's death when his body disappeared from the morgue, and he got Valerie Cooper to confess that Walker was alive, but claimed he was undercover. All he wants to know is why this happened, but Walker claims he is not him.

Hoskins insists he is, even reminding Walker of his birthplace and family...including his dead parents. Yeah, during his time as Captain America, Walker's ID was exposed by two embittered former friends of his, and an ultra-right-wing group known as the Watchdogs kidnapped his parents. Walker tried to save them, but died in the process, making Walker go crazy for a while.

Walker loses it, screaming his parents are not dead, and whacks Hoskins right in the face. Hoskins vows to make him see some sense. The backup tale isn't much more than a recap and reminder of Walker and Hoskins' history together, and Mark Bagley's art is very well-done. I see no real issues with it.

Captain America #372 is...an interesting comic. It's not a bad comic, just...an interesting one. Mark Gruenwald was known for using Cap to explore various social and political ills, so it's not surprising that he would want to explore the scourge of drugs. One of my favorite parts of the issue is the description of Bullseye's cell. I thought it was very clever, as well as the revealing they tranq the man before giving him a bath and medical checkup. I like little clever moments of genre-savvy like that.

The issue is a set-up issue, the beginnings of the "Streets of Poison" storyline, and it does its job. Not a bad little comic. If you find the Streets of Poison Epic Collection, pick it up. I love Mark Gruenwald's Cap run, and I think you may enjoy it, too.

And here's my previous comic reviews:
- Action Comics #644 (August 1989): http://randomrockinblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/action-comics-644-august-1989-review.html
- The Punisher Annual #4 (1991): http://randomrockinblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-punisher-annual-4-1991-review.html
- Skull the Slayer #1 (August 1975): http://randomrockinblog.blogspot.com/2015/08/skull-slayer-1-august-1975-review.html
- Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961): http://randomrockinblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/fantastic-four-1-november-1961-part-1.html (Part 1), http://randomrockinblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/fantastic-four-1-november-1961-part-2.html (Part 2)
- Marvel Preview #4 (January 1976): http://randomrockinblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/marvel-preview-4-january-1976.html
- Spider-Man 2099 #1 (2014): http://randomrockinblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/spider-man-2099-1-september-2014.html
- New Warriors #1 (2014): http://randomrockinblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/new-warriors-1-2014-my-first-comic.html