Captain America #247 (July 1980)

All the way back in March 2017, I took a look at Captain America #247 (August 1980). It told the tale of Captain America battling the android monster known as the Dragon Man. It was the second issue in the all-too short Roger Stern/John Byrne run on Cap's book. But every run has a beginning. Also, I wanted to make up for not reviewing an issue of Cap's book on the week of America's birthday. As such, here's my look at Captain America #247!

The cover is a John Byrne and Josef Rubinstein piece. It's an exciting and dynamic cover, depicting our man Steve Rogers and SHIELD stalwart Dum-Dum Dugan being ambushed by a flying car driven by the evil Baron von Strucker. This makes you want to crack the comic open and see how this happened and how they're going to get out of this mess.

"By the Dawn's Early Light!"
Writers: Roger Stern, John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: George Roussos
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with our man Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, running across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Naturally, the pedestrians, drivers, bicyclists, and all manner of transportation-users are in awe. After all, even in the Marvel Universe, it's not every day that you see a superhero run through the streets. As he runs, Cap thinks about a few things. He's glad he moved to Brooklyn Heights as he thinks it's a nice neighborhood and thanks to said Brooklyn Bridge, he has easy access to Manhattan. 

But he's not running for fun or to get some exercise in. He's heading towards SHIELD's New York headquarters, hoping to get some issues sorted out. The man realizes that he may be as fast as the best Olympic runners, but even he's going to need some extra speed. So, he takes a ride on a bus. As in he literally rides on a bus.

Cap would ride inside the bus, but he's a cheapskate.

In a nice little moment, Steve asks the driver where he's headed. He's off to Broadway and 75th! Hey, Broadway! Steve can go catch a show while he's out! 

However, Steve has other plans. he gets off at Midtown and does some roof-hopping. So, you may be wondering something. Why is our man in such a hurry? Does SHIELD have an important job for him? Did Vision make some brownies at Avengers Mansion, and Steve has to have one? Well, no. Our man has some memory troubles. it started a week earlier during the events of Captain America #245. One of his fellow tenants, Josh Cooper, threw a surprise party for him. It got ol' Stevie thinking about his sweet 16th birthday, growing up in New York City. Thing was, he remembers his childhood a bit differently, thanks to some "lost" memories that were restored to him in Captain America #225. He makes his way to SHIELD's New York HQ.

And speaking of Joshua Cooper, we look in on him at 569 Leaman Place in Brooklyn Heights. This was where Steve was living at the time. 

"It's the check for $75,000 his Uncle Mike left him in his will."

Joshua has a letter for Steve, but unknown to him, our man is off getting his head fixed up. His fellow tenant, firefighter Mike Farrell, has someone he wants him to meet. Meanwhile, back at SHIELD's offices, Cap doesn't find Nick Fury Senior, but instead his right-hand man, Aloysius "Dum Dum" Dugan and his bowler hat. 

"Whaddaya want, Cap? Yer interruptin' my loungin' time!"

Cap explains his predicament to Dugan. Thanks to the events of issue #225, he remembers growing up in Maryland. He was the son of a diplomat, and that he had a brother named Mike who died in the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. These memories are vivid, but they don't feel right. Cap has looked into the Army's records. They do substantiate these memories, but as Dugan has pointed out, Army records can be altered or faked. Cap was hoping Fury could help him find the truth. Thing was, Fury was just as suspicious as Steve was of these memories. As such, he had some checking done. They haven't found all the answers, but SHIELD may have found something that could help clear things up.

So, where is Fury off to, anyway? He's gone to jail.

No, he didn't commit a crime. He's visiting a maximum-security prison outside of Ithaca, New York. You see, an inmate there was an old..."friend" of his.

"Yes, the monocle makes me feel classy!"

Yes, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, the founder of the modern incarnation of HYDRA. Fury is surprised to see him alive as the last time these two old enemies met, Strucker was seemingly fried like an egg by the events of Strange Tales #158. And then Strucker returned to battle Rogers in Captain America #130-131. Strucker has been interrogated about his survival since then. He didn't reveal how he survived then, and he will not now. Especially to Fury. But it doesn't matter, as Fury's got some news for him: Strucker is going to get extradited to Israel, where he will be tried for war crimes for his actions during WWII. However, Nick gets a call from Dugan. 

Cap has arrived. Fury tells him to take the Star-Spangled Avenger to Fort Dix. Strucker takes advantage of Fury's being distracted to reveal a nasty little surprise: a smoke bomb.

Meanwhile, at Fort Dix, Cap and Dugan find something in a storage depot: Cap's old foot-locker from the war. Evidently, it's just been lying there in the decades since WWII ended. Among the items our man finds in it are his first badge-shaped shield, and most importantly...

"I wrote my first fanfics in this!"

His old war journal. If this doesn't clarify his memories, nothing will. And yup, it does indeed do the job. The journal reveals that on Christmas Eve 1941, General Chester Phillips had Cap participate in an experiment that planted false memories in his head. This was a way to help protect Rogers if he got captured by the Nazis and pumped for information. This would help confuse them. The false memories would be based on a Walter Rogers, a man who worked for the State Department. This may put him and his wife at risk, but they're willing to take it. After all, they lost their sons Mike and Grant in the Pearl Harbor attack. It's the least they can do. A couple days after Christmas, Steve was given the false memories.

"I-also-freakin'-love-cheesesteaks..."

The old war journal helped get everything straight. Steve Rogers' middle name being Grant? Having an older brother named Michael? Growing up in Maryland with a father named Walter and mother named Elizabeth? All false. Rogers grew up poor in the Lower East Side in Manhattan, the son of Irish immigrants Joseph and Sarah Rogers. He was orphaned in his teenage years and wanted to go to art school. That's his true past. Cap's head is all back together.

And not a moment too soon, as Baron von Strucker has chosen to pick a fight with the All-American Avenger.

"Surprise, motherfreedomlovers!"

Nick Fury's hovercar was made not just because hovercars are freakin' cool. According to Dugan, it has more weaponry than a bunch of tanks. Which Strucker has no qualms using on our heroes.

Making things worse, Cap is cut off from his round Mighty Shield. As such, he's forced to use his first one. Thing is, that badge shield is not as durable (thanks to it not being made of the vibranium-iron alloy like the round shield), so Cap has to improvise. Which he does in the form of tossing a rock into one of the hovercar's turbines. This causes Strucker to crash.

However, the old monster doesn't go down that easy. He shoots at Cap and Dugan, managing to hit Dugan in the shoulder. Good thing Strucker missed his hat. That would have made Dugan mad. Cap charges and tosses his old shield at the HYDRA founder. It works in distracting the baron, allowing Cap to lay a Mighty American Punch to Strucker's face. But Baron Strucker has one more trick up his sleeve.

Baron Strucker takes the phrase "Red Right Hand" very literally.

Behold! The Satan Claw! If you ever watched the animated series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, you may have seen Strucker use this fancy glove. First appearing in Stange Tales #157 (March 1967), there have been several Claws over the years, all fitted with various weaponry. Strucker continues battling with the Claw, having Cap on the backfoot.

Meanwhile, Cap is wondering how Strucker managed to fit said Satan Claw under his jumpsuit's glove.

Thankfully, Fury wakes up from the gas bomb. He finds Cap's round shield, and tosses it to the Star-Spangled Avenger, and Cap uses it to crush the Satan Claw.

With that, Strucker is defeated. Cap gets him to his feet, Fury saying that the HYDRA founder's next stop is Tel Aviv. Cap notes that Strucker is taking this far too calmly. Something is up. And it's revealed that, well, yes. Something is up. Strucker gives one final defiant Nazi salute...and then explodes. 

Yes, the Strucker that we had been dealing with...was a robot. It was a pretty well-made robot, too. Not to mention this is the Marvel Universe. There are no shortage of skilled robot-makers out there. There are plenty of suspects. Thankfully, the comic ends with the revelation of this robot's builder.

"Soon, Captain America...you will gawk in amazement of my weird beard!"

Yes, it's Samuel "Saxon" Starr, aka the Machinesmith. First appearing in Daredevil #49 (February 1969), he's a brilliant roboticist, and he's one of Marvel's few openly gay supervillains. He also briefly held the mantle of Mr. Fear before this point.

I think this comic was really good. It's a very strong start to what would be a great run that was sadly cut all too short. We set up some potential drama with Cap's personal life, as well as a bit of continuity-fixing, revealing the supposedly-back from the dead Strucker was a robot. The real Strucker would return from the grave, but that is another story from another time. Not to mention the re-establishing of Cap's canon origins as an Irish-American immigrant from NYC. The fight between Cap, Dugan, and Strucker was pretty darn exciting as well. 

Strong writing in this comic was backed up by equally strong art from the tag team of John Byrne's pencils and Josef Rubinstein's ink brushes. They work very well together. There's great storytelling and expressiveness in the art. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2007 trade paperback Captain America: War and Remembrance. This comic has also been reprinted in the 2014 trade paperback Captain America Epic Collection Vol. 9. Dawn's Early Light. This trade was reprinted in 2021. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give this blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!

Nintendo Classics July 2026 Update, My Thoughts

Four more games have come to the Nintendo Switch Online service! A platformer, a puzzle/fighter, an RPG, and a puzzle compilation! Not big in number, but hopefully big in quality! Let's look at the trailer!

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 - Developed and published by Nintendo, released in 1993. The third game in the Super Mario Land trilogy (although it's not about Mario), you play as the "Bad Mario" himself, as he travels an island seeking treasure so he can have a castle of his own. This was the first game in which Wario was the protagonist (his debut in the last Mario Land game was as a villain). This game was praised for its graphics and length but was given more mixed reception for its difficulty.

I have played the first two Mario Land games and enjoyed the heck out of them, although admittedly, I liked the second one more. I have never played this one, and I don't know why. Maybe because it didn't seem like a Mario Land game to me. I mean, it wasn't even about Mario! Of course, nowadays, I know they gave it the subtitle for the purpose of marketing. It clearly worked, as the game sold five million copies and Wario got his own series of games out of it. I loved Wario World.

Fortified Zone - Developed and published by Jalico. Released in Japan in February 1991 and America in September 1991. In this game, you play as a pair of mercenaries named Masato and Mizuki as you fight through various environments to penetrate a military fortress/stronghold. The game was given mixed reviews on release. It was praised for its mix of action and puzzle elements but got criticism for its short length and difficulty curve. It would get a sequel for the Game Boy in 1992 that was not released in Japan.

I personally think this game will be an interesting playing experience. It seems like a game whose big strength is its concept.

And of course they have to deal with giant enemy crabs!

The Sword of Hope II - Developed and published by Kemco. Released in Japan in 1992, North America in 1996. The sequel to the 1989 game The Sword of Hope, you play as Prince Theo of the kingdom of Riccar. As Theo, you must retrieve the titular weapon from the evil menace known as Zakdos. The game was given mixed reviews, mainly for slow battles that made the game a chore. It was still seen as a good enough game for those who wanted an RPG on the go.

Heh heh. Blop. That's a funny name for a monster. I'm guessing Blops are kind of like Slimes in the Dragon Quest games, the easy enemies that you beat to learn how to play.

Dr. Mario and Puzzle League - Released in 1995. A port of the 1990 Nintendo-developed NES game Dr. Mario bundled with the Intelligent Systems-developed Puzzle League, a pair of puzzle games. In the former, you play as the titular doctor, who uses multi-colored vitamins to destroy viruses. In the latter, you must form rows or columns of three identical blocks to keep them from filling up a well. What reviews I did find heaped praise on this compilation. 

One of the first games I remember playing a lot was Tetris back in the day. And I think I did play a little bit of the original Dr. Mario back in the day. I remember doing so, but not exactly when. If you like puzzle games, these are a fun option. 

Out of these four, I think I'm most excited to play Wario Land and Dr. Mario/Puzzle League. Those sound like the best games in the batch. I do enjoy a good RPG, so I may also give Sword of Hope a shot as well. It's nice that these games are being brought here not just for the people who played them in the past, but that these games can get new fans. And I hope they do. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give my blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!

Kung Fu Soccer Teaser, My Thoughts

In 2001, the Hong Kong film Shaolin Soccer was released. Starring, co-written, and directed by Stephen Chow, the film told the tale of a group of Shaolin monks who must bring their kung fu skills to the soccer pitch. The film was Stephen Chow's international breakout, and it has been regarded as a cult classic. I myself have seen the film, and it's pretty darn good. And now after over 25 years, we're getting the spiritual sequel: Kung Fu Soccer! This film tells the tale of a women's soccer team as they fight to win a tournament! Let's look at the trailer!

Whoa, she kicked that ball so hard, it got people singing!

That lady nearly killed that bird!

Whoever kicked that ball needs more practice! They nearly knocked a whole passenger plane out of the sky! You want that on your conscience, pal?!

Well, I can safely say that I will enjoy this movie. I really liked Shaolin Soccer, so I can see this one being just as enjoyable. Considering it's Stephen Chow, I'm expecting some hilarity and heart! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give this blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!

Supergirl #2 (October 1996)

The last time the Maid of Might graced this blog in a solo book was just last April with my look at Supergirl #18 (April 1984). But that version of Supergirl is not the focus of this week, review. In fact, this version of Supergirl is arguably one of the least famous incarnations of the character: Linda Danvers. This version of Supergirl was born back in Supergirl #1 (September 1996), born from the merger of a dying woman named Linda Danvers and the protoplasmic lifeform known as Matrix, who was active as Supergirl at the time. This left the newly combined being with fragmented memories of Linda's life. So, where do we go from here? Let's find out in Supergirl #2! 

The cover is a Gary Frank piece. It's really cool. It's alike a horror movie poster, depicting Linda/Mae trying to fight a massive cat-like demon. This would make one heck of a movie.

"Cat's Paw"
Writer: Peter David
Penciler: Gary Frank
Inker: Cam Smith
Colorists: Gene D'Angelo, Digital Chameleon
Letterer: Patricia Prentice
Editor: Chris Duffy
Executive Editor: Gary Frank

The story begins with the newly combined form of Linda Danvers and the Matrix Supergirl, aka Mae Kent, looking through Linda's old photos, trying to piece together the person they once were. Mae has sensations when she looks at these photos. One photo in particular that get sensations going is one of her and Buzz, the man who tried to kill Linda. 

"Linda realized that she accidentally mismatched her underwear that day."

She's disgusted but at the same time, her skin tingles with desire. Mae realizes that this is the man who knifed Linda. However, she gets interrupted by Mattie Harcourt, who comes into the room with her parents: Fred and Sylvia Danvers. And they are actually pretty happy to see that "Linda" is seemingly alive and well.

"Did you get that thing we sent you?"

They wonder why she was hiding in a closet, and she gives an excuse that she got spooked by the noise. They buy it. After all, from their perspective, Linda survived something very harrowing. It's natural that she'd have some form of scarring and trauma from that whole thing. 

As this is going down, Cutter Sharp witnesses a member of Buzz's cult seemingly kidnapping a child. He follows, muttering there's never a cop around when you need one. He ain't wrong.

Fred tries to convince her to get checked out. After all, "Linda" has no memories of what happened in that warehouse, and it could be a sign of a physical problem. Remember, he is unaware the "Linda" he's talking to is an amalgamation of Linda and Matrix. She tries to convince everyone she is fine, until she sees a giant hand reaching for her. 

"I'M TELLING YOU! I DON'T HAVE YOUR PANTS!"

Her parents think "Linda" is hallucinating. The demonic hand passes through Mae, unable to touch her. This is the hand of the demon Chakat. And he's not a happy camper. He's especially angry at Buzz, as the blond sociopath said Linda's blood would help him fully appear in the material plane. Yet, he still can't touch anything! He still cannot interact with the material plane. Come on, Buzz! That demon wants to go to Vegas! He wants to play some blackjack, see the sights! Be a bro!

Chakat would punish Buzz for this...somehow, but something's got him spooked. The demon claims that he must hide, as "they" are coming closer. Buzz has to hurry. Luckily for him, he spots Cutter, who is pursing the van he spotted earlier. The reporter ends up being surrounded by other vans, and Buzz introduces himself. 

We next look in on a local hospital. Evidently Linda had agreed to get checked out after all. And the doctor thinks she's perfectly fine.

There's no sign of concussion or anything like that. However, there's also no scar from an appendectomy she had four years earlier. Linda was also shot in a mugging last year. There's no physical sign of that, either. Heck, Linda's eyes had changed colors as well. Last issue established that Linda originally had brown eyes, but thanks to the merger with the Matrix Supergirl, they're now blue. The doctor isn't sure what exactly caused all those scars to vanish, but he attributes the eye color change to stress. Yeah, I don't know if that's an actual thing. 

As the doctor and "Linda"'s family talk, Mae herself ponders her current state. Basically, the merger has left the new combined being with some of Linda's looks and fragmented memories. She feels a great amount of love for this family, but at the same time, they are strangers to her. It's here she gets a visit. 

"Hey there, champ! Still on for that human sacrifice next week?"

Yup, Buzz is here. He clearly has some sorcerous power that allows him to pull it off. She insists he's not here, but in a way, he is. He wants to help clear up some of Linda's confusion as to who he is...and what Linda was all about.

Remember the photo of Linda and Buzz from the beginning? Well, Mae now knows how it was taken. Buzz had a camera in hand, asking Linda how she felt. The young woman admitted that she felt a rush.

Buzz hands the camera to a dwarf buddy of his named Humbert, wanting to immortalize this moment on film. He asks Linda to take off her shirt and embrace him. The dwarf takes the photo. So, why did Linda feel a rush? Well, turns out lying nearby...was a corpse with several knives in its back. Yup. Linda helped Buzz kill someone. 

Buzz taunts Mae, revealing that he not only knows she's Supergirl, he also knows that she wanted a soul. Now thanks to the merging with Linda, she's got one. A soul blackened and stained with innocent blood. A soul that happily embraced Buzz's evil. A freaked-out Mae flies out in her Supergirl form, screaming at Buzz to get out of her head. 

Buzz tells her he had fun seducing Linda into his little Chaos Cult, but doing it to Supergirl? Now that will be a true challenge. 

Mae screams that this was Buzz's fault, that Linda wasn't in control. However, Buzz points out she was. And he's...not wrong about that. It is true that Buzz is an evil son of a gun, but again...he's not wrong. Based on what we've seen, he didn't force Linda to follow him. He didn't make Linda help him put knives in that person's back. She willingly went along with it and enjoyed it. She even outright said she got a rush from it. So, yeah. Things are a bit more complicated than Mae thinks. Buzz calls for her. She follows, if only because she wants to put a fist down the punk's throat.

The trail leads to a closed movie theater, where Humbert has stabbed Cutter in front of a projection of the demon Chakat shown to a cheering crowd.

Cutter realized Humbert was not going to help with his appendicitis.

Supergirl bursts in, and Chakat emerges from the screen, much to her horror. Yes, Cutter's blood was what allowed Chakat to finally enter this plane.

She may not have been able to stop Chakat from crossing over, so that means it's time to hand the demon a beating. She goes right up into the demon's face, knocking him back into his own realm, taking her with him as well. She struggles against Chakat, demanding he stay away from Earth. Chakat mocks her by pointing out that Earth's already been invaded. It's been that way for centuries. His people are already there, they're just waiting for him, so they can stay away from other beings that have been pursuing them.

As he talks, Supergirl is able to break his sword, and cut into his shoulder. Outside, Buzz spots some cops outside. He plays the innocent bystander, telling them he thinks a murder is being committed in there. They agree to check it out, much to Buzz's delight. 

Chakat taunts that Supergirl can't defeat him. Only one problem with that. She wasn't trying to do beat him. She had heard Chakat when he said he was being pursued. Remember when she cut the demon's shoulder? She figured that the blood spilled from it was as signal to his pursuers. Her gamble ends up royally paying off, as a pair of large demons with pitbull heads show up. Not the rapper, actual pitbulls, the dogs. In particular, they appear to resemble American Bullies.

These big dog demons tell Chakat the chase is over, as they have finally found him. Chakat screams for Mae to save him, but she's like "Nah", and flies off. She goes through the portal to Earth, grabs Cutter, and flies off as the building explodes.

That theatre went up real good. You know the city's going to want to put up apartment buildings in its place.

Later, Supergirl watches over Cutter in the hospital. She thinks about Buzz's words. As much as she hates to admit it, Buzz was right. Linda Danvers was not a good person. The darkness was already in her. All Buzz did was exploit it. However, maybe the merging between Mae and Linda was meant to happen as a way to redeem her. A way to save her for a higher purpose. And Mae intends to find out what that higher purpose is. 

A crowd gathers around the destroyed old theater. One lady remarks that this town seems to be going straight to Hell. Buzz walks by and tells her it's not the case. The town is not going straight to Hell. After all, there are some detours planned, and isn't half the fun of going to Hell the journey?

This issue is pretty good. It helped set up what would be a couple of the themes of Peter David's Supergirl run, mainly ones of religion, faith, and redemption. Angels and demons would become part of this series, as a way to make her stand out from the pre-Crisis Supergirl. The story is not perfect, but that does not mean it's enjoyable. One of my favorite parts of the story is the revelation that this version of Linda Danvers was not a good person. It's a very good and intriguing twist and helps set up Mae's future adventures trying to not get Linda redeemed but also find out why Linda should be redeemed. I mean, the DC Universe has its fair share of people who are rotten to the core, so what makes Linda so special? Also, it will be neat seeing Mae try to connect with Linda's friends and family. 

I admit, I think Buzz was a bit overly obvious as a villain. However, rereading the story, I think it does make a bit of sense. I got the idea that Buzz revels in his dark nature because he believes he is unstoppable. He thinks he's untouchable, so yeah. Of course he's going to revel in his evil nature. 

I'm more familiar with Gary Frank's art in Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes, and it looks so different here. I think that may be due to style evolution and different inkers. His work is really good here. It has a clean, almost Silver Age-like quality, which helps juxtapose against the brutality of Buzz. I love his rendition of Buzz. You can see the evil and madness in him.

If you want to read this story for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2016 trade paperback Supergirl by Peter David, Book One. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give this blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!

Fourth of July Captain America Reading List

Since today is the Fourth of July, I thought I'd give out a list of my reviews of Captain America's adventures over the years. After all, what better time to enjoy the trials and tribulations of the Star-Spangled Avenger, huh?

 

Captain America #1 (January 2005) - The beginning of the Winter Soldier storyline, revealing one of the most shocking retcons in Marvel history: after decades of being seemingly dead, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was not only alive, but he had also seemingly broke bad. However, things were not quite what they seemed.

Captain America #20 (August 1999) - During Mark Waid and Andy Kubert's run on the book, Steve had experienced a couple of shakeups. One was that his mighty shield, thought to be completely indestructible, had shattered like glass. Another was that an old flame long thought dead had also been alive. Huh, bit of foreshadowing for Winter Soldier. And as things go, Steve's broken shield was a sign of a bigger crisis.

Captain America #398 (March 1992) - The events of Operation: Galactic Storm (a criminally underrated crossover, if you ask me) hit Earth as our man Steve Rogers ends up battling the alien robotic enforcer pair known as Warstar.

Truth: Red, White, and Black #1 (January 2003) - The success of Captain America would inspire others in the Marvel Universe to create their own supersoldiers. The United States was no exception. One attempt involved a man named Isaiah Bradley.

Tales of Suspense #80 (August 1966) - A sample of Marvel's swingin' Sixties Silver Age, this tale told of how the Red Skull first obtained an item that he would be associated with for many years in the comics afterward: the Cosmic Cube. The Cube is a device that uses cosmic energies to alter reality based on the whims of the user. And our man Cap has to stop the evil Skull from getting his fascist paws on it.

Captain America #357 (Early September 1989), Captain America #358 (Late September 1989) - These two comics are part of another underrated Cap story, The Bloodstone Hunt. This storyline was Captain America paying tribute to pulp adventure stories in the vein of Indiana Jones. Makes sense, as The Last Crusade came out in 1989.

Captain America #107 (November 1968) - Captain America may be a supersoldier, but even he is only human. Even he can struggle with nightmares and regrets. Which is what he deals with here, and of course, he ends up dealing with the evil psychologist known as Doctor Faustus.

Captain America Annual #13 (1994) - A mighty flashback tale from Roy Thomas and Arvell Jones, this annual tells the tale of the Red Skull attempting to grab a strongbox that he believed contained a weapon to dominate the world. This tale is set predominantly in the 40s and 50s, and weaves in pre-established comic continuity. I love this story. 

Captain America #332 (August 1987), Captain America #333 (September 1987), Captain America #341 (May 1988) - In the 1980s, Mark Gruenwald was penning Cap's book, and it was under him we'd get the epic saga Captain America No More. Basically, the government wants Rogers to operate under their thumb, and Rogers refuses. He felt that Captain America should not be used as a tool or a stooge. He made it more than that. Rather than compromise his principles, he hands in his costume and shield. He continues operating as "The Captain", while former Super-Patriot and future USAgent John Walker takes up the mantle of Captain America...and being Cap turns out to be tougher than he thought. 

Captain America #300 (December 1984) - All feuds have an end. And this comic promised the final battle between Captain America and the original Red Skull. The two would battle again in the future, but this was one heck of a fight, including an epic retelling of the Skull's origins. 

Captain America and the Falcon #175 (July 1974) - The climax of the original Secret Empire storyline created in response to Watergate, this storyline caused Rogers' faith in the American government to be shaken for a while, even giving up the identity of Captain America for a time. 

Captain America #255 (March 1981) - Part of the short but spectacular Roger Stern/John Byrne run on Cap's book in the early 80s, this comic is a retelling of Steve Rogers' origins and how he came to be Captain America. I can imagine The First Avenger took inspiration from this comic.

And that's a list of fun Cap stories to read! While it's not a complete list of his stories I looked at, these represent some of my favorite eras of the book. Who knows, maybe they'll make you a fan as well! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give this blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time, and have a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

For those not in the know, the Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day, is essentially America's birthday. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which was their stating that the Thirteen Colonies, which would become America's first 13 states, were breaking off from Great Britain. Congress would make it a federal holiday in 1938.

The holiday is traditionally celebrated with parades, barbecues, baseball games, concerts, and carnivals. And at night, beautiful displays of fireworks are shown all over the country, from major cities to small towns. All for saying "Happy Birthday" to the nation. This Fourth of July is special as 2026 celebrates the 250th birthday of the United States!
 
I hope you all enjoy this day! Enjoy the hot dogs and the parades, and don't forget to watch the fireworks! And most importantly, be safe. Thank you for reading this blog entry! I you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give this blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!

World Meerkat Day

 Today is World Meerkat Day!

If you're like me, you may have first heard of meerkats from the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. The character of Timon is a meerkat. But what is a meerkat, exactly? Well, contrary to what their name suggests, they are not cats. They are not remotely related to felines at all. Meerkats are actually a species of mongoose. 

Meerkats are native to southern Africa. They make their homes in rocky crevices, but they're mainly known for living in plains, where they dig systems of tunnels that they can retreat to for protection from predators (like tawny eagles and black-backed jackals) and harsher weather.

Meerkats are very social animals. They're "people people"...or is that "animal animals" in this case? Anyway, meerkats form packs that can consist of as many as 30 members. Members take turns taking care of the kids and watching out for predators. Older meerkats often get higher "ranks" in the pack. Packs can be pretty violent to each other. 

Meerkats mainly eat insects, but they have also been known to enjoy eggs, scorpions (scorpion venom is useless against the meerkat), small birds and mammals, and even plants and seeds. I can imagine a meerkat on Iron Chef would make some...interesting recipes. They aren't the type to chase after prey, often finding food by digging and turning up rocks.

Meerkats can breed all year, but they mostly do it during months of heavy rainfall. Meerkat gestation periods are around 60-70 days, and they can birth between three to seven pups a litter. How many litters of pups a female meerkat has often depends on if she is the dominant female in the pack or not. Dominant females can have up to four litters a year. 

Meerkats aren't considered especially endangered, but the effects of climate change can have negative impacts on packs, increasing temperatures and less rainfall harming pack growth. 

Yes, meerkats are fascinating animals. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! See you next time!