Captain America Epic Collection, Vol. 13: Justice is Served

Captain America Epic Collection

by Mark Gruenwald, J.M. DeMatteis, John Byrne (Penciller/Writer)

Cap faces a Scourge on the Marvel Universe! A super villain serial killer is on the loose, marking every death with an enigmatic "Justice is served!" As the bodies pile up, can the Living Legend take down this Scourge of the Underworld before there are no more criminals left to fight? And as if Scourge wasn't enough, there's Blue Streak, Flag-Smasher and the Slug to contend with! Other heroes can be just as much trouble - like enthusiastic D-Man, savage Wolverine and misguided Super-Patriot! But the government itself might strike the final blow! Between friends, foes and ghosts from his past - by the end of this story, Steve Rogers will be Captain America no more! Collecting CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #318-332 and ANNUAL #8, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #278, material from MARVEL FANFARE (1982) #29 and #31-32, and more.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Collections, Science Fiction, Fantasy

512 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2017

About the author

Gruenwald got his start in comics fandom, publishing his own fanzine, Omniverse, which explored the concept of continuity. Before being hired by Marvel, he wrote text articles for DC Comics official fanzine, The Amazing World of DC Comics. Articles by Gruenwald include "The Martian Chronicles" (a history of the Martian Manhunter) in issue #13 and several articles on the history of the Justice League in issue #14.

In 1978 he was hired by Marvel Comics, where he remained for the rest of his career. Hired initially as an assistant editor in January 1978, Gruenwald was promoted to full editorship by Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter in 1982, putting Gruenwald in charge of The Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spider Woman, and What If. During this period, he shared an office with writer/editor Denny O'Neil, whom Gruenwald considered a mentor.


In 1982, Gruenwald, Steven Grant, and Bill Mantlo co-wrote Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions, the first limited seriespublished by Marvel Comics. As a writer, Gruenwald is best known for creating the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and his ten-year stint as the writer of Captain America during which he contributed several notable characters such as Crossbones, Diamondback and U.S. Agent. He made a deliberate effort to create villains who would be specific to Captain America, as opposed to generic foes who could as easily have been introduced in another comic.

His 60-issue run on Quasar realized Gruenwald's ambition to write his own kind of superhero. However, he considered his magnum opus to be the mid-1980s 12-issue miniseries Squadron Supreme, which told the story of an alternate universe where a group of well-intended superheroes decide that they would be best suited to run the planet

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This start off with the mystery of The Scourge. This is a unknown person going around killing criminals. Cap is trying to find out who he is while other criminals are beginning to get scared thinking they could be next. This was probably my favorite arc of this book. We get the annual with Wolverine and Cap doing the typical fight each other and then team up to take out the threat. Still ended up being solid tho. We get Cap and Jack Monroe Nomad teaming to take on the Slug. Frog-Man showing up getting caught up in the return of the Yellow Claw and his schemes to take over. Then we also get the Power Broker who has be augmenting people with super strength. However, this causes big problems for the people who the procedure didn’t work properly. Here comes the first appearance of D-Man who helps Cap on this caper. All through the book, Super Patriot keeps showing up trying to challenge Cap to be the new superhero face of the country. Oh and almost forgot the Flag Smasher arc where Cap is forced to do something he never does which haunts him for a few issues. Some ups and downs but an over decent book with some solid art throughout. The ending looks like it’s sets the stage for US Agent to come into play.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Road trip!

Prepare to be dazzled by...a roller skater! The rasslin’ Buckies! And the Slug (Ulysses X. Lugman to his friends - who looks uncannily like a cross between Spider-verse Kingpin and Mr. Creosote, and who loves like he’s an extra in The Boys’ Herogasm episode).

But truly the biggest moment for our guy Steve is when he found himself forced to gun down a terrorist in the heat of a hostage situation. It’s pretty impressive that we talk all the time these days about “Cap doesn’t use a gun!” and this red-letter episode (Issue 321) never comes up. Cap sure seems haunted by it, down to his red-white-and-blue skivvies.

In the plus column, this book allows editorial to clean house of all the trash third-tier villains that inevitably accumulate from the one-and-done episodes across the street-level books.

Which makes me semi-curious about Scourge - is he the same as Chameleon (mask-wearing vigilante)? Same as the Scourge I could swear I’ve seen in current-day comics?

And what the hell with him killing Titania? I am sure she’s been kicking around lately. Did we import a Titania from another universe? Another super-tough chick later took up the mantle? A writer or editor just couldn’t be bothered to check that she’s still alive?

Flagsmasher does make a solid appearance this time around, what with his matching-uniforms gang. And I gotta hand it to Gruenwald - the issue of Cap nearly exhausting himself to death to keep Flagsmasher alive was some first-rate writing - to the point I didn’t believe he was the credited writer until the final page. Somehow yellow captions for Cap’s inner monologue were a massive improvement over wall-o-word-bubbles that all other issues are plagued with.

Super-Patriot was pretty energising too, and has the stamina to go an hour trading punches with Cap - which is scary.

Whatever happened with the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, the outfit the Thing used to rassle in? Gruenwald used them as the entry point for both the Buckies (fake minions of Cap) and as the origin of D-man - who didn’t start out as the pathetic loser I’ve come to know him as, but actually a fairly admirable complement to Cap.

The 80s pop culture references are loopers - McNeil/Lehrer? Meet The Press? Toga party at Avengers mansion?

And the Night Shift - gang of misfit villains? That’s an auspicious group to debut in these very pages. I’m honoured just to get a chance to read how they started!

Where does this book end? Holy crap, it’s one of those days when Cap gives up the shield! Pretty good job on that all in all - they’ve been running the subplot (including two FBI agents named Jake and Elwood) for a ton of issues, so when Steve hangs it up, I’m satisfied in a weird way. (Doesn’t hurt to know he’s since put the chainmail shirt back on.)

As background for the new Disney+ series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, this isn’t quite essential reading, but it is reassuring to feel grounded in where John Walker’s character started out.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvel had created far too many supervillains and so they needed to thin the heard, thus the Scourage arrived, killing off D-league villains and it's up to Cap to stop him.

This book starts out really strong. The Scourage is a great idea. Some of non-Captain America material is pretty goo. A Hulk story told in splash pages is a favorite. The Cap stuff is great leading up to the confrontation with the Scourage.r

The rest of the book is still good, but different. This book's Cap is a Captain America who drives around in a van and makes a living drawing comics. In a weird way, he seems to be remakring his life based on the late 1970s TV movies.

Cap has a hard and fast no killing rule which breaks when a terrorist is about to gun down innocent citizen civilians which leads to some very awkward regrets, with Cap one time calling it an "indiscretion."

Yet, there are a lot of fun and interesting things, there's D-Man's arrival, Captain America apparently run into the ghost of the Red Skull, and a moment of truth regarding his wearing of the Shield. Writer Mark Gruenwald took concepts that wouldn't have worked for any other writer, but puts together a really fun and enjoyable narrative.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Scourge of the Underworld storyline was great, but the rest took awhile to really get through. Love this era of Cap, though. Dealt with more B and C list villains and the storyline of being in a crisis on what it means to be Captain America when America is not sure what its identity is definitely resonates today. Mark Gruenwald does make use of the full Marvel universe which is refreshing to look back at in the post-MCU world that Marvel Comics seems to be in now. The art was kind of all over the place, and a bit too much of dialogue than I’m used to but overall really enjoyed it. A lot of story in this collection and a great snapshot of 80’s Marvel Comics.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great book. I can see why people love Mark's run so much. Honestly the only part of this book I didn't like was the Marvel Fanfare storyline.

[Gav451 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its very easy to scoff at some of the golden and silver age comics with their idealistic worlds, their outrageously impractical costumes and the ridiculous villains but as I read this 550 page epic from the 80s volume I either became acclimatised to it or, more likely, I began to realise that while there was much silliness within there was also much to like and much that was done properly. I became charmed by the whole affair. Mr Byrne, it turns out, is a bit of a great writer.

There was so much unexpected content in here that I actually started writing some notes when I was only about half way through for fear that all the stuff I wanted to comment on would be forgotten or ignored in my rush to get the review done. So let's pick some silliness first

How many ridiculous super-villains were there in here? The blue Streak is a prime example. A bright blue costume and rocket propelled roller skates as a theme feels like a drunken idea made at the last minute when there was no time. A villain defeated only by the fact he stands out like a sore thumb, an inability to brake, gravel, grass, stairs, walls, rain, snow, heavy wind and any other vehicle on the road.

At the start of the comic, while we were looking at the scourge there were so many crossovers you could not get your breath. There must have been 20 pages of snippets from other comics. It was probably great that they provided all of them so I shouldn't moan. While it's a bit cheeky to have a crossover that tries to force you to buy everything. When you put them all together they can feel a bit samey.

Captain America driving around America in a van writing comics. Yes, I bet his editor was patient with him, he was Captain America. He could literally rip the head off a man should he so desire. If I was the boss of the american dream I’d probably cut him some slack as well. That he was then writing comics about himself was only completely and weirdly narcissistic. Nothing more than that. That a comic breaks the 4th wall so completely was a bit of a revelation.

The super-villain diner where they all went to eat….in their costumes. That's a tough pitch for a business loan. “Yes most of my targeted audience will end up dead, in prison or will try to kill me but I’m sure I will be fine” Bit of a gioft for assasins, the police and all do gooders in the world it turns out.

The villainess who decided to get diamonds made to throw at people as opposed to throwing knives. That is Throwing knives which are, as their name suggests, designed for throwing instead of diamonds, which are not, are expensive to make and don't look as dangerous. I should be grateful however that we did get some back story here. SO there was a reason for her to become a gem throwing thief.

Captain America's red, folded over boots and the fact he still has his underwear over his trousers.

Dipping someone in a bath of slugs as a terrible punishment. What?

These are minor issues however. When you look to what the book did right, the chances it took and the quality it produced you cannot help but applaud…..

There was some fantastic art in the book for the age. A real sense of weight and movement at times. There was still that weird throwing a pose thing while just chatting was going on but the more I read the more I appreciated the art.

The idea of thinning out the villains was a good one and the use or Armour piercing bullets actually made sense. I mean just shooting people would work. Interesting that the villain was someone who decided to shoot other villains in revenge. The Punisher was later to become a hero for the same thing. The only difference was he didn't target super powered people, just organised criminals. Non-powered humans. SO in fact, the the Punisher went for softer targets with more firepower and we all stood round and applauded.

The smallness of some of the issues worked really well. For example Captain America's horror at having shot someone. I liked the fact that guns were portrayed as dangerous and a difficult proposition. It didn't make loads of sense that the super soldier was so appalled by guns but it was a humane touch. It was good to see a hero with so many doubts and weaknesses.

I liked the fact that someone was able to use PR to improve their image and to try and usurp Cap.
There were many little stories that had the same impact as a super villain but which did not suggest the world was about to end.
There was the most astounding 70s porn moustache on one of the heros. To be fair Mr Porn Tache became far more nuanced than I thought he would be. Not as naively moralistic as Captain America appears to be.

Captain America wondering whether his reaction to one person was simply Xenophobia (it wasn't but what an awareness.)

The whole air of self doubt. Is he strong enough? Where does he fit in society? The story where he considered bulking up even more was just as wonderful even if it did start from the premise that wrestling is real. Let's not talk about the baddie who was throwing human experiments gone wrong into a sewer. I see no down sides to that plan.

A whole section where Captain America is just looking for advice and no one is in.
The huge choice he makes at the end and the way he had to think about it.

There were many small stories in this book. Not worlds ending by super villains every time, Just stories where people were not just good and bad, victim or hero but were sometimes people simply making really bad choices. I liked this book in those moments. A good example of this was his girlfriend who was going to dump him then couldnt when she saw he was down after losing a fight. Yes that's right CAPS GIRLFRIEND WAS ABOUT TO DUMP HIM. There were brave and interesting stories in here. Brave, interesting and small.

It was a fine read and a long read. Hats off to all those who had a hand in this. (I know this is a collection of the ongoing series but there is a great arc in here and a focus on the minutiae of life that I enjoyed a lot.) Yes the quality was up and down, yes some of the ideas were nonsense but it also showed a lot of courage in the way some issues were faced.

This was a fun read. Cheap too so its a win win for me.

[Marcelo Soares · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quanta coisa acontece nessa edição, meus amigos.
Na primeria edição, o Capitão compra um furgão customizado pela Wakanda Motors e sai sem rumo pela América ajudando pessoas através da sua Hot-Line - o equivalente a um grupo do Telegram hoje em dia. As primeiras edições lidam com o Scourge, um assassino que matou vários supervilões menores na época, depois temos um team-up com o Wolverine - o X-Men que não se importa com as linhas da moral e dos bons costumes - contra um robô nuclear, nos anos 80 tudo era nuclear-atômico ou coisa parecida.
Logo em seguida o Capitão vai dar uma volta da Mansão Caveira, a Hot-Line diz que ela é assombrada, no que, talvez, seja a melhor história da edição; o Capitão deve enfrentar não só o fantasma do seu maior inimigo, mas também os fantasmas dos seus erros.
Depois temos o Capitão contra o Apátrida e o Ultimato no meio da neve, é um história muito bacana, em que a porca torce o rabo, para salvar os reféns, o bom Capitão acaba metralhando um dos terroristas - acho que essa história pode ter influencia a fase pós-11/09 que a Marvel abandonou - e isso acaba balançando as convicções do Capitão e da opinião pública, "Cuidado, o Capitão mata" e umas bobagens do gênero.
Ainda temos a união do Capitão ao melhor parceiro mirim de todos os tempos, o Homem Sapo, contra todo o estereotipismo oriental do Garra Amarela - sério, chega a ser ridículo - e seus poderes psiônicos, essa história conta também com o Homem Aranha, o Tocha Humana, o Fera, o Anjo e o Homem de Gelo.
Enquanto isso, o Imposto de Renda começa a investigar um tal de Steve Rogers.
Com o debut do Superpatriota e seus Buckys, o Capitão passa a investigar o Mercador do Poder em Los Angeles e conhece Dennis "D-Man" Dunphy e tomam banho juntos. Não tô brincando.
As investigações levam os dois a um laboratório sinistro, e aí D-Man sai pra comprar um pastel de carne com ovo e é capturado pelos capangas do Mercador, enquanto o Capitão apanha para caralho e resolve investigar os esgotos, lá ele encontra o Night Shift, um bando de heróis/vilões de terceria categoria, e, juntos, vão atrás do D-Man na mansão do Mercador.
Porque a coincidência é a chave de qualquer boa história, Sharon Mitchell - uma ex do Coisa - também foi capturada e por lá, todo mundo é solto, os inimigos são derrotados, o exército chega com um novo supersoldado - GI MAX -, o pau quebra de novo.
Porém tudo isso - o confronto com o Scourge, o assassinato do agente do Ultimato, o confronto com os "aumentados" do Mercador, a popularidade do Superpatriota -, tem a função de minar a convicção do Steve Rogers em ser o símbolo da América, e, quando o governo - nada de bom acontece quando o Imposto de Renda resolve investigar alguém - quer que ele seja um símbolo do governo americano nas suas operações, ele prefere continuar acreditando no sonho e não num governo.
Estranhamente atual, não?

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still nothing striking, though this book ends at a part of Cap’s history that has long interested me. Had D-Man’s introduction (not the character’s first appearance or role), Slug’s first appearance, the Bar with No Name’s first appearance, some more Serpent Society. Gruenwald has continually challenged Cap’s moral code and has him questioning where the line of his integrity falls to decent effect: this is probably the best component of Gruenwald’s time thus far. All of which plays into the ending in Captain America No More.

[Batusi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing new status quo, with Cap on a road trip, dealing with difficult moral questions as well as facing the consequences of taking a life.

The plot revolves around Cap’s journey across America with his van and a motorcycle stored in the back as he faces a dangerous vigilante, a cynical strength enhanced self-appointed replacement, and bureaucratic red tape over his title.

Overall, the book kept me engaged with the complex moral dilemmas faced by the iconic hero as he continues to strive to embody the American dream to the best of his ability.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun trip down late 80’s Marvel memory lane, while the stories contained aren’t the most impactful in Cap history they are told in a way where every character seems like they have a real personality.

[Barry Bridges · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good art but old fashioned storytelling

[Terrance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mostly for a lot of characters and storylines that end up affecting the later Winter Soldier events.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out strong, art got a little uneven midway due to an inlet change, and ended with yet another shake-up in Cap’s history.