What do you think?
Rate this book
Captain America (1968) #357-364
Captain America: The Bloodstone Hunt
Baron Helmut Zemo is obsessed with raising his father, Heinrich, from the dead, and he's determined to find the fragments of the powerful Bloodstone to do it! Join Captain America and Diamondback as they fight underground, in the air, in the ocean and through the jungle to stop Zemo and mercenaries Batroc, Zaran and Machete! Including fights with cannibals, sharks, snakes, mummies and the undead in one of Cap's greatest adventures ever! Plus: When Crossbones kidnaps Diamondback to Madripoor, only Cap can save her!
COLLECTING:
Captain America (1968) #357-364
144 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1993
4 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Mark Gruenwald
920 books44 followersGruenwald 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
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
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 2, 2016
The anatomy of a review.
Let’s start at five stars and see where it takes us.
Minus two stars – Diamondback – arguably the worst Captain America sidekick ever. Worse than retro-Bucky (“Hey, Cap! I can’t wait to get to Berlin and kick Der Furher in the can!”), the Nomads, faux-Bucky Rick Jones, Rikki Barnes, and even the man-hatin’ Free Spirit.
Yes, they’re on to you, Diamondback. Again and again and again….
She’s a former Serpent Society mook and she has some combat skillz, but going into battle in a tight pink spandex outfit with heels is great for the fan boys but not too practical. The spandex outfit gets torn to shreds during the course of eight issues and she makes a pit stop or two but doesn’t bother to change.
Which brings me to her thought balloons which run the gamut from:
“Cap has a cute tushie, maybe he’ll notice me and we can have a couple of super-serum enhanced kids.”
To:
“I just got knocked out and captured for the eleventh time, how am I going to prove I can be a good partner to Cap?”
Don’t quote me, but I think this the sixth time she ended up on her ass.
So it’s 5 Stars minus 2 Stars = 3 Stars
Minus one star – I’m paraphrasing some of Diamondback’s dialogue, but sadly, not by much. This volume contains some the most cornball-laden conversation, since Stan Lee penned this stuff. Throw in Batroc (French), Baron Zemo (German) and Machete (I assume, Spanish) and you have some of the worst faux accents in comics. “Zoot allures, mon Capitain is zat zee plane?”
Just where did the Demented surgeon get his Demented degree to practice Demented medicine?”
Plus: Captain America keeps referring himself as the “old warhorse”. Sure, Cap, go lug around Diamondback’s unconscious ass for another ten panels and we'll see how the old warhorse is hanging."
3 Stars minus 1 Star = 2 Stars
Minus one star – The villains. When you have Baltroc the Leaper going against Captain America you know, you have almost reached the nadir of Captain America’s rogue’s gallery. Throw in Baron Zemo Junior, Machete and some dude named Zaran and it’s the other side of the tracks in Goon City.
2 Stars minus 1 Star = 1 Star
Plus .5 stars – Crossbones. Crossbones gets introduced here for the first time in Marvel continuity, but it’s late in the plot game; he’s not a player until the last two issues. He makes a suitably decent foil to Captain America. Plus, he’s a lot of fun, in an evil way. Bonus: he handcuffs Diamondback to a bed in a brothel in Mardipor. “Send up the usual: three sets of handcuffs, a rubber hose and a banana.”
1 Star plus .5 Stars = 1.5 Stars
Plus .5 stars – the art. Kieron Dwyer’s art is sufficiently robust and old-school enough to carry the fast paced Indiana Jones rip-off plot along.
1.5 Stars plus .5 Stars = 2 Stars
Let’s start at five stars and see where it takes us.
Minus two stars – Diamondback – arguably the worst Captain America sidekick ever. Worse than retro-Bucky (“Hey, Cap! I can’t wait to get to Berlin and kick Der Furher in the can!”), the Nomads, faux-Bucky Rick Jones, Rikki Barnes, and even the man-hatin’ Free Spirit.
Yes, they’re on to you, Diamondback. Again and again and again….
She’s a former Serpent Society mook and she has some combat skillz, but going into battle in a tight pink spandex outfit with heels is great for the fan boys but not too practical. The spandex outfit gets torn to shreds during the course of eight issues and she makes a pit stop or two but doesn’t bother to change.
Which brings me to her thought balloons which run the gamut from:
“Cap has a cute tushie, maybe he’ll notice me and we can have a couple of super-serum enhanced kids.”
To:
“I just got knocked out and captured for the eleventh time, how am I going to prove I can be a good partner to Cap?”
Don’t quote me, but I think this the sixth time she ended up on her ass.
So it’s 5 Stars minus 2 Stars = 3 Stars
Minus one star – I’m paraphrasing some of Diamondback’s dialogue, but sadly, not by much. This volume contains some the most cornball-laden conversation, since Stan Lee penned this stuff. Throw in Batroc (French), Baron Zemo (German) and Machete (I assume, Spanish) and you have some of the worst faux accents in comics. “Zoot allures, mon Capitain is zat zee plane?”
Just where did the Demented surgeon get his Demented degree to practice Demented medicine?”
Plus: Captain America keeps referring himself as the “old warhorse”. Sure, Cap, go lug around Diamondback’s unconscious ass for another ten panels and we'll see how the old warhorse is hanging."
3 Stars minus 1 Star = 2 Stars
Minus one star – The villains. When you have Baltroc the Leaper going against Captain America you know, you have almost reached the nadir of Captain America’s rogue’s gallery. Throw in Baron Zemo Junior, Machete and some dude named Zaran and it’s the other side of the tracks in Goon City.
2 Stars minus 1 Star = 1 Star
Plus .5 stars – Crossbones. Crossbones gets introduced here for the first time in Marvel continuity, but it’s late in the plot game; he’s not a player until the last two issues. He makes a suitably decent foil to Captain America. Plus, he’s a lot of fun, in an evil way. Bonus: he handcuffs Diamondback to a bed in a brothel in Mardipor. “Send up the usual: three sets of handcuffs, a rubber hose and a banana.”
1 Star plus .5 Stars = 1.5 Stars
Plus .5 stars – the art. Kieron Dwyer’s art is sufficiently robust and old-school enough to carry the fast paced Indiana Jones rip-off plot along.
1.5 Stars plus .5 Stars = 2 Stars
December 6, 2025
3.5 stars
"HA !!! You ain't as tough as I heard!" -- Crossbones, the showboating villain of the third act
"Mister, this little dust-up is just beginning!" -- Captain America, leaping back into the fight with renewed vigor
Owing to its original 1989 publication date, the fun graphic novel Captain America: The Bloodstone Hunt seems clearly inspired by the original Indiana Jones film trilogy, plus the initial twenty-odd years of James Bond's cinematic adventures. Our star-spangled Avenger spans the globe - his stops include secret catacombs under New York City, an Incan temple in the Brazilian forest, the Bermuda Triangle, the pyramids of Egypt, and the dark back streets and back rooms of Toyko - as he pursues obtaining the supernaturally-powered jewel of the subtitle. While the dialogue of the villains (Baron Zemo, Batroc the Leaper, and some forgettable hired goons) is often perfunctory and lackluster - not that I exactly expected Shakespeare, but some preening worthy of antagonists played by actors like Alan Rickman or James Spader would've been nice for a change - the storyline is extremely old-school action-oriented at a breakneck pace. Also noteworthy and unique was Cap's partner during this extensive escapade, the ostensible villainess Diamondback (a member of the snake-themed criminal faction known as the Serpent Society), who charmingly harbors a major school-girl crush on our title hero. As always, Cap keeps it strictly professional between these pages, but I sincerely hoped this unlikely duo made some firm off-hours plans immediately after the conclusion. 😊
"HA !!! You ain't as tough as I heard!" -- Crossbones, the showboating villain of the third act
"Mister, this little dust-up is just beginning!" -- Captain America, leaping back into the fight with renewed vigor
Owing to its original 1989 publication date, the fun graphic novel Captain America: The Bloodstone Hunt seems clearly inspired by the original Indiana Jones film trilogy, plus the initial twenty-odd years of James Bond's cinematic adventures. Our star-spangled Avenger spans the globe - his stops include secret catacombs under New York City, an Incan temple in the Brazilian forest, the Bermuda Triangle, the pyramids of Egypt, and the dark back streets and back rooms of Toyko - as he pursues obtaining the supernaturally-powered jewel of the subtitle. While the dialogue of the villains (Baron Zemo, Batroc the Leaper, and some forgettable hired goons) is often perfunctory and lackluster - not that I exactly expected Shakespeare, but some preening worthy of antagonists played by actors like Alan Rickman or James Spader would've been nice for a change - the storyline is extremely old-school action-oriented at a breakneck pace. Also noteworthy and unique was Cap's partner during this extensive escapade, the ostensible villainess Diamondback (a member of the snake-themed criminal faction known as the Serpent Society), who charmingly harbors a major school-girl crush on our title hero. As always, Cap keeps it strictly professional between these pages, but I sincerely hoped this unlikely duo made some firm off-hours plans immediately after the conclusion. 😊
June 28, 2017
I missed stories like this, when Captain America wasn't a Nazi, Hydra double agent.
This was a great story by Gruenwald and Dwyer, an easy-to-read action adventure that manged to tie up its ends in nine issues; and these nine issues were all pencilled by Dwyer! That's something a reader will not find in current comics. (It's nine issues pencilled, but at least two were breakdowns with finishes by Bulanadi.
This was a great story by Gruenwald and Dwyer, an easy-to-read action adventure that manged to tie up its ends in nine issues; and these nine issues were all pencilled by Dwyer! That's something a reader will not find in current comics. (It's nine issues pencilled, but at least two were breakdowns with finishes by Bulanadi.
April 19, 2018
Remember when comics can just be ridicules fun? Mark Gruenwald just fun comic of world wide capture the flag....err I mean bloodstone between Team Cap, Team Zemo and guest star Team Red Skull.
June 28, 2024
Not terrible. Not great. The artwork was nice.
October 24, 2014
Capitan Indiana potrebbe essere il sottotitolo di questa gran bella avventura, scritta dal compianto Gruenwald e disegnata dall'allora figlio acquisito di John Byrne, Kieron Dwyer. Una lunga avventura che vede opposti a Cap e alla sua quasi fidanzata dell'epoca, la criminale Diamante, prima Batroc e i suoi soci, assoldati da Zemo, e poi Crossbones, al soldo del Teschio Rosso. Il tutto alla ricerca della pietra di sangue, passando per i sotterranei di New York, la foresta amazzonica, il fondo del mare, il deserto egiziano, Madripoor...
February 3, 2017
One of the BEST Cap Am stories ever, this is high adventure 80s styles! Very Indiana Jones-inspired (not a negative for me), this is where the oddball romance of Diamondback and Steve Rogers/Captain America starts, and I <3 it! Crossbones makes his first appearances here, and this graphic novel nicely sets up the next 3-4 yrs worth of Captain America plot lines. Definitely a must have for all comic book fans!
April 7, 2021
Cap and his antagonist-turned-ally Diamondback travel the globe in search of the semi-mythical Bloodstone, matching wits and fist along the way with Baron Zemo and his henchmen Machete, Zaran and Batroc the Leaper.
This book is clearly intended to be in the style of classic adventure stories of the kind that inspired Indiana Jones and is, perhaps, inspired by Indy's adventure too. There's the globetrotting element, the hunt for a mystical MacGuffin and even both German and French villains. Unfortunately, despite having all of the significant pieces in place, they never come together into a satisfying whole.
Rather than a loving homage to those old adventure stories in the way Indy is, it instead comes across as a bad pastiche of those type of stories and an earlier age of comic book writing. There is dialogue on offer here that would make even Stan Lee cringe and that's without mentioning the horrible phonetic spelling of the foreign accents on offer.
Another element that doesn't work as well as clearly intended is Diamondback as Cap's sidekick. The writers never seem to quite decide if she's a doe-eyed incompetent or a criminal femme fatale, with her yo-yoing back and forth across the book. One minute she'll be gushing about Cap before getting easily captured and then the next she'll be picking locks with a crossbow bolt and acrobatically kicking henchmen into vats of molten plastic. There's no consistency, except perhaps in the fact that she has progressively less and less to wear as the book goes on.
Perhaps 'progressively' was a poor choice of words there too.
The only thing this book gets right is the introduction of a new antagonist for Cap; Crossbones. He's every bit the fighter Cap is but also has a grim sense of humour and malicious tendencies.
It's just a shame that his involvement in the story is only in the last act and the rest of the book we're given far inferior villains (although I did like the nod to Batroc not being without honour when he risks himself to save Cap from sharks, a nice bit of subtlety absent from the rest of the book).
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com *
This book is clearly intended to be in the style of classic adventure stories of the kind that inspired Indiana Jones and is, perhaps, inspired by Indy's adventure too. There's the globetrotting element, the hunt for a mystical MacGuffin and even both German and French villains. Unfortunately, despite having all of the significant pieces in place, they never come together into a satisfying whole.
Rather than a loving homage to those old adventure stories in the way Indy is, it instead comes across as a bad pastiche of those type of stories and an earlier age of comic book writing. There is dialogue on offer here that would make even Stan Lee cringe and that's without mentioning the horrible phonetic spelling of the foreign accents on offer.
Another element that doesn't work as well as clearly intended is Diamondback as Cap's sidekick. The writers never seem to quite decide if she's a doe-eyed incompetent or a criminal femme fatale, with her yo-yoing back and forth across the book. One minute she'll be gushing about Cap before getting easily captured and then the next she'll be picking locks with a crossbow bolt and acrobatically kicking henchmen into vats of molten plastic. There's no consistency, except perhaps in the fact that she has progressively less and less to wear as the book goes on.
Perhaps 'progressively' was a poor choice of words there too.
The only thing this book gets right is the introduction of a new antagonist for Cap; Crossbones. He's every bit the fighter Cap is but also has a grim sense of humour and malicious tendencies.
It's just a shame that his involvement in the story is only in the last act and the rest of the book we're given far inferior villains (although I did like the nod to Batroc not being without honour when he risks himself to save Cap from sharks, a nice bit of subtlety absent from the rest of the book).
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com *
January 31, 2024
The late Mark Gruenwald clearly watched Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone numerous times before writing this story arc. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. I loved the play on titles such as Necromancing the Stone. There's a lot of tongue in cheek writing here, as well as numerous nods to the aforementioned films.
The gist- The story deals with Captain America and Diamondback trying to prevent Baron Zemo and his hirelings, Batroc the Leaper, Machete, and Zaran from assembling all five fragments of Ulysses Bloodstone's gem, which is also called the Bloodstone. These issues are notable because they feature the first appearances of Crossbones, a staple of Ed Brubaker's celebrated run. There are plenty of great action sequences in this highly entertaining read.
I loved how the Bronze Age Horror/monster genre was brought into the then-present in such a way that one didn't have to know the history of the Marvel Universe to understand and appreciate them. There are nods to continuity without alienating new readers. I think that the kids these days call them Easter Eggs. I loved the references to Bloodstone, and seeing the Living Mummy completely rocked my socks off.
This book collects the main story from each issue. The US Agent back-ups from issues 358-362 can be found in the Captain America: Scourge of the Underworld trade paperback. You are SOL for the others.
The gist- The story deals with Captain America and Diamondback trying to prevent Baron Zemo and his hirelings, Batroc the Leaper, Machete, and Zaran from assembling all five fragments of Ulysses Bloodstone's gem, which is also called the Bloodstone. These issues are notable because they feature the first appearances of Crossbones, a staple of Ed Brubaker's celebrated run. There are plenty of great action sequences in this highly entertaining read.
I loved how the Bronze Age Horror/monster genre was brought into the then-present in such a way that one didn't have to know the history of the Marvel Universe to understand and appreciate them. There are nods to continuity without alienating new readers. I think that the kids these days call them Easter Eggs. I loved the references to Bloodstone, and seeing the Living Mummy completely rocked my socks off.
This book collects the main story from each issue. The US Agent back-ups from issues 358-362 can be found in the Captain America: Scourge of the Underworld trade paperback. You are SOL for the others.
June 8, 2019
OK, I love pulp fiction, and this story arc is so very much in the style of old pulps - it reads like something that could have been written by Robert E. Howard, had he written modern graphic novels. It has an almost Appendix N feel. That having been said, there were some absurdities, the portrayal of various ethnicities borders on problematic, the portrayal of the female character Diamondback as a "bimbo" (the word is actually used in there, though admittedly by a villain) also seems problematic, and . . . well, yeah. It reads way too much like a pulp from the 30s or 40s. But it was fun despite its drawbacks.
May 20, 2020
This is a comic version of a popcorn movie. My best description is Captain America goes on an Indiana Jones style adventure. This will never be an essential story for the character, but it is a lot of fun. I would encourage someone looking for a good comic book adventure tale to give it a try. I really enjoyed this one.
February 10, 2018
I'm always up for a chance to see Zemo and Batroc's Brigade and these issues are still solid mark Gruenwald penned stories. It's amazing that his run still feels this fresh now that he's over five years in.
August 17, 2024
Just some innocent fun.
January 10, 2025
The Great Marvel Readthrough, pt 349
April 10, 2012
This is the kind of super hero story we don't see too much of anymore. It's just a rollicking adventure that doesn't contribute in too major a way to continuity, nor do you need to know decades of continuity to understand it. Knowing a little bit helps, though. I certainly wouldn't have gotten so giddy at the skeleton in the box had I not know one obscure bit of Marvel continuity. I've got this soft spot for obscure characters from bygone eras.
This is a moment captured from an era of Captain America comics that we'll not likely see again soon. Before September 11, before real world grittiness, when he was still more of a superhero than a soldier. I'm not saying that the changes in Cap's books have been bad. But, sometimes, don't we all miss these more innocent times?
This is a moment captured from an era of Captain America comics that we'll not likely see again soon. Before September 11, before real world grittiness, when he was still more of a superhero than a soldier. I'm not saying that the changes in Cap's books have been bad. But, sometimes, don't we all miss these more innocent times?
October 20, 2013
I liked this story. Reading it gave me enjoyment, but there really wasn't much to it. It was a fun globe-trotting romp that has some internal inconsistencies (that other reviewers have pointed out). It is probably worth reading as a part of the Gruenwald saga, but it probably isn't really worth seeking outside of that. Like cotton candy, it is fluffy but ultimately empty.
December 10, 2010
In one issue, Cap loses his Bloodstone detector and comments on it. In the next issue, he has it back, and uses it. Continuity problems in a six-issue half-length mini-series written by one author? Not very good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2011
It's like captain America in an Indiana jones story. Pretty swift read that is pure fun and doesn't get bogged down with unnecessary details. Plus you get the introduction of the cool villain crossbones. The story is good and the art delivers.
Read
March 28, 2015This is a good book for the students to read, even though it is a comic book it will still be a good tool to help get students that are not very interested in reading to star reading. Once they have developed a liking for reading then you can transition to other kinds of books.
February 10, 2011
Not going to finish ... sub par artwork and weak-ass writing.
March 1, 2017
Not terrible as far as older comic book storylines go, but the dialogue and excessive thought bubbles definitely show the book's age.
June 26, 2014
Nice adventure tale with echoes of the Lee/Kirby Era. Definitely influenced by Indiana Jones. Refreshing to see Cap as an adventurer and not just a soldier.
July 8, 2016
So 90s in every way but the more enjoyable for it.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews