80s Essentials: Captain America #250

Since this is the Fourth of July weekend, I thought of doing an overview of Roger Stern and John Byrne's run on Captain America. The more I read those classic issues, the more I thought they deserved more than one post. Although their stint as the writer/artist team on Cap was a short one (issues 247-255, April-December 1980), it was incredible in its scope, execution, and influence. Needless to say, I'll be doing several more posts regarding the Stern/Byrne Cap.


With that in mind, I decided to zero in on Captain America #250, which came out (I can't believe this, but it's true!) 29 years ago this month! This mag is truly one of the Essential comicbooks of the 1980s. Here's why...

In July of 1980, the United States was still reeling over the Watergate scandal. Trust in the government (along with Big Corporations) was low-to-zero (sound familiar?), yet election season was in full force. President Jimmy Carter and California Governor Ronald Reagan were about to battle it out for the White House, but there was a feeling going around that the citizens of the U.S. would have loved to had an alternative candidate--one, preferably, who was not a politician. None stepped forward, and Reagan would go on to defeat Carter. Roger Stern and John Byrne captured this feeling of wanting more and turned it into a though-provoking, heart-tugging comicbook classic.

Before I go on, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the whole "Cap for Prez" idea was sparked by Roger McKenzie and Don Perlin, the writer and inker, respectively, on Captain America during Roger Stern's tenure as that title's editor. Sterno, being one classy guy, wasn't about to let that fact go unnoticed, so he named McKenzie and Perlin in the credits, and then told the whole "behind the scenes" story on the letters page:

"Cap for President" begins with our hero rescuing a congressman and his hostess from a hostage situation, which, besides providing the only real action in this issue allowed Byrne and inker Joe Rubinstein to really strut their stuff. The scene also allows Cap to meet Samuel T. Underwood, the New Populist Party's convention chairman. Underwood quickly goes from thankful bystander, to Cap-fan to hatching the idea of Cap running for President. Cap good-naturedly laughs off the idea, "Ha-hah! Thanks for the offer, Sam--but I'm afraid I'm not much of a politician!" Underwood quickly replies, "The people don't want a politician...they want a leader!" The following page sums up the national mood and this issue's plot quite well...

Cap returns home to his Brooklyn digs, where, as Steve Rogers, he and his neighbors are helping the lovely Bernie Rosenthal move into her apartment. It's there that one of Steve's friends shows him that morning's edition of the Daily Globe...

I love the way Byrne drew Steve's reaction to the news. Naturally, Steve's friends love the idea of Cap running for President.

The next day Captain America heads to the Avengers' mansion to find a mob of Cap supporters and media waiting to bombard him with congratulations and questions regarding his upcoming White House bid.He politely brushes them off to find his fellow Avengers...

Iron Man's attitude is especially interesting in light of the recent goings on in the modern Marvel Universe, is it not?

Cap, as always, searching his soul to find the right thing to do, finds his way back to his old school. It is the memories of what he was taught here that help him cement his decision.

Hours later, Cap appears at the NPP rally, ready to tell the world of his decision...

It's not the decision anyone wanted to hear, but it's the only one Cap could really have made. Stern's use of the JFK quote makes the ending especially poignant.

Captain America #250 was an immediate hit, so popular that Marvel quickly produced an issue of What If...? (#26, January 1981) detailing what would have happened if Cap had, indeed, run for President.

Those Awesome Fan Mags: Amazing Heroes

Remember Amazing Heroes? That twice-monthly, comicbook-sized (more often than not running 100+ pages), professional-quality fan magazine that ran from 1981-1992? I sure do. It was kind of the TV Guide of comics. As I recall, it was pretty much intended to be a lighter, more superhero friendly antidote to publisher Fantagraphics' heavy, scholarly-minded (read: pretentious) The Comics Journal. At first, Gary Groth (Fantagraphics' publisher) kept it a bit of a secret that the same publisher was responsible for both TCJ and AH, and published AH as "Redbeard, Inc.", but eventually the cat came out of the bag, and nobody really cared, anyway.

Suffice to say that Amazing Heroes (affectionately referred to as AH), was a fun mag. Each issue listed all the comics that were to be published over the next two weeks ("Coming Distractions"), had great feature stories and/or interviews with/on popular writers, artists, and comics, loads of reviews ("Comics in Review") and sported a lively letters page--which actually ran several pages ("Amazing Readers"). Many issues reprinted popular comic strips like Star Hawks and Star Wars, as well as running sometimes funny "editorial cartoons" poking fun at various comics characters and creators. One of the best features of AH was its "Hero Histories" in which we'd get an exhaustive overview of anything from X-Men or Teen Titans to Enemy Ace or even Brother Power, the Geek. Best of all, each issue was chock full of art, including original pieces by both pros and up-and-coming fan artists. Oh, and AH's covers simply screamed "buy me!" more often than not.

AH's most popular feature, by far, was its "Preview Issues" in which we'd get info about every comic to be published for whatever year the Preview Issue was published for. It was a really cool and handy resource, as the entries were run in alphabetical order making it easy to find and read the scoop on your favorite titles first. The "Preview Issues" were so popular, in fact, that they were eventually spun off into their own mag, appropriately titled Amazing Heroes Preview Special.

Lighter than TCJ, but much more substantial than every issue of Wizard piled one on top of the other, AH filled an important niche and did so with tons of class. But then, what else would one expect from a mag edited by guys like Mark Waid and Dave Olbrich?

Sorry about the relatively short post for this week, but between getting back on track from my son's wedding last weekend and preparing for my daughter and son-in-law's college graduation this coming weekend, Ol' Groove is in a bit of a pinch for time. Never fear, though, for next week I'll be back with a huge post on the T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents in the 1980s. Or something else if I don't get that monster-post finished. Either way, it'll be good stuff, I promise!