Over the last month my lovely wife Beth and I have been traveling as much as possible. We were in D.C. for a week and then in green-green Ireland for a week before coming back to the states and driving our new used car (Thanks to Grandpa Shoham) across the USA back to Madison. From a comic collecting perspective it was a bust. We never got to a comic shop in D.C. and the amazing looking store in Dublin was closed due to a bank holiday. However I picked up some new comics for the repository yesterday from Bruce at Capital City Comics. This got me caught up on both Avengers titles, Daredevil, and Captain America.
New Avengers 42 and Mighty Avengers 15 each have another of the classic cover re-dos that have been gracing new issues since Marvel Zombies hit the stands. NA 42 has a take on Avengers 221 featuring a Hollywood Squares motif and headshots of fifteen characters then not a member of the Avengers. The updated cover by Ponser has the characters sporting the Skrull chins that as an illustrative device, is getting old. First Zombies, now Skrulls and soon... Apes! SPOILERS!! NA 42 reveals at last some of the background of Spider-Woman's replacement as well as the Skrull's participation in other recent cross-overs. What's interesting is that five of the characters on the cover have been on the team recently- Spidey, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and Doc Strange. SPOILERS!! MA 15 recreates, with Skrull chinery, Avengers 221, "The Court-Martial of Yellowjacket", a depressing if classic issue. MA 15 may be the best Hank Pym story ever as we discover how Hank was replaced by the Skrulls.
In DD 108 Dakota and Matt continue to investigate why "Big Ben" Donovan( originally a Power Man villian) confessed to killing two children and why somebody is covering up the truth.
Brubaker continues to make Daredevil an essential Marvel comic. Dakota North takes the spolight in this issue as she confronts the man who tried to stop her from talking to Donovan.
CAP 39- The best Marvel comic has a slow month (for once) with some re-capping and a confrontation between Sharon and Sin. The awesome cover is a rare example where what is depicted actually happens in the story, albeit on the last page. Next issue most likely will see a showdown between Bucky Cap and 1950's insane "Steve Rogers" Cap.
The 1950's Cap is seen or referenced in the following Bronze Age Cap issues among others:
CAP 155 CAP156