Captain America: Death Of The Red Skull (Captain America (1968-1996))

Just before Mark Gruenwald began his epic run on "Captain America," J.M. Dematteis was doing his own work on elevating Cap for a new decade. As this collection begins, Cap is enjoying his new love with Bernie Rosenthal and training Nomad as his new partner. We get a few "one-off" issues such as Cap teaming with a man taking on the role of the dead Tumbler to find justice and there's references to a story that had just occured where Baron Helmut Zemo tried to ruin Cap. This leads to the key story as Zemo returns, now trained by the mysterious Mother Superior to attack Cap and his friends. Superior is the daughter of the Red Skull who is losing his health as the gases that kept him young are fading. Facing death, the Skull is determined to take Cap down as well, exposing him to a drug that advances his own aging and capturing his allies for a final showdown.The story is very well done with nightmarish sequences of one of Cap's oldest friends put through the wringer by the Skull as Zemo fights for his own respect. The standout is issue #298 as the Skull shares his origin to Cap, explaining what shaped him into this absolute monster. The final battle is very well done and shows the backbone of Cap and the true spirit that never lets him quit. We also get a fall-out issue in which the Avengers try to restore Cap's health, showing how respected and admired he is by other heroes. While it's true the "death" wouldn't last, it's still one of the best stories ever of the Cap/Skull rivalry and well worth checking out for fans of the classic Cap stories.

This was written in the 80s and, in my opinion, is one of the best showcasing Captain America as a person as well as a hero.

A disppointment, to slow, boring at times, not a Classic.

The Captain America-Red Skull rivalry is kind of like the Batman-Joker rivalry. But this rivalry is taken into new heights in this graphic novel that took place in the 80s during the events of Avengers' epic story arc "Absolute Vision". In #290, Captain America enjoys his romance with his girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal, his partnership with Nomad & being an Avenger while the Red Skull's daughter Mother Superior recruits Baron Zemo in the Red Skull's maniacal plot of destroying Captain America. In #291, Cap squares off against the Tumbler. In #292, Cap encounters Black Crow & Bernie proposes to Cap. This story took an intermission when Cap & the Avengers disappears into the alien structure in Central Park that led to Secret Wars. Then in #293 after the Avengers returns from Battleworld, Captain America visit his old friend Dave Cox which led to Mother Superior & Zemo kidnap Cox and turns him into the Slayer. In #294, Cap & Nomad tangles with the Slayer until Cox put himself in a coma. Then Cap try to break off his engagement to Bernie but she refuses & want to risk the dangers of being marry to him. In #295-297, Mother Superior & her sisters of Death starts kidnapping Captain America's closest friends ----- including Bernie. So Cap & Nomad storms into the Red Skull's house and attempt to rescue them while Starfox & Wasp went to get the rest of the Avengers to help out. Meanwhile, Captain America starts to age rapidly due to a poison develops by the Red Skull. In #298, an aging Red Skull reveals his origin to an aging Captain America. In #299-300, the Red Skull thought he'd killed Cap's closest friends which led to Cap battles his hatred enemy in a no-hold-barred fight until the Red Skull die by a heart attack. Lucky for Cap, Bernie, Falcon, Nomad & Arnie Roth got out of the Red Skull's prison in time. In the conclusion in #301, Cap reunites with the Avengers & his friends only for them to discover he had grow old. Cap was going to step down as an Avenger but Nomad, Falcon, Bernie, Jarvis & the Avengers were touched by the legend of Captain America that they don't want him to give up. Even Hawkeye was so touched that he even told Cap how much his training help him & he uses his training to train the West Coast Avengers. The story ends when Captain America regains his youth and returns as an Avenger with the help of Vision & Dr. Hank Pym use the machine the Red Skull use to make him age."Death of the Red Skull" is one of the most exciting Captain America story of the 80s. It's a must-have for all die hard Captain America fans.

Fantastic story and a great way to cap JM DeMatteis run on the character. Introduces Skull House, one of my personal favorite settings in the Marvel universe, and does a fantastic job with the best villain at Marvel. Paul Neary is the main artist and he does a really good job. He stayed on the book for a while after this and you can see why. One of the most underrated artists in the job. Herb Trimpe and Ron Frenz I think did a capable couple of issues. DeMatteis shines as he brings everything to the table to finish what he started. The Falcon, Bernie Rosenthal, and Arnie Roth all make appearances to great effect. Consistently ranked in the top 10 Captain America stories for a reason.

Not the artist I thought was in this book as on cover.

J.M. DeMatteis sure does likes his sympathetic portrayals of psychopathic super villains. In this case, the Red Skull, sworn enemy of Captain America, and quite possibly the most evil baddie in the Marvel Universe. Created in the 1940s, as the epitome of Nazi corruption, the Red Skull has always been a pretty two dimensional character. But J.M. DeMatteis, a writer well known for exploring the twisted psychology of any character he gets his hands on, isn't going to rest content with the central antagonist of his piece being a stereotypical super villain. Especially not when this is the final confrontation in the decades long war between said antagonist and the hero (at least, it was supposed to be, but we all know what comics are like). So, instead, we're treated with one of the most interesting explorations of the Red Skull there's ever been.Before making his name, with such comics as 'Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt' and 'Justice League International', DeMatteis' wrote a lengthy run on 'Captain America'. 'Death of the Red Skull' was the final story arc of that fan favourite run (barring an annual, which was released shortly afterwards). The age of this story definitely shows, and it's clear that DeMatteis was still some way from his creative peak in the late '80s and early '90s, but many of the attributes that would make him such a prolific comic book writer can be found here in an earlier, rougher, form. As I already mentioned, we have the sympathetic super villains, the Red Skull and his daughter, Mother Superior (now more commonly known as Sin), who makes her début within these pages (and if you've ever read Ed Brubaker's fantastic Captain America run, this will fill you in on why she's so demented). Also, like Spider-Man in 'Kraven's Last Hunt' and Batman in 'Going Sane', we have the hero come face-to-face with his own mortality, and a psychological exploration of what it means to be a hero as two major themes. There's no doubt that this story definitely paves the way for DeMatteis' most famous work, the aforementioned 'Kraven's Last Hunt', and many of his other stories to come, for that matter. With that, DeMatteis is able to do something that only Ed Brubaker has ever been able to do for me since, make Captain America a believable and interesting character.But, as a single story with a beginning, middle and end, this book suffers from the same faults that most trade paperback collections of older Marvel comics endure. Back in the 1980s, comics weren't written with a collection in mind like they are now, so as a single unit, this is haphazard and somewhat arbitrary when compared to modern TPBs and graphic novels. References are constantly made to previous stories, things happen that are resolved elsewhere (like the short digression which ties into 'Secret Wars') and it feels incomplete. This isn't just because of the nature of old comics, but also due to the fact that this is the final story arc of a lengthy run of stories by the same writer, tying up lots of loose ends from his previous arcs and, at the same time, intentionally leaving a few open for the next writer to take up (like the unresolved ending!). Furthermore, the writing has definitely dated. Anybody expecting the level of sophistication of 'Kraven's Last Hunt' or Ed Brubaker's Captain America run will be disappointed for the most part, as the early glimmers of DeMatteis' genius alluded to earlier in this review don't become apparent until the last few issues. Most of this is your typical light-hearted superhero action fare, full of all the cheesiness and deus ex machina that you'd expect from a Marvel comic during this period. That said, however, both the writing and the art (which is great, I should add) hold up far better than your random 1980s superhero comic by lesser talents. Add the fact that one of the supporting characters in here is gay (though he's never directly attributed as such), and it's clear that J.M. DeMatteis was way ahead of his time when he wrote this.As much as I enjoyed this book and would love to give it a four star rating, I have to be pragmatic about it. I need to bear in mind that many of the people drawn to this book will be coming to it fresh from the films, and possibly also being used to the far more sophisticated style of modern comics. Therefore, I can't rate this without comparing it to today's standards and expectations, and the disjointed nature of this collection and some of the juvenile and contrived plot points knock off a star. After all, many 1980s comics do still hold up to today's generally far higher standards of storytelling in the areas where this doesn't. But, if you can suspend some disbelief, look past the melodramatic old-fashioned dialogue and read it for what it is, 'Death of the Red Skull' is a worthwhile read and an integral part of Captain America's history.

Awesome saga.First red this story when I was a kid, but I nevere red all the issues from beginnig to end.A must have for all Cap fans!

Great comic. Quick delivery.