Comic Review #63: Captain America #402 - 408 (1992)

 

I'm sure there's been a case of this for every person out there. You hear of something being awful and terrible and the worst thing ever, but you end up watching/reading/whatever that thing out and you go "what the hell? this was great fun!" and you wonder if anyone actually read or watched the thing. I'm always willing to give a reviled thing a shot because I honestly believe a lot of people just go OH I HEARD IT SUCKS SO I GUESS IT DOES when it comes to a lot of things that are reviled and hated. Like it seems more people have read this story than people who read Captain America comics in the 1990s period! Yeah this story is silly but you haven't read my blog if you think I desire only the most serious Superhero fiction.  

So yeah, as you can see this is me talking about the Captain America story CapWolf. Yes the one where he becomes a Werewolf. You knew I had to discuss this one for The Really Cool And Super Awesome and  Spooky And Scary and Terrifying and Great Halloween Super Spectacular that I am running all the way through to November! I mean how the hell could I not discuss this story? It's over the top and silly and CAPTAIN AMERICA BECOMES A WEREWOLF. Like seriously I'm sorry but this story is better than every single X-Men comic published between 1992 and 1999. I haven't even read them all but I know this one is superior.

This was during the late 80s and early 90s when most of the series would have a 6 part story during the Summer/Fall months. It happened in Spider-Man for many stories and it happened in Avengers for only like one story. I don't believe it happened in Iron Man or Fantastic Four. It was weird what series got the 6 parter epic. Anyway, Captain America got a few, one involving the Bloodstone ruby (which first brought the character Crossbones into the Marvel Universe) and another where he had to fight every lady supervillain on a boat and they even tried to turn him and Paladin into ladies. I love comic books. The best and most serious literature.

The six parters pretty much ended with a Spider-Man story in like 1993 I want to say. Where he fought the Spider-Slayers. CapWolf was the last six parter Captain America had during this time and boy howdy it goes out on a BANG. Our story is brought to us by Mark Gruenwald who knew more about the Marvel Universe than any other person past or present. The man could remember every single character period, no matter how obscure. Knew the name of like every alien race that appeared in the comics and when you realize that Stan Lee would put in a new alien race in like every early story for any character than you know he has a lot to remember. He was a really good comic writer and the first half of his Captain America run was recently used as a stepping off point for that Falcon and the Winter Soldier show I haven't watched because the MCU is boring to me now. They'd never let Captain America be a werewolf. Sadly Mark Gruenwald died at the very young age of 43 in 1996. This comic was drawn by Rik Levins and I believe I've already talked about him. It's hard to remember really.

You know this is a 1990s story when Mr. Wolverine shows up before the main character of the comic. Haha. Some guy got attacked by a Werewolf and Wolverine shows up to sniff his blood. We then go to the Avengers headquarters. The place where they work out so they can be in tip top shape to fight bad guys and everything that comes their way. Cap is trying to get D-Man, a minor character from the comic to respond to his comments but he won't. He goes to talk to Black Widow and she says he must be in shock from whatever happened to him in the Artic. Cap says he's gonna get Doctor Kincaid to come and give him a once over. They talk about how John Jameson, Captain America's pilot and also astronaut and also WEREWOLF HIMSELF has gone missing. They also hear about the Half Man half wolf creature that attacked the man Wolverine was sniffing. What a weird sentence.  Cap then goes to some lady doctor and finds out that the gem that turns John Jameson into Man-Wolf has gone missing!

Cap then goes to see J. Jonah Jameson himself and I like this scene. It shows that J. Jonah Jameson himself actually respects Captain America. And is now very worried about his son. Cap then tries to find Dr. Strange but he's not responding to calls so he has to go find Dr. Druid, a character I like about as much as I like Deadpool. He is bad. He is a jerk. He fucked up and I'm pretty sure helped get Marrina from Alpha Flight killed. I liked her. She was an alien that lived in Newfoundland! so fuck Dr. Druid right in the dick. I do like how they go looking for Werewolves and one like beats the shit out of him. It's great. Cap however fights the Werewolf off like a champ and thinks it may be John Jameson, however a character that we will learn is named Moonhunter and looks very silly and 1992 jumps into the fray capturing the Wolf. That's part one of this story.

Part Two is a pretty action packed piece. It has Captain America fight Moonhunter, but he gets away. They find out that the Werewolf  Captain America fought was called Ferocia and she was from the province of K'Lun or however the hell you spell that. The place Iron Fist got his Iron Fist powers. Apparently the moongem has been restored by the bad guy of our story AND is bringing all the werewolves in the Marvel universe to them. There are a lot of Werewolves in the Marvel Universe apparently. Anyway Wolverine is scrounging around town and gets into a fight with like 82 Werewolves. He tries his hardest to beat them but gets his ass knocked out. We also find out that Nightshade, a cool black lady villain is working with the big bad of this story. To turn this entire town in to Werewolves. So he can take over the world or something.  This issue ends with Captain America and the NEW YOUNG HIP Dr. Druid (who still sucks) having to fight off a bunch of werewolves.

They fight the Werewolves until Dr. Druid can pull off one of his invincibility spells. Also  mask their scents because the Werewolves can smell em. Dr. Druid doesn't bathe much because no one in the Marvel universe likes him all that much. However the bad guys have got Wolverine under their spell due to hypnotism or something like that. Wolverine ends up fighting Captain America and it's pretty awesome. However Cap loses the fight and ends up on Dr. Nightshade's table where she says he wont be able to stop her mutagens this time! Part Four has Captain America finally turn into a Werewolf and he kind alooks adorable. Like he's more of a Weredog than a Werewolf. It's great and I love it. He ends up escaping from the bad guys and they send all the werewolves and Wolverine and Moonhunter out to get him but he realizes even in his Weredog form that the only way to get back to human is to get Dr. Nightshade to do it. Dredmund Druid beats the shit out of Dr. Druid in a fancy magic battle. I already like this guy a lot now.

Oh shit this is where the stuff gets GOING! Captain America is put in the Punishment pit and well it also turns out that Wolfsbane from the New Mutants is in there too. I guess she went after the Moongem too. She pretty much makes it so Captain America can talk in Wolf-form. He THEN proceeds to let out this big speech but it's still very dog-esque. It's hard to explain but it's hilarious and I love it. Even as a werewolf Captain America won't stop making speeches. It's great. We then get Dredmund talking about he's going to kill Dr. Druid at midnight and sadly I'm sure he doesn't get the chance. Cap does get all the other werewolves to join him and escape. We also find out that Cable and Shatterstar are going to look for Feral, yet another Werewolf lady. I did not realize Marvel Comics had so many sexy I mean completely normal werewolf ladies.

They find Moonhunter and Nightshade and as Werewolves pretty much kick the shit out of them. We learn that Jack Russell (yes thats his name) The Werewolf By Night is the character whos helping unwillingly turn everyone into Werewolves via his blood. They chuck Moonhunter right in the PUNISHMENT PIT and before they can tie Nightshade down to a table she yells about Dr. Druid so Cap goes to save him. However he's already gotten his throat slit and it's washed the Moongem so that Dredmund can be in full control of his new found wolf powers. So he becomes  STAR WOLF and I love the design. It's very cosmic space-y shit. It's great stuff. The pit wolves that are now CapWolf's friends are led by Werewolf By Night to fight Starwolf's wolves. I wonder how many times I've typed Wolf or Wolves in this review. I bet it's a lot. 

Cable comes by and just knocks out Feral. I get the feeling Mark Gruenwald was told to put Feral and Shatterstar and Cable into this story and he's like FINE and knocks her out in like 1 panel. It's great. Cable shows up and tries to be cool and Cap fights him and they get stuck in a damn carpet. Then almost crushed by two tons of stone. Moonhunter escapes and Wolverine is let free. He helps Captain America and Cable escape (Captain America held up the tons of stone with what else, his shield. Wolverine throws Captain America at StarWolf and Captain America rips the Moongem out of his throat. Cable stomps on it. Dredmund complains that Wolverine and Moonhunter betrayed him but Moonhunter is like "Dickhead you mind controlled us" and Wolverine says he likes Captain America's new look. Oh and Dr. Nightshade was turned into a werewolf and is now working on a cure.

So the final part of this story is also a crossover into Infinity War, one of the sequels to the Infinity Gauntlet (in the top 3 of Marvel crossover events ever). Infinity War the main story is actually pretty decent but this Crossover is kinda lame. Dr. Druid who somehow came back to life and Captain America as a wolf who got the cure that was made and is turning back into his human self have to fight a crazy evil Captain America doppleganger. I really think it's the overuse of crossovers that ruin a big event a lot of the time. Infinity Gauntlet didn't have many crossovers, you could have easily read the entire story there. Infinity War had 3220 crossovers and you just felt like the entire thing was bloated. Uh I haven't read Infinity Crusade so expect an article on that for my blog sometime in the year 2032. I'll probably still be doing this blog then and portnoyd will be complaining about it.

FINAL VERDICT: I enjoyed this story the first time I read it and I still enjoy it immensely the second time. Some of the art does feel rushed at times but this was a story that had to come out every two weeks. Not gonna get to angry because that's a lot less time to do the art for the story. Either way, Cap Wolf himself is weirdly adorable and I would give him a hug.