Captain America:Death Of The Red Skull

 Reprints Captain America #290-301.
Written by J.M. De Matteis, Mike Carlin, Michael Ellis,Bill Mantlo.

Penciled by Ron Frenz, Herb Trimpe, Paul Neary.
Inked by Steve Leialoha, Jack Abel, Roy Richardson,


The Red Skull, Captain America's greatest foe, is dying!  The chemical that slowed down his aging has worn off and he is now in his 80s. He plans to take Captain America to the grave with him.

But the Skull isn't working alone.  He's allied himself with Baron Helmut Zemo, son of the original Baron Zemo who killed Cap's partner, Bucky in World War II.  And Red Skull's daughter, Mother Superior is also involved, leading her super-powered team the Sisters Of Sin!

The people Cap cares for the most are kidnapped.  His fiance Bernie Rosenthal, Cap's former partner the Falcon, current partner Nomad and his childhood friend Arnie Roth.  Captain America's friend Dave Cox is brainwashed by Mother Superior into attacking Cap & Nomad.  Dave fights against this and winds up in a coma.

Nomad & Cap are stunned when they're attacked by Dave Cox.

As part of his revenge, Red Skull makes Captain America relive one of the worst days of his life:The day his partner Bucky was killed.

Cap & Nomad are tricked into thinking they're re-living Bucky's death.

Captain America is given a poison that restores him to his rightful age.  Now both Cap and Red Skull will engage in hand-to-hand combat, to the death, as two old men.

Cap & Red Skull battle to the death, while Dave Cox lies in a coma.

If that isn't enough for any superhero to deal with, there's more!

On Christmas Eve, Captain America battles the Black Crow on top of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Plus, a man wearing the costume of Cap's old enemy the Tumbler appears in New York.  Cap knows the original Tumbler is dead and wants to know who this is and what he's up to.

Captain America meets the new Tumbler.

Review:
This review contains some SPOILERS below,
Captain America:Death Of The Red Skull is a great, epic story from one of Cap's best chroniclers!  This is J.M. De Matteis' best Captain America story, the high point of (and ending of) his great run on the title. 

Zemo is introduced to the Sisters of Sin.

Story:
Here's the (30 year old) SPOILER:
The title is accurate, Red Skull does in fact die in this story.  It was a gutsy move for De Matteis to kill off Cap's #1 antagonist, who was also one of the oldest characters (created in 1941) in the Marvel Universe.   And in my opinion, he should have remained dead (Red Skull was resurrected a couple years later).

Red Skull tells Captain America his life story, including heretofore unknown information.

I recall reading the Skull's origin story reprinted here when it was brand new.  It's one of my all-time favorite issues, and it adds a backstory that improves the character, something rare with retcons.  This story was also the first time we learned the Red Skull's real name, Johann Schmidt.  This is the name used for the character in the 2011 Captain America movie, which shows the lasting impact of this tale.

Falcon is attacked by the Sisters Of Sin.

Speaking of gutsy moves by De Matteis, Cap's friend Arnie Roth is gay, something you didn't see in comic books back in the 80s.  It's never concretely stated, but if you read between the lines about Roth's "roomate" and other comments (Skull calls Roth a "fop"), you can tell that's the intent here.

Baron Zemo unmasks & tells the story of how his face became scarred.

The Black Crow is introduced early in this tpb.  De Matteis does a good job showing that Black Crow has legitimate grievances, even if he's channeling them in the wrong direction.  Black Crow seems like a one-shot character, but he plays a very important role in the final chapter.

Jesse Black Crow recounts how he went from an Indian Reservation to his current state.

This portion also takes place at Christmas and I've always been a fan of Christmas comic book stories.  This is an issue I've read every Holiday season for years, it's nice to have it reprinted in a glossy tpb.

Steve & Bernie are Christmas shopping when they encounter the Black Crow.

In addition to the Red Skull storyline, this tpb contains a fill-in story that focuses on a new Tumbler.  This was written by Bill Mantlo and has nothing to do with the rest of the stories here.  But it's a fun story and I'm glad it was reprinted in this book.

Art:
Paul Neary pencils the bulk of this book and he does a great job here.  He's embellished by six different inkers.  Some of the inkers mesh well with Neary's style.  Other's don't work so well, and the lack of a consistent look is distracting at times.  But on the whole the art is good.   

The first two issues reprinted are penciled by Ron Frenz and Herb Trimpe and and their looks good as well.

How does it look?:
Great, I didn't detect any weird recoloring here.  Here's one more scan that shows how great it looks:

Captain America:Death Of The Red Skull is an important chapter in Captain America's 70 year battle against the his arch enemy.  It's highly recommended for those who read this story when it was new or readers are just discovering Cap's 1980s adventures today.     
J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!