Blood and Glory

Captain America is struck down by a sniper's bullet while walking down the steps of a federal building in Washington, D.C. Thousands mourn and he's given a hero's funeral before turning up alive sometime later. One of the events of the Marvel's major crossover, Civil War? Yes. But also, one of the events in Blood and Glory, a three-issue "bookshelf format" miniseries published in 1992 that features a team-up between Captain America and the Punisher. I was trepiditious (is that a word? if not, it should be) before reading this, as I foresaw two major problems: Captain America portrayed as a sanctimonious, dorky boy-scout or the Punisher portrayed as bloodthirsty, kneejerk maniac. Fortunately, the mini-series avoids both pitfalls and introduces an interesting theme: Captain America as a symbol of World War II (uniting America against a common enemy) and the Punisher as a symbol of Vietnam (tearing America apart). Both characters have believable personalities and dialogue, and the action scenes are top-notch. The story is a bit of a bore, involving agovernment conspiracy to smuggle guns and drugs to third-world countries, but on the whole this definitely turned out better than it could have been.