Greetings comic lovers and welcome back to casually comics the channel where we chat
all things comics from reviews of comics new and old to history to anecdotes to really
wherever our whims take us.
I’m Sasha and last episode we looked at a bronze age flash story that had a backup
solo green lantern story where I’m convinced he accidentally did shrooms.
I mentioned that it was going into my rolodex next to the time Captain America did meth
to which a bunch of you went wait hold up when did Cap do meth.
Well I’ll tell you but it’s going to be a journey this is no throwaway issue no this
was an arc this went on for 7 issues issues 372 to 378 of the 1968 captain america run
and was star studded.
We had cap we had black widow, bullseye, daredevil, john jameson, kingpin, crossbone and more.
So it’s going to be an adventure is what I’m saying.
If you’re always up for coming with me on an adventure hit that like button.
So this story is all over the place and will ask some questions it kinda explores and are
interesting but it ultimately has no answer for.
This is streets of poison written by Mark Gruenwald and published in 1994 which looking
back on how anti drug discussions were handled lines up with the classes I had to sit through.
Classes that eventually just became the teather rolling in a tv and playing a collection of
anti drug psas they had recorded off the tv for an hour.
Oh and that one cartoon special featuring every cartoon ever that I actually rented
from the store cause I was so fascinated by the crossover aspect that’s what I got out
of it.
But enough about 90s health class it’s Cap time.
Part 1 city on ice it’s a pun cause the drug is called ice.
Double entendre.
Sold On Ice two titles ok I’ll take it.
Cap is flying his custom sky cycle batteries not included over new york when suddenly he
spots someone on the roof looking down with binoculars assuming tom foolery he drops down
and it is a crook Boomslang who is boomslang well it doesn’t really matter he gets gunned
down by a gang next page and caps not here for it cause as he says
Senseless violence... gets me... mad see chasing each other over rooftops that’s sense street
violence senseless.
All this puts cap in a mood he takes out the gang members and takes boomslang to the hospital
when he gets back to avengers headquarters he’s asked to go check on a Fabian a former
villain turned support crew cause the avengers will take anybody.
And it turns out that dun dun dun he’s on drugs a new street drug ice.
So Cap relieves him of duty and is setting up rehab when Fabian asks him aren’t you
the product of drugs.
Don’t you owe your very powers to a drug.
Now while to me there’s a clear distinction to be made between super solider serum this
sends cap into a tailspin.
Is he a man or a serum.
He starts to worry was the super solider serum a precursor to steroids and he starts to focus
on america’s drug problem he’s got 1994 stats America has 5% of the words population
but consumes 50% of the worlds illicit drugs Can this be so many people american dream
or is it a way to escape this american reality.
That’s a good question cap I can’t wait for this arc to never answer it.
Meanwhile Bullseye breaks out of prison where he was deemed so dangerous he wasn’t even
allowed the cardboard portion of toilet paper as the narrations tells us he can turn anything
into a weapon I now really want to see bulleyes kill a man with only the cardboard centre
of toiler paper.
He eventually knocks out a tooth and uses that.
Bullseye don’t play.
Meanwhile cap’s decided he’s going to tackle amaerica’s drugs problem which leads
him to one of the gangs leaders who’s named Napalm and he blows them up.
You don’t always need to live up to your name like that it’s fine really.
This happened in the ice supply warehouse.
Part 2 cap survives the explosion but his allies have gathered cause they’re worried
he assures them he’s fine never better better than good actually and kisses diamondback
no not the one from luke cage female diamond back a reformed villain and member of cap’s
supporting characters crew minor love interest.
Minor enough that when he kisses her she’s feels very much like who’s mans is this.
Meanwhile Bullseye has gotten work from Wilson Fisk the kingpin who’s angered by the warehouse
explosion cause it was his warehouse but not his drugs someone is trying to muscle in on
his turf and start a war and he’s not here for that.
Part 3 - Cap is fighting bullseye in a fight that started at the end of issue two and is
just cool cause you get to see these two go toe to toe it’s not your standard bullseye
mashup but their fight is broken up by diamondback who has lost control of Captain America’s
custom sky cycle cause he ditched her on it before checking if she knew how to fly it
which is out of character.
Back at the compound he berates Peggy who called in black widow as backup and trips
out at diamond back for asking if the others think there's something off about him.
Talking about me behind my back eh that’s it you’re out of here right now.
He seems fine.
He continues to go rogue attacking people buying drugs furious that john jameson a member
of his supporting cast had suggested that the way to combat drug addiction was by decreasing
demand not cutting off the supply.
Mister the names captain america and I’m here with a public service announcement.
Everytime you buy drugs you are financing murder.
You know what this reminds me of...Robocop 2 I think he got the message.
So Diamondback by this point has figured it out when the warehouse exploded Captain America
got exposed to all the ice, all of it and instead of it not affecting him cause of the
super solider serum which would be the current rationale at the time of this recording it
bonded with the serum giving him a perma high he can’t come down it’s bonded to his
blood.
He’s tripping the light fantastic forever.
Next issue 375 which also has my favourite cover.
Cap goes wild with the really tiny caption and daredevil’s not happy about it.
I like it makes it seem like that’s how little he objects like he’s just mildly
put out.
I’m not mad cap just disappointed.
Cap’s still going off the deep end breaking into a club looking for a dealer we get my
favourite crazed cap moment I do believe mr jerkweed that’s the gangtsers name is what
you might call a chicken ok fine i know how to coax him out of hiding Here chicky chicky
chicky bock bock bock bock bock bock bock bock.
Can i get this scene in the mcu I need this.
Also the panel before this he called jeans dungarees.
Finding jerkweed eventually leads him to kingpin so he can threaten him to knock off all that
gang warfare outside cause kingpin let;s him leave he knows how to pick his fights he runs
into daredevil who’s worried about him and he goes full paranoia you want to usurp my
spot on the avengers.
Attacking his faith and beating him up using his full strength don’t tell me they want
to make you the next captain america.
Next issue drugged out cap takes up less of this issue which focuses on the gang stuff
with crossbones who's working for red skull who is the person honing in on kingpins drug
trade and turf trying to take him out.
When we catch back up with cap he;s threatwening to teens saying if they’re looking for a
kick he;s got a kick for them.
Was getting high called a kick and not a hit in 1994.
Either way he can threaten them.
Diamondback and black widow engage him and Black widow accuses him of being sexist cause
he says get real ladies keep this up and somebody's going to get real hurt.
Hope that’s ego talking and not sexism talking.
It’s probably the drugs and sleep deprivation he said real mean things to daredevil too.
Ice Cap is a mean man.
Anyway Black widow takes him out by shooting him point blank in the head.
Cause she knows he can take it.
Firstly Cap’s cowl is bullet proof at point blank range dang also he can survive a point
blank shot to the head good to know.
Next issue Bullseye takes out a robotic copy of Red Skull and fights crossbones but enough
of that coolness Cap’s laid out on a table and they’re waiting for hank pym to come
see if they can flush the drugs out of his system.
He has no brain damage which this doctor can tell even though he’s unconscious.
Sure Jan.
Steve then proceeds to have really intense hallucinations stemming from his insecurity
that without the serum which he now thinks of as a drug he’s nothing.
It’s actually really poignant and speaks to a genuine vulnerability for his character
that also plays upon a critique his well critics had for him.
The super soldier serum’s been duplicated other people have taken variants of it and
none of them have become what I I’ve become why?
Captain america is unique you grinning ghoul I’m more than a pumped up super soldier
I’m a man who believes in something I believe in freedom I believe that everyone should
be free to achieve their full potential become the best person they can fulfil their american
dream.
My american dream is to help make this country the kind of place where that’s possible.
My american dream is to inspire by example to enable everyone else's american dream drugs
have nothing to do with that.
There’s a lot to unpack there and your mileage may vary but it’s a strong moment for cap
regardless of how you feel about his speech.
It’s earnest like him.
All this comes full circle to the first issue of this arc where he was worrying that he
was inspiring drug use.
But enough about that Hank Pym who in this comic is drawn almost identically to Steve
says the only way to cure him is with a full blood transfusion take the blood from his
body and replace it but that will also remove the serum.
Hold up you’re telling me all anyone had to do was bleed him out.
Lame.
There’s this very dramatic in order to save steve rogers we may need to kill captain america
and then the next page they just did he’s serumless now but still muscular cause they’re
like he earned those muscles.
He now decides it’s time to get involved in the actual gangland plot which is coming
to a head at a baseball stadium the red skull and kingpin are having a face to face meeting
which was a big deal these two didn’t meet often.
Steve runs off to prove he can still be captain america without the serum to which I say of
course you can steve just not as effective of one I doubt serumless cap can take a bullet
to the head.
Last issue Kingpin and red skull decide the only way to settle their turf war is with
a shirtles pantless but not underwearless fight.
This after Red Skull detailing that he sells drugs cause he wants to weaken the fabric
of American society and bring the country to it’s knees while kingpin does it cause
he views drug users as weak and wants to separate the wheat from the chafe.
Shirtless villain fight.
Meanwhile cap fight crossbones and wins a big boost for his self esteem and fisk beats
red skull by crushing him.
And threatening to blind him by gouging his eyes out.
Both these fights are pretty cool and they better because they take up the whole issue.
Red skull air lists out and takes his ice with him.
Kingpin can’t be arrested cause I mean it’s not illegal to fight the red skull on a baseball
diamond.
Trespassing maybe but knowing fisk probably not.
Also Pym shows up to say good news everyone he cleaned Caps blood now it’s just serum
so he can have it back whenever but Cap doesn’t want he wants to prove he can be cap without
the serum.
Notice how they already wrote the out in for when he would become serumed again no way
they were leaving him permanently depowered.
So what did we learn, well we learned that Cap shouldn’t do meth it makes him mean.
Also that this arc had much more interesting parts than cap on meth.
I actually enjoyed the parts that I cliffnoted over a lot more the villain drug battle you
know the poison in the streets.
It’s definitely an excited arc but it poses some big questions but they’re just left
for you to ponder which is a way is better than your standard psa that sits you down
to yell at you.
Cap is left with no idea of what to do about street level drugs and is still pondering
if his serum is a drug.
Seeing him tackle his insecurities is neat but on the whole too much was going on for
this arc to every say anything really hard hitting about that.
I mean by the strictest definition the serum is drug it’s more drug than very classic
definition of serum actually but then you're about to go deep down a rabbit hole.
Whatever your thoughts we’ll always have Captain America making a chicken noise.
So there you have it what a journey it’s collected in trade plus a bunch of stuff that
happens after this so if you need to know everything and see what we skipped it may
be worth picking up for you.
How did you feel about Cap on ice ice cap share your thoughts down below?
I’m Sasha thanks so much for watching casually comics.
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I’ll see you again soon here on Casually Comics bye bye.