Just finished re-reading all of Mark Gruenwald's Captain America issues (307 - 422, 424 - 443), and I still think 24 years after the run began it is one of the best periods for the character. Was it the greatest? Not all the time. For every "Bloodstone Hunt" or "Streets of Poison" you had a "Superia Stratagem" or "Man and Wolf"; but the good far outweighed the bad.

One of the things I liked was that Mark Gruenwald introduced a lot more ideological villains to confront CA with, and this made some of the stories more interesting as you saw different character contrasts, other time he just wrote great super-hero action-adventure stories or small personal issues.

His landmark must be the replacement of Captain America which in the days before stories like Knightfall showed that a compassionate and honorable hero were not an outdated concept, and that Steve Rogers was the only man for the job.

Much as I loved JM DeMatteis' classic "Death of the Red Skull", I was glad he was brought back, and had a changed outlook in his approach to villainy becoming more a manipulator who controlled so many schemes at once instead of launching from plan to plan all the time. The revival of the Red Skull was one death I was glad was undone.

Fighting Chance may have gone on a bit too long, but the final issue of his run, and looking back now on what happened to Mark Gruenwald a year later, makes it seem more poignant.

Any other fans?

I loved Gruenwald's run on Captain America.  Really that run is what sold me on the character.  I agree with you he came up and used some great villains (same as Stan did back in the day).  Really besides Man and Wolf there werent really any storylines I didn't get into. 

I liked the fact that he didn't fall into the trap into using Red Skull in every major storyline.  That is the only problem I have with Brubaker's run is that the Red Skull is too prevelant!

I agree with Greg and Jason. Gruenwald's Captain America run is outstanding on the whole. Some stories definitely are better than others (I think Gruenwald was running out of steam toward the end of his run). But you are going to have ups and downs in any run of this length.

In many ways, Gruenwald's Cap was swimming upstream. At the time, hard-edged tough guys like Wolverine, the Punisher and Frank Miller's Batman were the hot trend in comics. Gruenwald's Captain America, on the other hand, was unabashedly a good guy - a hero in every sense of the word.

One recurring theme of Gruenwald's run is that the Super-Soldier Serum and an indestructable shield aren't what defines Captain America. Steve Rogers is what makes Captain America a hero - and those heroic qualities were present back when he was a 120-pound test subject. The compassion, the decency, the courage - that's what truly defines Captain America, not how hard he can punch someone in the face.

My favorite storyline was the build-up to issue #350, when Steve Rogers stepped aside and Johnny Walker took over as Cap. I think this was a case of Gruenwald "giving fans what they think they want." In this case, that was a grim 'n' gritty Cap. Of course, it blows up in the anti-hero's face.

I also loved the Cap-Diamondback romance. I thought the idea of Cap helping a bad girl reform was intriguing.

Probably my biggest complaint of Gruenwald's run was that he ditched the civilian supporting cast that J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck had created during their own excellent run. Also, I don't think he made the Red Skull as menacing as he should be. The Red Skull is at his best when he's at his worst, and that means he should be an unrepentant Nazi. Like JB says, "Nazis make the best villains."

But those are just minor nitpicks on an otherwise wonderful run. I think I have every issue of Gruenwald's Captain America and they are some of the most treasured comic books in my collection.

I agree the loss of the supporting cast was a bit of a blow, but I thought MG took the approach that Steve Rogers saw being CA a full time commitment, and that that was his life to further the ideal of The American Dream.

Diamondback was a good addition to the cast, and Crossbones was a nice compliment to the Red Skull as a henchman.

Greg, you are right that was the approach Gruenwald took. I'm just saying I missed those characters, particularly Bernie Rosenthal.