This Saturday is a very important holiday, though many of you might not know about it. The first Saturday in May is Free Comic Book Day! I’ll be headed up to the Little Professor Bookstore in Owatonna to collect a stack of freebies from various companies. This event has a dual purpose: To gain new interest in comics from casual customers and to promote upcoming stories and series.
Quite often, the Marvel Comics free issue will have a story about the Avengers. Of all the Avengers, Captain America has been the most consistent member through the years. He also just happens to be my favorite four-color super hero!
Cap first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 in March 1941, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. It was a very popular feature during World War II since Cap spent a lot of time fighting Adolph Hitler and the Nazi machine. As super hero comics faded in the 1950s, so did Captain America comics.
In 1964, he reappeared in Avengers #4. So no, he was not an original member of the team (That was Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Giant-Man, and the Wasp), but once he showed up after being pulled out of a block of ice where he had been in suspended animation since the end of the war, Cap quickly moved into a leadership position. In fact, the rest of the Avengers left about a year later, leaving the Star-Spangled Avenger to form his own team.
While Captain America has not been in every issue of the Avengers, he has the most overall appearances. In fact, if you look at all Marvel Comics, he is even #4 overall in all their comics, behind only Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Cyclops.
After joining the Avengers, he also starred in his own strip, starting in Tales of Suspense before transitioning to a self-titled comic series. While I do not have every single issue of his series, I have at least read them all through reprint series. With his popularity enhanced by Cap’s appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many of those might be outside my price range, though I am the proud owner of a beat-up copy of Avengers #4, something I picked up in high school at a convention.
Why is Captain America my favorite hero? There are a lot of elements to this answer. Part of it is when I started reading. My first issue, through a subscription, was #292 from 1984. I was ten years old and couldn’t believe the complexity of this comic book! J.M. DeMatteis was the writer, and he continued to weave a great story in the coming issues featuring a showdown between Cap and his archenemy, the Red Skull. I was hooked. Those early issues are pretty worn through the numerous readings I gave them.
Cap is just so solid as a person. He has a great moral core and believes strongly in his values. Steve Rogers grew up as a child during the Great Depression and always had a patriotism that led him to try to join the military as war broke out. He was too scrawny to qualify, but a top-secret experiment helped him become a human symbol of our country’s flag. The red, white, and blue of his costume stand out and really make a red-blooded American want to be like him.
Plus, there’s the shield. Cap’s shield is iconic with its stripes around the edges and a bright white star in the middle. I thought it was the coolest weapon as a youngster, and that hasn’t changed much. He always looks for a peaceful solution, but isn’t afraid to wield the shield to take down a foe.
Stever Rogers isn’t the only person to wear the uniform of Captain America. Currently, there are two Caps running around the comic books. Sam Wilson, who was Steve’s partner as the Falcon for many years, has also taken the moniker, and each character has his own book. Some people will say Steve is their Cap, but I’m enjoying Sam’s adventures as well. He has his own shield, and he also has a version of his wings that he used as the Falcon, adding a new element to the mythos.
I was fortunate to come across the Captain America Comic Book Fans Facebook group during Covid. It’s a great, positive environment for those of us who really enjoy this Marvel hero. Plus, two of the moderators, Rick Verbanas and Bob Lucius, have a weekly podcast about Cap that is just fantastic, especially when they interview creators who have worked on Captain America.
I’ll be looking for another appearance of Captain America when I visit the bookstore on Free Comic Book Day. If you’ve ever wanted to check out some comics, or you used to like them when you were younger, I’d encourage you to find a local shop to pick up some of your own. Check out the Facebook group and get ahold of me if you ever want to talk comics. Plan on a long visit!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is limerence, which means the state of being obsessed with another person, as in, “The comic fan’s limerence with Captain America was obvious by his large Cap collections of comics, toys, and artwork.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!