JULY 4TH CAPTAIN AMERICA COVER OMNIBUS (A KID KLASSICS EXTRA)... ~ Comics Live Updates

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Seeing as it's the 4th of July, let's help our American cousins

celebrate the occasion by looking back (and joining) three separate

posts featuring the comicbook character who probably best sym-

bolizes what America aspires to - CAPTAIN AMERICA!

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If, like me, you're of a certain age, you probably still think of

barcodes on comic covers as a fairly recent intrusion. Fact is 'though,

that they've now been adorning the fronts (and, occasionally, the backs)

of our favourite four-colour comicbooks for a total of 37 years. The

little striped box appeared for the first time on issues dated June 1976,

although (in America at least) they went on sale in March of that year

as they appeared on newsstands a few months ahead of the actual

date on the cover and in the indicia.

So, to my eyes, a comic still doesn't look right if it's been de-

faced with that oblong zebra pattern in the bottom lefthand corner.

No, for me, comics were purer and less compromised when they were

free of that ugly little intruder that defaced the art which called to me

from the spinner-racks, even if I've now known it for a far longer period

of time throughout my life than I have without. Curious how our ideas of

how things should be done are established from such an early age, isn't

it? I still consider Lsd (pounds, shillings and pence) as 'real' money

and decimal currency as a relatively recent usurper, although it's

now been around for more than four fifths of my life.

So what's that got to do with CAPTAIN AMERICA? Not

much - except it was with the sixth issue of JACK KIRBY's Cap

that I probably first noted (and resented) the barcode box. Funny

how things stick in your mind, eh? I was glad to see Kirby back at

MARVEL, even if his output at this time didn't quite live up to

his first tour of duty at the much-lauded 'House of Ideas'.

Diehard Kirby fanatics were ecstatic to see Jack resume the

reins of the character he'd helped co-create back in the '40s, but

readers used to the more sophisticated and ambitious tales of writers

like STEVE ENGLEHART were less than enchanted by the King's

more direct action-adventure orientated stories. However, Jack pro-

duced 22 issues of the shield-slinging AVENGER (and two Annuals)

- which was, I believe, the longest-lasting title of his return term -

before leaving Marvel for the second and final time.

Anyway, without any further ado, let's look at the first 11 covers

of Jack's Cap. The remainder will feature in an upcoming post.

******

(I should point out for American readers that, to differentiate

U.S. Marvel comics on sale in Britain from their black and white

U.K. editions, the 'Marvel Comics Group' banner was replaced with

'Marvel All-Colour Comics' when the plates were altered from cents

to pence. They were still printed in the States 'though.)

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

JACK KIRBY did his best with CAPTAIN AMERICA (& THE

FALCON) when he returned to the title in the mid-'70s, but rumours

persist that he was sabotaged from within. Kirby reportedly felt that a

disproportionate amount of negative letters were published in the mag,

something to which he objected and complained about, 'though, as editor,

one would think he had the power to prevent. Obviously not, as he was

based out in California, and the letter columns were put together in

New York as a simple matter of expediency.

It's also rumoured that some of the new young turks openly

scoffed at Jack's pages when they arrived in the MARVEL offices,

being less than impressed with them in comparison to the work of other

artists in the fabled BULLPEN. As I said, he did his best, but the odds

seemed stacked against him from the start. His art was less fluid and

graceful than it had been in his heyday, and his style of scripting

appeared out of sync with then-modern sensibilities.

STAN LEE apparently interceded on his behalf, requesting that

more positive letters were chosen over less-flattering ones, but by then

it was too late. Jack was demoralised, and when his contract ended, he

presumably chose not to renew it, and to seek employment elsewhere.

A once mighty giant was at the end of his run, and never again created

anything that resonated to the same degree in the comicbook

field as his collaborations with 'Stan the Man'.

Jack returned to DC COMICS for a spell and completed his

FOURTH WORLD epic, but it was an unsatisfying anti-climax

that didn't really bear scrutiny. It's sad to see how age and illness took

its toll on the man who was once the 'King' of comics, but he belonged

to a vanished era, the likes of which neither he nor we would ever

see again. Such is life.

However, let's not end on a downbeat note. There's still much

to admire in the second set of 11 covers from his '70s run on Cap,

so admire away!

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

The time: A dark and rainy Saturday early-evening in 1973. The

place: The Norfolk Restaurant in the main shopping centre of my

home town. I'd just purchased the KING-SIZE SPECIAL CAPTAIN

AMERICA #1 (among others), and borrowed the first edition of The

PENGUIN BOOK Of COMICS from my local library. As I sat across

from one of my pals, each of us nursing a cup of Coke, I perused the

contents of my recent acquisitions on the table in front of me.

I don't know for how long I owned that Cap comic, but back in the

early or mid-'80s, I obtained a replacement for it, which I've had ever

since. Around 12 to 14 years ago (several months to a year or so apart)

I happened to acquire Cap Annuals #3 & 4, leaving only #2 to fill

the space in the first four issues.

It's a curious thing, but MARVEL never seemed to be consistent

in naming their bumper extravaganzas; sometimes they were called
'Specials', sometimes 'Annuals'. (And to confuse readers further, THOR
not only had a series of King-Size 'Specials/Annuals' devoted to him, but

also a run of four SPECIAL MARVEL EDITIONS.) Some King-Size
mags began as 'Specials', then morphed into 'Annuals', and I wouldn't
be at all surprised to find that it likewise happened in reverse.

Today, I finally got my grubby mitts on the second issue of the

title, thereby completing my quartet of Cap's Special editions. As you

can see, the cover has what looks like the spine on view, as if the comic

hasn't been bound properly, but the issue is actually a normal stapled

comic (with 52 pages), as opposed to the glued and thick-stapled

format of #1, 3 & 4.

So, it may have taken me 40 years to obtain the next comic in

sequence after the one I first bought back in '73, but I got there in

the end. And here's something else to consider - back in the early '90s,

my local library had a book sale, from which I purchased the actual,

self-same copy of The Penguin Book of Comics I'd first borrowed

on that rainy Saturday evening so very long ago.

If you have any personal reminiscences associated with the
comic covers on display, feel free to share them in the comments
section. With any luck, I can then delude myself into believing that
I'm not the only soppy sentimentalist and nutty nostalgist who
haunts the bloggersphere. Any takers? Step right up!