Captain America Turns 80

Ahoy Captain Cats here and today we are going to talk about one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic heroes ever to be created and that hero is Captain America.

Captain America was created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and was published by Marvel Comics in March of 1941. The cover for the first issue you see Captain American punching Adolf Hitler and that issue alone sold almost one million copies and if someone had a 9.8 graded copy of issue one it can go for $1,350,000 in today’s market. Simon and Kirby did the first ten issues until they both went to DC Comics in late 1941 and Al Avison and Syd Shores became the main team on the Captain America comic series till Marvel canceled the series in 1954 at issue 78. The main reason for this was in the postwar era, superhero comics were losing their popularity and heroes such as Captain America just became a thing of the past, a relic of a time people didn’t want to remember.

Fast forward to the Silver Age of Comics and in 1963 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created Marvel’s answer to DC Comics Justice League with The Avengers and in issue four they brought back Captain America. In this issue, we see what really happened to Captain America and Bucky after WWII and many years later the Avengers found him frozen in ice. After awakening Captain America fights them until he realizes that he became a man the time has forgotten. Soon after a few more battles, the avengers ask Captain America to join the group and the rest is history.

Over the year he had played a huge part in some of Marvel Comics’ biggest storylines such as Secret Wars, The Skrull invasion, Civil War, and other major Marvel storylines. Here to you Captain America for all the great ( and not so great) stories as you turn 80, from one captain to another I tip my hat to you.