Of all the superheroes I think that most people would consider Captain America as the most patriotic. So, with the 4th of July celebrations about to commence for our friends on the other side of the Atlantic I thought I would take the opportunity to look out some of my favourite Captain America covers to celebrate American Independence Day. Cover above by Jim Steranko from Captain America issue 111 (Mar 1968) - cover taken from the collected editions.
Captain America issue 106 (Oct 1968) by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia - I first became aware of this comic when the cover was reprinted as a poster that was advertised in various Marvel comics at the time. Since then I have always wanted to track down a reading copy of this edition, which I did couple of years ago. It's an excellent comic and is my favourite Kirby/Lee Captain America.
Captain America issue 121 (Jan 1970) - Cover by Gene Colan and Joe Sinnott. This was the first US Captain America comic that I bought around October 1971. The next week I purchased issue 122 (below) from the same newsagents. Back in the day it wasn't unusual to pick up US comics many months, sometimes a few years after they were originally published.
Captain America issue 122 (Feb 1970) - Cover by Gene Colan and Joe Sinnott.
Captain America issue 114 (June 1969) - Cover by John Romita
Captain America issue 139 (July 1971) - Cover by John Romita
Captain America issue 142 (October 1971) - Cover by John Romita
Captain America issue 144 (December 1971) - Cover by John Romita - This issue was my first introduction to the work of the
wonderful John Romita (earlier issues 114, 139 and 142 shown above, I purchased later).
Captain America issue 153 (Sept 1972) - Cover by Sal Buscema and John Verpoorten
Captain America issue 160 (April 1972) - Cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia
Captain America issue 165 (Sept 1973) - Cover by Sal Buscema
Captain America issue 166 (Sept 1973) - Cover by Rich Buckler and Frank Giacoia
Captain America - Special Editions - issue 1 and 2 - covers by Jim Steranko
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
There are so many great Cap covers to choose from. I'm of course a Kirby fan, but John Romita's version has really grown on me in recent years. I love how those comics look in the Epic collections.
ReplyDeleteSal Buscema was my favorite Cap artist because he drew so many of my favorite Cap stories such the Secret Empire story and the outstanding Nomad sequence. Both of these of course written by Steve Englehart. I never grokked Cap more than during these years.
Sal Buscema at this time was my favourite Captain America artist especially the Yellow Claw storyline in issues 165 to 167. Like yourself I really like John Romita's run of the strip , it just so full of action. The Epic Cap series is excellent but nothing beats The original comics which I am slowly picking up ( most for the second time aroimd).
DeleteBy Odin, how can this be?! Aside from the two Special Editions, I don't have even one of these issues in its original form, only in reprints. As for the late, great John Romita, I'd like to have seen him illustrate a Superman tale or two (at least), as he was such a great visual storyteller that it would have been good to see his take on the Man of Steel. Anyone else like to have seen that?
ReplyDeleteMost of the comics above are my second copies Kid as I have read my original comics so often they are falling apart ( only issues 121 and 122 of my originals are still in good condition). I would also have loved to have seen him draw Superman or Batman but at least he drew a cover for Superman when his son was drawimg the comic a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteSadly, though, it wasn't 'classic' Superman, as he was wearing a newer version of the costume. I believe he also drew Supes on a couple of paperback covers, but as I've never seen them I don't know which costume was used. I'd love to have seen an entire story by him of Superman as he was in the '70s & '80s.
DeleteA great selection of covers, McScotty, as usual. If anyone had asked me if I'd collected Captain America back in the 70s, I'd have said "not particularly". Yet when I picked up my old comic checklist book from Feb 1976, I see that I started collecting them when Kirby returned to Marvel, and then hunted down most of them back to #100, stopping collecting with #218, after which I sold them to a dealer. I had a good selection of the covers you posted, which has made me want to track them all down again!
ReplyDeleteCaptain America was my favourite Marvel comic ( with Conan) from around 1972/3 . I have no idea what they are doing to the character now, i think Sam Wilson, the Falcon is Cap now. I picked up the recent Waid/ Samnee Cap comics from a few years ago which was really good classic Marvel but I haven't not bothered with the title since they left. I was surprised at how many Flash comic I had as a kid, not a particular favourite of mine unless there were back up tales I had forgotten .
DeleteAnother memorable Captain America cover is #193, the "Madbomb" cover.
ReplyDeleteThat was a good one Colin , I was given that colkected edition series as a present but havent opened it to read ( justxscanbed Kirbys art) but that cover is the cover to the collected edition
DeleteI meant to add, Paul, that the powerful cover of Captain America #106 (Oct 1968) almost looks like a flipped version of Kirby's cover of Daredevil #43 (Aug 1968) - both with foreshortened perspective with an outsized Cap hand in foreground. I love them both.
ReplyDeleteI will need to check that cover out on Mikes Amazing World of Comics Ian as I'm not familiar with it
DeleteJust checked that cover Ian, wow! it does indeed look very much like Cap America #106.
ReplyDeleteYes - I wonder if there is a copy of the orginal art out there on the web for Cap #106? The covers of Cap #106 and DD # 43 are too similar to be co-incidence. I wonder of the Cap #106 was re-purposed from a rejected DD cover? I featured a copy of the original art for DD #43 in my SuperStuff blog a few months back and it did not appear to have white-out or visible corrections.
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