Kistler's History of Captain America - Part 1
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 06:22AM This is part of my files on the History of Captain America.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: A HERO BORN IN WAR
There are some characters who are very tricky. They will either be very good or just plain dull depending on whether or not the writer "gets" them. He can be a generally good writer and still not get the core of these certain tricky characters, thus accidentally making them parodies of themselves.
Captain America is such a character. Fortunate for us, his current book is excellent. More startlingly, the current writer Ed Brubaker has brought back a lot of Cap history for readers who, unlike myself, do not have a collection of back issues that span his career back to the early 70s.
But I'm jumping ahead. We should start at the beginning.
In 1941, America hadn't entered World War II yet. But many were talking about the war in Europe and what it could mean if it continued. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (one of the most influential comic book artists, period) tapped into this and created an every-man hero who would also be the ideal of American patriotism. In Captain America #1, published in March 1941, we were introduced to Captain America and his partner "Bucky" Barnes. And rather than waste time building to a climax, fans saw Cap actually punching Hitler on the damn cover!
The story was simple but good. Fearing for the loss of American lives if they had to enter the war, the U.S. government funded "Operation: Rebirth", whose purpose was to transform ordinary enlisted men into "super-soldiers." The test subject was Steve Rogers, a young man who had been given a 4-F rating.
Today, "4-F" means nothing. But in the 1940s, it meant that a soldier was ineligible for service in the army due to a disability or general physical incapacity. In Steve’s case, he was a scrawny kid who'd been through many an illness in his life. The fear was that he would be susceptible to illness and weakness in the battlefield, thus making him a liability.
The people behind Operation: Rebirth thought this actually made Steve a perfect candidate for their own puposes. If the experiment was successful on a guy like him, then they’d know for sure it would work just as well (possibly better) on soldiers who were in top shape.
Steve was given the "super-soldier serum" by a German scientist who had defected and was working for Uncle Sam, a man named Doctor Reinstein (an obvious nod to Einstein). After ingesting the formula, a startling transformation occurred and suddenly Steve Rogers became an ideal physical specimen. He was taller and incredibly muscled now. He was not super-human. Rather, he had been enhanced to the peak of human ability.
Don't understand what that means? Okay, think about it this way. Those adrenaline surges people get when they can run faster than an Olympic sprinter for a few moments or are able to rip off a car door to save their child? Steve now had that level of physical prowess all the time. It became his default setting. He wasn't beyond human. He couldn't lift a car like Spider-Man. But he was definitely several times stronger, faster and more agile than a normal human being of his height and build should be. In later stories, it was also said that his body now produced less fatigue toxins, allowing him to have greater stamina than a normal human being.
Sadly, that’s when tragedy struck. There was a Nazi spy amidst the group of government officials who had come to witness this experiment. Seeing that Steve was a success, the spy immediately stood up and shot the German Dr. Reinstein, declaring him a traitor to Hitler's cause. Acting on instinct, Steve attacked the spy, who tried to flee but wound up stumbling into some lab equipment. Becoming entangled in wires, he was electrocuted and died on the spot. Looking over the dead Nazi, Steve remarked, "Nothing left but charred ashes … a fate he well deserved!"
With Reinstein's death, the objective of Operation: Rebirth now changed. Where once he would have been only the proto-type of a new
breed, his name simply a note for scientific papers and history books, Steve was now one-of-a-kind and far too valuable to simply put on the front lines. It was decided that he would now be more valuable for morale as a rallying symbol of American achievement. Hitler had been making a lot of headway with propaganda. Now, Steve would be America’s propaganda. Garbed in a chain-mail shirt (to guard him from small arms fire and blades) and given a steel shield and a gun, Steve was introduced to the public as "Captain America, sentinel of liberty."
It is interesting that the man who was designed to fight off Nazis was, in fact, the Aryan ideal of a superman come to life: blond hair, blue eyes and a physique that was above and beyond any Olympic athlete. Hitler believed his followers were the peak of human biology and yet Steve was that very fantasy made reality, all thanks to a Jewish scientist who defected from Germany.
In his secret identity, Steve was stationed at Fort LeHigh, a "sleepy" little army fort. To make sure he didn’t stand out in anyone’s mind, he acted as a simple-minded recruit. At LeHigh, Steve met the fort mascot James Buchanan Barnes, called "Bucky" by his friends. Bucky read about Captain America’s exploits in the paper and spoke of his dream to one day meet the man. Some nights later, he stumbled onto Steve as our hero was changing back out of his costume after another secret mission.
Deciding the kid was now bonded to him by the knowledge of this secret, Cap offered to take him on as a partner (a smart 
way to keep the kid from yapping, don’t you think?). Rather than take on a super-hero name, James just used his nickname exclusively while operating in his masked identity. No one in the quiet Fort LeHigh connected this masked fighter in the newspapers with their mascot who also happened to be nicknamed Bucky and palled around with the seemingly unintelligent Steve Rogers.
Frankly, this isn't that unreasonable. I’ve known a couple of people nicknamed Bucky in my life and I have never believed them to be Captain America’s partner either. Of course, the disguise might have been better if Bucky wore a full mask like his partner. But remember, this was an age where the people who read about Captain America's adventures only saw black and white newspaper photos or newsreels and those weren't always the best quality. Had Bucky been in operation today where TV news media and gossip shows will feature the same piece of footage several times, from multiple angles and with various levels of enhancement, it would have been quite different.
CHANGES AND REACTIONS
Cap was very popular when he first appeared, but he was also terribly controversial. See, there were still many people in the states who supported Hitler for one reason or another. After Captain America #1 came out, a pro-Nazi rally was held in Madison Square Garden in New York where those gathered spoke heatedly about how the cover image was an insult to the man they admired. A mob of protesters gathered outside the offices of Marvel Comics (called "Timely Comics" back then) and Nazi supporters burned effigies of Captain America and copies of his first issue in the street before they were dispersed by the police.
How many comic book heroes can say they evoked such a public reaction with their first appearance?
With his second issue, Cap’s triangular shield was exchanged for a discus-like version that could be used as a weapon as
well as a defensive tool. It wasn’t explained why he’d changed shields, but no one minded after Cap displayed his ability to hurl his new shield with such accuracy that it could slice through gun barrels and ricochet off walls to take down multiple villains at once. His costume was also slightly altered. His mask was lengthened to connect with his shirt and eventually the stripes on the bottom front of his shirt were extended to wrap around his entire torso.
Many years later, it would be said that the shield was a one-of-a-kind merging between titanium and Stan Lee's mythical metal vibranium, an ore that absorbs kinetic energy. This meant that the shield was pretty much the ultimate protection. If the Hulk punched Cap's shield, the vibranium elements would absorb enough of the blow that Cap's arm wouldn't break under the impact. Later comics also said that attempt to re-create Cap's unique shield eventually led to the creation of another fictional Marvel metal: adamantium.
Cap went on fighting crime and Nazis and the like. His major nemesis was not just Hitler but a man who the Nazi agent known as the Red Skull. In his first appearance, the Red Skull was merely the cover identity of an American soldier named John George Maxon who was spying for the Nazis and was quickly defeated. 
But the frightening image of his masked persona was too strong to let go. So pretty soon, the Red Skull was brought back and it was explained that Maxon was just a lower-ranking Nazi agent acting in his stead. The real Red Skull was Hitler’s personal enforcer. Bloodthirsty and without pity, this villain's sinister appearance and schemes made him an instant hit. The fact that you never learned his real name nor saw his face added to the mystique of the character.
One thing that made the Skull unique was that he was also the only super-villain to have his own soundtrack. In several stories, the Red Skull would have a record player or phonograph playing Chopin’s "Funeral March" to announce his presence. Or sometimes he would leave it behind as a calling card. Steve and Bucky would arrive to find a grisly murder scene and there, sitting nearby, was a phonograph playing that song. And Cap would know that the Skull had just gotten away and was laughing at him.
As America entered the war, Cap's popularity soared. He became a big advertiser for readers to buy war bonds and he inspired a hoard of imitators. There were heroes like the Spirit of ’76, the Patriot, Mr. America (who later became Americommando), and several others. A couple of those imitators would actually get directly involved with Captain America in later stories.
After World War II ended, there didn’t seem quite as much need for a character like Captain America. Nazis had been such great villains, who could take their place? Cap started solving murders and tackling mad scientists, but it just wasn’t the same. To enhance his appeal, a new title was created called All-Winners Comics, a take-off of DC’s very succesful All-Star Comics which starred the famous Justice Society of America, the world's first ever super-hero team.
In this title, Captain America was teamed up with Marvel's other two major war-time heroes: Namor of Atlantis AKA the aquatic Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch, who was actually an android who'd developed sentience and powers over fire. Naturally, Bucky came along on these adventures, as did the Torch's side-kick Thomas "Toro" Raymond (a former circus brat who was barely even an adolescent but made up for it with mutant fire-powers).
After several adventures, the team of the "All-Winners Squad" (man, talk about positive reinforcement) was expanded to include two other Golden Age heroes: the Whizzer and Miss America. 
The Whizzer (Bob Frank) was, in my opinion, one of the lamest characters ever. He got super-speed thanks to an emergency injection of mongoose blood (?!) and wore an unfortunately-yellow costume to go along with his bad name (and he certainly wasn't as fast as DC's Flash). Miss America (Madelyne Joyce) was a super-hero who actually needed glasses (still unusual even today) and was blessed with flight and enhanced strength.
Miss America was created in the post-war era when Marvel and other comic book publishers were desperately trying to attract new readers by appealing more to the female market. Unlike other female super-heroes who have names similar to a male costumed hero (Supergirl, She-Hulk, Mary Marvel), Miss America had no connection to Cap and was not at all seen as his personal partner or a spin-off character. She was her own woman and later she developed a romantic relationship with the Whizzer rather than with our star-spangled hero.
Please note that this character is not the same Miss America (AKA Joan Dale) who fought in DC Comics. The DC Comics character Miss America had not had any stories published for a while at this point, so Marvel decided to take the name while no one was using it and created their own version of the character.
The All-Winners Squad adventures didn't improve sales for Cap much either. Eventually, it was decided to try and shake things up a bit in Cap’s world. While chasing a band of criminals, Bucky took a bullet to the chest. He didn't die, but the injury benched him and he was forced to retire.
But that was okay, in the very same issue, Captain America got himself a new partner. For the next several adventures, Steve Rogers was joined in his adventures by the masked lady Betsy Ross AKA the Golden Girl (yeah, they actually gave Steve a partner named "Betsy Ross").
Comic book legend Stan Lee has stated that this story was most likely his suggestion since he always disliked the idea of teenage sidekicks, feeling that if he were a super-hero he would hang out with an attractive woman rather than a young boy. "At the very least, people will talk," Stan Lee sometimes joked.
It is possible that the replacement of Bucky Barnes with an attractive woman was due to criticism that had risen against comics in the late 1940s. It was during this time that certain people, most notably Dr. Frederic Wertham, began blaming comic books for a decline in the education and moral standards of 
children in America. In his book Seduction of the Innocent, Wertham cited Captain America and other heroes with teenage sidekicks as secretly promoting homosexuality in teenage boys. Because why else would two guys fight crime together unless they were romantically involved, right?
Super-hero comics were falling in popularity anyway and people like Wertham exacerbated the situation. A new female partner and a focus on straightforward crime and whodunnit stories were not enough to get people to come back to Captain America's adventures. Eventually, the book was retitled Captain America's Weird Tales, a horror anthology that did not actually involve the shield-slinging hero after the first new issue. Steve passed into limbo, unused and unseen for several years to come.
And then the communists showed up.
THE 1950's REVIVAL
In the early 50's, Marvel tried to bring back the super-hero genre. In the new comic title Young Men, they reintroduced the characters that had been considered their "Big Three": The Sub-Mariner, the original Human Torch and Captain America (with Bucky along for the ride).
The Sub-Mariner and Human Torch stories were treated as a continuation of their previously discontinued tales. The Sub-Mariner had not been seen in a while because he'd been too busy in Atlantis to be bothered with the affairs of the annoying humans who lived on the surface. In the Torch’s case, it was explained that the android hero had not been seen in comics for several years because he’d been deactivated during the late 1940s. Now he was back and ready for action. His first mission involved rescuing his old sidekick "Toro" Raymond from communist forces.
Captain America and Bucky were treated differently, however. Rather than continuing the stories of two heroes who had been around since World War II, Young Men #24 reintroduced them as almost new characters.
In the issue, we were introduced to Steve Rogers, a college history teacher, and his young friend/student Bucky, a college jock. In the comic, Bucky got into an argument with others about the exploits of the heroes Captain America and Bucky who had fought Nazis year before but were now thought to be mere stories by most people.
The story then featured the United Nations building in New York being attacked by a new version of the
Red Skull. This was no Nazi, but a communist working for "Red Powers." Other than the same mask and name, this new Red Skull had no apparent connection to the older one and had a bit of a different, more snide personality. He was also fond of capes, something the original Skull had never really been partial too (I guess we readers were supposed to understand that Soviets were more about flair and pizzazz than Nazis).
The college teacher called Steve Rogers and his student Bucky then got into the costumes of Captain America and Bucky and sprung into action. It was unclear if these were supposed to be the same people who had fought Nazis during World War II or if they were merely people who had been inspired by the heroes of yesteryear. What's more, this version of the character was called "Captain America, Commie-Smasher" rather than "Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty."
But even with the new stories focusing on Captain America and Bucky fighting agents of the "Red Menace", readers just weren’t in the mood for the star-spangled hero who fought Russian and Chinese spies. A major reason for this was because the stories themselves were actually pretty lame. During the 50's, comic books were hampered by the newly-formed Comics Code Authority which had various restrictions concerning how much violence was shown, how detailed criminal plots could be, how authority figures were protrayed, and how women were to be drawn and written (there were also many other rules concerning the prohibition of vampires, witches, zombies and many other things).
As a result, this Soviet Red Skull did wave a gun around, yes, but never seemed willing to actually shoot anyone. After being defeated at the U.N., the Commie Red Skull then attempted to steal the secrets of the U.S.A.'s "atom rockets" (maybe his English wasn't very good and he meant to say "nuclear warheads"). Dialogue and actions such as these did not exactly make him seem threatening.
The communist Red Skull's shining moment? Showing just how trusting and unobservant the new versions of Captain America and Bucky were. In Young Men #27, the new Red Skull, known for wearing a jumpsuit and a cape, lured our heroes into a trap by disguising himself as an old, bearded man ... who wore an identical jumpsuit and a cape. Amazingly, Cap and Bucky never got suspicious about this familiar wardrobe and followed the old man into a castle that, to their surprise, held a variety of torture devices (which Bucky found really cool, disturbingly).
The new Red Skull and his troops then tortured the commie-smashing Cap and Bucky until they gave in and revealed where the U.S. secretly held their store of "atom rocket bombs." During the drive there, Cap freed himself and he and Bucky had a good old brawl in the back of the Skull's truck. They then jumped out, having tricked the Skull into driving into a wall (?!), at which point we were told that the Skull had died off-panel when he attempted to jump off the truck and didn't land very well. Cap and Bucky congratulated themselves on stopping these red agents and then left the villain's body lying there because, after all, who wants to touch an icky corpse?
The new adventures of Captain America "Commie Smasher" ended soon afterward and the 1950's went on. Perhaps there was no place for a post-war sentinel of liberty.
The History of Captain America continues in Part 2.
Reader Comments (2)
Still the idea of the original Red Skull having his own sound track sounds quite sinister, I hope they use that in the film, it could make for some quite haunting moments.