Every Picture Tells a Patriotic Story 7/4/21

Back in 1976, America celebrated its bicentennial in a miriad of ways: Concerts, fireworks displays, TV specials, patriotic movies, toys, etc.

Marvel Comics chose to mark the occasion by having their signature patriotic hero, Captain America, travel through time fighting the good fight in multiple eras in the "treasury"-sized story, Captain America's Bicentennial Battles.

Written and pencilled by Cap's co-creator, Jack Kirby, and inked by a host of Marvel talent (including Incredible Hulk artist Herb Trimpe and Conan the Barbarian penciller Barry Windsor Smith), Bicentennial Battles tells about that one time Cap went bopping around through various historical moments in America's history--from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War to other moments of conflict in our nation's history--at the behest of a mysterious fella named Mr. Buddha.

This isn't exactly a single story as much as it is a series of set pieces for Cap to fight through, all the while gaining a greater understanding/appreciation of how America came to be what it was in 1976.

I had the original Treasury Edition (much larger than a standard comic book, but printed on cheaper paper) back in 1976, along with several others featuring reprints of Spider-Man and the Hulk as well as the occasional original story (Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man was the most prominent of these, being a joint production of Marvel and DC), but lost it along with everything else when I had to abandon La Casa del Terror.

But, like so many other items from that time, I've been able to replace Captain America's Bicentennial Battles with a reissue recently released by Marvel Comics. It cost a bit more than the original, but it's also printed on much nicer, heavier paper than the original was, making it easier to appreciate Kirby's epic artwork.

From me--and, I'm sure, from Cap and Jack as well--I wish you all a happy and safe Independence day.

V-Day 2012, Part 10

If you know the name Jack Kirby at all, it's probably from his work at Marvel Comics in the 1960s, where he created (or co-created, depending on how much input you believe Stan Lee really had beyond writing dialog) many of the companies most popular heroes, including the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor and Daredevil.

You may further know that, before his legendary work at Marvel, Kirby had a long and fruitful partnership with Joe Simon (who passed away this past December at the astounding age of 97), during which they created one of the most enduring superheroes of all time (Captain America) and a host of other popular comic book characters (The Boy Commandos, the Newsboy Legion, Fighting American, The Fly, etc.).

What you may not know, however, is that one of their most successful creations wasn't a single character, but a whole genre: Romance comics!

For 12 years (from 1947 to 1959), Simon and Kirby wrote, drew and/or supervised production of stories for Young Romance (and related spinoffs), arguably making their romance stories the most successful endeavor of their partnership. (Most of their efforts had much shorter runs--even their Captain America stint only lasted 10 issues.)

And if you read the stories, 13 of which were reprinted in the paperback pictured above and below (21 more have been reprinted and lovingly restored in Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's Romance Comics), you can understand why their run on romance comics lasted so long. Their stories are intelligent and sensitive, touching on societal prejudices (economic and ethnic) while still remaining thoroughly entertaining and fun, even today. However, I'm reasonably certain that "back door love" had an entirely different meaning in 1949 than it does in 2012.