Captain America by Jack Kirby: Part 1- Initial Deployment

My next few posts will be in regard to Jack Kirby’s Captain America, spanning his three runs on the character in the 40’s, 60’s and 70’s. So here it is, first one up, Golden Age Captain America by Jack Kirby.

So this should really be “by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon” but as I’m going to be writing about his entire Captain America related output, the only constant throughout is Jack Kirby, but that doesn’t mean I’ll not be taking the writing into consideration too.

I remember the first time I read these, the first ten issues of Captain America Comics. I was, in all honesty, mildly disappointed. I’d read The Invaders and the early Silver Age stories that take place in war torn Europe and I had expected the same of the Golden Age stories, but, as those of you that have read these books already know, that isn’t the case.

But, this wasn’t the first time I’d read these and I knew that I wasn’t going to see any vistas of a bombed out London or fire gutted churches in rural France and I felt an ice cold tickle of excitement as I opened the cover of the first volume to see…….Cap Smashing Adolph in the Kaiser, I mean Kisser. Woo-Hoo. Yeah, I know we don’t actually see anything of this in the strips, but still, Cap Smashing Adolph in the Kisser is one heck of an iconic image in any medium. And that, Ladies & Gentlemen, is only the first page.

Can you tell I’m excited.

Just to back track slightly, my reprints of these comics are in Captain America: The Classic Years volumes 1 & 2. Each volume reprints five issues and the two volumes contain the complete ten issue Golden Age run of Kirby on Cap. They are also collected in the Golden Age Marvel Masterworks of Captain America Comics, but you will have to purchase three volumes of those as each volume only collects four issues.

Anyway. Smack, Adolph gets a knuckle sandwich to the face and turn the page again, we’re into a lighting quick origin of the feeble Steve Rogers being transformed into the Super-Soldier that is Captain America. I love the fact that these two Jewish lads totally subvert the Blue Eyed, Blond Haired Nazi ideal of an Aryan Uber-Mensch and turn him into a living weapon against the very rats that hold that ideal so vehemently.

In these stories Cap and Bucky operate almost exclusively in the U.S. As I mentioned earlier, on my first reading of these stories I expected them to be fighting across various theatres of conflict, but instead Cap and Bucky actually oppose Fifth Columnists that are operating within Americas shores, plus the odd purely criminal enterprise. Kirby and Simon provide a varied range of stories from pure adventure to mystery, horror and a dose of weird fiction that feels like it’s ripped straight out of the pulps, but all have an emphasis on action.

From the first issue we’re introduced to the regular supporting cast that are featured throughout the run, including Bucky of course, but also the “original” Red Skull, the almost love interest Betsy/Betty Ross and the comic relief Sgt. Duffy, who’s used to great effect by Steve Rogers to cement his image as the bumbling Pvt. Rogers at Camp Lehigh. Duffy in particular used to great effect in the scripts, the comedic moments offer a counter to the dramatic scenes and are perfectly timed to change the pace of the stories, particularly in the longer strips.

It’s no secret that there was a considerable amount of input from other artists for these strips. I don’t know that anyone has been able to completely nail down exactly who did what, particularly in regard to the Kirby/Simon split of art chores, but suffice to say that diverse hands created these ten issues. In some sections it’s obvious that it’s someone other than Kirby or Simon, in others it’s a close call to make. It can be a little jarring, but not to the point that I was fully pulled out of the story, so if that’s what it took to get these books out then so be it.

The layouts of the strips changes from rigid to fluid from page to page, on first noticing, you might be tempted to assume that it was a different artist, but in many cases I would say not. This was, after all, the very early days of the medium, so I think it has more to do with Kirby experimenting with various story telling techniques to see what will work best, he seems to get to grips with this quite quickly and changes it around depending on the content, which seems obvious now, but back then it was still an open question of fluidity or uniformity.

There’s plenty to love in these volumes. The work of Simon & Kirby on this strip was truly innovative, with odd perspectives and dynamic layouts breaking new ground in the burgeoning comic book industry. The truth is that not everything in these volumes works one-hundred percent, but all of it stands head and shoulders above most other Golden Age books, and I say that as a reader that loves Golden Age comics. Like Batman and Superman, there’s a reason that Captain America is still one of the industry’s biggest selling characters, the fact that he is very much of his time has, in effect, made him timeless and somehow, Kirby and Simon have presented this character as what we would now describe as a fully formed archetype. Nothing in regard to the basic foundations of the character has needed to be changed (although it hasn’t stopped people doing so) and seventy years on, I’m pleased to say, that you won’t find many comics that are better than these.

Mad Thinker Reads………….

Adolph. Kisser. >>SMACK<<

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