Captain America

‘Simon and Kirby produced the first ten issues of Captain America Comics before they split Timely for other challenges. But they left behind one of the most powerful templates ever devised for portraying a Super Hero.’

1. Roy Thomas, from his introduction

As Roy Thomas explains in his expert introduction, these stories reveal the evolution of one of Marvel’s longest-running characters – a weakling army recruit turned All-American Super Hero by way of Dr Erskine’s Super-Soldier serum. You’ll discover Cap’s exuberant early battles against the nefarious Red Skull and others, aided by his faithful ally and future ‘Winter Soldier’ Bucky Barnes. The war hero finds himself a man out of time during assignment to the Avengers in 1964, and faces even greater uncertainty in tales from the Watergate era and beyond. This collection also includes the fan-favourite 1976 story 'Screamer in the Brain!', written and drawn by Jack Kirby himself following his return to Marvel. Marvel: Captain America is the ultimate account of an American icon. 

Roy Thomas has been a writer and often editor in the comic book field since 1965, when he gravitated to Marvel to become Stan Lee’s assistant and protégé. He succeeded Stan Lee as Marvel’s editor-in-chief in 1972, and was only the second person to script a Spider-Man story. He has been at the forefront of the comics industry for much of his life and is credited with co-creating, amongst other characters, Vision, Carol Danvers, Ultron, Iron Fist, Red Sonja, Ghost Rider, Nighthawk, Banshee and Valkyrie. Thomas is currently editor of the fanzine Alter Ego, and in 2011 was elected to the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.

Jack Kirby (1917–94) – born Jacob Kurtzberg – was born and raised in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the son of Austrian-Jewish immigrants. Self-taught, he began working in animation and comic books and co-created Captain America (with regular collaborator Joe Simon) for Marvel Comics’ predecessor Timely in 1940. Following service in the Second World War, Kirby worked at various comic book publishers before returning to Marvel, where he co-created the Fantastic Four in 1961. Several more iconic co-creations followed, among them Thor, the Hulk and Iron Man. A pivotal figure of the so-called Silver Age of American Super Hero comics, Kirby developed an explosively kinetic art style that continues to influence comic book culture the world over. He was aptly nicknamed ‘The King’.

Joe Simon (1913–2011) – born Hymie Simon – was raised in Rochester, New York. After graduation, he worked as an editor, cartoonist and illustrator. While working as an artist and writer on Super Hero comics for Timely, he met long-time collaborator Jack Kirby. Simon became Timely’s first editor in 1939 and co-created Captain America with Kirby a year later. Following service with the US Coast Guard during the Second World War, Simon re-joined Kirby to work on projects for various publishers. In 1953 they formed their own comic book company, Mainline Productions. The company was short-lived and he and Kirby parted ways soon after, but Simon continued to work in comics, as well as commercial art, for the rest of his career. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1999.