Captain America Comics Issue 1 first impressions

"As the ruthless war-mongers of Europe focus their eyes on a peace-loving America...the youth of our country heed the call to arm for defense...but great as the danger of the foreign attack...is the threat of invasion from within...the dreaded fifth column..."

A golden age comic book, featuring the first appearances of Captain America and Bucky Barnes. The book was released in March of 1941, just two years in to World War 2 and created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

From the offset, I can see why this book may have caused controversy amongst readers, it was obviously very current and likely affected a lot of people whilst the country was at war.

It reads very well in retrospect, it has a strong sense of history to it and in many ways feels less like a superhero story and more like an action comic book.

Like most books of that age, I felt like there wasn't much time to get to know the titular character before they take up their respective mantle. Steve Rogers doesnt appear in the comic book until the latter half, which works to its advantage in this book as the story focuses more on the war. However, it's worth noting that this book demonstrates how crucial Captain America's origin is for this time period, so in many ways, they balance each other out.

I was also quite surprised to discover a few things in this book. Firstly, the mention of the Human Torch at the beginning, initially, I was puzzled because Fantastic Four wasn't released until the silver age. However, it transpired that the characters in this comic book were referring to the original Human Torch, who was an android and part of the "Big Three" at Timely Comics (now known as Marvel) at the time. The "Big Three" were originally, Human Torch, Sub Mariner and Captain America.

Coincidentally, eventhough it was a different Human Torch, both he and Captain America have been portrayed by Chris Evans in the respective films. Also in Captain America First Avenger, there is an easter egg of the original Human Torch suit whilst Steve and Bucky are walking around the Stark Expo.

The second thing I discovered in this book was the appearance of Bucky Barnes, who's very different to how he originally appears. In this book, he is significantly younger than Steve Rogers and very much admires Captain America and serves as his sidekick by the end of the first issue upon discovering his identity by accident.

I also speculate that this may have been the beginning of Marvel and DC competing. In 1940, we see the first appearance of the dynamic duo, Batman and Robin, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that Marvel attempted to create their own dynamic duo, possibly in direct response.

With regards to the illustrations, I thought they were very bold and colourful. Cap's suit and shield have obviously changed since this first appearance. But the classic colours have still been very much immortalised in the character's rich history for over the last 80 years.

I also admire that iconic shot of Captain America knocking out Adolf Hitler on the front cover. A very bold move by the publishers, given that the war was still going on at the time of release.

On the whole, I thought this was a very entertaining book and look forward to reading the rest of the issues in this run. It was a strong start for the character and an absolute must-read for any fans of Captain America.