After the war wound down, the title, and superheroes in general, went into a decline. In 1946 they attempt to generate some excitement for the title when issue #66 featured Bucky getting shot. He survives but Captain America gets a new sidekick, Golden Girl. Despite the wound, Bucky was still working with Cap over in the All-Winners title as part of that squad of heroes.
By 1950 superheroes had run their course. Readers moved elsewhere for their thrills, most notably over to TV. Trying to keep the attention of a straying public, the company incorporated a horror theme for the last two issues changing the title to Captain America’s Weird Tales. The book was canceled with #75.
A couple of years later in 1953, Marvel, working under the title of Atlas and struggling for readership, tried to reintroduce superheroes to the public. The idea proved to be a bit too soon for the public to latch on to. Cap was brought back along with the Sub-Mariner and The Human Torch. Cap’s solo title was reintroduced but only lasted three issues until #78. By 1954 all three heroes were canceled.
The company went on for the next few years publishing monsters, horror, romance and western titles. But after the attempt in 1953, there are no new superhero titles from Marvel for almost a decade.
Over at their biggest competitor, DC Comics, 1956 proved to be a watershed year. Knowing full well that Atlas had failed when they reintroduced heroes in 1953, and struggling with their own declining base, DC decides to try the hero concept one more time. Part of their logic is that the standard age of their readership base, basically young boys, changes every seven years as the generation ages. The kid of 1956 would have no knowledge of what was published back in 1949. So any character introduced would be new.
In addition to this they also decide to radically redesign the Golden Age characters they own for the upcoming space age while keeping the original concept intact. Their first issue featuring a new Flash is a hit but it often takes six months for accurate sales figures to come in. the next few years fly by and before anyone knows it, it is 1960 and The Justice League of America, a team magazine featuring many of their newly updated heroes, is selling out everywhere.
As the oft-told tale goes, it’s now 1961 and Timely publisher Martin Goodman is playing golf with the publisher of DC. Over the course of friendly conversation, DC takes the opportunity to brag about the sales figures on JLA. Now whether this tale is true has been debated by many, but the end result is that the head of Marvel goes into Stan Lee and says “Get me a book like the JLA.”
A few months later The Fantastic Four is on newsstands quickly followed by The Incredible Hulk and Amazing Spider-Man. By early 1963 Marvel is coming back to life. Unlike the stories at DC, which tend to be of the more traditional “lantern-jawed heroic” nature, the new Marvel characters are deeply flawed and more human. Readers are attracted to this new way of presenting heroes.
Who is at the center of this rebirth? Primarily it’s Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. They are struggling to create new characters as fast as they get the sales figures. But they are hampered by a constrictive distribution deal with of all people, DC. So they are limited as to the actual number of books they can publish.
This means they have to work within a limited amount of space. It is obvious to them that they have to bring back the character that many consider their most important contribution to the Golden Age, Captain America. But they are unable to give the man his own title without testing the waters first. So they bring him back in a Human Torch solo story featured in Strange Tales #114 (NOV 1963).
The Torch is running around with Captain America who is introduced to the new reader as having returned from retirement. At the end the Captain America character is revealed to be a fake. He is really a villain known as The Acrobat whom the Torch had defeated earlier. At the end of the story the last panel asks the reader if they want to see more of Cap.
At the same time the team of Kirby and Lee Marvel had created their own version of the JLA, called The Avengers. The team debuts in their own title and in issue #4, they find Captain America in a state of suspended animation floating in a block of ice.
At the very end of World War II, Captain America had been flying in an experimental drone plane over the North Atlantic. Things hadn’t gone as planned and he ended up frozen for a few decades. It doesn’t take long for Cap to become the leader of The Avengers as others recognize his wisdom and experience.
It is obvious that readers have taken to the character and he is given a guest shot inside an Iron Man story in Tales of Suspense #58 (OCT 1964). Due to the distribution deal with DC that severely limited the number of titles that Marvel could publish, the next issue of TOS sees the two heroes splitting cover billing.
For the first time in a long time Kirby is drawing the character he co-created. His love of the character shines through his amazing pencil work.
Issues #63 (MAR 1965) through #71 (NOV 1965) put Cap back in action during WWII and also feature Bucky. As the distribution deal with DC ends its contract Marvel can get more books on the stands so with issue #100, Captain America gets his own title.
One of the most appealing features of the new Silver Age version of the Captain is that he maintains the sensibilities of the time he was actually created in, WWII. Alive again in the sixties, he becomes a fish out of water as he struggles to understand the ways of a newly modern America. Kirby stays with the title for most issues and his work is exemplary.
In 1969 Captain meets and trains the man who would become the first African-American hero in mainstream comics, Sam Wilson. Introduced by artist gene Colan and Stan Lee, Wilson, under the training and tutelage of Captain America becomes The Falcon. In #134 the title becomes Captain America and the Falcon. During this period Cap becomes disillusioned with what America has become and adopts the identity of Nomad. This lasts four issues, but over the years, the character of Nomad would return to the Marvel Universe several times in various forms and in various identities. Throughout most of the seventies the Cap and the Falcon do their best work in NYC.
Nomad wasn’t the only time that Cap became conflicted about the behavior of those who serve in the Government of the United States. In another significant story line he becomes “The Captain” while a man named John Walker takes his place. The demands of the job drive Walker insane and in the end there is only one real captain America, Steve Rogers.
As writers come and go throughout the years, Cap’s origin is retold and occasionally adjusted. Steve Rogers, anxious to serve his country but rejected from enlisting due to his poor physical health, is given a simple injection of the super-soldier serum. At one point the serum leaves his body and he develops his skills through hard work. At another point his body has begun to deteriorate so badly that he needs an exoskeleton to continue.
The Red Skull is determined to have been a clone of Cap. A blood transfusion from his most fiendish enemy returns the serum to his blood and Steve Rogers once again resumes the mantle of Captain America.
The team of Cap and Falcon comes to an end with issue #222 when the title reverts back to Captain America. The book lasts until issue # 454 (AUG 1996). From there the character begins appearing a run of self-titled books. In essence there are four volumes of Captain America, each more exciting than the last.
Captain America is so respected that during the classic Marvel mini-series Secret Wars the heroes trapped on Battleworld elect him their leader.
During the Marvel series Civil War, Captain America comes out opposed to mandatory registration for super-beings. Forced into hiding, he goes underground and becomes a Mall Security Guard. As the series moves on, Captain America becomes involved in a tremendous fight with Iron Man, who firmly believes in the Registration Act. As the fight comes to an end Cap unwillingly has to surrender when a group of civilians becomes endangered during the fight.
Traditionally one of the most stable heroes in the comic book universe, Captain America suffers a cruel fate. After his trial he is shot in the back by a sniper and than shot three more times on the steps of a courthouse. Though of as dead, everyone believes that he is buried in Arlington.
The Red Skull finally has his day.
Bucky picks up his mantle in issue #34 (MAR 2008). After a long series of restarts, the title resumes its original numbering with issue #600 and Bucky still in place as Cap. The story line of Cap’s death continues in the mini-series Captain America: Reborn. It is reveled that the Red Skull had arranged for Cap to be sent bouncing through space and time. He jumps across the eras he lived in, often fighting battles and reliving events of his life.
Today Steve Rogers is once again wearing the mask of Captain America. He stands tall as one of the most loved characters in the Marvel Universe. His various incarnations, coupled with the depth of his personal convictions in what he believes and stands for makes him one of the most interesting and popular characters Marvel publishes. His struggles as he searches for his own identity ahs often mirrored the same search that America itself was going through.
Originally a quickly created character for a newly expanding industry, Captain America has gone on to become one of the most important creations of the comic world. The energy and excitement created by Simon and Kirby has been well served by the best that the creative comic community has to offer.
Over the years John Byrne, Gil Kane, Jim Steranko, Ed Brubaker and many other skilled artists and writers have kept Cap’s flag flying high. Often pushing himself beyond his own limits, Captain America stands as an example of the best that comics can offer.