MRL - Captain America (1968) #255
May. 26th, 2025 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sonotadreamCaptain America (1968) #255 - written by Roger Stern, art by John Byrne. First published March 1981
This is a special issue for the 40th Anniversary of Captain America and is meant to be the definitive telling of Captain America's origin story.
Steve Rogers was raised by his widowed mother in the Lower East Side (not Brooklyn! Sorry, that's not the last time I compare the comic with the movie). He grows up a fan of fantasy and art. He watches a news reel about nazis one day and becomes radicalised - love that for him.
He's not fit enough for the army, but General Phillips just happens to be hanging out at a random recruiting center and recruits Steve for Project Rebirth, on the strength of his desire to fight nazis. Not a bad reason, but I think the movie did this part better.
Steve ends up taking the super soldier serum three times (for continuity related reasons). It works and Dr. Erskine is killed, ending the dream of an army of American super soldiers.
Instead of selling war bonds, Steve spends the following months training under General Phillips supervision, until he's ready to become Captain America, symbol of freedom and the fight against tyranny.
Which is why he has to keep his identity secret. Also, a significant portion of the story is spent explaining why Steve had to change the design of his helmet to avoid accidentally exposing is face - I think the reason for that is that nerds gonna nerd.
Captain America spends the first months of his tenure destroying nazi cells and spy rings with great success, until the time comes for the US to join the war and Captain America to go to Europe.
So, obviously, the first step is to set up a non-superhero identity as a clueless army recruit, duh. He also makes friends with Bucky, orphan boy adopted by the camp.
The story ends with a brief epilogue showing Steve in the modern day (at the time of publishing) wondering if it is all worth it. Yes, it is. (He's an Avenger And working as a freelance artist, I guess Avengers weren't getting paid back in the 80's.)
My thoughts: good, concise retelling of Captain America's beginning. There's a couple of story beats that are only there for continuity reasons, but they're not distracting. Steve Rogers is written how I like him: he stands for Americ as it should be, not America as is. His morals may be a bit black and white, but I think that's a virtue when you're fighting literal nazis.
This is a special issue for the 40th Anniversary of Captain America and is meant to be the definitive telling of Captain America's origin story.
Steve Rogers was raised by his widowed mother in the Lower East Side (not Brooklyn! Sorry, that's not the last time I compare the comic with the movie). He grows up a fan of fantasy and art. He watches a news reel about nazis one day and becomes radicalised - love that for him.
He's not fit enough for the army, but General Phillips just happens to be hanging out at a random recruiting center and recruits Steve for Project Rebirth, on the strength of his desire to fight nazis. Not a bad reason, but I think the movie did this part better.
Steve ends up taking the super soldier serum three times (for continuity related reasons). It works and Dr. Erskine is killed, ending the dream of an army of American super soldiers.
Instead of selling war bonds, Steve spends the following months training under General Phillips supervision, until he's ready to become Captain America, symbol of freedom and the fight against tyranny.
Which is why he has to keep his identity secret. Also, a significant portion of the story is spent explaining why Steve had to change the design of his helmet to avoid accidentally exposing is face - I think the reason for that is that nerds gonna nerd.
Captain America spends the first months of his tenure destroying nazi cells and spy rings with great success, until the time comes for the US to join the war and Captain America to go to Europe.
So, obviously, the first step is to set up a non-superhero identity as a clueless army recruit, duh. He also makes friends with Bucky, orphan boy adopted by the camp.
The story ends with a brief epilogue showing Steve in the modern day (at the time of publishing) wondering if it is all worth it. Yes, it is. (He's an Avenger And working as a freelance artist, I guess Avengers weren't getting paid back in the 80's.)
My thoughts: good, concise retelling of Captain America's beginning. There's a couple of story beats that are only there for continuity reasons, but they're not distracting. Steve Rogers is written how I like him: he stands for Americ as it should be, not America as is. His morals may be a bit black and white, but I think that's a virtue when you're fighting literal nazis.
