This is a review of Marvel Masterworks: Captain America Volume One. This graphic novel is the work of Jack Kirby, which means its good. Stan Lee is listed as the writer, but I read an interview with Kirby wherein he claims to have done both the art and writing. Having read a bunch of Marvel material in the 60’s, I think there might be something to his claims.
Captain America was a war hero/propaganda figure in the 1940’s. When the war ended, he was frozen in a block of ice for twenty years. If you want more, read this volume or watch any of the Captain America/Avengers movies. The stories are split between the 1940’s and the present day (in this case, 1965). In the 40’s, Captain America and his youthful sidekick Bucky win World War Two. In the 60’s, Captain America is a member of the Avengers. Twenty years have passed, but Cap’s rogue gallery remains mostly the same, Baron Zemo and The Red Skull.
Many of the stories in this volume are multiparters, but there isn’t an overarching story arc. The stories feature lots of action, and stretch Cap to his limits. My favorite story set in the past is when the Red Skull captures & brainwashes Cap, and sends him to London to kill the Allied Supreme Commander.
There are a bunch of great stories set in the present. Cap fights a Nazi doomsday weapon, the Red Skull returns with the cosmic cube (a weapon that gives the user control over reality), and there’s a radioactive biohazard story featuring Batroc the Leaper, which feels timely today (substitute COVID).
Captain America doesn’t have much of a cast in the present day, mostly because of the split between the past and the present. Special shout-out to the Red Skull, Cap’s opposite and ultimate nemesis.
Great work from Jack Kirby.
Abandoned Places 