Captain America

Penguin Classics Marvel Collection #2

by Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Stan Lee

The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents the origin stories, seminal tales, and characters of the Marvel Universe to explore Marvel's transformative and timeless influence on an entire genre of fantasy.

A Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Edition

It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few.

Drawing upon multiple comic book series, this collection includes Captain America's very first appearances from 1941 alongside key examples of his first solo stories of the 1960s, in which Steve Rogers, the newly resurrected hero of World War II, searches to find his place in a new and unfamiliar world. As the contents reveal, the transformations of this American icon thus mark parallel transformations in the nation itself.

A foreword by Gene Luen Yang and scholarly introductions and apparatus by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of Captain America and classic Marvel comics.

The Penguin Classics black spine paperback features full-color art throughout.

Genres: Comics, Fiction, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Classics, Comic Book

360 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2022

About the author

Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of the medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is "The King."

Reviews

[Brok3n · Rating 2 out of 5]

Big, handsome, blonde, and boring

Captain America was born in 1940, when Joe Simon (writer) and Jack Kirby (artist) published a crude anti-Nazi propaganda comic. Notably, the USA would not declare war against Germany until a year later. (Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the USA of course declared war on Japan, Germany declared war on the USA, and the USA in response declared war on Germany.) There was still a lot of pro-German sentiment in the USA in 1940. Kirby and Stan Lee revived Cap in 1964.

In my (sure to be unpopular) opinion, Kirby's artistry is uninspired. His Steve Rogers is a big blonde handsome man -- boring. His Captain America is a dork. Don't take my word for it. In his Foreword, Gene Luen Yang writes

Captain America: the hero with no fancy guns, no gamma-ray rage, no adamantium claws. The hero who wears little wings on the sides of his head, whose only weapon is a glorified Frisbee. The hero who dresses like an American flag. You can't get much cornier than that.
No doubt about it, Cap was a dork through and through.

(To be fair, Yang later walks this back a bit.) Cap also has a teenage side-kick (Robin to Cap's Batman) who is, if possible, even more of a dork.

Kirby and Lee try to give Rogers and Cap some psychological depth by killing off his first sidekick Bucky Barnes. This never really landed for me. Even after his 1964 revival Cap's story remains mired in the 40s for many issues. These stories are mostly more of the crude anti-German propaganda with which the character started.

Later, in 1969 Jim Steranko took over as artist from Kirby. His cinematic drawings prove that it is indeed possible to improve on Kirby's uninspired work. Unfortunately, the plot of the Steranko issues is dull.

These original Captain America comics are inferior to those in the The Amazing Spider-Man. I was surprised, because the Steve Rogers of the Marvel movies is an interesting character. He's a huge improvement on his source material.

Blog review.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love, love, love the conceit of this collection, fully approve of it being part of Penguin Classics, and thought the intros and academic material were terrific. It’s just that, well, Cap is kinda boring. While it was interesting to compare originals with reboots, it was a little tiresome (and boy was I steaming that in the 40s the Colonel’s wife fights back against the assassin with a gun, while in the 60s it’s a helpless housekeeper being overwhelmed, ugh! Left me very ill-disposed to the reboots). Then the original 60s ones were very bland until the last few presented. Cap himself was super bland and occasionally ridiculous, such as the issue where he pined over two women with no names, ugh. I think it would have been interesting to instead include some later comics, such as ones described where Cap has to deal with a changing America with Vietnam and Watergate. Maybe they’ll put out another volume?

I’m going to read the other two in this series as well, but hoping the academic material stays great but the comics also match up.

[Jack Burrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most enjoyable part of this was learning more about the context of the Marvel comics and the origins of Captain America, both on the Marvel universe but also within the setting of the world we live in. It was fascinating to read about the development of this character in a direct response to the Nazi threat of the 1930s and 1940s, and how as time progressed the character was forced to evolve and develop following the defeat of the Nazi's.

Excerpts of accompanying comics were illustrative of the context given, such as the re-launch of Captain America in the 1960s. What was equally interesting to see was how the illustration style also changed over this time. The only aspect of the comics which grated on me slightly was the over-the-top, over-dramatised writing style with the emphatic use of exclamation marks and over-stating the obviousness of actions and motives.

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5, really.

Everyone seems to be getting into the vintage Marvel game these days. There’s Taschen, who started the Marvel bandwagon with their illustrated Marvel history books by Roy Thomas; they’re now back in play with their ultra-deluxe, large-size, pricey reprints (Spider-Man is out and Avengers is coming). The UK’s Folio Society got into the game early with a set of high-end, slipcased reprints, including The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, and Captain America and Spider-Man volumes, all curated by Thomas. Abrams ComicArts is starting a separate imprint called MarvelArts with the upcoming Alex Ross Fantastic Four graphic novel.

And now Penguin has joined the fray with their own select reprints, in two formats—deluxe hardbound and trade paperback—in a series titled “Penguin Classics Marvel Collection. The conceit of this series, edited by noted comics historian Ben Saunders, is to “(serve) as a testament to Marvel’s transformative and timeless influence on an entire genre of fantasy.” So far, they’ve published volumes featuring Spider-Man (early Ditko issues), Black Panther (mainly the almost-unreadable—in my opinion—Don McGregor issues), and the one I opted for, Captain America, which features the Golden Age Cap #1 (by Simon & Kirby), a collection of Tales of Suspense issues with art by Kirby and Romita, and the Steranko trilogy from the late 1960s in Cap’s regular title. This deluxe hardcover is pretty spiffy, with great endpapers and gold foil art on a bright blue background on the covers and clearly a lot of thought has gone into it. It’s a very high-end product with great reproduction and added bonus content. Two minor design points: The interior pages reproducing covers need a thin black outline around the art so the white areas don’t blend into the paper (incidentally, the paper choice for this series is excellent), and the font used on the covers is a non-comics person's idea of a comic book font and really, really ugly.

While I welcome any scholarly look at comics, eventually you have to face the fact that what you’re talking about is just a comic book. Not to denigrate the medium I’ve loved all my life or Ben Saunders’s fine work on this series, but while I’m sure Stan and Jack would be excited that people are regarding their work in such a lofty way, in the end, this work was designed to cheaply entertain young people. The attempts to dress up comics sow’s ear into a silk purse are a bit highfalutin to me at times. Saunders’s introductions to both this series of books and the Cap volume in particular are very well written (despite getting the title of Cap’s original solo adventures comic series wrong—TWICE—by calling it Tales to Astonish and not the correct Tales of Suspense … proof-reading is an art, too), but jeez, Louise … just read the comics and enjoy them in the spirit in which they were created. I hope the series continues, but I don’t know how many times I can keep buying reprints of the same stories, no matter how beautiful they are. I’d be a sucker for a Fantastic Four volume, even though I plan to skip the Spidey and Black Panther volumes and most subsequent ones.

[Connor Stompanato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another strong entry in the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection, 'Captain America' is full of beautiful art, engaging stories, stunning colours and loveable characters. I had never read any of Cap's comics so discovering his history was very fun and just like the rest of this collection, the images are so crisp and high quality that I don't even think about how old they actually are.

There is a shift in art style starting with 'Captain America #110, "The Hero That Was!", Feb 1969' and I was absolutely mesmerised by the colouring of the images. Everything before this was great too, but they started using unnatural, hyper-saturated colours that made every single panel pop. Shadows were created in vibrant purples and pinks, giving each drawing so much more artistic flare. I enjoy seeing how comics progress throughout the years by focusing on the tales of one specific character per book, the stories and images really do reflect the time they were made in.

Seeing all of the heroes and villains that I mostly know through the MCU films in their original format is very fun. Bucky Barnes is completely different from how I know him and the Red Skull was an engaging, memorable foe for sure. MODOK shows up at one point which was exciting and we have glimpses of the Avengers throughout some of the later tales. Obviously I am a big fan of this collection of books and I can't wait for the next three to be released later this year.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully curated original comics in Penguin format, for forewords and explanatory notes.

[Amy DeRosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hardcover collection of classic Captain America comics. It has the first Captain America comic, then the comic series, Tales of Suspense #59 to #99, and Captain America #110 to #113, with a brief summary of #100 to #109.

[Trevor Seigler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Safe to say, I'm not the biggest Captain America fan. Blame it on my exposure at an early age to the woefully misguided 1992 movie starring J.D. Salinger's son in the title role (maybe my favorite bit of pop-culture trivia), blame it on my fandom for another of Marvel's high-flying heroes, Spider-Man (I'd argue he's far more complex than Cap), or blame on my dirty Commie pinko socialist beliefs. Whatever it is, I just have never really responded well to Cap on the page. The MCU has a lot of issues, to be sure, but one area in which it's excelled is in rehabbing Cap's image as a "square-jawed super-patriot" by having Chris Evans give him levels of complexity and pain that had been missing from earlier iterations. So when Penguin started doing these nice collections of comic-book legends, I decided to check out the Spidey one last year, and I loved it. I decided to check out this one about Cap, and...it's good. But it doesn't make me care more for Cap than I did previously.

Something to be said for anything like this that runs through the early years of a character's run in the comics: you can see the growing pains pretty well, and I actually like that a lot. Because we live in the hyper-serious, arguably pretentious MCU films (which I honestly lost interest in a while back, though I'm likely to see the new Spider-Man asap, and I don't necessarily think the MCU is the "death of cinema" because I'm old enough to remember other supposed "deaths of cinema" that did not in fact kill cinema), it's easy to forget how clunky and awkward the early comic books were. And Cap goes back to the Timely era, specifically even predating America's entrance into the Second World War by a year. Be like Cap, and punch Hitler every chance you get. From the beginning, Captain America was a defender of the American way, but this doesn't mean that his early stories were landmarks of literary greatness. None of the stories here feature some of the obvious racism of the era, when the Japanese were painted in broad stereotypes, but you know there were some of those floating around at the time. We move quickly from the war-time exploits to the rebirth of Captain, after a period of hibernation (he actually had some postwar adventures as a "Commie smasher," but like Indiana Jones, Cap is at his best squaring off against the Third Reich), when he awakens into a new world that has passed him by.

Grieving the death of Bucky Barnes (before his eventual resurrection as the Winter Soldier, of course), Steve Rogers must decide how to live in the Sixties, an era that frightens and confuses him. He stumbles along the way, and even retires for a spell, but as the collection ends, he's once again taking up the shield and navigating his "man out of time" existence. It's quite an arc, but I'd argue it was done better in the films (the Chris Evans ones, not the Salinger's-kid one). The comics have a really hokey quality where characters talk over their movements as they fight, which is of course necessary: comics don't have the ability to show quite like cinema, where you can hear the dialogue, so comics have to spell it out. It's charming, though, and I think it's fun to go back and see where Cap (and Marvel) got started. Bringing him back from the dead was a wise move on Stan Lee's part, and Jack Kirby did a lot of his best work with Cap in the lead.

So, while not converting me to Cap's fan base, this collection did a good job of providing context for his adventures (both in real time and in the revisionist "war-time stories" that were published in the Sixties, after Cap was thawed out). And it made me consider that he's not as cut and dry as his name ("Captain America") would suggest. As America changes, so has Cap. And what he means continues to change as well. This is a good look at where he got started, and where he's going is anyone's guess.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovingly curated historical object. Collects some of Captain America's foundational stories and puts them in something like their original economic and social context.

These original stories are both endearing and off-putting. The Captain America I've known has always had a complicated relationship with American jingoism, the American military, and the military industrial complex. There's seeds of that here. Red Skull is originally a US military contractor working with the Nazis on the promise of future wealth once we're captured. But they're hazy and could easily have slipped away. Mostly, he fights costumed villains in ways the US military doesn't have the tools for. (Other than the fact that for most of the stories, Captain America is in the military. They just don't know that.)

But it's one breathless fight to defend America from enemies foreign and domestic after another. He never stops to think "could I do more doing something other than punching?" I mean, he's no Bruce Wayne, who undoubtedly could do more for Gotham by investing in building a society that functions for all than Batman can do with punching, but still. He never pauses to interrogate the question. Madam Hydra needs punching! (except he won't because he's old fashioned like that. To the point of being off-putting).

The forward is written by Gene Luen Yang, who does a nice job of contextualizing Captain American in the 2020s:

[T]he more American history I read, the more I understand [Colin] Kaepernick's position. It is impossible to deny the role white supremacy played in our nation's founding. For some Americans, the symbols of the time - including the flag of the time -- are painful reminders of that fact.

But . . . the Betsy Ross flag is no longer America's official flag. If America's history were a comic book, the Betsy Ross flag would only be the first panel. You can't have a story because your characters can't change. xxi

Ben Saunders' essay pointed out that Marvel didn't really know what to do with Captain America as more Americans acknowledged that we weren't a shining city on a hill; that our founding myths hide brutal facts. They made their problem with the disconnect between Captain America's ideals and the facts of the world Captain America's problem by making him a man out of time. The 60 years of the MCU do that even better than the 20 years Marvel had to work with.

I was impressed how much of the origin MCU kept and pleased with a lot they didn't. I had a hazy notion Bucky was a teen side kick originally. I had not really grasped that he's a prepubescent orphan "adopted" by a regiment. Captain America drafts Bucky to be his side kick after Bucky spots him changing clothes. I'm really glad that got retconned, though it gives another horror dimension to The Winter Soldier.

I knew vaguely Captain America gets mind controlled by Nazis a whole lot. That happens twice in this little book, and he almost assassinates Eisenhower before Bucky shakes him out of it. That's disturbingly timely. We might be one charismatic charlatan away from fascism.

It was striking how almost everyone in this book is white. Black Panther makes a cameo. But even on the military base, it's a whole bunch of white dudes. As progressive as Marvel was, they weren't reflecting America on the page.

The arc of history bends towards justice if we bend it. This Captain America was better than the enemies he fought. I'm glad he became better still.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Included here is not only the origin story for Captain America from the 1940s, though one of the four stories from that first issue is missing, but the 1960s’ revival from Tales of Suspense accounts for most of the page count. None of the original run of Avengers, which includes the story of how Captain America was brought to the present day, is included. This book is great from a historical perspective, especially given the appearances of Red Skull, AIM, MODOK, Batroc the Leaper, and Nick Fury, but the storytelling here pales in comparison to Lee and Kirby’s other collaborations from the same period, in part due to the focus on retelling older stories and in part to the 10 page limit the stories seemed to have prior to Tales of Suspense turning into a full Captain America dedicated comic. These stories are foundational in Marvel comics and the mythos of the American superhero, but their significance exceeds the quality of the comics themselves. This stated, Kirby’s depictions of Captain America are phenomenal and these pages do an excellent job detailing the inking that make Kirby’s work feel alive.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A curated semi-scholarly look at the origins of Captain America with a focus on his "rebirth" in the 60s. It includes a reprint of Captain America Comics #1 from 1941, followed by selected stories from Tales of Suspense and Captain America (which Tales of Suspense was renamed to with issue #100). Included are selected letters columns from some of the issues reprinted. Most of the book features the work of Jack Kirby, but the main book ends with Jim Steranko's three issue run. There is also an appendix that reprints the pages from Avengers #4 that featured the first appearance of Captain America in the "modern" Marvel era.

An interesting look at the origin of many of the concepts and tropes that define the character both in comics, and the MCU. A lot of the storytelling feels rushed and dated today, but it's still entertaining. Worth the read for any fan of the character, or student of comics history.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great collection! I adore Captain America, and I've gotten to read some amazing contemporary runs, but I've never gotten the chance to read the classic runs - until now! I was so excited when I heard about this, and even more thrilled when I finally got the collection (as a wonderful gift). I was surprised it only included the very first issue from the 1940s run, but I actually think it served the collection better now, as it aimed to highlight important parts of the entire Captain America arc, not just bundle up the early issues. I really love the 60s comics I've gotten to read (Daredevil chief among them), so it was very nice to read a bit of Cap from that era too. Overall, I think it's a must-have for any Marvel and Captain America fan! To say it got me back into my Marvel phase is an understatement.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

All part of the bandwagon to recategorise comic books and graphic novels as a serious art form, but I for one am not complaining. This is simply a collection of some of my favourite comics ever written reproduced beautifully with an essay or two putting them in their historical context. From the first iconic issue of Captain America punching Hitler in the mouth, to Steve Rogers re-establishing his secret identity while the US was in the throes of Viet Nam, the Star-Spangled Avenger is a national icon, a character who literally wearing the country's flag, could be bellicose, but had to be morally unimpeachable. A fascinating tightrope to walk and still retain the interest of the comic buying public. And in Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko, you have three of the most dynamic popular creative forces of the 20th century.

[Liva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim Steranko’s work on cap in the late ‘60s is truly spectacular, especially when contrasted against Jack Kirby’s work in the early ‘40s. Jack Kirby brought captain America to life during WOII, but Jim Steranko revived him for generations to come. The early captain America comics are very interesting to analyse through a historical lens, showing the US involvement in WOII long before pearl harbour. I loved following captain America through the ages (and that we didn’t forget about captain America commie smasher, a strange but hilarious piece of history). This book is great if you, just like me, love to engage in an even nerdier hobby than reading comics, which in analysing them in their historical context.

[Philmore Olazo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain America is indeed one of the most important comic book characters. His story is everlasting, the patriotism he embodies and the values he represents are what make him such a remarkable character.

This is a great collection that curates his best moments, both from the original series and from the revival after Avengers #4, even the time when Rick Jones was his side kick.

It is a great read, and though it’s kind of hard to get used to the “Marvel method” style of storytelling nowadays, it was just a blast to read all these old comic books.

I had the opportunity to fall in love with the character and I look forward to read more of him.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even after they skipped through quite a bit of forgettable issues, most of the comic content included was a bit of a slog. The commentary included does bring quite a bit of history to the character and the interplay with American culture and trends of the time. Every bit of it was appreciated. I found discovering the roots of the character, and the noble reasons behind creating Cap in the first place.

The artwork pops on this printing, and I'm glad to have read it, but it did feel a bit like homework getting through many of the issues, especially after reading through the Penguin Classics of Spider-Man and Black Panther (my favorite of the three) beforehand.

[Ryan Fohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I avoided captain America as an early comic reader because he looked silly. I was wrong. He is sometimes like James Bond. (but without being a sex pest) Cap has a unique fighting style, which looks great on the page. And he is always punching the kind of villains I wanna punch.

An excellent introduction by Ben Saunders. Jack Kirby’s art is so good! His books almost don’t require dialogue. Stan Lee’s writing style is as cringe as the fucking helmet wings. Jim Steranko’s layouts are very cool but sometimes the action is confusing.

What I learned: The cosmic cube originally looked like it had worms in it. Comics used to include a couple of pages of prose fiction to meet requirements for second-class mailing. Stan Lee started writing these pages that no one would read.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection- I had read quite a few of the comics in it previously, but the additional material giving the behind-the-scenes looks at the comics' development over time was fascinating! And reading the letters people were writing in at the time was also really cool and provided quite a bit of insight. Would definitely recommend for fans of Captain America, especially if you want to dip your toes into some of the history of what was happening behind the scenes. Also very glad they provided some additional reading recommendations if you'd like to pursue more information.

[Tom Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the older comic books and am just very appreciative that these are available without the reader having to pay a tremendous amount of money to purchase old comics. I enjoyed the stories! Captain America is a good character and I learned something about US history. What I learned was that during and just before WWII, there was a great concern about Nazi sabotage of US industry. As a result, in the very early days, Cap was fighting against Nazis on US soil!

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the character of Captain America (Steve Rogers).
Unlike my criticism with the Spider-Man introduction; the exclusion of certain issues thus making the book have missing chapters; I much prefer only including necessary issues for this character. There is a good balance of cap's time as a war hero, PTSD of these events and trying to fit in to the then modern society.

[The_J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captain America - iconic embodiment of leadership, willingness to sacrifice, and making a difference even in the face of loss, because war always entails loss. Never my favorite, but key inspirational impact.

[Chrysanthemum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable and interesting collection that showcases a part of comic history. Only thing keeping it from 5 stars is that I wished it included a bit more from the Golden Age period, especially an issue from the failed Captain America Commie Smasher arc.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.9/5

Second half was so much better than the first! The earliest Captain America comics just kinda suck! After issue 100 they definitely improved in writing and art. Seeing Red Skull with the cosmic cube and Modok was pretty awesome, along with Agent Thirteen.

[Greg Trosclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection. Well put together.

[Harry Coffill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and well printed compendium of CA's early stories.

[Chumlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always wanted to see what the original Marvel comics were like. And now I have, and they’re goofy and corny in the best way possible. Fun, that’s the best way I can describe it.

[Alex Margolies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Kirby and others Captain America stories!

[J A SPONG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning piece of comic book publishing. Expertly reprinted on quality paper. Great choice of issues and interesting text pieces giving insight into the period and creators.

[Chad Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of classic Captain America stories, tales, and characters

[Mark Katerberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a huge fan of Cap America previously but hoped it would help by reading some of the origins. Rarely do movies outplay comics but this feels like the comics don’t have much going on.