{"id":1636,"date":"2011-04-06T21:00:32","date_gmt":"2011-04-07T02:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goldenagecomics.org\/wordpress\/?p=1636"},"modified":"2017-03-16T13:48:23","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T18:48:23","slug":"captain-america-commie-smasher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/goldenagecomics.org\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/06\/captain-america-commie-smasher\/","title":{"rendered":"Captain America…Commie Smasher!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"
A couple of years ago when Captain America was being “Reborn” I posted about his early adventures<\/a> in the Golden Age of Comic Books.  As a new movie featuring the “First Avenger” is rapidly approaching, I thought I would explore Cap’s last <\/em>adventures in the Golden Age before he was later revived in Avengers<\/em> #4 (March 1964).<\/div>\n
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As most of you know, Captain America and his sidekick Bucky made their debut in the pages of Captain America Comics <\/em>#1 (1941).  Captain America Comics <\/em>was published by Timely, who already had  hits with the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner.  Both had been introduced in the pages of Marvel Comics <\/em>#1 two years earlier.  To capitalize on the patriotic fervor of WWII, Timely (along with many other publishers) decided that a superhero clad in red, white and blue might sell comic books.  They were right!  As the story goes, Steve Rogers was the proverbial 90 pound weakling who wanted only to serve his country in the war effort.  After rejection by the army, he was selected to be the first to try Dr. Reinstein’s super soldier formula and was miraculously transformed into Captain America.  Unfortunately, Reinstein was killed by a spy and the formula died with him, making Rogers one of a kind.  He later met up with Bucky Barnes at Camp Lehigh, and the two began their adventures as Timely’s version of the Dynamic Duo.  Cap’s adventures appeared in the pages of his self-titled magazine for 75 issues until it was cancelled in 1950 (Actually, his last appearance was in issue #74 in 1949, with issue #75 being devoted to horror stories – a sign of the times in the comic book world in 1950.  The last two issues were titled, Captain America’s Weird Tales<\/em>).<\/div>\n
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Later, in the pages of Marvel Comics’  Avengers<\/em> #4, we learned that Captain America was still alive and kicking, having been frozen in a block of ice since the end of WWII.  After the Sub-Mariner in a fit of rage hurled the frozen form of our hero into the ocean, he thawed just in time to be found by the new superhero team, The Avengers.  He later became the leader of the group and the rest, as they say, is history.  Undoubtedly, Marvel received a lot of questions asking why Cap was frozen in a block of ice for twenty-years, and finally filled in all of the fans in the pages of Tales of Suspense <\/em>#63 (Cap had his first Silver Age solo stories starting with issue #59) in March 1965.  Here, we learned that towards the end of the war, Cap and Bucky were trying to stop a flying bomb as it was launched by the Nazis, only to have it explode in mid-air.  Bucky was killed and Cap was thrown into the north Atlantic where he was ultimately frozen into a block of ice and left in suspended animation for twenty years.<\/div>\n
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Ok, so how does all of this fit into the title of this post – “Captain America…Commie Smasher!!!”?  As it turns out, for a short time in 1953 and 1954, Captain America and Bucky were revived by Atlas Comics to fight for truth and justice against communism.  I know, I know, Bucky was dead and Cap was a popsicle in 1953 and 1954, so how does all of this jibe with the story told in Avengers <\/em>#4 and Tales of Suspense <\/em>#63?  Stay tuned and I’ll fill you in on that.  But first, let’s talk about the 1953 and 1954 adventures.<\/div>\n
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Young Men #24 (December 1953)<\/p><\/div>\n

Although by 1953 the superheros had all but disappeared with the western, romance, horror and crime genres getting the most attention, the folks at Atlas thought it might be a good time to try a superhero revival.  They decided to focus on their most popular WWII heroes, the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Captain America.  Perhaps due to uncertainty, they did not immediately revive each character’s own title, and instead chose the action magazine, Young Men.<\/em> With the December 1953 issue (#24) of that title, Captain America and Bucky return to the scene.  Given what we learn of Cap’s fate almost ten years later, it’s ironic that his first revival story is titled, “Back from the Dead!”<\/div>\n
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This story features none other than the Red Skull (with a sporty red cape) proclaiming to his thugs that Captain America must be dead because, “If he were alive, do you think I’d dare to start on a scheme like this one I’m working on now?  Captain America was the only one who stopped me in the old days! Now he’s deep in his grave and the Red Skull’s going to start a crime wave-like the world’s never seen before!”  Sounds more like wishful thinking to me!  The scene of this story shifts to Professor Steve Rogers at the Lee School teaching his history students the origin of Captain America, including all of the details of Reinstein’s super soldier experiment (a fairly complete retelling of the origin).  Later, Professor Rogers (complete with glasses and a pipe) breaks up a fight in the school yard between Bucky and some other kids.  Bucky hasn’t aged a bit!  Later, as Rogers and Bucky are driving to New York to get some new text books, Rogers explains that the world no longer needs Captain America.  As if on cue, the radio blares a special news bulletin that the Red Skull has returned, and Rogers realizes it’s time for Cap to sling his shield again.  Cap and Bucky quickly track down the Skull who is in hysterics as he shouts, “HE’S BACK FROM THE DEAD! STOP HIM! STOP HIM!”  Of course, Cap quickly dispatches the Skull’s thugs and slings his shield into the Skull’s…err…skull, just in time to prevent him from shooting Bucky.  Captain America is back!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Captain America and Bucky appeared in the next four issues of Young Men as follows:<\/div>\n