There'd be EXACTLY enough for a hatch door - the mould for the shield, IIRC, was made from a tank's hatch mould.

...is that the man practically invented trash-talk. Seriously, go back and read the old 'Tales of Suspense' Captain America. You had to have super-powers before he'd start taking you seriously. And I don't mean, "before he'd start fighting hard." I mean, "before he would stop openly mocking you WHILE beating the crap out of you."

One of the two best was the one where he was locked in a prison with rioting inmates--twenty-to-one odds, and he's smack-talking while he kicks twenty kinds of hell out of them. (Yes, one for each guy.) It's a real eye-opener of an issue for people who think of Cap as a nice-but-boring super-hero.

The other best was the first appearance of the Adaptoid (this was before he became the Super-Adaptoid, even.) The Adaptoid poses as Jarvis to infiltrate Avengers Mansion, drugs Cap and steals his form, and gloats about how it's got the "pinnacle of human perfection" now...then gets beaten up by literally the first super-villain to walk through the door, a walking footnote to comics history called 'The Tumbler' whose acrobatic prowess stuns the Cadaptoid. The Tumbler sends him flying out of the room, unconscious...only to have the real Cap, who's woken up and freed himself, walk in. The Tumbler thinks this is just Round Two at first, but Captain America beats him back to obscurity, openly laughing at his pathetic lack of combat skills all the while.

So remember, folks...Captain America. He'll beat evil, then crack jokes about its momma.

It is a symptonm of everyday liberalvania (aka, the awful world of now) that people mix up reality with nonreality. LIke everyone is always treating what I say as a kind of joke or haha because they, in the immortal words of Colonel Jessup (NOT JACK NICHOLSON YOU MORON THAT WAS THE ACTOR WHO PLAYED HIM), "YOU CANNOT HANDLE THE TRUTHS!" Is it any coincidence that computers ruin peoples lives and that they are nicknamed p.c.--just like the other p.c. that makes for people have to 'be nice' and 'not insult people' and keep sus ruining America! Grow a thicker skin american and learn to take it! Unless you are from a foreign place like France and want to insult Americans, in which case--hey, shut up and talk about your own problems Frenchy! Some people say double-standard, I say, screw you and have some apple-pie!

Anyway Ilsa (aka the ball-and-wife) is saying that I am screaming at the computer and need to stop spitting. She is always saying to be on topic and also not act like a jerk to womenpeople or men. So Kirbydotter if I was not nice then I apologize NOT because I am p.c. (either a computer or the other kind) and NOT because my wife told me to but because it is not nice and I am American and therefore nice.

Even if I hate commmies and think they should all explode spontaneously, that doesn't mean I should not get along with people. And noen of this is about Captain American (stupid or unstupid). The non-morons know which type of character he is, and there is no need for more insults of someone who is dead, even if that dead person is fictional and a girly communist.

zoombaboom babies!

dwight r. vlahos

Goof stuff, Dwight.

You know it's only a comic book do you Dwight?

And that, when it was produced in 1941 (!), it was material intended for kids?

Should have Captain America go down on a caricature of Hitler (who wasn't know as a mass-murderer at the time) with a chainsaw?

It's a comic book for Godsake! Even in the movies of the time, the violence was very toned down.

And later, in the 50's, violence in the movies and comic books was even more censored, not by liberals and "communist presidents" but by the right wing nuts you seem to elevate above the President who won WWII.

I mean how upset would you be to find out that your taxes were going to some guy in a fruity outfit that doesn't use a gun? He's puncihing Hitler instead of SHOOTING Hitler because he is completely a non-real concept of ridiculousness--just like anything liberals come up with! I can see the politically correct dialogue coming from him now, "Hmm, hello Hitler, you are a mass-murderer, I am going to punch you in the face instead of shoot you because my flying-horsey-wing-head sense tells me that killing you is wrong. Oh wait Mass Murderererr Hitler, I am going to hold hands with you and sing koombieyah while we go skipping aruond a tea-set made of cookies because I don't want to punch you with my liberal Captain American fists! Oh wait Hitler, I would like to use my liberal Captain American mouth that is open to kiss you now Hitler! MUAH MUAH MUAH!"

Captain American is a government man who acts in a way that doesn't make any sense at all to people who know how to think in the real world, which is now. The only thing that is accurate is that as a military man he doesn't swear because that is not what real officers would or should do.

I cannot be more clear than this on this (and these) point(s).

Zoombaboom Babies!
Dwight R. Vlahos

Boy are some people completely blind to symbolism or what?!?!

Captain America is a basically a knight.
Like a knight, he tries to live up to the best virtues of his country (liberty, freedom of opinion and speech, etc.)
Like a knight he wears the colors of what he defends. America is the good Captain's lady.

Yup! he's a knight.
So that's why he fights with a shield.
(He is not an agressor, he defends!)
That's why a chain mail shirt!
The wings of his mask are like the decorative wings some knights of old would wear on their helms. It's a show of very little culture to call them "girly" (Namor's wing refer more to the god Hermes/Mercury; comic books are not the only reading material available you know!)
And the boots are of the swashbuckler type.

It is actually a very good design, a proof of Kirby and Simon's genius. Like all iconic character, it has barely changed at all since it's creation more than 65 years ago!

Meanwhile, mutants and other x-stars seem to change uniform every few months.

Ironic that it takes a Canadian to defend USA's Flagbearer!

Although, in the interest of clarity, I must say... it wasn't so much a Reign of Superman joke, as it was a Mullett joke. And I would like to think that I was original and clever enough to say "I" would start growing one, as oppossed to CAP.

But you know what? Curiosity got the better of me, and so I googled it! Turns out I'm the 44,800th person to make a death of Captain America mullett joke. That's not good; but then again that's not bad either considering I googled the words Dave plus tool and got 22,100,000 hits. So there you have it. I may not be as funny, or original, as you are a tool. But who's to say... with a lot of practice, and the continous support of guys like yourself, maybe I'll get there. Just make sure you don't continue setting the bar too high! Know what I mean.

Englehart did it differently. He had Cap be his usual pro-establishment self, then when his moral code came into conflict with the current establishment, he had a crisis of faith and changed considerably. That's fine. But to claim Cap was that populist, anti-establishment guy from the beginning is a history rewrite that I think a lot of fans unconsciously do that I think is wrong.

I think the fact that Cap goes and fights Hitler early supports that he's a government guy first and a populist second. Remember, like Siegel and Shuster, who also had their hero go abroad to fight Nazis, Simon and Kirby were Jewish. I think that plays a big reason as to why they were gung ho to fight Hitler before Pearl Harbor happened. But pre-Pearl Harbor, it wasn't a popular decision among the public.

Think about all the really weird things associated to him:
-he was an artist
- he had that hotline
- the wings on his head
- the constant need of writers to remind us that he was a living ideal

But then, he would actually step up and be awesome. What is not cool about him ricocheting his shield off four things to brain some guy in the nogging? Its like when he appears towards the end of Miller's Daredevil reborn: totally in control of Thor and that tool Iron Man, and then absolutely wailing on the anti-Cap, Nuke.

Oh, and the boots: how can anyone disparage his pimpin pirate boots?

And then you add the Eradicating Captain Punisher!!!

Oh,OH, OOOHHHHH!!!!!!! DON'T FORGET THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CAPTAIN AMERICA WE HAVE LYING AROUND FROM THE TRUTH MINI-SERIES!!!!!

OH-MY-GOD-OH-MY-GOD-OH-MY-GOD-OH-MY-GOD-OH-MY-GOD-OH-MY-
GOD-OH-MY-GOD-OH-MY-GOD-OH-MY-GOD-OH-MY-GOD-OH-MY-GOD-OH
-MY-GOD!!!!!!!!!!!

All we need is a Captain America Clone, and its 1993 all over!!!

You know what that means????

DAMN Right!!!!! THE MULLET IS COMING BACK!!!

(I'm growing mine... today!!!)

A lot of people think that, in the wake of Nixon, the federal government is less trustworthy than it was in the days of FDR, so it makes sense that Cap would become more vocally defiant (if neccessary). It's really not a contradiction to say that Captain America goes against the government if he thinks it's wrong, because he obviously didn't think they were wrong for wanting to fight Hitler (though I thought that was just a cover image, not the actual story in the issue). If you can show me an instance where the government orders to do something against his later-established moral code, and he does it, you might have a point, otherwise, it becomes a political debate which is entirely predicated upon the biases of the people talking, which means it's not about Cap anymore.

I don't know why modern fans believe that the only way to enjoy the Cap character is to retroactively make him into a anti-government populist. I agree that he's moved in this direction since the 70s, I just disagree that he started that way.

It's symbolism.

I'm not as good with words as some, so I'll turn it over to Scott Tipton, who wrote a column on ol' Cap way back when:

"Whether it was intentional or not, the Captain America costume, designed by Joe Simon, made the perfect statement about America's role in the upcoming war, or at least how most Americans preferred to think it. Aside from the obvious notion of a man wrapped in the flag, it's important to note that Captain America has no offensive weapons: no gun nor sword. Instead, Captain America has a shield, which is purely a defensive weapon, just as the U.S was moving in to protect the peoples of Europe from fascism. And the shield is unbreakable, representing the strength of America's intentions. Even when Cap throws the shield offensively, the analogy holds, as Cap is extending the strength and protection of the United States to defend the weak and helpless."

Yeah, but Ultimate Cap can be kind of a jerk, though. He's a good guy but he's definitely a soldier...but then again, Cap is tecnically a soldier. I guess maybe something about Ultimate Cap seems off to me...maybe because he really is little more than a government puppet (at least what I've seen, and I've read the Ultimate line extensively), but Cap seems to transcend that.

Also, the picture on that last cover is a shirt at my local Target. I want it so bad.

-M