Cover Story - Top 10 Silver Age Captain America Covers

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This Friday marks the premiere of Captain America: Civil War.  It’s a major event, the first Marvel film of 2016 and the launch of their 3^rd phase that will climax in the epic Infinity War two-parter.  What’s more, this is the first big, multi-hero Marvel film after Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was good but received a less than stellar reception from fans and at the box office, losing out to Jurassic World and Star Wars: Force Awakens in the year end wrap up.  There’s a lot riding on this but at the same time, Captain America has emerged to be the superhero of the 2010s, embodying the ideal of the superhero within the cultural zeitgeist in a way few others have. 

Chris Evans’ Captain America is right up there with Christopher Reeve’s Superman, Michael Keaton Batman, and Toby McGuire’s Spider-Man as the living symbol and ambassador of this whole genre.  Given that wait and circumstance, let’s celebrate this turn of events with another dive into the shallow end to get the Cover Story on the top 10 Silver Age Captain America covers.

Comics Rainbow - Captain America

Where do you start with a character like Captain America?  Originally created by legends of the medium Joe Simon & Jack Kirby Captain America is one of the longest running comic characters ever conceived, standing proudly alongside Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman as one of the few heroes whose been part of the genre since its inception in the late ‘30s.  After a brief absence in the ‘50s followed by reintroduction into the burgeoning canon of Marvel comics Captain America has become one of the most dynamic and compelling heroes in the entire genre.  He’s been through innumerable changes in his epically long history and in recent years come to be almost the face of the superhero genre in a way that no one could’ve predicted. 

For decades the hero people thought of when they considered the iconic hero was Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, even Iron Man for a hot minute there in 2008 but now, at this moment in time, it’s hard to think of a superhero who better embodies the genre and the reason for its continued success and relevance.  And with his new film Civil War continuing that trend and having it’s trailer drop I’ve decided to look back over the full history of Captain America, in all it’s shades, shames, and successes.   

Panel Vision - Truth: Red, White & Black

Edited by Robert Beach

So this week saw the release of Captain America – White, a stunningly dull Captain America comic with the sole notable feature of a really awkward title. Aside from the unpleasantness of specifically subtitling a Captain America comic “White,” especially when the main universe Captain America is a black man, the title also seems to be a direct allusions to Truth: Red, White & Black.  

The interior artwork also came off like a purposeful reference back to this 2003 limited series. I’m not sure what Jeph Loeb and his Marvel handlers hoped to achieve with this shout out, or it was meant to convey any deeper meaning. Regardless, it gave me a chance to talk about Truth: Red, White & Black. I’m jumping on that opportunity. 

Captain America: Civil War Allegiances Revealed

Edited by Robert Beach

As Captain America: Civil War looms closer to us, a lot of questions are swirling around the film’s plot. Though the film is based on a Marvel comic event, it’s been largely assumed a lot of key details will be changed for the adaptation. The comic book Civil War was essentially shot over the question of secret identities, which more or less don’t exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

There’s also been a lot of rumors swirling around unconfirmed characters like the Hulk, Red Hulk, Dr. Strange, and Captain Marvel.  Finally, there are a ton of Marvel superheroes confirmed for the film without any real indication of how they’ll side in the eponymous conflict. Thanks to Heroic Hollywood, we now know who is siding with who, and I’m gonna break down those characters one by one, starting with Captain America’s side. 

Ranking Marvel Phase 2

With the release of Ant-Man we celebrate the conclusion of Marvel’s Phase 2.  A shorter event than phase 1 by about a year, Marvel’s second phase stretched from Iron Man 3 in 2013 all the way up to Ant-Man this year and included 6 Marvel movies including plenty of blockbuster installments and a few less than spectacular numbers.  To celebrate this conclusion and to cap off the 9 month wait till Captain America: Civil War let’s rank the Phase 2 Marvel films from least to best.