Captain America I

153-186

This page: 153-167

CAPTAIN AMERICA was my third Marvel series. It was being considered for cancellation when I got it, because it had no reason for existence. Stan Lee had written it for years, and it was clearly his least favorite book; the stories had become not only lackluster but repetitive. Gary Friedrich had picked it up a year before and done some interesting stuff, but he hadn't stayed long; then Gerry Conway did two issues as a stopgap; and then I got it. The problem across the board at Marvel was that this was the 70s - prime anti-war years - and here was a guy with a flag on his chest who was supposed to represent what most people distrusted. No one knew what to do with him.

Me, I had been honorably discharged from the Army two years earlier as a conscientious objector - but I was supposed to also be a writer. So I did something for the first time that marked everything I've written since. I said, "Okay, if this guy existed, who would he be?" Not "Who am I?", but "Who is Captain America?"

Six months later, the wayward book slouching toward cancellation was Marvel's Number One title, and I seemed to have found my career. I'd also found an artist, Sal Buscema, who could draw exactly what I envisioned, so it was all good.

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ICollection: contains 153-156I
ICollection: contains 157-186

COMICS

CAPTAIN AMERICA 169-176


NOTES:

153-156: Roy Thomas had been thinking about the Captain America who appeared in Timely (Marvel) books in the 1950s. Marvel's Cap was supposed to have been frozen in ice during that time, so who was that man in the flag suit? He asked me that question as he handed me the book, and I ran with it for my four-issue initial story.

157: Steve Gerber kindly scripted the second half of #157 while I was attending a wedding in California. He gave the Viper his "ad man" persona.

159: Much like the idea of turning the Beast's fur darker, Marvel decided Cap should become stronger. I did it but stopped talking about it after a while, and the whole concept simply faded away over time.

163: I wrote a legitimately patriotic Captain America, and I introduced a conscientious objector. They co-existed just fine.

164: Co-plotted with Al Weiss.