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Captain America Comics #1 Club
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1,547 posts in this topic

2 hours ago, Dark Knight said:

With the rumors that Chris Evans may return to play as Capt. America once again, who knows may push the book back up

Hmmmmm... do you think that has much influence?  I think this is a permanently iconic book that will stand on its own regardless of what happens in other mediums.  That cover alone is my favorite for a Golden Age key.  Will Hollywood hype affect the book's value?  I'm curious on the opinions here.

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I think it does to an extent. When we all found out that Evans was leaving his role after Endgame, I saw prices for Cap 1 take a hit at auction during and over the course of the movie's release. If you compare prices and the same grade the book sold for prior to the movie and during that time, you can see a major difference. 

Also there were more copies coming out for sale possibly due to panic selling. Now prices have stabilized and appears to be creeping up again.  Just my opinion of course.

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31 minutes ago, Batmanis#1 said:

Captain America 1 is one of my favorite books but let's not for a moment pretend he is Batman or Spiderman. He is one of my favorite all-time but in my book he does not equal the top of the top heroes in our hobby. He is no Hulk either with the current generation or Thor. He is still up there just not at the top. Better than Wonder Women for sure in the GA.

I hear ya but... that first cover kicking Hitler's is off the charts cool.  Nothing else can touch it IMO.

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4 minutes ago, BladeTX said:

I hear ya but... that first cover kicking Hitler's is off the charts cool.  Nothing else can touch it IMO.

I think this is an important point.

I'm a huge Captain America fan, but my Captain America is absolutely the Cap of the Silver Age and what followed.  The Cap of the Golden Age -- later retconned into two distinct characters since the "commie smasher" version would be practically unrecognizable to most fans -- is quite different from what younger collectors know.  I have an extensive Marvel Silver Age collection, and every once in a while I think about going back to the Golden Age and collecting Cap's early stories.  But the problem is, I've read a bunch of them and I didn't really enjoy them.

For me at least, and perhaps for many other collectors who love Cap, literally the only issue in the entire GA run that would be of interest is #1 -- and the cover is 90% of the draw.  I'm aware of the appeal of #3, and I could imagine wanting to own that one as a consolation prize, but nothing comes close to #1.

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On 1/19/2021 at 7:30 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

I think this is an important point.

I'm a huge Captain America fan, but my Captain America is absolutely the Cap of the Silver Age and what followed.  The Cap of the Golden Age -- later retconned into two distinct characters since the "commie smasher" version would be practically unrecognizable to most fans -- is quite different from what younger collectors know.  I have an extensive Marvel Silver Age collection, and every once in a while I think about going back to the Golden Age and collecting Cap's early stories.  But the problem is, I've read a bunch of them and I didn't really enjoy them.

For me at least, and perhaps for many other collectors who love Cap, literally the only issue in the entire GA run that would be of interest is #1 -- and the cover is 90% of the draw.  I'm aware of the appeal of #3, and I could imagine wanting to own that one as a consolation prize, but nothing comes close to #1.

Some of the earliest stories were very atmospheric and cool, seeming influenced by Sherlock Holmes and Grand Guignol as much as, if not more than, patriotic stuff.  But the character himself was just as shallow as any golden age generic guy in spandex.   Had he been resurrected as the same character, with a modern origin story, it would have likely not been nearly as compelling.  The whole man-out-of-time aspect made him in many ways an entirely different character from the golden age.  Some golden age characters were retconned nicely (such as Captain Marvel/Shazam) but they remained essentially the same person with different backstory.  More than any other comic hero I can think of, Cap was essentially "created" twice by two teams of people -- Simon and Kirby in 1940 and Lee and Kirby in 1964.   

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1 hour ago, bluechip said:

Some of the earliest stories were very atmospheric and cool, seeming influenced by Sherlock Holmes and Grand Guignol as much as, if not more than, patriotic stuff.  But the character himself was just as shallow as any golden age generic guy in spandex.   Had he been resurrected as the same character, with a modern origin story, it would have likely not been nearly as compelling.  The whole man-out-of-time aspect made him in many ways an entirely different character from the golden age.  Some golden age characters were retconned nicely (such as Captain Marvel/Shazam) but they remained essentially the same person with different backstory.  More than any other comic hero I can think of, Cap was essentially "created" twice by two teams of people -- Simon and Kirby in 1940 and Lee and Kirby in 1964.   

I guess you could say the same about creative teams regarding characters like Green Lantern or the Flash, but Cap is different in that he's literally the same guy, Steve Rogers, in his GA and SA incarnations.

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1 hour ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

I guess you could say the same about creative teams regarding characters like Green Lantern or the Flash, but Cap is different in that he's literally the same guy, Steve Rogers, in his GA and SA incarnations.

That's what made it work so well.  Goodman wanted to use the characters they owned from the Golden Age.  The Human Torch was simply reinvented.  Brand new guy.  If they had done the same with Cap it is doubtful it would have worked nearly as well.  A soldier getting super powers and wearing a spandex USA flag during the Vietnam era?  Hard to imagine twisting that into something as poignant as the silver age Cap we know.  It's a real tough thing to pull off.  The Sub-mariner retcon (that the destruction of Atlantis left him with amnesia), allowed them to use the same character, but it never felt essential to his character in any meaningful way.  Subby could easily be put into the MCU with or without it.  But the Capsicle story made for such an interesting psyche that I doubt he could have been such a nuanced character in the films without it. 

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1 hour ago, bluechip said:

That's what made it work so well.  Goodman wanted to use the characters they owned from the Golden Age.  The Human Torch was simply reinvented.  Brand new guy.  If they had done the same with Cap it is doubtful it would have worked nearly as well.  A soldier getting super powers and wearing a spandex USA flag during the Vietnam era?  Hard to imagine twisting that into something as poignant as the silver age Cap we know.  It's a real tough thing to pull off.  The Sub-mariner retcon (that the destruction of Atlantis left him with amnesia), allowed them to use the same character, but it never felt essential to his character in any meaningful way.  Subby could easily be put into the MCU with or without it.  But the Capsicle story made for such an interesting psyche that I doubt he could have been such a nuanced character in the films without it. 

Agree 100%.  They not only got the "Man out of Time" angle from that, they also got the pathos of Bucky's (retconned) death and the (equally retconned) Baron Zemo as an arch-villain.  Interesting that they chose to wait until TOS #65 to bring back the Red Skull.

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