The Captain, as I knew him from the 1960's tv series . (Above, from the original 1940's comic book issues)
Captain America gets shot dead in an upcoming Marvel Comics issue? Say it ain't so! Seeech, first some Nimrod makes a television special out of the claim that he found the bones of Jesus (!) in a box (not bloody likely, James Cameron) , then Peter O'Toole loses the Academy Award again, and now this!
Although "Spider Man" was more popular in the late sixties and early seventies when I read comic books, my favorite superhero as a youngster was "Captain America". I used to buy the comics at the local drug stores back when an issue cost a whopping twelve cents. I also was fond of taking the family garbage can lids off and my friend Robbie Hunt and I (both around eight or nine I suppose) would toss them at one another as dueling Captain Americas. I don't think we incurred brain trauma from this activity but how would I remember if I did get pranged with a " steel Frisbee" on the noggin?
There was even a after-school "Captain America" TV series on a local station, featuring this stirring refrain for part of the theme song:
"If he's led to a fight and a duel is due,
"Then the red and white and the blue'll come through
"When Captain America throws his mighty shield."
Note the shield. Superman could fly. Batman had a cool car. The Submariner had a submarine. Spider man had webs. But all you needed to be Captain America was a garbage can lid and a little imagination.
The advantage "C.A." had over other superheroes was obvious to me. He was fighting for America first off, where I was from. He was fighting the Red Skull, who represented...those other guys. And, unlike "Captain Canada", he didn't have to waste time from fighting evil-doers because he had to chain up or put on his snow tires.
Farewell, Captain America. And, since you're not real, come back soon!
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