Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Oddball Super Heroes: Captain America (Wait! What?)



Hi there! Welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, a tin foil blog in a vibranium internet. I'm Dave-El and my arc reactor maintains the proper function of my spleen.  

Today is another installment of a regular feature on this blog, Oddball Super Heroes. But today's post has a bit of a twist on this topic. In the past I've written about super heroes who are very odd characters with strange powers, origins and character quirks. But today I'm posting about a super hero who is himself not particularly oddball but some real oddball things have happened to him.  

Today we turn our attention to Captain America

Captain America came out of the gate as a major success for the company that would become Marvel Comics. But even the best, highly regarded super heroes will encounter plots and adventures that really push the boundaries of "I can't believe they did that". 

For example, there's this major gonzo take on Captain America by his co-creator Jack Kirby following Jack's return from DC Comics Exile. It begins with Madbomb.



Behind Madbomb is a bunch of old white dudes in powdered wigs on a mission to overthrow America's democracy.

No, I'm not making that up.




In case you're wondering, Madbomb is a bomb that makes everybody mad. 

I could write up a whole feature on Jack Kirby's wild ride of a run on 1970s Captain America. Instead I'm going to be lazy and just tell you to click this link where Chris Sims wrote up a whole feature on Jack Kirby's wild ride of a run on 1970s Captain America.

Back in the early days when Jack Kirby and co-creator Joe Simon were still on Captain America, they had Cap fight Nazis even before America entered World War II. But of course, not just any old Nazis will do for America's fighting super soldier. There was the time Cap and his pal Bucky fought Nazi zombies.




Once again I'm going to be lazy and direct you to the work of others, in this case this awesome post from one of my better neighbors here on Blogger, Slay Monstrobot of the Deep.

In the 1970s, Captain America fought werewolves. From SMotD again, here's some artwork from Alan Weiss of Cap fighting Falcon who has been transformed into a werewolf.




Is it me or does Cap look more like he's doing ballet moves instead of being in a knock down drag out fight with a werewolf?

Anyway, in the 1990s, Captain America BECAME a werewolf. Yes, say hello to CAPWOLF!





You can tell its from the 1990s because Cable is on the cover with a too small head on a too large body.

Speaking of the 1990s, Rob Liefeld got his hands on Captain America.




Yes, this is an illustration by a "professional" artist that I presume he was paid for. The thing is, it could've been much worse. I have managed to secure the following secret graphic of changes made by Liefeld to make Cap's head smaller and his chest jut out more.




It did not end well.

And I think that will just about do it for this edition of Oddball Super Heroes. Some future posts will look at some oddball stuff associated with other heroes who are not otherwise oddballs.

Tomorrow, Comic Book Theme Week continues here on the blog thing as I write up my participation in Free Comic Book Day 2016. My daughter went with me and while we were there, we met Jesus who was pretty cool.

Yes, I will explain that tomorrow.

And Comic Book Theme Week concludes Friday as I pontificate a bit on DC Comics' Rebirth thing.

In case you rely on this blog for a perspective on what's going on in the real world, I'll play catch up on that on Saturday. And Sunday presents Episode Three of my new Doctor Who fan fiction.

OK, I've babbled enough for today. Thanks for dropping by and until next time, remember to be good to one another. 

Oh, and don't do drugs.





Drugs are bad, OK?  

No comments:

Post a Comment

New Doctor Who Is On the Way

 The news broke last week at that the new season of Doctor Who will be debut on Saturday May 11th on the BBC. Doctor Who on Saturday as it...