Captain America Comics #1(cover March 1941, 10 cents, 68 pages), put on sale on December 20, 1940— almost a year before the United States entered the war. The summary includes a story dedicated to the character. Be careful, however: the market distinguishes this appearance from that of seventh number(August 4, 1941), held by convention for the beginnings of the man who will wear this mask for a long time. The publisher was not yet called Marvel.
This file poses a question that few others raise: when two different men successively wear the same mask in the same year, which of the two appearances constitutes the first?
The answer determines what one buys, and the price difference between the two answers is considerable.
One mask, two wearers, two booklets
Let's start with the distinction that structures the entire file.
The catalog allows you to see it directly. The first issue of the series, on sale on December 20, 1940, includes a story dedicated to the character. The third, arrived on March 17, 1941, announces its return. The seventh, arrived on August 4, 1941, devotes a new episode to him.
Three stories in seven issues: a remarkable density, which shows that the publisher immediately understood what he had.
But the editorial story adds a layer that the statement does not encode. According to the reading held for decades by collectors,the masked man from the first issue is not the one from the seventh. The first is an impostor, or at least a temporary carrier; the second is the character that seventy years of publication have established.
This distinction does not appear anywhere in the data. The catalog records dates, prices, story titles — it does not comment on the identity of who is hiding behind a mask.This is a market convention, not verifiable data. We mark it as such.
It nevertheless has very real consequences on prices, which are detailed in ourrating analysis.
What each booklet really represents
It's helpful to say what you're buying in each case, because the two items have almost nothing in common.
The first number is one of the most sought-after booklets in the entire medium — but not for the character at hand. Its value comes from the hero whose name it bears, its famous cover, and its position in publishing history. The appearance of the antagonist is one element among others.
In other words: a collector who buys this number for the opponent pays a price set by someone else, and he pays it very dearly.
The seventh number is an object of a completely different category. Sought after, old, but incommensurable. It is he who is targeted by the collector who is specifically interested in the antagonist, and the relationship between what he represents and what he costs is much more favorable.
We draw a general rule from this, which goes beyond this file:when a mask changes wearer, the booklet which inaugurates the costume carries the value of the title, and the one which inaugurates the man carries the value of the character. They are not the same buyers, and they are not the same prices.
December 1940: a year early
The date of sale is worth paying attention to, because it places the object in history with disturbing precision.
The booklet hits newsstands on December 20, 1940. The United States did not enter the war until a year later, in December 1941. The country was then officially neutral, and the debate over intervention deeply divided opinion.
This publication therefore takes part before the country does. It designates an enemy, depicts it, and its cover shows the hero striking an identifiable leader. This was not a trivial gesture in 1940: the publishers concerned received hostile mail, and it took some determination to publish this.
The antagonist introduced here is designed with this logic in mind. He is not an ordinary criminal but a propaganda figure: the incarnation of a regime, intended to give a face to a real political threat.
This original status explains a large part of what the character has become, and we return to it in ourbest bows. It also explains a permanent writing difficulty: an adversary created to represent a historical regime becomes cumbersome as soon as this regime belongs to the past.
Simon and Kirby
The booklet is the work of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, whose names appear at the top of the speakers listed on this issue.
The usual reservation applies: on a magazine with shared contents, the credits are recorded globally and not story by story. Half a dozen names are mixed here, and the fine attribution is a matter of editorial history rather than this survey.
What we can say without risk, on the other hand, is due to the magnitude of what is at stake in this single issue. The two men suddenly install a lasting hero, his costume, his shield, his young partner and his main adversary.Few debut issues set up so much material in one move, and virtually nothing has been removed from it since.
One point is worth noting for the collector: the tandem will not stay with this publisher for long. Their departure took place in the following year, which limited the period during which the series was carried out by its creators to a handful of issues. This brevity is one of the reasons why the very first issues stand out so clearly from the later ones on the market - even beyond their age.
The publisher was not called Marvel
Here is an authentication point that many buyers ignore, and which can be directly verified on the object.
The legal notices printed in this booklet do not bear the name by which the house is known today. The catalog cites its contents: the publication is published by a company with an entirely different name, domiciled in Connecticut, and the postal deposit is mentioned there.
This page has three practical uses for the buyer.
It dates the object. A vintage copy necessarily bears the company name of 1940, never the one adopted later. A subsequent reproduction or reissue immediately betrays its vintage in this location.
It attests to completeness. These notices appear on the first inside page. Their absence indicates a booklet from which pages have been removed - a situation far from rare for such old objects.
It provides a benchmark for research. An announcement written by someone who actually opened the booklet sometimes cites this publisher's name. This is a sign of seriousness, and it is also what makes it possible to find poorly referenced copies.
Format and purpose
68 pages, 10 cents. The booklet is thick, like all publications of this period, and it contains half a dozen stories as well as pages of mail and advertisements.
This thickness has well-identified material consequences. The block, held by two staples, opens fan-shaped under its own weight; the central notebooks are released first; and the staples end up tearing the paper at their anchor point.
On an object more than eighty years old, add strongly acidic paper, which will yellow and break rather than bend. Examples in good condition are extraordinarily few in number, and most of those in circulation have undergone interventions.
Only one version exists: no price variation, no foreign edition, no contemporary reprint. On this level at least, identification is simple.
What the story contains
The episode which introduces the character is short, like all those in the booklet.
It operates on the register of mystery: a series of acts of sabotage, a masked figure who orchestrates them, and a resolution which reveals his identity. The process was proven and it serves a specific purpose here — to make the threat exist before showing the man.
The mask itself is the lasting invention. Its success is due to a total economy of means: there is nothing to explain, nothing to justify, and it produces an immediate effect on any coverage. Eighty years later, it has hardly changed.
A reader today will find the narrative sketchy, the characterization minimal, and the pacing rushed. This is the norm of 1940: these pages were designed to be consumed, not reread.
Finally, a remark is necessary on the nature of this character, since it conditions the way we read him today. It was created as war propaganda tool, in a context where the designated enemy was committing crimes that the general public would discover in their full extent a few years later. The stories from 1941 are therefore militant caricatures, with the simplification that this implies.
Later authors have had to deal with this legacy, and their solutions vary considerably from decade to decade. This is what makes this issue unique, including on an editorial level.
Check a copy
Legal notices, for the company name and the vintage. This is the priority check.
The summary, to confirm the presence of the story concerned. Ask for a photo of the table of contents, which appears at the top of the booklet.
The back, held by the blanket, to judge the condition of the staples and the holding of the block.
Old repairs. During this period, adhesive tape, replaced staples and reconstructed corners are common. They must be declared, and they radically change the value.
Where to start
The seventh number, for those interested in the character himself. It is the rational choice: it corresponds to the man that the publication has selected, and its price remains unrelated to that of the first.
The return of the third issue, arrived on March 17, 1941, often neglected and yet interesting: it shows that the antagonist was already considered renewable two months after his introduction.
The silver age, from February 1965, where the character returns and acquires most of what defines him today. Infinitely more accessible, and developed in ourcollection guide.
Frequently asked questions from collectors
It depends on what you mean by that. Captain America Comics #1, released on December 20, 1940, contains a story dedicated to the masked character. But the reading long held by collectors is that the man in the first issue is not that of the seventh, arriving on August 4, 1941 - the latter being considered the debut of the durable carrier.
No, and it must be said clearly. The catalog records dates, prices and titles of stories; it does not encode the identity of who is wearing a mask. This is a firmly established market convention, not a given. It nevertheless has very real effects on the prices charged.
The seventh, if it's the antagonist that interests you. The first issue is one of the most sought-after issues in the medium, but its value comes from the hero, its cover and its place in publishing history — the appearance of the adversary is just one element among others. You would pay a price set by another demand.
Because the United States would not enter the war until a year later. The country is then neutral and opinion is divided on the intervention. This publication therefore designates an enemy before the country does, which was not a trivial gesture — the publishers concerned received hostile mail.
By the legal notices on the first inside page. They bear the company name of 1940, entirely different from the name by which the publisher is known today, with a domicile in Connecticut. A subsequent reproduction or reissue immediately betrays its vintage at that specific location.
No. Only one version was produced: neither price variation, nor edition intended for foreign countries, nor contemporary reprint. On this level, identification is simple, and all the difficulty relates to the condition and authenticity of the object.
The block above all: 68 pages held by two staples open like a fan under their own weight, the central notebooks free themselves, and the staples tear their anchor point. Add very acidic paper that breaks instead of bending. Finally, old repairs – adhesive, changed staples, redone corners – are common and must be declared.
It is often wrongly neglected. Put on sale on March 17, 1941, it announces in its summary the return of the character - proof that the publisher already considered him to be renewable two months after his introduction. Three stories in seven issues constitute a remarkable density for the time.
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