YOUTH

Steven Rogers was born on July 4th, 1922, to Sarah and Joseph Rogers, two Irish Catholic immigrants. He was born and raised in New York's Lower East Side. His mother worked as a nurse during the Great Depression, but money was tight and Rogers was often sick as a result of his numerous disabilities. His father would often abuse his mother, who taught her son to stand up for himself no matter the circumstances. He often got harassed by his peers for his physical frailness, but never backed down against them. His father passed away early in his childhood, and his mother passed away in his teenage years from an illness contracted at work. Rogers worked as an artist, even winning a city-wide contest in his youth.

REBIRTH

In 1939, Rogers beecame so appalled at the rise of Fascism in Germany that he began trying to enlist in the US Army, though the United States would not be due to join the war for almost two more years. His ceaseless efforts to join the Army were futile--because of his disabilites, he was repeatedly given a 4F.

One of his attempts at enlisting was noticed by Colonel Chester Phillips, who offered him an opportunity to volunteer for Project Rebirth. Project Rebirth involved taking an American and injecting him with the Super Soldier Serum, turning him into the first of an army of super-soldiers. The operation successfully turned small Steve Rogers into a man in peak condition, but unfortunately, Doctor Reinstein, the brains behind the serum, was murdered by a Nazi spy just seconds later, leaving Rogers the sole recipient.

"DEATH"

In April 1945, Captain America and Bucky headed to Germany on a mission. They were attacked by Baron Zemo, who bested them in combat, took them captive, and tortured the pair. Rogers managed to free himself and Bucky, and they attempted to follow Zemo's automated drone bomb plane which was set to cause massive destruction to the Allies. Bucky jumped onto the plane and Rogers followed, but the latter let go when he realzied the plane was booby-trapped. Bucky was killed in the explosion of the plane, and Rogers fell from the plane into the English Channel. They were both considered Killed in Action.

REVIVAL

Rogers' old wartime ally Namor the Sub-Mariner found an indigenous tribe worshipping Rogers' frozen body. However, he did not recognize his old friend, and threw the block of ice he was frozen in into the ocean. He drifted south until his thawed body was found by the Avengers. His body had been in a state of suspended animation, meaning that although decades had passed, he had not aged past his twenty-two lived years.

HIS GIRLFRIEND!

White girl of the month 696 months running

HIS ANGER!

This is something people don't always mention when they talk about the character, but he's a very angry guy! In recent continuity he has generally mellowed out into the level-headed tactician he is regarded as today, but occasionally he is still shown to lapse into serious anger. This is one of my favorite traits of his because it truly puts his humanity front and center, almost forcing you to remember that there is a human being behind the mask. He'll fight anybody: his boss! His best friend! His other best friend! His best frenemy! His girlfriend (accidentally... he loves her). He'll yell at Obama! Hands rated E for Everyone!

HIS ETHOS!

Captain America has an incredible amount of ethos in the 616. Most of his rogue gallery has a level of respect for him--in the case of Batroc the Leaper, romantic infatuation, even! Magneto, Dr. Doom, and even Rogers' arch-nemesis the Red Skull have all expressed a level of respect for him, and he is respected by even the most morally gray heroes in the 616, such as Deadpool, Namor the Sub-Mariner, and the Punisher.

HIS STRENGTH!

This is probably what most people will tell you when you ask what their favorite thing about Captain America is, but I don't mean physical strength, nor necessarily mental fortitude. The Captain America mantle is a burden, and Rogers is not shy about this fact. It is the crux on which most of his internal conflict rests. He often discusses how he was not meant to be the only recipient of the super soldier serum, but after the death of Dr. Reinstein, he was forced to carry the weight of the entire army that had been planned. He has referenced being terrified to take on the burden of the shield, but he did it because he knew it was necessary and he did not want to force anybody else to take it for him. Time and time again he has struggled with the weight of his role, and yet, he holds onto it because would rather suffer under the weight of it than burden anybody else. There have been times that he has given up the mantle for political reasons--most notably when he took on the names Nomad (seen right) and the Captain--but he ended up going back to the Captain America title because he knew somebody had to do it.

STRENGTH CONT.

Not to dismiss his mental fortitude, though! I simply feel that I think about different aspects of it than most. One of the most stunning things to me is the matter of Rogers' age--if we keep in mind that he was born in July 1922, he was eighteen years old when he recieved the super soldier serum, nineteen when the United States entered the Second World War, and only twenty-two at the time of his "death". He was suddenly awakened to an entirely different world--one where he had just watched his closest friend die and he knew nobody--and thrust into the role of leader again, this time for the Avengers. In some iterations, like the original 1963 Avengers #4 where he is revived, the fact that he is just a kid who misses his best friend is very stark and heartbreaking. In others, his PTSD from undergoing such an immense shock is apparent, like Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2005), where he suffers amnesia and insomnia, Captain America: White, where he is plagued with guilt over Bucky's death (though this is found in every iteration), and the Captain America: Man Out Of Time limited series, where he hallucinates Bucky in young Rick Jones and refuses to accept that what has happened to him is real at all. The strength to live through such a situation is devestating and incredible to me!

HIS POLITICS!

"What Leyli aren't you a leftist from the Death to America country what do you mean--" yeah you heard me. I'm not explaining this one to you. He's a disabled Irish Catholic artist who grew up in New York during the Great Depression. His best friend was a gay Jewish kid. He saw Richard Nixon try to lead a secret anti-mutant conspiracy then kill himself and was like hell nah I can't do this America ish anymore and became Nomad. He literally fought for the Vietcong. He has a USSR flag in his apartment. Peace & love on planet Marxism!

HIS LOVE FOR HIS SON!

Not many people know that Steve Rogers has an adopted son, Ian, whom he loves more than anything in the world--we recently (Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty 2022) saw the extent of just how much for the first time since the character's inception (Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z). Steve Rogers loves his son so so much! It's very rare to find such deep and unconditional love between parents and children in comics these days, but these two have never had anything but absolute love and care for each other. You won't find a father and son who have such deep mutual adoration for each other in the state of comics these days. It's incredibly refreshing.

This is my list that I typically recommend to people looking to get started reading Cap comics! I'm certainly not the leading authority on the character and notoriously bad at putting reading lists together (and, if I'm being honest, most of the allure of the character for me comes not from comic canon but from the autism in my brain) but I have read just under 300 Cap comics, so hopefully I can put that to use and this will serve as a place to start! Additionally, I'm focusing on runs that feature Steve, so I will be leaving out runs like "Captain America and Bucky" which involve Steve but do not focus on him nor his perspective, and important Cap runs like "Captain America: Truth" and "All-New Captain America", though I highly recommend reading those. Actually I don't recommend. Do it.

FOR THE ABSOLUTE BEGINNER!

• CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE
• this comic is perfect if you are a total beginner to the character, or even to the comic book medium! it is a short six-issue run dedicated to telling the story of Steve's days fighting in the Second World War and the guilt of his partner's death when he is revived in the twenty-first century. It's not a perfect run--for instance, I'm not a fan of the art, the racial ephitets used towards Romani people, and the aging down of Bucky though the comic was written a good ten years after the 2005 retcon on his age--but it does the job for somebody who needs the basics.


• CAPTAIN AMERICA: MAN OUT OF TIME
• This short five-issue run is a very popular retelling of the current canon of Steve's revival and his period of adjustment to the twenty-first century. A great retelling of an old classic!


• AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES (2005)
• This is a short run (eight issues) that focuses on the same topic as the prior! It does delve a little into Avengers territory at times, but I'm recommending it here because I think the characterization is spectacular.

OLD SCHOOL!

• CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #175-183
• I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of Captain America in the '70s and '80s. Nothing like watching this guy stumble through the streets of New York weeping and gnashing his teeth about his lonliness. Fortunately for those who aren't crazy like me, this run focuses less on that and more on one of the most iconic chapters of Captain America's character--the point where he witnesses Richard Nixon kill himself after a failed anti-mutant conspiracy and becomes so disallusioned with America that he sheds the Captain America title to become the Nomad!


• CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #237-317
• I am aware that this is 80 issues. It is hardly a short run. That does not change the fact that it is probably my favorite era of Cap comics of all time. The beginning and end that I've delineated here represent the issue where Steve moves into 569 Leaman Place in Brooklyn Heights and the issue in which he moves out. This is Steve at his best--a poor commercial artist who doesn't even have the money for a taxi uptown. His only friends are his neighbors (it's very found family!). Every other day there's some random supervillain he has to stop. Really just the peak of comic books here! I am a Sharon enjoyer before I'm a human being, but his relationship with Bernie Rosenthal here (who would later go on to represent one James Buchanan Barnes during his trial for crimes as the Winter Soldier, by the way!) is just so so good. Cannot recommend this enough.

MODERN CLASSICS!

• CAPTAIN AMERICA (2005) #1-9, #11-12
• Everybody in the world has been recommended Ed Brubaker's incredible Cap run at some point in their lives, and still, it will never be highly recommended enough. I mean, Brubaker won three. Three! Eisner Awards for this volume alone! It's a masterwork. I recommend the whole thing, but then again, it is fifty issues. If you want to read the most iconic part (and one of the most iconic runs in comic history), the revival of Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier is given here.


• CAPTAIN AMERICA (2013) #1-10
• Anybody who has made the mistake of asking me about my favorite comics knows this beaut--Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z! This is the run in which the aforementioned son is first seen. This is ony of my favorite Cap runs ever, because it does an incredible job of stripping the character down to his core and reminding you who he really is. I don't think I have the words to describe why I love this run so much, so just take my word for it and give it a shot. (I stop my recommendation at issue 10, where the Dimension Z arc ends, because the politics of the remainder of the volume are truly hideous and I do not want to expose anybody to that, but I do really enjoy the way his return to society is written, so there is that.)