Captain America Comics #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCaptain America Comics #2 (cover-dated April 1941) makes one design change that defines the character forever: it is the first appearance of Captain America's iconic circular, disk-shaped shield, the weapon and symbol Steve Rogers would carry through virtually every era of his publishing history. Beyond that single pivotal prop, the issue pushes the series' anti-fascist storytelling further than its predecessor dared, sending Cap and Bucky directly into a Nazi stronghold in Germany where they confront both Hitler and Hermann Göring in person. As the second chapter of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's run, it also continued establishing the supporting cast — Betty Ross, Sergeant Duffy, Hurricane, and Tuk — whose interactions set the template for Timely's Golden Age war-comic formula. The backup features carry their own long-tail significance: seeds planted here about Hurricane and his nemesis Pluto, and about Tuk's quest for Attilan, were quietly woven into Marvel's mythology decades later.
In "The Ageless Orientals Who Wouldn't Die!!", Captain America joins the Holden expedition into the remote Matto Grasso, where a mysterious illness is claiming lives by the thousands—leading to a dangerous mission with a doctor named Clay at its heart. Written by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, with art, inks, and letters by Kirby, and a cover by Simon, this 1941 issue blends wartime adventure with eerie mystery in a story that’s both gripping and steeped in the era’s distinctive tone.
In "The Ageless Orientals Who Wouldn't Die!!," Captain America and Bucky face off against towering, seemingly immortal giants from Tibet, led by a mysterious master whose true motives remain shrouded in shadow. As the duo races to stop the ancient forces from unleashing chaos, they must confront not just physical might, but the eerie, unyielding will of a forgotten past.
In "The Wax Statue That Struck Death," Captain America and Bucky race to uncover the truth behind a series of mysterious deaths, each victim silenced beneath a grotesque wax mask. As the duo ventures into the Wax-Man’s chilling lair, they face a sinister threat where every statue seems to hold a secret—and death is never far behind.
In "The Devil and the Green Plague," Hurricane joins the Holden expedition into the remote Matto Grasso, where they’re set to meet Doctor Clay, a scientist racing against time to stop a mysterious, deadly disease ravaging the region. With the stakes rising and the jungle holding secrets darker than the sickness itself, Hurricane must navigate both the perilous terrain and the growing unease among the expedition’s members.
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Captain America Comics #2 was produced by the same Simon and Kirby assembly line that had rushed the debut issue to print months earlier, with Joe Simon scripting and laying out pages and Jack Kirby building the muscular figure work and action. The issue arrived on newsstands with a February 10, 1941 release date and an April 1941 cover date, riding the wave of extraordinary reader response — and serious threats — that had greeted the debut. Simon and Kirby were still Timely's engine room at this point, and would remain so through issue #10; the creative partnership's speed and prolific output meant that each issue packed multiple complete stories across its roughly 68 pages. The issue also contains a prose text story credited to Stan Lee — one of his earliest published contributions to Timely — appearing under his then-byline as filler between comics features.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Captain America's round, disk-shaped shield — the design he would use throughout virtually his entire publishing history, replacing the triangular wedge-shield introduced in issue #1.
- Written and drawn primarily by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (Timely Comics), with additional art contributions from Al Avison, Al Gabriele, and Reed Crandall on select stories.
- The lead story 'Trapped in the Nazi Stronghold!' depicts Cap and Bucky infiltrating a German concentration camp, where they encounter both Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring — a direct and unusually explicit depiction of real Nazi leadership at a time when the U.S. was not yet at war.
- Betty Ross (later retconned as Betsy Ross and eventually the heroine Golden Girl) appears in the main Cap story 'The Ageless Orientals Who Wouldn't Die!!', continuing her role as an FBI agent love interest for Steve Rogers.
- The Hurricane backup story pits the speedster against his recurring nemesis Pluto in the Mato Grosso region of South America; both characters are later retroactively identified in Marvel canon as the Eternal Makkari (Hurricane) and the Deviant Kro (Pluto).
- Hurricane is referred to in this issue under two different civilian aliases — Michael Gray and Michael Jupiter — a textual inconsistency preserved in the original printing.
- The Tuk Cave-Boy backup story continues his quest toward Attilan, 'the island of the gods'; later Marvel stories, particularly Avengers-era issues, implied a retroactive connection between Tuk and the Inhumans based on this reference to Attilan.
- The issue contains a prose text story, 'Captain America and the Bomb Sight Thieves,' credited to Stan Lee, representing one of his earliest known published contributions to the Timely Comics line.
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Reprints
Reprinted in David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview #9 (1984), Captain America: The Classic Years #1 (1990), Capitão América: As Primeiras Histórias #1 (1992), Marvel Milestone Edition: Captain America Comics #1 #[nn] (1995), The Complete Jack Kirby #[2] (1997), Captain America: The Classic Years #1 (1998), Marvel Mystery Comics #1 (1999), Marvel Milestones: Wolverine, X-Men & Tuk: Caveboy #[nn] (2005), Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Captain America #1 (2005), Marvel 70th Anniversary #[nn] (2009), Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Captain America #1 (2012), Golden Age Captain America Omnibus #1 (2014), Captain America: The 75th Anniversary Vibranium Collection #[nn] (2016), Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War #[nn] (2017), Captain America: Evolutions of a Living Legend #[nn] (2019), Marvel Comics: The World Outside Your Window #[nn] (2019), Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Simon & Kirby Omnibus #[nn] (2019), Marvel Comics: The World Outside Your Window #[nn] (2020), Flashback #29
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