Personal Collection // Sal  Buscema // Captain America #155 (Buscema/McLaughlin) (1972)

November 1972, Captain America #155, Page #14, Sal Buscema pencils/Frank McLaughlin inks, “The Incredible Origin of the other Captain America!”, Origin page of William Burnside, the Captain America of the 1950s. In this page, William Burnside is in Washington DC speaking to the US Government, where he reveals to them that he found the super soldier formula that created Captain America in 1940. He tells them he will not give them the formula, that he will be the only one that will take it and take up the mantle of becoming the new Captain America. To prove to them that he has the formula, he gives them a sample which they inject in a monkey to prove to them that they have the real thing. After they confirm the results, they tell William Burnside that he will “be America’s savior” during the Korean War, which was occurring at that time. Cap #155 was the 3rd Captain America comic I ever read off the newsstand! The original cover date is November 1972 and this issue continued the historic 4-Part historic storyline, "Captain America--Hero Or Hoax?", written by Steve Englehart, which reintroduced the 1950s Cap and Bucky in the current Captain America timeline! The story ran from Cap #153 to Cap #156, and it is one of the greatest and most memorable storylines of the Bronze Age. Steve Englehart was able to reconcile in this story arc how Captain America, who disappeared shortly before the end of World War II, was appearing in Timely (Marvel) comics throughout the 1950s; Well, Cap was basically frozen in a block of ice until the Sub-Mariner threw it into the ocean and he was found by the Avengers and rescued, in the classic Avengers #4 comic published in 1964. The Captain America of the 1950s was actually a different Cap, and Bucky was Jack Monroe, who later became Nomad!

Personal Collection

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