U.S.A. Comics

Supercbbox|
title = U.S.A. Comics


caption = "U.S.A. Comics" #1 (Aug. 1941), featuring the Defender. Cover art by Jack Kirby (penciler) & Joe Simon (inker).
schedule = Monthly (1941-44)
Quarterly (1944-45)
format =
publisher = Timely Comics
date = August 1941 - Fall 1945
issues = 17
main_char_team =
writers = Stan Lee
Joe Simon
artists = Jack Kirby
Alex Schomburg
Basil Wolverton
pencillers =
inkers =
colorists =
creative_team_month =
creative_team_year =
creators =

"U.S.A. Comics" was an American comic-book series published by Marvel Comics' 1930-1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. A superhero anthology running 17 issues cover-dated August 1941 to Fall 1945, it showcased early work by industry legends Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, and famed cartoonist Basil Wolverton, introduced the Whizzer and other characters, and for much of its run starred Captain America during that long-running character's World War II height of popularity.

Publication history

"U.S.A. Comics" came from publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics, which by the early 1960s would evolve into Marvel. It was initially edited by Joe Simon, Timely first editor, followed briefly by future Marvel chief Stan Lee very early in his career, and then by interim editor Vincent Fago during Lee's U.S. military duty from early 1942 through 1945.

A superhero anthology with no regular starring feature until Captain America began headlining with issue #6 (Dec. 1942), "U.S.A. Comics" introduced at least two notable characters: super-speedster the Whizzer and mythological ice-king Jack Frost, both in issue # 1 (Aug. 1941). Both heroes were revived in 1970s Marvel Comics, generally but not exclusively in flashback stories depicting them in retroactive continuity as members of the World War II superhero team called the Liberty Legion.

Additional superheroes introduced in "U.S.A. Comics" include the Defender, by co-creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Mr. Liberty (renamed Major Liberty the following issue), Rockman, and Young Avenger, all in issue # 1; Captain Terror, and the Vagabond in issue # 2 (Nov. 1941); crU.S.A.ding reporter Tom Powers in the feature "Powers of the Press" in issue # 3 (Jan. 1942); the American Avenger in issue #5 (Summer 1942); and the war-hero feature "Jap Buster Johnson" in issue # 6 (Dec. 1942).

While historians have identified Syd Shores, one of Captain America's preeminent Golden Age artists, as the penciler and inker of the 17-page Captain America story "The Cylinder of Death" in issue # 10 (Sept. 1943), that character's remaining "U.S.A. Comics" appearances are by unidentified creative teams.

Alex Schomburg, Timely's most prolific early cover artist, drew the covers of issues # 4, 6-7, 12-13, and 15.

References

* [http://www.comics.org/ Grand Comics Database]
* [http://kirbymuseum.org/ The Jack Kirby Museum]
* [http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/avenger.html "A Guide To Marvel's Golden Age Characters", by Jess Nevins: American Avenger] , [http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/terror.html Captain Terror] , [http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/liberty.html Major Liberty] , and [http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/rockman.html Rockman]