The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has acquired an original copy of Captain America Comics No 1, one of the most iconic comic books in American history, it said in an announcement on Tuesday.
Published in December 1940, nearly a year before America entered World War II, the issue was donated by Riot Games co-founder Brandon Beck.
Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Captain America Comics No. 1 features a classic cover image drawn by Kirby of Captain America punching Adolf Hitler in the face. Kirby, the son of Austrian-Jewish immigrants, would later serve in the US Army during World War II.
The comic’s anti-Nazi message challenged the isolationist sentiment that was widespread in the US at the time and helped bring attention to the growing Nazi threat in Europe.
“This comic book holds enormous cultural and historical importance,” said Zachary Levine, director of the Museum’s Curatorial Affairs Division. “At a time when many Americans, while disapproving of the Nazi regime, were reluctant to fight another war in Europe, Jack Kirby, an American Jew, used a symbol of America to raise awareness of the threat the Nazi regime posed to Europe and the world. We are grateful to Mr. Beck for making this important artifact part of the Museum’s collection.”
Holocaust Museum adds historic Captain America issue
Beck also donated an original copy of Captain America Comics No. 46, which features a graphic cover of Captain America confronting Nazis as they commit atrocities in a concentration camp. This was among the earliest depictions of a concentration camp in American pop culture.
The volumes are being examined and documented by experts in the Museum’s David and Fela Shapell Collections, Conservation, and Research Center. In time, they will be digitized and will be available for research.
Captain America became one of Marvel Comics' most enduring and beloved superheroes. It spawned a series of hit movies, and just last year, Anthony Mackie portrayed the character in the movie, Captain America: Brave New World, in which Harrison Ford and Israeli actress Shira Haas co-starred.