Set Description:
From 2004 to 2011, Captain America was under the helm of writer Ed Brubaker what would truly be one of the best runs on the book in years. During that time, the series has earned numerous awards and truly brought Captain America into the modern era for today’s readers. The journey of Captain America during this time is a long and wide spanning story that brought back Bucky, ‘killed’ Cap, have a new Cap, bring back Cap and even manage to end with a sense of urgency for what lies ahead. Outside the comics, Captain America gained renewed interest thanks to the controversy it caused, from bringing back a character whose death was originally “sacred” to “killing” the title character, and giving a new Cap a new costume. It was in 2011 when the co-creator of Captain America, Joe Simon passed away. It was fortunate that he could see the character rise to new levels of popularity and see the creation of a successful feature film. Please enjoy checking out what is in my opinion, the best run in years.
In putting this run together, I have been extremely lucky and I’m very grateful to a lot of people. They know who they are, and I say Thank You. This collection simply could not be what it is without having had a lot of help in putting in together from fellow enthusiasts and collectors to CGC Signature Series witnesses and staff.
A significant portion of this collection is graded under the Signature Series label, and another BIG thanks goes out to all the various creators who were willing to sign my books, allowing my collection of this series to be a true one of a kind. Signatures throughout the series include: Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Michael Lark, Mike Perkins, Butch Guice, Marko Djurdevic, Frank D'armata, Alex Ross, Stan Lee, Joe Simon, and others. I've been very fortunate to have met many of the people who have worked on the book too and I have to thank them for chatting with me, signing my many books and in some cases, sketching for me too!
To date, I have managed to acquire three 9.9 graded books as well as three 9.6s. When starting this set, I originally wanted strict 9.8s and for a long time I was able to maintain it. When it came down to it, I would rather have a 9.6 in my collection than not have the book at all. All things considered in the end, I managed to have 134 books out of 137 be 9.8 or better.
I've taken the opportunity to use the back cover image slot to showcase various parts of my Cap collection which have relevance to the particular issue. This ranges from issues which I have managed to have signed by contributors, to wraparound cover art, sketches or other CGC graded books or instances where the back cover is something other than an advertisement.
Please note that for a majority of the issues in my set, I have included descriptions of the issues as well as notes to most issues. There are SPOILERS throughout.
|
|
|
| The gallery tab shows only items with images. Click the thumbnails to enlarge. |
| Slot: |
Captain America 1 |
| Item: |
Captain America 1 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0769382004
|
Owner Comments
x3 signed by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting and Frank D'armata. Note that the smoke in the background actually makes out the Red Skull's lower face, but it's obscured by the "Captain America" logo. The full image is visible in the Omnibus that collects 1-25.
What are the odds of having all three people of the creative team on the book at a con? So far, it's only been the 1 time at Wizard World Texas, making this #1 one of my most prized possessions.
It is a very solid first issue, and we're treated with the 1st appearance of Aleksander Lukin as he is meeting with the Red Skull. We see Cap in familiar fashion, but at this period in continuity, he is also dealing with the fallout of Avengers Diassembled.
At the end of the issue, the Red Skull is assassinated ("Death"!) at the behest of Lukin!
Also pictured is the award I received from CGC for having one of the Best Presented sets in 2008. I've had the luck and fortune of meeting Steve Epting and Ed Brubaker and having them sign my plaque. They really got a kick out of seeing a collector getting an award for collecting the series.
Personal Note:
My very first CGC submission included getting a Signature Series copy of this issue(a double signed 9.6), which I eventually upgraded from to what is presented here. I was so lucky to purchased this from a comic dealer who also is a friend of mine (Carlos Camara).
Something I wonder now is whether or not current collectors have the desire to collect the back issues. On one hand, from my experience in putting this set together I know many issues from 1-25 are quite rare in conjunction with being extremely difficult to find in high grade. Some of these issues include, in my personal opinion: #2, #6, #8, #9, #13 and #21. Outside of "key" issues to the series, I would consider them to be available to one with enough money and dedication to finding them. The issues I mention are see of as being highly valued to a completionist such as me.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 2 |
| Item: |
Captain America 2 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0007796001
|
Owner Comments
Signed by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. This remains a very striking cover by Steve.
In this issue, we have the confirmations of the "death" of the Red Skull by SHIELD. Cap and crew attempt to unravel the mystery of what the Skull had in his possession, and discover a WMD underground.
Some solid flashbacks showing Cap's inner turmoil, and Crossbones resolves to carry out the Red Skull's plans.
Since it is in this issue where we get the addition of Michael Lark's art, I felt it was appropriate to share a sketch that Kris Moore of the CGC forums originally got done for me. I feel very lucky to have a Cap from Michael Lark as well as having some SS books from his contributions to Cap.
Personal Note:
This is one of the tougher issues to find in high grade as a large portion of the print run contains some sort of circular impression in the book that is visible under light at a certain angle. Every raw copy I've seen exhibits this flaw. I am very lucky to have been able to get my hands on CGC graded 9.8 copies.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 3 |
| Item: |
Captain America 3 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0007796002
|
Owner Comments
Signed by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. Another one of many great covers by Steve Epting.
Lots of events take place in this issue: Michael Lark flashbacks, Cap vs AIM, Death of Mother Night and Death of Jack Monroe! We are given the details surrounding Jack Monroe's death later in the series.
Also pictured is my reading copy, signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Michael Lark and Frank D'Armata.
Personal Note:
In retrospect, the flashbacks are quite nice and actually go well with the main art of the book. With the series still continuing some five years after this issue, it's interesting to think about how long it has been since Michael Lark contributed to the Cap books.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 4 |
| Item: |
Captain America 4 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0796485002
|
Owner Comments
Signed and RIP by Michael Lark. Thanks to Kris Moore for getting Michael Lark's signature for me on multiple books.
In this issue we get Sharon Carter put on the footsteps of the Red Skull's killer who is being set up as Jack Monroe aka Nomad. Cap is called to Arling National Cemetary where he comes upon two desecrated graves of two men that were Captain America while Cap was on ice. Cap encounters Crossbones and a fight ensues (obviously).
The issue ends with Sharon Carter being knocked out and captured.
Also pictured is my reading copy signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Michael Lark and Frank D'Armata.
Personal Note:
I particularly liked this issue for it's small continuity fixes to Cap's history, making it explicit that two other men were Captain America during his time frozen in ice. Also, Brubaker begins to reveal repressed memories in Cap's mind which is rendered beautifully in his fight with Crossbones by Epting and Lark. It's not hard to accept the fact that there are details from Steve's memories that have been forgotten after being in suspended animation and then goign through all the Marvel Universe events since he awoke in the 60s - all more reasons as to why I chose to have this book signed for Signature Series.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 5 |
| Item: |
Captain America 5 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0796485003
|
Owner Comments
Signed by Michael Lark. Thanks to Kris Moore for getting Michael Lark's signature for me on multiple books.
The cover to this issue is an awesome rendition of the Invaders. This issue features mostly Michael Lark art who draws an extended flashback sequence with Cap and the Invaders helping out the Russians in WWII. It also sheds some light into the bigger picture of Bucky being Cap's sidekick.
Any issue that features Cap in action in WWII is great in my book. The flashback is significant in that it features the village Kronas and the child version of Aleksander Lukin being taken in by Vasily Karpov. Lukin would eventually succeed Karpov and name his coroporation after his home town.
Also pictured is my reading copy signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Michael Lark and Frank D'Armata.
Personal Note:
This is one of those issues that stands out to me in particular for it's depiction of Bucky as a highly trained and lethal soldier which would be played out even further in the series with the Winter Soldier.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 6 |
| Item: |
Captain America 6 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0794130007
|
Owner Comments
Signed by Steve Epting.
Captain America returns to the castle where the buzzbomb took off that has significant ties to Cap's and Bucky's modern day origins. Brubaker is basically tidying up the continuity of the characaters pasts, and we get the first actual words that identify the Winter Soldier as Bucky! This issue also marks the 1st Full Appearance of the Winter Soldier.
Not to be forgotten are the huge plot developments -Philadelphia is bombed to power the cosmic cube!
Let me also add how insanely hard it is to find a copy of this book that looks like a 9.8, because all I've seen are 9.6's!
Also pictured is my reading copy, signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and Frank D'Armata.
Personal Note:
This issue is truly one of the highlights of the series for the sequence where Cap revisits the castle where Baron Zemo captured Cap and Bucky before their "death" by the sabotaged Buzz Bomb, particularly the pages which show that Cap falling away from the bomb and Bucky yelling out to him that he was stuck - and subsequently exploding, seperating them for decades.
UPDATE
I recently upgraded to a 9.8 Signature Series copy of this book, thanks to Demolition Comics from Ebay.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 6 Variant Edition |
| Item: |
Captain America 6 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0794129002
|
Owner Comments
Very cool variant cover with the Winter Soldier. Maybe one day the note will read "First Winter Soldier Cover" seeing as how Bucky is on more and more copies post #25.
Also pictured is my reading copy, signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and Frank D'Armata.
UPDATE
I recently upgraded to a Universal Label 9.8 copy of this book thanks to Demolition Comics from Ebay.
Personal Note
With the latest upgrade of this book to a 9.8 copy, adding this to my set marks the point in time where I now own strict 9.8 copies for the series from #1 to #50 and beyond. I never really set out in the beginning to have all 9.8's across the entire set, but I took ahold of the opportunities to get 9.8's whenever I saw them. This series is simply fantastic.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 7 |
| Item: |
Captain America 7 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0804455002
|
Owner Comments
The Lonesome Death of Jack Monroe.
The issue chronicles what happened to this charater while he wasn't appearing in comics. A very tragic story that eventually leads to his demise at the hands of the Winter Soldier.
Also pictured is my reading copy, signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, John Paul Leon and Frank D'Armata. I met John in 2009 at Heroes Con, and it was a real pleasure to meet him as I truly enjoyed the artwork in Earth X.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 8 |
| Item: |
Captain America 8 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0775807013
|
Owner Comments
x2 signed by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. I purchased this from Tiziano De Santis, a Signature Series witness in Toronto.
First appearance of the MODOC squad vs Captain America.(Military Operatives Designed Only for Combat)
We also get the beginnings as to how Bucky was found and turned into the Winter Soldier!
This cover is one of my favorites for its simplicity.
Also pictured is my reading copy, signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting and Frank D'Armata (Mike Perkins contributed to the inking).
Personal Note:
One of the key issues in the series because it reveals who were the people that saved Bucky from the icey waters after the buzz bomb explosion and that he would be their "hope" for the future.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 8 Variant Edition |
| Item: |
Captain America 8 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0960704014
|
Owner Comments
Signed by Joe Jusko.
This is definitely one of the hardest books to come by in high grade. Maybe my view is a little biased because this is also the last books that I needed to complete my run of the early issues, but in any case, it's ultra hard to find.
Personal Note
The copy that I ended up submitting is actually the same copy that I picked up from my LCS as it came out! My search for a strict NM+/M, never yielded any results, so I took my chances with my clean looking copy that I had kept aside specifically for if I ever met Joe Jusko. At the Pittsburgh Comicon I did, and took my chance!
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 9 |
| Item: |
Captain America 9 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0152216018
|
Owner Comments
Huge huge thanks goes out to Chris Forsberg and Gary Farmer of ffcomics from the CGC forums for working out a deal with me for this issue as one of the last upgrades I needed for my registry set.
Similar to issue #5 in this series, this issue exclusively features Michael Lark interior art.
Cap, Sharon, Nick Fury and Shield head out on a mission to take down Lukin and the Kronas Corporation for their ties to the Philadelphia Bombing. Tensions between Cap and Sharon start to simmer as they come into conflict about what should be done about the Winter Soldier.
The mission with Cap and Shield doesn't go as planned as Lukin is amidst meeting with US and UN officials, basically providing Lukin with diplomatic immunity, enforcing just how important he is to the global community through Kronas.
The issue also features Crossbones going after the legacy of the Red Skull: his daughter.
Also pictured is my reading copy signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Michael Lark and Frank D'Armata.
Personal Note:
Let me add that this issue along with #13 are proving to be one of the most difficult issues in the series to find in any shape or form, and even rarer to be in NM/M condition. Every single copy I've seen has at least 2 or 3 spine creases. I dont know how anyone was able to find a near mint/mint copy, but I'm glad it was found, and thanks again to Chris and Gary of ffcomics for this sweet upgrade!
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 10 |
| Item: |
Captain America 10 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0720011006
|
Owner Comments
House of M tie-in issue!
This issue looks at the life of Steve Rogers if everything in his life had gone the way he wanted.
He never fell into the ice and he managed turned the buzzbomb around on Zemo, he stood out against the government when mutants were being prosecuted and ended up being the first man on the moon!
Steve Rogers gives up the mantle of Captain America when he feels he can not support the government.
Also pictured is my reading copy, signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Lee Weeks and Mike Perkins who contributed to the inking.
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 11 |
| Item: |
Captain America 11 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0007796009
|
Owner Comments
Signed by Steve Epting and Ed Brubaker. This issue is essentially the "Origin" of the Winter Soldier.
In an interview with Ed Brubaker, he stated that he never really liked/had issue with how Bucky was killed off panel. In this issue, Brubaker takes the opportunity to fill in the missing pieces, essentially creating the origin of the Winter Soldier from when Bucky went missing all the way to his modern appearances.
Very excellent issue, as both the reader and Cap discover the truth.
Also pictured is my reading copy, signed by the creative team - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Mike Perkins and Frank D'Armata.
Personal Note:
This cover is one of Steve Epting's finest in my opinion for his homage to Bucky in the mid-background. Golden Age, Silver Age and Steve's own versions of Bucky are evident. Check it out!
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 12 |
| Item: |
Captain America 12 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0793562002
|
Owner Comments
x2 signed by Michael Lark (added a nice little star as well) and Steve Epting. I purchased this from Alex Hunter, another signature series witness in Toronto, and I subsequently submitted it to Paradise Comics for the signing they arranged with Steve Epting.
Lukin makes some political moves using the power of the cosmic cube, and we see Cap dealing with the knowledge he obtained from the previous issue.
Falcon cameo at the end! I was very glad to see the Falcon in the book finally, and eventually become a regular character in the series.
Also pictured is my reading copy, signed by the creative team Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Michael Lark, Mike Perkins and Frank D'Armata!
|
| Slot: |
Captain America 13 |
| Item: |
Captain America 13 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0007796011
|
Owner Comments
Signed by Steve Epting and Ed Brubaker. This one of my favorite covers in the series and is just simply great with Iron Man and Falcon appearance, as they join Cap in some great fight sequences.
Lukin experiences loss of control as a result of wielding the cosmic cube, and Cap resolves to track the cosmic cube which puts him on a collision course with the Winter Soldier!
Also pictured is my reading copy, signed by the creative team Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Mike Perkins and Frank D'Armata (Michael Lark is mistakenly credited on the cover).
Personal Note:
Why do I think you should check out this issue?
I'll answer that with another question: When's the last time you saw Iron Man in a Cap comic where they fight side by side? And with the Falcon no less! While many issues in this series are my favorites, this issue is right at the top for the team-up in this book.
Let me also add that aside from #2, #8 variant and #9, this issue is by far and away one of the single toughest issue to find in the entire series, and when I even do find copies of this issue, none of them are in NM/M condition. This issue seems to suffer from the same type of printing defect that is present on alot of #2's and what's even worse about this issue is that it's proving to be even tougher to find.
|
|