He's a frigging couch potato.

More Uatu sightings

1968:


1991:


2001:

The guy has a snacking problem. You don't see the Phantom Stranger fluctuating like that. Or it's the whole "he's a being at a higher level and he only lets us see something that we can comprehend, and sometimes he likes to seem slim"

Man Super Goof hits me in the feels. I think I told this story before but once we went on a family trip and I took a suitcase half filled with nothing but Gold Key comics.

Obscure Gold Key

Which Captain America #1 is your favorite cover?

There are 29 (!!!!) variant covers for Captain America Volume 8, Issue #1. Ridiculous. Maybe I will try that another day. haha

There are 15 variant covers for volume #9 for Captain America Issue #1!

Yipes!

I prefer this one. Yeah, it ain't #1, but there's a good reason for it given when it was published.

Yeah, I was going to post it but thought it was too obvious and also it wasn't a "#1".

Funny how the mentality changed. They would roll characters into established comics because they felt kids/teens would be more apt to buy comics if the issue # was higher because it was more "established" and showed that it has been around for a while.

Now a character is lucky if they get to issue #25 before they are already throwing out a new volume with a new #1 on it.

I also preferred the older comics "one and done" stories or at least minimal carry-over where you didn't have to read 18 different issues to jump into a comic to understand what was going on.

With all the variant covers, crossovers, multiple reboots over short time periods, etc., I don't see how anyone really wants to collect comics anymore. It seems like just a money pit that isn't really fun anymore.

I can't remember the specific details, I read somewhere once that every magazine has some kind of publishing number. ISBN? Library of Congress? Don't know. Anyway, there's some sort of cost or fee to get a new publishing number. You need a new number to start a title at No. 1. To save money Marvel would change the name of an existing title, but continue on with the same publishing number and issue count.

Ah. Interesting. Because I know I have read and heard what I posted from multiple places over the years. That definitely puts a tweak on that then.

And your explanation tracks because Stan was always a cheap ass.

Agreed. This bullshit is why I tapped out on buying new comics a long time ago. No thanks, it's no longer fun for me.

In the old days, when people could subscribe to comic books (is that still even a thing?), they could be sent through the mail cheap with bulk third class postage rates. But any new titles required to be registered with the post office for a fee (I forget how much but it wasn't really a lot) in order to receive a third class mail permit. To save money, comics publishers would try changing the title but continue the numbering to avoid paying a new third class registration fee (which is why for example, Tales to Astonish changed its title to The Incredible Hulk with the 102nd issue, while continuing the numbering). Sometimes the publishers would get caught though, and USPS would say "Nice try, but you need to pay a new fee for this one because it's a new title". Since comics back in the day were such a low profit, low rent business, publishers would try to pinch pennies any way they could.

Anyway, this is the real Captain America (Comics) #1 as far as I'm concerned. Sure, he doesn't have his classic shield yet, but Cap punching the fuck out of Hitler more than makes up for that.

I have always preferred the look of that original shield to the round one, myself.

Looks like he got the round one the very next issue. That was quick! Probably quicker to draw the round one.

The really cool thing is that Cap was kicking Nazi ass way before the US entered WWII (not too hard to figure out why )