50 Years Ago, Captain America’s Creator had a Triumphant Return to the Hero

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Each month, we take a look back at a comic book issue from 10, 25, or 50 years in the past. When a month has a fifth week, we also feature a surprise comic. This time, we’re revisiting October 1975 to explore the beginning of Jack Kirby’s fantastic return to Captain America with the “Madbomb” story arc.

Okay, so as a comic book fan, you probably know Captain America debuted way back in 1940, created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon – and it was amazing, especially since it came out before the US even joined World War II! It really kicked off this awesome trend of superheroes beating up Nazis in comics. But here’s the frustrating part: the publisher, Martin Goodman, didn’t keep his promises about royalties to Simon and Kirby. They were super successful, but Goodman ticked them off so badly that they left and went to work for DC Comics. After the war, they bounced around a bit, even trying their own company, but things got tough when comic sales dropped in the late 50s. Eventually, Kirby ended up back with Goodman, and that’s when things really took off – he helped build the company into what we know as Marvel. Then, in 1964, he brought Captain America back to life with Stan Lee in Avengers #4, which was incredible!

Goodman eventually brought Kirby back to National Comics, leading to a significant move for Kirby to DC in 1970. However, his contract with DC wasn’t much of an improvement over his previous deal at Marvel. (Goodman was no longer with Marvel at this point.) The agreement did stipulate that Kirby would have creative control over his own set of characters – he would write, draw, and edit them himself. One of his most notable projects was Captain America, which he took over in October 1975, beginning the “Madbomb” storyline in issue #193!

As I mentioned before, this fantastic cover, drawn by John Romita, was originally planned to be a 3-D image, but that idea didn’t work out. It’s still a great cover regardless.

How did the “Madbomb” storyline kick off?

Kirby didn’t want to continue storylines from the previous series, but he did decide to keep the Falcon character and his girlfriend, Leila, in the comic (after all, it was titled Captain America and the Falcon). While Captain America and Falcon are playfully arm-wrestling, a strange wave hits them, causing them to suddenly develop a strong dislike for each other…

While Cap and Falcon managed to resist its initial effects, the situation quickly descends into chaos when they reach New York City. Kirby’s artwork in these scenes is fantastic, beautifully inked by Frank Giacoia. Interestingly, this story echoes a clever idea Kirby and Stan Lee previously used with the Hate-Monger: portraying hatred as fundamentally wrong and demonstrating that it’s often fueled by a villain. The implication is that people shouldn’t behave hatefully even without being manipulated by a supervillain.

Captain America locates the device responsible for the chaos, battles its disruptive energy, and destroys it. A stunning full-page illustration powerfully depicts the widespread devastation caused by the “Madbomb.”

Rough stuff.

How did the government involvement speak to Kirby’s approach to the series?

As we’ve discussed, Kirby primarily wanted creative freedom within the Marvel Universe. Because of this, he didn’t often feature existing, well-known characters in his stories. Instead, he created a new, unnamed SHIELD agent who approaches Captain America and Falcon after the madbomb’s destruction, bringing them into a government operation to prevent further madbomb incidents.

Kirby likely felt the comic needed more excitement, so as Captain America and Falcon pursue the agent into the base, they’re immediately ambushed by various traps and have to rely on their abilities to escape.

The action scene is fantastic, though it doesn’t directly advance the main plot. It’s revealed to be a test by the government to verify Captain America and Falcon’s identities. They’re then introduced to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger – a somewhat awkward inclusion – who explains the real crisis: the bomb they just encountered was a small-scale version of a much larger threat.

The bad guys, though, had a GIANT ONE!

Wow, what a start to a new story! It’s awesome seeing Cap and Falcon team up again, and they’ve really got their work cut out for them trying to save the country from this huge threat – the Madbomb. It was just a really fun read, and it felt great to have a classic Captain America story brought to life by the best, Sam Wilson!

I’m looking for suggestions of comic books with cover dates for November (or later months) from the years 1950, 1975, 2000, and 2015 to feature in a spotlight. Send your ideas to brianc@cbr.com! Just keep in mind that comic books were usually released about two months after their cover date, so a book with an October cover likely came out in August. It’s easier to pinpoint release dates for more recent books thanks to online records, but knowing this time difference will help when suggesting older issues.

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2025-11-01 03:09