This is a guest post by Heather Wanser, Senior Paper Conservator in the Conservation Division.
The original concept drawing of Captain America is in the Print and Photograph Division at the Library of Congress. It is one of the feature artifacts in the Stephen A. Geppi Collection of Comic and Graphic Arts that was donated to the Library in 2018.
Joe Simon, one of the co-creators of Captain American, sketched this drawing in 1940 while working for Timely Comics, now Marvel Comics. It was a turbulent time following the Depression with the threat of war in the news. So it is easy to understand the appeal of Captain America, an ordinary man who was given extraordinary powers, a figure who embodied our American ideals. Simon’s character, drawn in black ink, with a patriotic uniform colored with red and blue watercolor, joined the other popular comic superheroes of the day; Superman and Batman.
The drawing arrived at the Library in a gold oval frame that measured roughly 14 x 20 inches.
Shortly afterwards it was unframed by a specialist who discovered a pencil drawing on the back along with several condition problems that prompted her to bring it to the Conservation Division for treatment.
During my initial examination I found that the drawing was on a rectangular sheet that had been cut multiple times and folded up to make the drawing fit into the small frame. The fragile paper had split apart at some of the folds where sticky white tape had been applied to repair them. Patches of gummy adhesive with paper residues from the old window mat attachment were on the front of the drawing. The paper was also badly distorted from being confined in the frame preventing the paper, a hygroscopic material, from expanding during periods of higher humidity.
My goal was to unfold the paper without causing more damage and to remove all the white tape repairs, adhesive, and paper patches. The paper splits and cuts were to be mended and the drawing flattened and housed in conservation quality materials.
The patches of adhesive and paper residues on the front of the drawing were mechanically removed by balling them up with a crepe eraser and lifting them off with a micro-spatula. The white tape repairs were removed using a heat pencil that softened the adhesive with a narrow jet of warm air that allowed me to gently peel off the tape without harming the drawing.
The paper sections were unfolded in stages by first locally humidifying each fold with narrow strips of barely moistened blotter for just a few minutes. Humidity makes brittle paper more flexible and is a technique often used by conservators.
After each section was unfolded, the two pencil drawings on the back were finally revealed. I proceeded to pull the cut edges together by locally relaxing the surrounding areas of paper with additional humidity. Once the cut edges were properly aligned, they were mended with thin strips of Japanese kozo-fiber tissue adhered with wheat starch paste. Kozo fibers are very long which gives strength to very sheer paper that is almost transparent when it is used for repairs.
The final step was to flatten the drawing overall using humidity once again to relax the paper. The drawing was placed in a humidity chamber for a short period and dried between blotters under a heavy acrylic sheet over night.
Finally the drawing was returned to the way it looked when it was first drawn by Simon!
His original drawing is now housed in a double-sided conservation quality mat unit where Captain America is displayed along with the pencil drawings on the reverse side.
Throughout the treatment I was reminded of the current popularity of the superhero movies where the 85-year-old Captain America remains a leading character. Captain America is not just another superhero, he is an AMERICAN superhero which has contributed to his enduring popularity. As Simon himself said during an interview with the Washington Post, “Superheroes represent the best in all of us-in that sense, they are us.”
For more about the Stephen A. Geppi Collection:
- Explore the online exhibit Geppi Gems
- Read the blog post Geppi Gems Exhibit: Highlights from the Stephen A. Geppi Collection at the Library of Congress
- Research the Steven A. Geppi and other comic art collections in person in the Prints & Photographs Division, which is open by appointment only, inquire through Ask a Librarian.
Subscribe to the blog— it’s free! — to learn how the largest library in the world preserves the coolest stuff in the world.
An earlier version of this blog listed Joe Simon as the creator of Captain America rather than the co-creator.
Comments (19)
So cool to see behind the frame! Amazing work.
Thank you for this fascinating exploration of Captain America as a symbol of preservation and resilience! It’s remarkable how cultural artifacts like comics not only reflect historical and social changes but also carry values across generations. It reminds me of how preservation efforts must strike a balance between honoring the past and evolving with the future. Well done!
This is complete nonsense. Simon made this in the 1960’s when he was trying to get the copyright from Marvel. Joe didn’t sign the “Joe” portion of his name like it is shown in this drawing until at least 20 years later. Do some actual research and look at examples of how he signed his name in the 40’s. It wasn’t like this. Jack Kirby drew Cap not Simon.
Homework time, folks. More striking and convincing evidence exists that Mr. Jack Kirby created the character. At the VERY least, his name should be prominent in this article. Especially with the interviews he gave over the years detailing his motivations for creating the character.
This is a disgrace and a travesty against the memory of Jack Kirby! This drawing has often been suspected of being produced in the 1960s to support a lawsuit against Marvel by Joe Simon when he tried to claim ownership of the character. The fact that you didn’t mention JACK KIRBY, the real creator of Captain America as well as the entire Marvel Universe, is appalling! Joe SImon was essentially a businessman who sold Jack Kirby’s work to the comic companies. THIS IS PATHETIC!
No mention of the controversy regarding the authenticity of this artwork in regards to whether it was actually produced as part of a presentation piece in 1940 or done years later.
No mention of the driving force, Jack Kirby? I thought this site was concerned with historical accuracy?
This is fascinating. Well done!
As I’m certain you’ve already been reminded countless times, Captain America was the creation of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, with the true author of the character very likely being the extraordinarily accomplished Kirby.
Is there a simple test that can be done to determine the age of the sketch? The history of the character’s creation is in dispute. The sketch didn’t appear before the 1970s, and was presumably presented as evidence in Mr Simon’s copyright case against Martin and Jean Goodman over the character in 1966. Jack Kirby, Mr Simon’s partner in 1940 was (again) selling work to Marvel in the 1960s when he wrote in a statement that Captain America was created by Simon *and* Kirby when they were in Mr Goodman’s employ. Mr Simon has created at least one reproduction of the sketch, and *both* versions bear the style of signature he used later in life, not the one he used in 1940.
There is no simple test to age paper, but analysis can be done through several methods. For collection items we tend to use non-invasive methods such as infrared spectroscopy or visual examination for water marks and material composition. There are other methods that require destructive sampling, which we do not perform on collection items. However, our research and testing division has an ongoing project (https://nationalbookcollection.org/methodology) to test sample books and increase our knowledge of how paper ages. They use this data from samples to compare and augment the data gathered from non-invasive examination of collection items.
I would respectfully note that this is a trace from the Jack Kirby’s original design. This was clear done in the 60s and not as prescribed as above.
Excellent work on the drawing, we’ll done. Please note that Captain America was a joint creation by Simon and Jack Kirby.
Jack Kirby co-created Captain America, no matter who did this first drawing. At least mention the man, for god sake.
If this was given over to the publisher in early 1940, why is the back rubber-stamped with an address which Joe Simon didn’t move to until 1956? The publisher wouldn’t have returned this. Also, at the very least, the creator, Jack Kirby, should’ve been mentioned in this article.
I assume accuracy in historical matters, large and small, do matter. As does doing one’s homework.
We did not intend to erase Jack Kirby’s role in the creation of Captain America, and the blog was edited to reflect that Joe Simon is a co-creator. This blog post is only about the treatment of a single drawing done by Joe Simon, not the content of the comics.
I’m one of many people disgusted by the erasure of Jack Kirby from the creation of Captain America in this story, and also one of many convinced this drawing was done many years after the first Captain America was published. Has anyone at LOC aged tested the document?
What a bonkers framing job. It’s almost like someone was trying to age the paper deliberately. Nice work on the preservation. Did you do any testing on the age of the paper? I ask because of several indications of a later date than claimed, which have been widely discussed in the comic art and comic history communities, especially the clearly later handwriting of Simon. If the LOC is prepared to state categorically that this work is authentically pre-1940, that will carry a lot of weight.
We actually did perform analysis on the paper before the drawing was treated! When the drawing was treated the material components of the Captain America drawing were studied using several non-invasive analytical methods. The conclusion was that the paper and the media was found to be consistent with materials that would have been in use during the 1940s. Analyzing the age of paper will almost never give you an exact date or year but rather a date range.
It is widely known that this piece of art is a fake that was produced by Joe Simon years after the fact Jack Kirby,along with Simon is actually the creators of Captain America and Bucky..