Number 3: Avengers #4"Captain America Joins...The Avengers!" (Marvel Comics, March 1964)
Before I purchased my copy of Fantastic Four #6 some time ago, my copy of Avengers #4 held the distinction of being the most expensive comic book I had ever purchased. I first read this story many years ago as a reprint that was featured in the book "Captain America: The Secret Story of Marvel’s Star-Spangled Super Hero." My elementary school’s library had a copy of this book in their collection and I checked it out many times during my grade school years. During my high school and college years, I was fortunate to have a part-time job working in a local library and one night I snagged an old, beaten up and discarded copy of the “Secret Story” volume out of the library’s garbage. Some time later, when I got my first "real" job, I happened upon an affordable original copy of Avengers #4 and as luck would have it, my new job had provided me with the means to purchase an original copy of the issue.
This issue features the Silver Age resurrection of Captain America by Marvel Comics. Cap’s frozen body is discovered by some natives and worshipped as a god for some time until the notorious Sub-Mariner happens upon them and hurls the entombed Cap into the sea. Cap is later discovered by the Avengers, who thaw him out and learn his true identity. After Cap comes to, he recounts his demise at the hands of Baron Zemo and grieves the loss of his young partner Bucky. As the story unfolds, the revived Cap helps the Avengers battle some gangsters and a mysterious alien. Cap and the Avengers ultimately square off against the Sub-Mariner in a final showdown. Following the battle, Cap is formally invited to join the ranks of the Avengers.
Although some versions of Captain America took on an overly jingoistic and even xenophobic tone at various points (particularly the character’s early exploits in Timely Comics and Atlas Comics and Marvel’s more recent incarnations of the character), the version of Cap from the early 1960's through the early 1980's was a dynamic and interesting figure character and he was a great addition to the Marvel Universe.
