*(Transcribed from George Olshevsky's The Marvel Comics Index v1 #8A.)
Eventually, of course, the War ended. The Axis was crushed. (Was there ever any doubt that we would win?) And all the Marvel superheroes found themselves effectively out of a job. Captain America and Bucky began serving their country in a different way--by fighting thieves, black marketeers, gunrunners, murderers, swindlers, extortionists, blackmailers and all the other reprehensible types who prey upon society. Discharged from the Army, Steve Rogersbecame a schoolteacher (in Captain America Comics #59), with Bucky as his ward. Captain America and Bucky briefly served as members of the All-Winners Squad, another team-up of Golden age Marvel characters, which stayed together for just two episodes (actually, it was three episodes).
Then there was an unfortumate accident. In Captain America Comics #66, April 1948, Bucky was wounded by a female criminal named Lavender in a gun battle. This event removed Bucky from active participation in Captain America's adventures; he was hospitalized and was not seen with Captain America again except for a brief appearance in Captain America Comics #71, March 1949. Bucky was replaced in most of the few remaining Captain America stories by none other than Betty Ross, who donned a costume and became Golden Girl (no doubt naming herself after the earlier Golden girl, Gwenny Lou Sabuki of the Kid Commandos, first seen in Invaders #26). Actually, Golden Girl had two costumes--a yellow and green one she wore in the later issues of Captain America Comics, and a red and blue one she wore in some of Captain America's stories in Marvel Mystery Comics. The last issue of Captain America Comics was #73, July 1949; his final Golden age appearance was in the next issue, retitled Captain America's Weird Tales #74, October 1949. He fought a Red Skull in the first issue of his comic, and he closed his Golden Age career with another, final, Red Skull battle.
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Here's a quick and dirty timeline for Jeff Mace as Captain America.
NOTE: Updates to this list are ongoing
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Thanks!
ALL-WINNERS #1:
The one-shot also reprints a somewhat metafictional text feature from All-Winners Comics #2 in which Captain America, Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch welcome the Whizzer and the Destroyer as regular features to the magazine. The issue ends with a Captain America story from All-Winners Comics #12 featuring the Red Skull.
Portraying Jeff Mace as some neophyte hero always bugged me. Sure, he's nervous and unsure of himself as the new Captain America and obviously uncomfortable with the deception (pretending to be the original Cap) and just think how Fred (Bucky II) Davis feels.
But he's been active for as long as the Whizzer and Miss America were and he was the leader of the Liberty Legion. He shouldn't be treated like a rookie!
That is specifically why I referred to him as "the least tenured hero" and not the "newest" or "least experienced." The rest of the Squad (except Fred Davis, who still had been "Bucky" longer than he had been "Cap") all served together on the Invaders. Namor, in particular, had no respect for him at the beginning of the story. He shouldn't have been (and wasn't) treated as a rookie, but neither should he have been treated as their leader. That's what's going on here, and by the end of the story, he comes into his own as Captain America, accepted even by the Sub-Mariner.
Discussion of the Alan Scott: Green Lantern series promted me to post these thoughts (about Captain America: Patriot #2) to the discussion in question:
Jeff Mace is a reporter for the Daily Bugle in WWII-era New York City. His co-workers are Mary Morgan, another reporter, and Jack Casey, a photographer. Jeff Mace become the Patriot, Mary Morgan becomes Miss Patriot, and Jack Casey joins the Navy. Later, the Patriot becomes the third Captain America. One day in 1946, Miss Patriot pays a visit to inform him that Jack Casey is dead. He had been "blue ticketed" out of the serivice, was unable to find work, and ultimately committed suicide.
BETSY ROSS: Casey's discharge -- he was blue ticketed.
JEFF MACE: Well that... that can mean a lot of things.
BOB FRANK: Did he ever have a girlfriend?
Jeff Mace is prohibited from attend the funeral as Captain America, so he goes as the Patriot. From the Daily Bugle: "News of the Patriot's surprise appearance and speech spread quickly, and due to the questionable nature of Casey's discharge, was just as quickly denounced by numerous groups and individuals. Photos of the Patriot are now conspicuously absent from veterans' and political offices, and the city's usually boistrous 'Young Patriots' have quietly joined Captain America's 'Sentinels of Liberty.' The Patriot was unavailable for further comment."
Mace burned his Patriot costume at that point, and his speech even brought the career of Miss Patriot to an end.
While I was searching for that post, I came across this "real time" discussion of the "Captain America: Patriot" series from 2010.
Man, I scattered my comments about Jeff Mace as Captain America all over the board. I read Captain America: Patriot last week, and I neglected to post about it here at all. I mainly wanted to point out that it covered Mace's entire career as Cap, from 1946 through 1950, as Nazis gave way to Nuremberg, war production to work stoppages, and Dr. Oppenheimer to Dr. Spock, including updated versions of...
What If...? #4:
...and Captain America Comics #66:
As the fifth decade of the 20th century drew to a close, so did Jeff Mace's career as Captain America.
CAPTAIN AMERICA & BUCKY #625-628:
Captain America & Bucky #625-628. #628 shows a snatch of Davis's post-Bucky life in 1949, after he was shot by Lavender in Captain America Comics #66. He is having trouble comng to terms with the fact that no one k nows about his service as Bucky to two different Captains America, but #625 reveals that, after the war, Davis went on to serve in various branches of the Military and Defense Departments, and even hunting down hidden Nazis. Also, Davis lived to see his and Naslund's service formerly acknowleded with a statue of them as Captain America and Bucky.