Publication History
Bitter that Timely Comics' 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, had relaunched their hero Captain America in a new series in 1954, the writer-artist team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created another patriotically themed character, Fighting American. Simon recalled, "We thought we'd show them how to do Captain America". While the comic book initially portrayed the protagonist as an anti-Communist dramatic hero, Simon and Kirby turned the series into a superhero satire with the second issue, in the aftermath of the Army-McCarthy hearings and the public backlash against the Red-baiting U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. Simon specified for a panel audience at the 1974 New York Comic Art Convention that the character was not so much inspired by Captain America as it was simply a product of the times.
Simon said in 1989 that he felt the anti-Communist fervor of the era would provide antagonists who, like the Nazis who fought Captain America during World War II, would be "colorful, outrageous and perfect foils for our hero." He went on to say,
The first stories were deadly serious. Fighting American was the first ommie-basher in comics. We were all caught up in Senator McCarthy's vendetta against the 'red menace.' But soon it became evident that McCarthy ... had gone too far, damaging innocent Americans.... Then, the turnaround, his side became talked of as the lunatic fringe.... Jack and I quickly became uncomfortable with Fighting American's cold war. Instead, we relaxed and had fun with the characters.Published bimonthly by the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Group, Fighting American lasted through issue #7 (May 1955). The following decade, for Harvey Comics, Simon packaged a single issue of Fighting American (Oct. 1966) consisting of "reprints and unpublished material" from the 1950s run, with some changes made to comply with the since-instituted Comics Code. A final inventoried Fighting American story, the three-page "The Beef Box", not drawn by Kirby, appeared in Marvel Comics' 1989 hardcover collection of the 1950s and 1960s stories.
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