Publication History
Following his debut in a backup feature in The Human Torch # 4 (Spring 1941), the Patriot appeared in the first of two Human Torch issues both inadvertently numbered #5, and known to collectors as #5 (Summer 1941), in a story by Gill and artist Sid Greene. Concurrently, the Patriot began as regular feature in the superhero anthology Marvel Mystery Comics, appearing in issues #21-44 (July 1941 - June 1943) and #49 -74 (Nov. 1943 - July 1946), making him one of Timely's most popular characters in the second tier beneath stars Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner. The Patriot story "Death Stalks the Shipyard", from Marvel Mystery Comics #29, was reprinted during the Silver Age of Comic Books in Marvel Super-Heroes #16 (Sept. 1968).
A simulacrum of the Patriot was temporarily created from the mind of Rick Jones, along with those of the Blazing Skull, the Fin, and the Golden Age Angel and Vision, to aid the superhero team the Avengers during the Kree-Skrull War.
The Patriot first appeared in modern times in a four-part flashback story running through The Invaders #5-6 (March & May 1976) and Marvel Premiere #29-30 (April & June 1976), set during World War II which retconned him as a member of a newly created superhero team, the Liberty Legion. That team later appeared alongside Fantastic Four member the Thing in a two-part time travel story, set during World War II, in Marvel Two-in-One #20 (Oct. 1976) and Marvel Two-in-One Annual (1976).
When Marvel Comics had revived the character Captain America in 1964, the story explained that he had been M.I.A. and in suspended animation since 1945. This discrepancy with his postwar comic-book appearances was later explained as the result of replacement heroes taking on the mantle. As the third Captain America, Jeffrey Mace would have been behind the mask in Captain America Comics #59-75 (Nov. 1946 - Feb. 1950) and other comics during that period. Mace succeeded the second Captain America, William Naslund (formerly the Spirit of '76), who was shown in What If? vol. 1, #4 (Aug. 1977) as having been killed in 1946.
Mace appeared briefly in a flashback in Captain America #215 (Nov. 1977), then as a guest-star in Captain America Annual #6 (1982) with his death depicted in #285 (Sept. 1983). In a flashback, the Patriot co-starred in a World War II adventure with Captain America in Captain America Annual #13 (1994) and in a post-war adventure with the All Winners Squad in All Winners Squad 70th Anniversary Special (2009).
A retelling of Jeffrey Mace's origin and time as Captain America is told in the 2010 mini-series Captain America: Patriot. This was collected with the All Winners Squad 70th Anniversary Special and What If? #4 in 2011. What If? #4 was also collected that same year in a Captain America Legacy volume collecting the debuts of the Captain America replacements.
Read more about this topic: Jeffrey Mace
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