Standard Deviations vol. 14:
Marvel’s “I Am Captain America” variants
With this weekend’s premiere of Marvel Studio’s The Avengers (and as part of our month long Standard Deviations series dedicated to the team), we’re taking a look at some past sets of variants shipped to coincide with the premieres of the solo movies featuring the Avengers’ “Big Three:” Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. In this edition, we spotlight June 2011’s “I Am Captain America” variants that featured that employed a theme of celebrating the everyday hero.
I love the concept behind this set, and I really appreciate that it capitalizes on national pride without hate. Skottie Young’s cover for FF #5 is my favorite of the set, but as with other variants I feel that the logos for the titles these covers appear on take something away from final image. Young’s hero defending a classmate from a bully calls to mind Peter Parker (Spider-Man), Elijah Bradley (Patriot), and Eddie Brock (Venom), so a giant “FF” logo seems out of place. This is an unavoidable consequence of identifying the book, but Gerald Parel’s cover for Captain America #619 becomes infinitely more appealing by virtue of having the words “Captain America” front and center. It’s clearly holding second place for me and third goes to Bobby Rubio’s image for Incredible Hulks #632. The costumes used for the children and the “See Cap Run” picture book are a lot of fun.
It’s difficult to find fault with any of the images from the “I Am Captain America” collection, and that distinguishes it from many of the themed variant sets Marvel has released. It captures a cross section of Americana that pairs nicely with the First Avenger the set is named for. These covers shipped as 1:20 variants of their respective books, and currently carry a $5-20 price tag. Rodin Esquejo’s (Mind the Gap) Iron Man 2.0 #7 variant looks to be a somewhat rare book. I had never even seen it online before compiling this post, and it commands the highest price at $25 with very few for sale at the time of this writing. The entire set was collected in an I Am Captain America one-shot at the end of 2011.
Marvel’s I Am Captain America variants published in June 2011:
- Amazing Spider-Man #665 by Michael Lark
- Astonishing X-Men #40 by Ed McGuinness
- Captain America #619 by Gerald Parel
- Deadpool #39 by Marko Djurdjevic
- FF #5 by Skottie Young
- Hulk #36 by David Mack
- Incredible Hulks #632 by Bobby Rubio
- Iron Man 2.0 #7 by Rodin Esquejo
- The Mighty Thor #3 by Alex Maleev
- Moon Knight #3 by Alex Maleev
- New Mutants #27 by Austin Madison
- Secret Avengers #14 by Mike Perkins
- Secret Warriors #28 by John Tyler Christopher
- Uncanny X-Force #12 by Chris Stevens
- Uncanny X-Men #539 by Dave Johnson
- Venom #4 by Mike Del Mundo
- Wolverine #12 by Joe Quesada
- Wolverine: The Best There Is #7 by Michael Kaluta
- X-Factor #222 by Larry Stroman
- X-Men #14 by Greg Horn
Read more entries from the Standard Deviations series on MyLatestDistraction, and be sure to check out the rest of our Avengers themed installments:
- Standard Deviations vol. 11: Marvel’s Avengers “Art Appreciation” variants
- Standard Deviations vol. 12: Marvel’s “Iron Man by Design” variants
- Standard Deviations vol. 13: Marvel’s “Thor Goes Hollywood” variants
- Standard Deviations vol. 14: Marvel’s “I Am Captain America” variants
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