Jeffrey Mace
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| Patriot | |
 Detail from cover of Marvel Premiere #30 (June 1976) Art by Jack Kirby & Frank Giacoia |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Human Torch Comics # 4 (Spring 1941) first modern appearance: Marvel Premiere #29 (April 1976) |
| Created by | Ray Gill Bill Everett |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Jeffrey Mace |
| Team affiliations | Liberty Legion All-Winners Squad |
| Notable aliases | Captain America |
| Abilities | Skilled hand-to-hand combatant and athlete |
Jeffrey "Jeff" Mace, also known as the Patriot and Captain America, is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe, created during the 1940s period which fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. As the Patriot, he first appeared in a two-page text story by writer Ray Gill with a spot illustration by artist Bill Everett, in The Human Torch # 4 (Spring 1941; mis-numbered #3 on cover),[1] published by Marvel's 1940s precursor, Timely Comics. Later that same issue came the Patriot's first comics story, a 10-page adventure by writer Gill and artist George Mandel.
In 1976, Marvel revealed via retroactive continuity that Mace had become the third Captain America.
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[edit] 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[a] (Summer 1941),[2] 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).
When Marvel Comics 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 comic-book appearances from 1946 to 1964 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 #58-75 (Sept. 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.
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).
Mace appeared briefly in a flashback in Captain America #215 (Nov. 1977), 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).
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.[3]
[edit] Fictional character biography
Jeffrey Mace was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a reporter inspired to become a superhero after seeing Captain America in action. As the Patriot, Mace becomes one of several superheroes who fight Nazi saboteurs and supervillains during World War II, sometimes alongside sidekick Mary Morgan, a.k.a. Miss Patriot. He helps found the superhero team the Liberty Legion, billed as "America's home front heroes" who fight saboteurs, Fifth Columnists and other wartime threats within the United States.
After the war, the Patriot continues to fight crime on a regular basis, eventually helping the All-Winners Squad prevent the assassination of a young Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1946. The skirmish costs the life of the second Captain America, William Naslund, formerly the Spirit of '76. Mace is recruited to be the third Captain America, retiring in 1949. He marries Betsy Ross, who as the superhero Golden Girl had briefly been the post-war sidekick of his Captain America, and in modern times succumbs to cancer at an old age.[4]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Grand Comics Database: The Human Torch #4, with cover blowup here
- ^ Ibid., The Human Torch #5[a]
- ^ The Avengers vol. 1, #97 (March 1972)
- ^ Captain America #285
[edit] References
- Independent Heroes from the U.S.A.: Patriot
- Grand Comics Database
- The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
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