The Unsettling Slang of Jack Kirby's Steve Rogers

Sure, we all love Jack Kirby's wild, powerful, dynamic artwork and his way-out, mind-bending plots and stories...but even the biggest little stuffed Jack fan has to admit...sometimes his dialogue could get a little...well, far out, to put it kindly. No, I'm not necessarily talking about the "frequent" usages of quotation marks to display "emphasis"...or his grand full-page speech declarations by mighty villains declaring that they will soon rule the universe once they get their "hands" on the "Anti-Life Equation" (which they never taught me in math class, I can tell ya!). No, sometimes it's as simple as an awkward phrase or turn of the pen which has even the most unlikely characters declaring aloud something you'd not expect them to say:


All panels from Captain America and the Falcon #200 (August 1976), scripted and pencilled by Jack Kirby, inked by Frank Giacoia, colored by Don Warfield, letters by John Constanza

Whoops, no, not that one. Weird as it is. No, take a big steamin' Kirby-sized gander at this proclamation outta Cap's mouth:



Wha...what, Cap? Didja just say what I think you were saying? (Um, not that I know what it means, bein' a little six-year-old bull 'n' all). Golly. I know you hung aroudn with salty-languaged soldiers in the Big One, but this kinda Unsettling Slang out of the mouth of the Red, White, and Blue Avenger doesn't seem to be quite what I expect! Oh well, maybe he's simply referring to its basic meaning of "having a good time." Or, it's entirely possible he's been borrowing and listening to Rick Jones's LP of this classic 1970s album.

Then again, what with his many years spent chillin' among the native Inuits up North, I've always had Cap pegged as more of a fan of "The Mighty Quinn."

Say, speaking of music loves of the superheroes... Falcon: what's your favorite Elvis song?:



Huh! You, too?