In both the original Captain America comics and the feature film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the unlikely return of Bucky Barnes captivated pop culture fans around the world. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the character’s comeback story, Geppi’s Entertainment Museum (GEM) presented an exhibit of artist Steve Epting’s original artwork, in 2015.

Steve Epting Originals: Captain America and The Winter Soldier featured the artist’s original art from the collections of Nick Katradis and Jason Versaggi. Comprised of 46 pieces of Epting’s art, the exhibit included 16 key covers from the series and 30 pages of interior art from the 2005-2011 Marvel series.

Throughout comic history, the deaths of comic book characters often take on a ring of impermanence. However, in the case of James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, his death was considered to be sacrosanct. To the point that it brought derision and scorn from fans when rumors of trifling with it arose. Fortunately, Epting and writer Ed Brubaker refused to back down and created a long-running story that garnered both critical acclaim and sales.

Major highlights to the exhibit was Epting’s cover for the Captain America Omnibus – the first piece of art commissioned for the series – and the complete interior art for Captain America #11, which featured the origin of The Winter Solider. The art was complemented by a variety of character statues and other three-dimensional material.

“The composition, energy and elegance of Steve Epting’s artwork represents the best of what comic book storytelling has to offer. From his early work on the “Judah The Hammer” back-up stories in First Comics’ Nexus to the pages of The Avengers at Marvel, and from El Cazador at CrossGen to Velvet at Image Comics, he has plied his craft with a commitment to entertaining readers with well told, beautifully illustrated tales. Nowhere is his skill on better display than in the Winter Solider issues of his great run on Captain America,” said Melissa Bowersox, President of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, at the time of the exhibit. 

Michael Solof, GEM’s Collection and Exhibits Manager, and J.C. Vaughn, Gemstone Publishing’s Vice-President of Publishing developed the exhibit after interviewing collectors and lifelong Captain America enthusiasts Nick Katradis and Jason Versaggi. Both of which served as Guest Curators for the exhibit.

Following a temporary hiatus from reading comics, Katradis picked up a copy of Captain America #4 from his local retailer and was stunned by the Steve Epting art. He quickly picked up the back issues and was hooked once again.

“A few days later, I contacted Steve Epting’s agent and agreed to purchase three of his Cap covers. Steve’s art was incredibly striking as he captured Captain America like nobody had in decades; his wash tone technique, which he perfected over the years, also added texture and depth to the art. I then contacted Steve Epting directly and purchased another eight covers from him. I came back a few months later, and purchased all the interior pages the agent had, which totaled over 150 pages,” Katradis said.

For his part, Versaggi said, “When I saw the solicits for Captain America #5, I would not be denied that cover because it had The Invaders, more specifically Marvel’s all-time big three, Captain America, the original Human Torch, and Namor, The Submariner. It was not long after that Epting’s work became impossible to get.” Adding that, “It took me five years of appealing to Steve before he parted with the Omnibus cover, which I later found out from Ed Brubaker was the first art Steve created for Captain America. It had been designated to be used as promotional art announcing the series but was pulled back because they didn’t want to reveal Bucky’s presence too soon.”

“Nick Katradis and Jason Versaggi have put together an impressive exhibition of Steve Epting’s Captain America artwork featuring The Winter Solider to celebrate the 10th anniversary of that incredible story line. We’re so pleased that these great collectors have chosen to share their passion with their fellow fans through Geppi’s Entertainment Museum,” Bowersox said.

During the exhibition of Steve Epting Originals: Captain America and The Winter Soldier, GEM also displayed an Artist Spotlight exhibit on Marvel Comics mainstay Sal Buscema and his popular 1970s stint on Captain America. Throughout his time at Marvel, the penciler and inker became one of the publishers most prolific creators, putting his stamp on The Avengers, Captain America, The Defenders, Incredible Hulk, New Mutants, Rom, Spectacular Spider-Man and Thor, among others.

The Brooklyn native got his start inking over older brother John’s pencils in Silver Surfer #4-7 and Werner Roth’s pencils in Western Gunfighters #1. By the early 1970s, Buscema had teamed up with writer Steve Englehart to launch The Defenders as an ongoing series. Shortly thereafter, he reunited with the writer on Captain America from 1972 through 1975. It is from that era that the Artist Spotlight exhibit was taken. 

Much of the art provided for Artist Spotlight: Sal Buscema’s Captain America comes in the form of original interior pages from the private collection of Katradis, who credits Buscema’s work on Captain America #153 as the piece that first captured him. 

“I’m very excited to be able to share this incredible selection of classic Buscema Captain America art with all of GEM’s visitors. As a young fan, Sal Buscema defined for me what Captain America should look like. All these years later, as evidenced by this art, his work has stood the test of time,” Katradis said.

Not only has Epting and Buscema’s artwork stood the test of time, but in both comics and the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America and Bucky Barnes continue to endure as well. 

Editor’s Note: Throughout the previous weeks, we have had retrospectives of some of the great exhibits and events held at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, which closed to the public on June 3, 2018 in advance of Steve Geppi’s donation of comic books, original comic book and comic strip art, and other vintage pop culture treasures to the Library of Congress. Items from his gift to the nation will be on display at the Library of Congress beginning in Fall 2018. 

Other Installments in our Retrospective Series
Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Photos - Part I
Zombie Gras
Atlas At Last 
Artistry of Amanda Conner 
Cosplay Masquerade 
Little Heroes 
Alice in Wonderland
Weddings 
Awesome Con 
Halloween ComicFest 
Milestones 
Star Wars