- published: 26 Apr 2014
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Stephen "Steve" Epting is an American comic book penciller.
Epting's influences include Alex Raymond, Stan Drake, Jim Holdaway, Joe Kubert, John Buscema, Al Williamson and José Luis García-López.[citation needed]
Epting received a BFA in graphic design from the University of South Carolina.[citation needed]
In 1989, Epting read of a contest being conducted by independent comic book publisher First Comics, with the winner's story to be published by the company. Although the contest did not actually exist, First declared Epting one of the "winners" and he began drawing for the company. His assignments for First included backup stories for Nexus, guest-artist duties on Dreadstar and Whisper, and two miniseries starring Nexus supporting character Judah Maccabee: Hammer of God and Hammer of God: Sword of Justice.
By early 1991, First Comics had gone out of business, and Epting was sending submissions to other comics publishers. Soon, he found work at Marvel Comics. Originally assigned to draw half the issues in a six-part bi-weekly The Avengers story arc, Epting ended up drawing five of the six issues (#335-339.) Shortly thereafter, Epting became the full-time penciler on Avengers.
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (cover-dated March 1941), from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. As of 2007, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books had been sold in 75 countries. For nearly all of the character's publication history, Captain America was the alter ego of Steve Rogers, a frail young man who was enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort. Captain America wears a costume that bears an American flag motif, and is armed with an indestructible shield that can be thrown as a weapon.
An intentionally patriotic creation who was often depicted fighting the Axis powers of World War II, Captain America was Timely Comics' most popular character during the wartime period. After the war ended, the character's popularity waned and he disappeared by the 1950s aside from an ill-fated revival in 1953. Captain America was reintroduced during the Silver Age of comics when he was revived from suspended animation by the superhero team the Avengers in The Avengers #4 (March 1964). Since then, Captain America has often led the team, as well as starring in his own series.