Captain America co-creator Joe Simon dies

Joe Simon, who along with Jack Kirby co-created Captain America and was one of the comic book industry's most revered writers, artists and editors, has died at age 98.

Simon died Wednesday night in New York City after a brief illness, his family said.

Simon and Kirby, a comic book artist and illustrator, worked hand-in-glove for years and created a trove of characters, heroes, villains and misfits for several comic book companies in their Golden Age of the 1940s, including Timely, the forerunner of today's Marvel Comics; National Periodicals, the forerunner of DC; and Fawcett, among others.

Their characters included the Newsboy Legion, the Boy Commandos and others, like Blue Bolt.

For Timely, the duo created Captain America, debuting on the cover of "Captain America Comics" No. 1 with the champion of liberty throwing a solid right-hook at Adolf Hitler in December 1940, a year before the United States entered World War II.

"Jack and I read the newspapers and knew what was going on over in Europe. And there he was -- Adolf Hitler, with his ridiculous moustache, high-pitched ranting and goose-stepping followers. He was the perfect bad guy . . . so what we needed was to create his ultimate counterpart," Simon said.

"Cap is one of the great comic book icons, and as dangerous as the world is today -- more than it was in the 1940s -- we need him around more than ever to act as our moral compass," Simon said.

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