PSA Monday: Captain America Meets the Asthma Monster

October 17th, 2005

Filed under: Comics, Medicine

Starting a weekly look at some of the classic medical PSA comic books published. for starters, here’s Captain America:

Captain America Meets the Asthma Monster
Captain America Meets the Asthma Monster

1988 brought us Captain America and his deep dark secret — he was once an asthmatic. The Super Soldier Serum not only turned him into Captain America, but also cured his asthma (although with asthma, he probably shouldn’t have been allowed in the military in the first place).

Proving that once is never enough, the Asthma Monster returned the next year in the appropriately titled Captain America: Return of the Asthma Monster. This means that Captain America Meets the Asthma Monster was the only medical PSA comic book that earned a sequel.

Captain America: Return of the Asthma Monster
Captain America: Return of the Asthma Monster

(I hear that somewhere out there is Captain America vs. The Asthma Monster. I suspect this is the same comic as Captain America Meets the Asthma Monster, just under a different cover, though I’m not certain).

Captain America Meets the Asthma Monster reprinted Cap’s origin and then included a new story bu Louise Simonson with art by Alex Saviuk. Captain America: Return of the Asthma Monster featured a story by Howard Mackie with art by Mark Bagley. Both comics were produced by Marvel Comics along with the pharmaceutical companies Allen & Hanbury’s (in the UK) and Glaxo (in America). Glaxo eventually purchased Allen & Hanbury’s. The comics were given out free in doctor’s offices.

5 Responses to “ PSA Monday: Captain America Meets the Asthma Monster ”

  1. David Oakes
    October 18th, 2005 at 12:34 am

    Damn doctors, always getting the cool comics…

    (But where did Swamp Thing get Paste-Pot Pete’s Backpack?)

    (Ob Fanboy Nitpick: Steve Rogers wasn’t in the army. He was as 4-F as you could get. He had asthma, polio, malnourishment, fallen arches, and a spastic colon hypochondriacs would kill for. He made Felix Unger look like, well Captain America. The logic being that if you could make him superhuman, just think what you could do with a real test subject. And if he dies, enh. Remember, this was an age when you swallowed explosives to keep them out of enemy hands.)

  2. John Nowak
    October 18th, 2005 at 8:47 am

    I thought they made it clear that Rogers was a physical wreck, but that he was also intelligent, brave, and if he had had even average health, he would have been well-qualified to serve. Still, Rogers was not a soldier until he was given the serum.

    So not quite as 4-F as you could get.

  3. Mario
    June 15th, 2007 at 11:53 am

    I have asthma and I’m in the Marine Corps. It’s all about breathing technique.

  4. Harvey
    March 4th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

    It looks like Asthma Monster joined H.Y.D.R.A.

  5. Marvel Mystery Monday: Asthma Monster, the coolest/lamest villain « Monomythic.com
    July 6th, 2009 at 2:01 am

    [...] in 1988’s creatively-titled “Captain America meets the Asthma Monster,” this dastardly villain was little more than a costume-wearing thug, picking on the students of [...]

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