Before superheroes dominated the stands, there was a brief but explosive era where romance comics were the undisputed kings of the newsstand. In the late 1940s, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby—the creators of Captain America—launched Young Romance , which sold a staggering 92% of its print run. Suddenly, the industry realized that the primary readers of comics (women buying for their children and service members) craved stories about love, jealousy, and marriage.