LEGENDARY HEROES #38

CAPTAIN MARVEL

Fawcett Publications was founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett and it's first publication was the bawdy humor magazine Captain Billy's Whiz Bang.  Fawcett expanded their magazine empire with Mechanix Illustrated, True Confessions, Family Circle, Woman's Day, and True.  After experiencing tremendous growth the company relocated to NYC in the 1930s and in 1939 they decided to go into the comic book business.  Staff writer Bill Parker was chosen to create new characters for this endeavor, and one of his ideas was a team of six heroes, each possessing a different special power granted them by a mythological figure.  Executive Director Ralph Daigh suggested that instead of six heroes that they combine them into one hero with six powers.  Bill Parker did this and Captain Thunder was the final creation with artwork supplied by cartoonist C. C. Beck.  Beck had a very cartoony style of illustrating that became his trademark.  Beck would later explain in an interview, "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett's first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were.  We decided to give our readers a real comic book, drawn in comic strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times."

Captain Thunder's appearance was based upon Fred MacMurray, a popular All-American type actor, and the first story was printed in both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1.  Each issue had a low print run in the fall of 1939 designed as an "ashcan copy" that was created solely for copyright and trademark purposes.  To Fawcett's dismay they discovered that Captain Thunder, Flash Comics, and Thrill Comics were already in use by other publishers.  The title of the book was changed to Whiz Comics in recognition of Fawcett's first publication Captain Billy's Whiz Bang and Captain Thunder was renamed Captain Marvelous, which was then shortened to Captain Marvel.  The original story was kept but word balloons and lettering were altered to reflect the character's new name.  Whiz Comics #2, cover dated February 1940, hit the newsstands in December 1939.

Readers were introduced to Billy Batson, an orphaned 12-year old newsboy who sleeps in a subway station in New York City.  A mysterious man dressed in a long cloak asks Billy to follow him into the subway where Billy is led to an underground room where he meets an old man with a long white beard and robe sitting upon a throne.  The old man explains to Billy that he is the wizard Shazam and that he has used the powers of the gods to fight evil for over 3000 years, but that he has grown too old and is in need of a successor, and that Billy has been chosen because he is pure of heart.  Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam!", Billy is struck by a bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult man in a red and gold costume.  And Captain Marvel is born.  Shazam is an acronym for the six mythical gods and their traits that empower Billy - Solomon (wisdom), Hercules (strength), Atlas (stamina), Zeus (power), Achilles (courage), and Mercury (speed).  Captain Marvel's first battle was with the mad scientist Doctor Sivana who would become his arch-enemy throughout the years.  Billy Batson would become a reporter and host for WHIZ radio which allowed him to travel and investigate criminal activity.

The first appearance of Captain Marvel in Whiz Comics #2 was an instant success and sold 500,000 copies of the magazine.  The character was given his own title in 1941 called Captain Marvel Adventures, in addition to appearing regularly in Whiz, Master Comics, All Hero Comics, America's Greatest Comics, Wow Comics, and Marvel Family Comics.  In Whiz Comics #25 (Dec 1941) Captain Marvel saves Freddy Freeman, a boy left for dead by the evil Captain Nazi, and does for Freddy what the wizard did for Billy.  By speaking the name "Captain Marvel" Freddy becomes the superpowered Captain Marvel, Jr.  Freddy retains his 14-year old appearance and sports a blue costume.  In Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec 1942) Billy and Freddy meet Mary Bromfield who turns out to be Billy's long-lost twin sister.  By saying "Shazam!" she becomes Mary Marvel, super-heroine.  Throughout the golden age of comic books Captain Marvel proved to be the most popular superhero character ever created and outsold all others, including Superman.  In 1944 Captain Marvel Adventures sold a total of 14 million copies!  And at one point Fawcett began publishing the comic book on a bi-weekly basis to keep up with the demand and enjoyed a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue!

So what was it that made Captain Marvel and his extended family so popular with the comic book readers?  The stories were whimsical and fun, the art was cartoonish, and kids loved it.  Superman was an alien from another planet, while Captain Marvel was really a kid.  Captain Marvel, Jr. was a kid.  Mary Marvel was a kid.  Who bought comic books?  KIDS!  In 1942 writer Bill Parker was drafted into WWII and the writing duties fell to Otto Binder.  Of the 1790 Captain Marvel stories published by Fawcett, Binder wrote over 900 of them.  In 1941 Republic Pictures approached DC comics about making a serial movie of Superman, but DC wanted too much control over the script and production and Republic turned instead to Superman's number one competitor Captain Marvel.  The studio obtained the film rights to the character practically free of charge and got Spy Smasher, another hero from Whiz Comics, tossed in for good measure.  "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" was released as a 12-chapter serial starring Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson.  Captain Marvel became the first superhero to be depicted in film, even predating Fleischer Studios Superman cartoon shorts by six months.  The wild and enthusiastic popularity of Captain Marvel did not go unnoticed by DC comics and in 1941 they sued Fawcett and Republic pictures for $4 million alleging that Captain Marvel was based on Superman.

After seven years of litigation, during which time Captain Marvel kicked Superman's butt in sales, the case went to trial in 1948.  But a verdict was not handed down until 1951 and was in Fawcett's favor.  DC immediately appealed the decision and in 1952 another judge decided that while Captain Marvel was not an infringement of Superman, specific stories and super powers could be and would have to be determined in a retrial, sending the legal matter back to the lower courts.  Instead of retrying the case Fawcett settled out of court with DC.  While Captain Marvel was the top selling comic book during WWII, after the war Fawcett saw declining sales every year and by 1949 they were only selling half of their wartime rate (it should be noted that any publisher today would kill to have sales like that).  Fawcett tried to revive the popularity of Captain Marvel in the early 1950s by introducing elements of horror comics into the stories.  But popularity declined and Fawcett decided it was no longer worth continuing the fight.  On August 14, 1953 Fawcett agreed to permanently cease publication of their Marvel comics franchise and would pay DC $400,000 in damages.  Fawcett shut down most of their comic book division in the autumn of 1953 and fired the majority of their staff, concentrating on their lucrative magazine and paperback book business.  Whiz Comics ended its' long run with issue #155 in June 1953.  Captain Marvel Adventures #150 ended in November 1953, and the last Marvel Family comics #89 was printed in January 1954.  Captain Marvel ceased to exist.  Writer Otto Binder moved over to DC and began writing for Superman.

So DC claimed that Captain Marvel was an infringement of Superman, sued Fawcett comics out of existence, and then in 1972 licensed Captain Marvel from Fawcett to begin publishing it under the DC banner.  Odd?  Hmmm.  But in the ensuing years Marvel Comics, fierce competitor of DC, had begun it's own Captain Marvel character in 1967 thus trademarking the name.  Because of this DC had to publish their character as Shazam!, and attempted a subtitle that read "The Original Captain Marvel", but a cease and desist letter from Marvel Comics put an end to that.  DC could use the Captain Marvel name within the context of the comic book, but no mention of the character's name could appear on the cover.  Shazam #1 was published in February 1973 with Fawcett reprints and some new stories.  Still, the classic character never really caught on with a new reading public 20 years after it ended it's original stories.  DC has put the character on the shelf several times over the years, bringing it out and dusting it off in an attempt to revive interest.  But the heyday of Captain Marvel remains during the years of the Second World War.

In 1943 there was a Captain Marvel radio series but very little is known about it.  It was broadcast by either Mutual or NBC with Burt Boyar as Billy Batson.  The show was initially produced in New York City but moved to Chicago after a month.  No further details or transcripts exist, but the recollections of old time radio fans and historians confirm the existence of the show.  In 1943 artist C. C. Beck and writer Rod Reed made samples of a Captain Marvel comic strip but no newspaper syndicate expressed an interest in it.  Reed suspected that the DC lawsuit at the time was the reason for the rejection, as the ongoing litigation scared away the syndicates.  After all, Captain Marvel was the hottest selling comic book in the country.  Who wouldn't want a comic strip version?  In 1950 Columbia Studios released a comedy/mystery film called "The Good Humor Man" with Jack Carson and George Reeves.  Carson plays a Good Humor ice cream vendor who also belongs to a Captain Marvel Fan Club with kids in the neighborhood.  Fawcett released a one-shot comic book tie-in titled "Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man".  Captain Marvel came to television in 1974 as "Shazam!" a live-action show produced by Filmation that aired on CBS 1974-1977.  The Saturday morning show starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson, and Jackson Bostwick as Captain Marvel (season one) and John Davey (seasons two & three).  Warner Brothers released a "Shazam!" movie in 2019 with Zachary Levi as the red-costumed hero.  The movie cost $98 million to produce but grossed $364 million in worldwide ticket sales.  Maybe there's still some life in the old hero yet.