FAWCETT COMICS / CREATING CAPTAIN MARVEL
by Billy Ingram
TVparty! presents this found article from the December, 1942 issue
of Spot magazine that takes you behind the scenes at Fawcett
comics and the creation of a typical Captain Marvel story.
Following the success of the Adventures of Captain Marvel serial
in movie theaters, the 'Big Red Cheese' was at the height of his popularity
at this time, even outselling rival Superman. DC Comics successfully
sued Captain Marvel out of existence for plagiarizing the Man of Steel,
a miscarriage of justice if there ever was one, the characters were more dissimilar than alike. For one thing, Captain Marvel was a humorous character while Superman was considered dead serious.
Ironically, DC secured the rights from Fawcett and revived Captain
Marvel in the 1970s but the character never did catch on like it did
in the 1940s and 1950s despite luring the brilliant C.C. Beck out of
retirement to illustrate the comics. He quit in anger after completing nine and a half issues, he hated what DC was doing to the character.
The publisher was not able to call the comic book 'Captain Marvel' - Marvel comics had a character by that name with his own comic - so DC settled on Shazam!. DC's Captain Marvel had his greatest success on Saturday morning TV in the 1970s and 1980s.
Captain Marvel copyright and TM 2008 DC Comics |
