mcewan@uiucdcs.UUCP (09/20/84)
> The original capt. marvel first appeared in Whiz Comics #1 way back in > the forties, but it was published solely for the purposes of securing a copy- > write, and was never released, hence giving it one of the highest values for > any comic on the market (this is a theoretical value, however, as no copy has > ever surfaced.) Capt. Marvel made appearances for years through the forties > and the fifties, but then dc gave up on him and let the trade-mark rights > lapse.... then in the late sixties, along comes marvel with THE capt. marvel, > an infinitely better character, and scooped up the trade-mark. In the early > seveties, dc decided to revive CM, but were left in the rather embarassing > predicament of having to us another name - marvel already owned the original... > that's all for that story... Uhh, well, not quite. Captain Marvel was published by Fawcett, not DC, and was the most popular comic book published in the forties (at its high point, 2 million copies of each issue were sold.) DC (or National, as it was then known) sued Fawcett claiming that CM was an imitation of Superman, and after many years, won, which caused Fawcett to go out of the comic book business all together. Some years later, DC bought the rights to Fawcett's old characters and brought out a new Captain Marvel comic book. However, in the mean time, Marvel had created a character named Captain Marvel (actually, they were the third company to use the name, as there was a truly awful Captain Marvel comic in the early sixties, which featured an android with the awesome ability to cause his arms, legs and head to split off from his torso and fly around.) This just meant that DC couldn't use the name Captain Marvel on the cover, so they called the comic "Shazam!" (although they had the subtitle "The original Captain Marvel" on every issue. I'm surprised that Marvel never sued.) I think that the only reason that Marvel continues to have a Captain Marvel character is so that DC can't get the trademark. Also, one nit-picky detail: Captain Marvel did NOT appear in Whiz #1. At that time the character was called Captain Thunder. The name was changed for obscure reasons before the first newstand issue was published. Scott McEwan pur-ee!uiucdcs!mcewan "Just because something is obvious doesn't mean that it's true."
moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (09/24/84)
For a really good description of the Capt. Marvel/Superman legal battle,
read Steranko's history of comics (in fact, read it even if you're NOT
interested!). He goes into quite a bit of detail.
Remember this quote?:
"No b*lls, no b*lls, no b*lls at all!
Captain Marvel has no b*lls at all!..."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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