My boyhood hero, Captain Marvel (I’m
dating myself here!) had a court battle
with Superman. I never heard the whole
story, but my hero disappeared. Anyone
know the facts?
Zymurgist
Last I heard, the Big Red Cheese was still being produced by DC comics.
The last court case I heard was in the 30’s, and resulted in DC getting the rights to the character, as well as the rest of the Marvel Family.
Is there another case going on that I haven’t heard about?
You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.
My friend, the good Captain has resurfaced several times over the years. Go to a comics speciality store, and you can get all the back issues you want.
With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D, and you still have the frog you started with.
Captain Marvel (et. al.) were originally printed by Fawcett. DC took offense to their character being so much like Superman (an arguement that wouldn’t hold any water today), and sued Fawcett over it.
This lawsuit stretched through the 40s and resulted in Fawcett giving in in 1953. DC assumed (incorrectly, it turns out) ownership of the “Marvel” name and the concept for the character. However, in 1968 Marvel Comics introduced a new character called Captain Mar-vell, hoping to prevent DC from bringing the “Big Red Cheese” out of retirement. DC said “nothin’ doin’” and began publishing “Shazam!” in 1972.
This Captain Marvel and his comrades were assigned to one of DC’s notorious alternate earths (Earth-S, I believe). He stayed there, except for the occaisional cross-over story, until the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” storyline, in which Earth-S and several other alternate Earths were merged into one.
Despite the lawsuit, apparently Capt. Marvel isn’t enough like Superman to prevent him from becoming a popular DC character. If I was Fawcett, I’d countersue.
Fawcett gave up the suit because they decided to stop publishing comics, not because of any determination of the merits of the cast.
Currently, Marvel owns the trademark to the “Captain Marvel” name of a comic book (because of Mar-Vell). That’s why DC calls the comic “Shazam!” However DC owns the character and the Big Red Cheese lives on.
(The last version of Shazam! I picked up showed DC trashing the entire concept by darkknighting the entire thing. I was appalled – the essential element of the Big Red Cheese was his innocence.)
“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. www.sff.net/people/rothman
The probable reason that I lost track of CM was that I read only one comic after '54…MAD
Damn! I was hoping this would be a Hulk vs. Thing style “who could beat whom in a fight thread.” I was already working my arguments out, and now they’re all wasted.
Sigh. [slinks away]
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
DaAce…why not start that thread? I just read your post re: ATMB, Welcome!
Then you should be familiar with the titanic fight between Captain Marbles and Superduperman!
DaAce-
Somewhere in the deep, dark, dank depths of MPSIMS is a thread I started- Barney vs. H.R. Puff’n’Stuff. Should be right up your alley. I’ll reply to yours if you’ll reply to mine.
The trouble with Sir Launcelot is by the time he comes riding up, you’ve already married King Arthur.