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From: mcewan@uiucdcs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Re: old news about capt. marvel and wolv
Message-ID: <36000022@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Sep-84 12:16:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.36000022
Posted: Thu Sep 20 12:16:00 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 21:11:59 EDT
References: <2393@dartvax.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:dartvax:-239300:uiucdcs:36000022:000:2342
Nf-From: uiucdcs!mcewan    Sep 20 11:16:00 1984

>      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."