A brief history of Shazam, the original Captain Marvel
In the early days of superhero comics, when Superman, the world’s first superhero, was still leaping “over tall buildings in a single bound,” there was one hero who managed to capture the public’s imagination and fly. By reciting a magical word made up of the gods, Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, a young orphan named Billy was able to transform into the world’s mightiest mortal. His name was Captain Marvel and, at his height, his comic book adventures sold 14 million issues a month, outshining even Superman. The Captain Marvel phenomenon would end up, not only capturing imaginations of millions but also ignite a series of lawsuits which would eventually lead to our hero losing his name… not that this was the first time it had happened.
Fawcett Publications was founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford “Captain Billy” Fawcett, an officer in WWI. It was during his time in WWI producing an amateur magazine full of corny gags and pretty women to keep the morale of his troops up in France that gave Fawcett the notion to get into publishing. So when Fawcett returned home he started Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang, a title that combined his military moniker with the nickname of a destructive WWI artillery shell. He quickly grew the company into a line of pulps and other magazines.
By 1939, Fawcett Publications moved to New York’s infamous Publisher’s Row which, by this point, was full of the latest craze to sweep America, comic book superheroes. Billy, not one to hesitate, promptly ordered the development of a full line of superhero comics.
Bill Parker, editor of Fawcett’s Mechanix Illustrated, was assigned scripting duties and CC Beck, a cartoonist friend of Fawcett’s who had followed the publisher from Minnesota, was appointed chief artist. The character they devised was named Captain Thunder.
Captain Thunder debuted in Flash Comics #1, January 1940. A black and white ashcan was published by Fawcett but, as luck would have it, their rival All-American Comics hit the newsstands with their own, full-fledged, Flash Comics the same month.
Fawcett quickly revamped the package to Thrill Comics, only to be thwarted by Thrilling Comics of Standard Magazines. The third try, however, was the charm when Fawcett decided to pay homage to the company’s first publication, Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang, with the title Whiz Comics. Meanwhile, Captain Thunder was also renamed to Captain Marvel.
Whiz Comics hit the newsstands in February 1940. Fawcett would die of a heart attack shortly after its release, living just long enough to see Captain Marvel become an instant hit, leaping from the page and into the readers’ hearts. Part of the character’s appeal was the wish-fulfillment aspect he provided. Unlike all the other superheroes on the market, Captain Marvel was actually a kid who transformed into a superhero, making every child’s fantasy come true.
The other part of Captain Marvel’s mass appeal was that his adventures embraced humor. According to comics historian Ron Goulart, “Captain Marvel refused to take his profession too seriously.” This can be attributed to the talents of what would become Captain Marvel’s main creative team, Otto Binder and CC Beck. When Binder took over the writing, the Captain’s exploits took on new complexities and sophistications with strains of satire mixed in for good measure. Beck always imagined the Captain as about 22 years old physically, but mentally only 12 years old, the same as Billy. Through his linework, he gave readers a colorful, light-hearted world filled with imagination and whimsy, all with a wink and a nod.
1941, a mere year after his debut, was a year of firsts for Captain Marvel. To meet the demand for his escapades, Fawcett released a new comic book dedicated solely to Captain Marvel that March, Captain Marvel Adventures #1. In a rare occurrence, the comic wasn’t produced with Beck’s supervision due to Fawcett’s management fearing the extra book would overload Beck. Instead, the comic was produced by the soon-to-be-legendary team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby during their off-hours from their day jobs, making comics for another captain that they created, Captain America. The comic was made in such haste that Simon and Kirby weren’t happy with the end product and chose not to sign their names. However, the production values didn’t matter to the public who thirsted for more Captain Marvel stories and the comic became a huge success.
That same month, starting in Whiz Comics #16, Captain Marvel teamed up with one of Fawcett’s other superhero stars, Spy Smasher, for an adventure involving brainwashing. It was one of the first superhero crossovers in comic book history. In quick succession, that same year, Republic Pictures would also premiere The Adventures of Captain Marvel, the first motion picture ever based on a superhero comic book property. Around this time, Fawcett would also receive a cease-and-desist letter from Detective Comics, Inc. who’d later come to be known as DC Comics. DC Comics felt that Captain Marvel bared a little too similar resemblance to their star, Superman. DC Comics would eventually sue Fawcett demanding all publication of Captain Marvel comics be halted and that they be awarded damages.
Fawcett would go on to win the lawsuit, but it wouldn’t be the last time they’d meet DC Comics in court. Through Captain Marvel’s publication history, DC Comics would sue Fawcett a total of three times. Fawcett would win the 1st, lose the 2nd, and win the 3rd. Unfortunately, shortly after the 3rd suit, an artist at Fawcett decided to trace a panel from a Superman story and simply replace Superman with Captain Marvel. And that was it, Fawcett settled out of court. Shortly after the settlement in 1952, seeing that comic book sales were lagging and superheroes were growing out of fashion, Fawcett decided to cease publication of their entire line of comics.
But our hero’s story doesn’t end there. In 1967, Marvel Comics would launch its own Captain Marvel character. And with that, our hero lost his name. Surprisingly, in 1972, DC Comics decided to license the Fawcett hero that they once tried to sue out of existence. In February 1973, the first-ever Shazam! comic debuted, with the subtitle “The ORIGINAL Captain Marvel.” In a case of poetic justice, DC Comics would receive a cease-and-desist letter from Marvel and the subtitle was replaced in later issues with the tagline “The World’s Mightiest Mortal.”
DC Comics would eventually buy the Fawcett superhero library outright in the early ‘90s and launch the retrostyled The Power of Shazam! graphic novel and ongoing comics series. Since then Captain Marvel has continued to live on in comics and movies, though nowadays he’s known by the magical word that transformed him into the world’s mightiest mortal, Shazam.
References:
- Shazam!: The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal by Chip Kidd, Geoff Spear
- The Shazam! Archives volumes 1-4 by CC Beck, introductions by Richard Lupoff, R.C. Harvey, Michael Uslan, and P.C. Hammerlinck
- The Shame of Shazam: Its Present Debacle and Abuse by R.C. Harvey, The Comics Journal
- The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum