History of The Nerd Part I #2: The Captain Marvel That Sucked.
What do comics fans think about first when they think about Captain Marvel? I think they fall into one of two camps. The first thinks about Billy Batson, a child radio reporter and chosen champion for the forces of good by the Wizard Shazam. When Billy yells the magic word “Shazam” he turns into a superhero in a red unitard and has a giant bulging man sack. This basically turns him into a gayer version of Superman (lets face it, he is.) The other camp thinks of Marvel Comic’s alien military officer, Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree Imperial Militia, who chills in deep space banging the hot and lusciously stacked Una. I would like to introduce a third option today, a third option that will be forever locked in the consciousness of everyone’s thoughts, much like a retired veteran’s mind is forever haunted by the spectre of unspeakable horrors. Yes, this Captain Marvel is that lame. The Captain Marvel I am talking about is an alien android that has the amazing and nauseating ability to fling his flailing limbs at his enemies, and then forget shit. Most of his story lines consist of him blacking out and losing his memory.
The original Captain Marvel was created by Fawcett Comics in 1940 and first appeared in Wiz Comics #2. This was the one with the bulge and out right ripped off Superman. Captain Marvel, the Big Red Cheese, even outsold Superman and became the most popular superhero in the 1940s. This pissed off the publishers of Superman, National Comics (which would later become the DC Comics we know today). National filed suit against Fawcett in 1941. Even though Fawcett would win the suit, the cost of fighting National led to their eventual demise in 1952. This proved to the rest of the world that it sometimes didn’t matter if you win or lose, as long and you were richer than the other asshole. For a while, the world had to live without a Captain Marvel until 1966.
Enter Myron Fass of M.F. Enterprises. Myron Fass was originally a publisher of sleazy pulp and nudie magazines. His formula for success was gore, cheesecake, horror, shock, and opportunism, printed on whatever was the cheapest newsprint he could find. He eventually wanted to get in on the superhero fad. Myron thought that enough time had passed that no one would care if he decided to cash in on the Captain Marvel name. He even tapped the great golden age creator, Carl Burgos, to do the heavy thinking.
Carl Burgos was best known for the creation of the original Human Torch for Timely Comics (which would later become Marvel Comics). The original Human Torch was an Android in a bright red jump suit that could control and surround himself in fire. Carl had also previously created the Iron Skull, who was also an Android, for Centaur Publishing. So for the bold new direction of this improved Captain Marvel he decided to make him an Android in a red suit that was rocketed from an exploding planet. He also had a young ward named Billy Baxton (holy shit what a rip!).
Carl’s creative method always started with an Android, a red skin-tight suit and by blatantly ripping off something more famous and “good”. To give him credit, though, Captain Marvel’s powers are so creative that they go off the map and land right on insane.
Captain Marvel yells the magic word “Split” and his arms and legs fall off of his torso. When he yells out the word “Xam” all of his body parts magically reattach. Hmmm… “Split”… “Xam”… “Split/Xam”… “Shazam?” In addition to his abilities to make people throw up at the sight of him, he could also shoot lasers from his eyes, deflect bullets, discharge electric shocks from his body, and had some kind of ill-defined telepathy. These powers come from a medallion made out of a magical element called simply “X”. So, naturally, it has an “M” on it.
The most remarkable thing about M.F. Enterprises was the ballsy lack of fear of getting sued. Not only was Captain Marvel a total illegal rip off, but he may have been more original than some of the other characters that graced the pages of his book. In issues number three and four the Cap fights a villain called The Bat. The Bat looked like someone bought a bootleg Batman costume somewhere in Tijuana. DC Comics threatened to sue and they eventually changed the name to The Ray (because that made sense). He also fought Plasticman. Not the Quality Comics Plasticman, but yet another blatant rip off. The lack of imagination didn’t stop there. There was also a Dr. Fate, Elongated Man (Plasticman renamed), Atom Jaw (who rips off Iron Jaw from James Bond), Tinyman (who rips off The Atom), Dr. Doom, and the Destroyer. M.F. Enterprises even ripped off Archie Comics with their Hendry Comics line.
M.F. Enterprises would publish five issues of Captain Marvel before canceling the title and lasting only a year from 1966 to 1967. Maybe they were getting sued three ways till Sunday. Maybe they realized they were terrible at producing comics kids wanted to read. Or maybe, just maybe, they finally grew a heart and realized that stealing was wrong.
Nah. On second thought, it was probably because of all the legal action. By 1967 Timely Comics had been renamed Marvel Comics. Martian Goodman thought to himself, “hey, maybe we should have a Captain Marvel since we’re named Marvel…hmm.” Goodman ordered Stan “The Man” Lee to create one and the Kree warrior was born, putting the final nail in the lamest Captain Marvel’s coffin for good.
