Curiously Familiar #10: Captain Marvel and Marvelman

If you haven't been reading "Curiously Familiar" then you've arrived just in time for the finale! This is a series of posts where I examine various comic book characters who were published by at least two different companies, but wore a different name at each one. This is not the same as characters who were created in homage - in this instances, the two characters were actually intended to be the same entities. Let's go out with some style!

Young reporter Billy Batson learns that by saying the word "Shazam" he can transform into Captain Marvel, a super-powerful figure who fights for justice alongside his Marvel Family.

Young reporter Micky Moran learns that by saying the word "Kimota" he can transform into Marvelman, a super-powerful figure who fights for justice alongside his Marvelman Family.

The Story Behind the Story: When Fawcett decided to get out of the serial comic book business it left one of their UK packagers in a bit of sticky wicket, wot? Captain Marvel had been immensely popular around the world, including the environs of the insatiable Brits; the solution was to simply dye the hero's hair, give him a new costume and otherwise keep calm and carry on internet memes. Marvelman did eventually fold up, only to fall into the lap of one Alan Moore in 1982; Moore used the character as a starting point for a deconstruction of the super hero genre and saw his work repurposed in the USA under the title Miracleman, owing to the tender sensibilities of Marvel Comics.

Thankfully, that was the last time there were any complications in the publishing history of Fawcett's Captain Marvel franchise.

Thank you for following "Curiously Familiar!" There were many other characters whom I might have featured, but these were the ten I found most interesting.

Curiously Familiar #1: Hoppy the Marvel Bunny and Hoppy the Magic Bunny

Welcome to the first of a ten-chapter run of blog posts I'm calling "Curiously Familiar." In these entries I'll be casting some light on various comic book characters who turned up at at least two different publishers, but wore a different name at each one. This is not the same as characters who were created in homage - in this instances, the two characters were actually intended to be the same entities. Let's begin!

Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was a pink rabbit person who got into all sort of humourous antics with his girlfriend Millie. Also, by uttering the magic word "Shazam" he could transform into the super-powerful Marvel Bunny (who looked just like Captain Marvel).

Hoppy the Magic Bunny was a pink rabbit person who got into all sort of humourous antics with his girlfriend Millie. Also, by uttering the magic word "Alizam" he could transform into the super-powerful Magic Bunny (who looked just like Captain Marvel).

The Story Behind the Story: Worn down by a lengthy lawsuit from DC Comics, Fawcett finally decided to be rid of periodical comics in 1953 and sold some of their properties to Charlton, including Hoppy the Marvel Bunny! By 1953, Hoppy seldom dressed up as Captain Marvel, having long-since become a typical funny bunny cartoon character. When Charlton brought his alter ego back into the series, they had to change both his magic word and his costumed alter ego, those having evidently been retained by Fawcett as part of the Captain Marvel property rights (the costume was mostly intact). By 1955, Hoppy would even change his name to Happy, further divorcing him from his Fawcett origins. Decades later after DC purchased Fawcett's back catalog they began making occasional use of Hoppy in their comics, despite the Charlton sale; Charlton might have complained except... they had been brought by DC too. And so, everything came full circle.

Thankfully, that was the last time there were any complications in the publishing history of Fawcett's Captain Marvel franchise.

DC comics: musings from an ex-patriot

I was recently explaining to the owner of my local comic book shop that I would not be purchasing as many Marvel titles as I normally did, but I wanted to ensure that all the independent titles I was following would be in my file. During this he remarked, "now you have more money to spend on DC!"

He said this because he's primarily a DC comics fan. It did cause me to reflect that I had only one DC comic on my pull list: Kurt Busiek's Astro City (technically published by Wildstorm via DC).

I've looked long and hard at DC's current lineup of product to find something I'd enjoy. There are a few titles that I think I would like, but I'm so far behind that it would make more sense to buy the trade paperbacks.

Then again, sometimes the DC trades department is lacking. It recently occurred to me that it might be nice to pick up Jack Cole's Plastic Man, considering how imaginative his artwork was and how I've enjoyed every Plastic Man by Cole I've read in the past. But the only format where DC reprints Cole's Plastic Man is their Archives, which run $75 each! And the first volume is out of print! Forget that noise!

Then I'm looking over DC's solicitations for January to see what I might want to buy when I see there's going to be a Shazam! one-shot. Shazam! was a childhood favourite of mine, second only to Superman, but as a kid it was very difficult to find comics the character appeared in. So, I examine the solicitation:

SHAZAM! #1

Blaze, the current ruler of Hell, has an offer for Mary and Billy Batson that may be too good to pass up! Left powerless, will the two former heroes have the strength to deny the devil? Can Freddy Freeman save them? And how does the Titan Osiris fit into it all? Find out here, in this one-shot special written by Eric Wallace (TITANS) with art by Cliff Richards (THE ROAD HOME: BATMAN & ROBIN #1)!

Oh for--!

COME ON!

No one wants to buy this comic book. Anyone who does possesses a collector's mindset which "forces" them to support anything bearing the Shazam! logo. I realize I can only speak for myself, but to me Shazam! is a perfect kids comic about wish fulfillment, talking tigers and other things we grown-ups are supposed to have grown out of. Someone at DC knows this because their recent books Shazam!: the Monster Society of Evil and Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! were more faithful to the original spirit of Shazam! than anything since the 1970s. But for the most part, DC doesn't want a kid-friendly book, so we've had repeated tales of the Marvel Family being corrupted by power, being unworthy of their power, dumped on by he's-morally-dubious-and-therefore-more-interesting Black Adam, sent to Hell, et al. All for the older, more mature reader who needs at least one dismemberment per issue to justify spending more money in a year on a highjacked children's product than he does on groceries. I'm asking aloud here, can't we just let Baston be Baston?

It's about this:

...Not so much this:

More of this, please:

...Less of this, thank you:

*sigh*

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I might wonder if DC's handling of the Shazam! property since the 70s was deliberately blundered because a directive from on high demanded that the characters be mistreated as punishment for being more popular than any of DC's heroes in the 40s, back when they were owned by Fawcett.

With all the recent shake-ups at DC, there is some hope that change is coming. Bob Harras has been made DC's new editor-in-chief, having been Marvel's for most of '95-00. I bought about as many Marvel books per month with Harras as e-i-c as I did DC books since Dan DiDio became publisher in 2003, so at the very least the statistics say I won't be buying fewer DC books. ...Right?

Then again, as part of their restructuring DC have seen massive lay-offs, including most of Vertigo editorial, sacrificing several editors who produced books I read. They're also eliminating Wildstorm, leaving the one-and-only Astro City's future in jeopardy; well, that is to say, leaving its future with DC in jeopardy; perhaps a year from now I'll be reading Dynamite's Kurt Busiek's Astro City?

I am completely willing to delve back into DC, be it the DC Universe or stand-alone Vertigo titles. All I'm waiting for is for DC to produce something so compelling that I can't wait for it. Well, things are changing at the company; we'll see what develops.