Captain Marvel

I don't think anyone has ever got the Big Red Cheese just right. At least in comics. They all seem to fall short in some way to the original fun and style of CC Beck.

However, some have come close.

I think the biggest problem is they have tried to to make the character of Captain Marvel too gritty. The other problem I've had with some of the reboots and revisions is they have made Marvel and Billy Batson two seperate characters.

And I think that takes away from what made the character so great.

Its that dream kids have of wanting to be THE superhero. And not the sidekick. A kid can't be Superman or Batman. Because they're adults. But Captain Marvel somewhat fufills that dream of a kid turning into a superhero. And when he's finished fighting crime he can go back to being a kid again.

Think about it. When you play "lets pretend" out in the backyard. In your mind, you are THAT superhero you're pretending to be. And once you're finished pretending to save the world for the day because Mum called you in for Supper, you can go back to being just a kid again.

Just like Captain Marvel.

Although, out of all the artists and writers who have done Captain Marvel story and art since Beck, I think Jerry Ordway's run on THE POWER OF SHAZAM! was probably my favorite re-imagining of Captain Marvel. Although he added a somewhat gritty backstory to Billy Batson's parents death (with shades of Raiders of the Lost Ark) as well as a less than happily accepting being turned into Captain Marvel. I enjoyed his take on Captain Marvel's first appearance and his approach to the artwork. Making the character look like the way CC Beck designed him while adding a touch of realism.

And I did like Jeff Smith's artwork in SHAZAM! AND THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL. A remake of a storyline written by CC Beck in the Captain's original run in 1943. The original storyline itself originally ran until 1945. So, Smith had the tall task of basically had the tall task of squishing three years worth of a story into a four issue series. But doing a remake of anything established can be a sticky wicket to begin with. Just look at Peter Jackson's KING KONG... or not.

And it looks like DC is preparing to reboot Captain Marvel again to fit in with their NEW 52 universe. Which I guess they're planning on officially changing the character's name to SHAZAM. Which the character has been officially known as since DC purchased the rights to him in the 1970's.

Long story. Maybe as long as the original Monster Society storyline. DC sued Fawcett Comics in the 1950's. They cited Captain Marvel was too close to Superman. Truth be told. Marvel was just kicking Supes big red and blue butt in sales. DC had been very territorial of their Man of Steel. They had sued Will Eisner in the 1940's because his character Wonder Man was too close to Superman and won.

Although, Fawcett might have had a case because there were so many characters closer to Superman than Marvel was. But trying to fight DC in court would prove too costly so Fawcett decided (sadly) to discontinue Captain Marvel.

Flash forward to the 1970s. DC Comics, under a different regime, decided to purchase the rights to Captain Marvel. However, within that timeframe, the Big Red Cheese's copyrights had long since lapsed and DC's biggest competitor, Marvel Comics, had created and trademarked a character using that same name. Which forced DC to use SHAZAM, the magic words Billy Batson would speak to change into the Cap, as the title of their new ongoing series.

WHEW!!

And this is the reason why some people have erroneously referred to Captain Marvel as SHAZAM over the years. I suppose in DC's collective mind, why not just make it official.

But my feeling is that its no longer the same character.

Which is a shame because it seems like once again they're trying to add an "edge" to the character that I don't think it really needs.