A case for Captain Marvel

[Johnny Nevada]

>>
JW: He lacks an identity. Part of it is because, like the major characters in the DCU, he’s incredibly old. But he’s never really had an update. He’s never really been integrated into the modern day. Bill Batson is a kid who’s two degrees away from wearing his newsboy’s cap and hollering “Paper, mister?” on the corner while he sells newspapers. So, when we started talking about it, we started talking about what it would take to bring Captain Marvel into 2006, not to start with a Year One on this, but to move him into the modern day<<

Uh, guess he forgot that his origin *involved* his being homeless and selling newspapers (until he meets the wizard Shazam in that subway tunnel)?!

From what I read, this sounds, well, not very interesting; seems like they missed the point of Captain Marvel via the "let's dump everything whimsical about him" remarks... plus, still think Cap's problem is that he's now forced to share (along with a zillion other heroes) the same Earth as Superman; think he'd be better off back on his own Earth where he'd be the top dog (vs. being looked on as the "Mets" to Superman's "Yankees")...

[nightwing]

Great Rao writes:

I think Don Newton did a few stories - I liked those a lot.

You are correct, sir.  And they will be reprinted in Showcase Presents: Shazam! in November of this year.

I have to agree with SuperMonkey; no one's done an entirely successful Cap book since Fawcett got out of the business (however fun some of those Newton, and later Alan Weiss issues were to look at).  Captain Marvel does not fit in with the sensibilities of modern comics, which is both his weakness and his strength, really.  On the one hand, he'll never be as popular as he once was.  On the other hand, no amount of screw-ups by the morons at DC will ever really tarnish the true Captain Marvel, because it's obvious to anyone with eyes that anything after the 50s is not Cap at all.

Captain Marvel had something to offer the world that no other superhero ever really equalled (though Plastic Man came close) and that was FUN, a sense of giddy, ever-imaginative, anything goes fun that gave us talking tigers, mastermind worms, giant robots, cavemen, the lieutenant Marvels, a "Junior" who can't even utter his own name without changing identities and a thousand other kooky ideas that never failed to entertain.  Even Superman was a dull Dora next to Cap, a situation that changed only when Otto Binder and other Fawcett alums jumped ship for DC and brought those wild imaginations with them to help build the Silver Age mythos under Uncle Morty.

Take away that sense of fun, start making excuses for why Cap is really a little boy, excise everything "silly" and you're left with another generic musclebound clod in spandex.  In other words, ironically, Captain Marvel done Marvel style.

The Captain Marvel situation reminds me of what a critic once wrote about Star Trek; the beast is dead, but the die-hards and accountants trot the body out every few years to run a current through the corpse and watch it twitch.  Activity does not always equal life.

[TELLE]

Why don't they ask the Hernandez Bros to take up the torch?

[Michel Weisnor]

Captain Marvel had something to offer the world that no other superhero ever really equalled (though Plastic Man came close) and that was FUN, a sense of giddy, ever-imaginative, anything goes fun that gave us talking tigers, mastermind worms, giant robots, cavemen, the lieutenant Marvels, a "Junior" who can't even utter his own name without changing identities and a thousand other kooky ideas that never failed to entertain.  Even Superman was a dull Dora next to Cap, a situation that changed only when Otto Binder and other Fawcett alums jumped ship for DC and brought those wild imaginations with them to help build the Silver Age mythos under Uncle Morty.

Wow, you used the F word. :lol: Whatever happened to fun in modern comics? Now, every comic is a political satire or inarticulate parody of what once was great.

I'll still give Jeff Smith's Captain Marvel a shot but not this revision.

[Great Rao]

I'll still give Jeff Smith's Captain Marvel a shot

Is that still on the drawing board?  I haven't heard anything about it for the last few years.

[Michel Weisnor]

I'll still give Jeff Smith's Captain Marvel a shot

Is that still on the drawing board?  I haven't heard anything about it in the last few years.

According to a March 2006 silverbulletcomics interview:

JS: I’m currently working on a four issue mini-series for DC Comics called SHAZAM: Monster Society of Evil. Shazam is the magic word that transforms little Billy Batson into superhero Captain Marvel, one of the most popular characters from the Golden Age of comic books, and one of my personal favorites.

JB: Yes!!! When are we gonna finally see that Shazam story?

JS: SHAZAM: Monster Society of Evil is coming along. The first issue is in the can and the second one is well under way. I know people think Shazam is taking a long time, because we announced it so long ago, but it’s only been 18 months since I finished BONE. It takes a couple of years to make one of these big mini-series. But I’m enjoying the freedom of working on a well established character, and it will be out soon enough.


Also, check out colorist, Steve Hamaker's website:

http://www.steve-hamaker.com/shazam.htm

[ShinDangaioh]

Wow, you used the F word. :lol: Whatever happened to fun in modern comics? Now, every comic is a political satire or inarticulate parody of what once was great.

Because the industry has been taken over by bean counters and those who feel super-heroes are silly and need to be made more relavent.

There are those writers who feel 'This is stupid, I'm going to do my best to show how dumb this is to the people who enjoy it.'  I think Garth Ennis is one who does his best to destroy super-hero comics to show that characters like the Punisher or Preacher are more 'real'

A modern Shazam!/Captain Marvel can be done.

If you consider He-Man a modern Captain Marvel. http://www.he-man.org/

The 2002 reboot didn't fail due to the storytelling, it failed due to Cartoon Network and a lack of interest in the toys.

[Uncle Mxy]

I think Garth Ennis is one who does his best to destroy super-hero comics to show that characters like the Punisher or Preacher are more 'real'

Try reading Hitman or The Pro...  foul-mouthed and irreverant stuff, to be sure, but it's clear he has love for the genre.  For the Superman-inclined, check out his "How To Be A Superhero" story.