It's just so tragicly lame that somebody decided to tag him with the name Shazam. After a half century of people laughing at Freddy Freeman because he can't say his own superhero name one might think they'd avoid looking so stupid. Guess not.
And it's not like they didn't have another name they could easily use. Before he was called Captain Marvel, he was originally Captain Thunder. They even used this name for the Kingdom Come stories. And it's not like they couldn't splash SHAZAM! on all the promotional material to keep the branding prominently displayed. It makes so much more sense than the inherent stupidity of speaking his own name causes him to lose his powers (and reveal his identity to whomever he was talking).
So why not use the name Captain Thunder?
It couldn't have anything to do with this guy, right?
One odd thing here is that Captain Terry Thunder was a fairly straightforward adventure strip - Captain Terry Thunder And The Congo Lancers. Then a dame came through the camp and he had to spank her and he had to kiss her and she gave him a camel and left. After that, he went a little crazy for a year or two before settling back down to normal.
Odder yet, after settling back down, Richard Case took over the art chores. You may recall that name from yesterday's post on the Doom Patrol. Very strange, since that was 1943 and Case wasn't born until 1964.
Who knew there was another Richard Case drawing comics? Yeah, we'll be circling back this way. We already had a bunch to look at in Jungle Comics anyway. (Kind of thought that we'd get to Fantomah or Wambi or the White Panther or one of the others first. But here we are.)
panel art by Bill Bossert and Al Stahl from Jungle Comics #s 17, 18, 23, 26-31, & 36 (1941, 1942)
Reminds me of the early-Sixties Dick Tracy TV cartoons from the UPA studios, in that the fairly realistic, straightforward hero is surrounded by goofy, cartoonish animal and human sidekicks.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about it that way, but - yeah, i can see it real easy.
ReplyDeleteI'd been looking at it in more a Harvey-esque way. (The púca, not the comic book publishers) But that breaks down pretty quick since everyone else can see them.
So, presumably, this comic was the reason why Fawcett had to change "Captain Thunder" to "Captain Marvel." (And Jay Garrick was the reason why Fawcett had to change "Flash Comics" to "Whiz Comics.")
ReplyDeleteDC used "Captain Thunder" for the alternate timeline version of The World's Mightiest Mortal in their Flashpoint series.
They also had a Shazam/Captain Marvel pastiche named Captain Thunder in Superman #276 (1974). In yet another alternate universe, Willie Fawcett met a Mohegan medicine man who bestowed on him the power of Tornado, the speed of Hare, the bravery of Uncas, the wisdom of Nature, the toughness of Diamond, the flight of Eagle, and the tenacity of Ram.
I haven't seen any definitive evidence that this was in any way connected, but it's the only potential reason i've found. Having finally seen the movie, i was pleased to see that he wasn't called Shazam - he just doesn't have a name. Yet.
DeleteCaptain Thunder is still waiting.
Hey! Was that last configuration one of Yours?