Superman Week Part 1: Superman #276 (1974)
Title: Make Way For Captain Thunder!
A goofy blast - Superman versus a Captain Marvel mock-up!
Writer: Elliot S! Maggin
Pencils: Curt Swan
Inks: Bob Oksner
Editor: Julius Schwartz
Cover Art: Nick Cardy
Publisher: DC Comics
Review: Now here’s an oddity -- Superman #276 from 1974, wherein Superman came head-to-head with… Captain Thunder? Here’s a quick history lesson --- Superman was introduced in DC’s Action Comics #1 in 1938 and he immediately became the hottest thing in comics. Captain Marvel was introduced in Fawcett’s Whiz Comics #2 in 1940 and he soon became the hottest thing in comics. Seeing similarities between the two characters, DC Comics filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, which Fawcett fought until 1952 when a court decision declared Cap WAS trademark infringement. As superheroes no longer had their popularity, Fawcett gave up rather than continuing the fight. Ironically, DC later acquired the rights to the character from Fawcett, but by then Marvel Comics had launched its own Captain Marvel series. Eventually, Marvel won the trademark and the right to publish a comic under that title, but DC won the copyright to the original character, which is now published under the Shazam! title whenever he stars in a comic.
At any rate, in 1974 the legalities were still being worked out, which led to this bizarre comic in which Superman came face-to-face with “Captain Thunder.” Secretly Willy Fawcett (rather than Billy Batson), Captain Thunder came from an alternate Earth where young Willy gained the powers of the World’s Mightiest Mortal by rubbing his magical belt and saying the word “Thunder”, granting him powers of nature from an old American Indian Shaman rather than the wizard Shazam. Captain Thunder’s enemies, the Monster League of Evil (an analogue for the Monster Society), had placed him under a spell, though, and whenever Willy became Captain Thunder, the good Captain became a force for evil. This led to the inevitable coming to blows of Superman and Captain Thunder.
The story reads like your basic silly Silver Age collision of the heroes - Superman struggling with the mind-controlled Captain Thunder as he aided a crime spree on the streets of Metropolis, until finally he found a way to use Thunder’s own powers to send him back to his own world. It’s a rather unsatisfying ending, though, truth be told - we’re left hanging, wondering of Captain Thunder ever overcame the villains’ manipulation of his mind and became a hero again back on his own world. Of course, a few years later the real Captain Marvel returned and this issue became an amusing footnote in the history of the character. And personally, I find it particularly amusing that Captain Thunder’s emblem was changed FROM a lightning bolt into a sunburst. Wacky, wacky stuff.
Superman Week continues tomorrow -- but here's a bonus, February's Everything But Imaginary column, Who's the Real Man of Steel?
A goofy blast - Superman versus a Captain Marvel mock-up!
Writer: Elliot S! Maggin
Pencils: Curt Swan
Inks: Bob Oksner
Editor: Julius Schwartz
Cover Art: Nick Cardy
Publisher: DC Comics
Review: Now here’s an oddity -- Superman #276 from 1974, wherein Superman came head-to-head with… Captain Thunder? Here’s a quick history lesson --- Superman was introduced in DC’s Action Comics #1 in 1938 and he immediately became the hottest thing in comics. Captain Marvel was introduced in Fawcett’s Whiz Comics #2 in 1940 and he soon became the hottest thing in comics. Seeing similarities between the two characters, DC Comics filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, which Fawcett fought until 1952 when a court decision declared Cap WAS trademark infringement. As superheroes no longer had their popularity, Fawcett gave up rather than continuing the fight. Ironically, DC later acquired the rights to the character from Fawcett, but by then Marvel Comics had launched its own Captain Marvel series. Eventually, Marvel won the trademark and the right to publish a comic under that title, but DC won the copyright to the original character, which is now published under the Shazam! title whenever he stars in a comic.
At any rate, in 1974 the legalities were still being worked out, which led to this bizarre comic in which Superman came face-to-face with “Captain Thunder.” Secretly Willy Fawcett (rather than Billy Batson), Captain Thunder came from an alternate Earth where young Willy gained the powers of the World’s Mightiest Mortal by rubbing his magical belt and saying the word “Thunder”, granting him powers of nature from an old American Indian Shaman rather than the wizard Shazam. Captain Thunder’s enemies, the Monster League of Evil (an analogue for the Monster Society), had placed him under a spell, though, and whenever Willy became Captain Thunder, the good Captain became a force for evil. This led to the inevitable coming to blows of Superman and Captain Thunder.
The story reads like your basic silly Silver Age collision of the heroes - Superman struggling with the mind-controlled Captain Thunder as he aided a crime spree on the streets of Metropolis, until finally he found a way to use Thunder’s own powers to send him back to his own world. It’s a rather unsatisfying ending, though, truth be told - we’re left hanging, wondering of Captain Thunder ever overcame the villains’ manipulation of his mind and became a hero again back on his own world. Of course, a few years later the real Captain Marvel returned and this issue became an amusing footnote in the history of the character. And personally, I find it particularly amusing that Captain Thunder’s emblem was changed FROM a lightning bolt into a sunburst. Wacky, wacky stuff.
Superman Week continues tomorrow -- but here's a bonus, February's Everything But Imaginary column, Who's the Real Man of Steel?