Captain Marvel reappeared in comics during the "Bronze Age" (1970 to 1985) when DC published "Shazam!" #1 on December 14, 1972. This 32 page comic retold the origin of Captain Marvel and brought us up to date on Cap's happenings while he was missing in action for the last 20 years.
I've been able to read some of these "Bronze Age" editions of Captain Marvel and I find that they tried to remain true to his "Golden Age" persona and whimsical story lines. They attempted to keep the continuity preserved from the days of Whiz and Captain Marvel Adventures comics. Holy Moley, they even had C. C. Beck as the main artist for a while!
While reading the "Bronze Age" comics and doing some research on them, I've found some things that I would like to share on this blog that I hope you'll find interesting. I see these comics not as a "Captain Marvel New Beginning" but more of an attempt to bring Cap back into action from his 20 year hiatus - picking up where he was left off! Because of this continuity, from time to time I'll sprinkle in some "Bronze Age" Captain Marvel articles but will continue with my primary focus on Captain Marvel's adventures during his golden days of the '40s and '50s. I look forward to any feedback on these articles and - again - I hope you enjoy reading them!
(Please note that I'm going to tag these articles with the label 'Bronze Age.')
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| Note Cap's longer sideburns - pretty groovy! |
I'm looking forward to your coverage of these Bronze Age Captain Marvel adventures. I'm so happy that DC has finally reprinted these stories in a DC Showcase Presents volume and gotten out there in an affordable format for more people to enjoy. The series of course did a fantastic job of reprinting Golden Age material courtesy of the 100 Page Spectacular format that the title at in issue #12-17, which was the brain child of E Nelson Bridwell. He was the man behind DC's Giant-Size reprints the 100 Page Super Spectaculars, that reprinted Golden Age comic stories, as well as printing some never before seen Golden Age gems that were written by never got published before the popularity of the Superhero genre fade in the late 1940's. I think Bridwell really had a passion for the Golden Age, and Captain Marvel (in fact I believe his compiled and edited the stories included in the Shazam: The 40's Through the 70's Hardcover published by Harmony Books in the late 1970's). I think Bridwell's initiatives at DC really paved the way for Roy Thomas when he would come over to DC from Marvel in the late 70's/early 80's.
ReplyDelete-Kyle Benning
I can't wait to see more thanks for doing this
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