The Elements of Style - Captain Marvel Style That Is! (Part 2)

I had posted an article that looked at the elements of Captain Marvel's uniform and stated that I had not found anything written by Cap's creators that offered confirmation of some of my conjectures. (You can read the article here.) Well, after doing some more research I just came upon something significant and very exciting!  I found a brief article written in 1983 by C. C. Beck entitled "Those Darned Armbands and Cape Loops."  Here is what C. C. had to say, in his own words, about Captain Marvel's uniform.

"While Superman's costume was essentially the old-time circus strongman's outfit of tights and long cape, Captain Marvel's was an operetta-style soldier's uniform.  He wore a sash, a jacket-like top, tight pants (not tights), and had a small, braid-trimmed cape flung over one shoulder when he first appeared.  Such a costume was often worn by drum majors, doormen, or ushers.  It wouldn't have been out of place even on the streets in those days.  

Captain Marvel's so-called 'armbands' were his Captain's sleeve marks, showing the rank of Captain.  Few people - artists, editors, or publishers - ever understood this or the fact that the decorations on Captain Marvel's cape were the ornamental buttons and braiding used on military outfits...

The Marvel Family characters were originally designed to be as different as possible from all of comic books' other tights-wearing strongman characters, who were also often hooded or masked.  The Marvel Family were supposed to look more like high school or college athletes."

Holy Moley - this was exactly what I was looking for and pretty much confirms some of my conjectures from my previous article.  I have to admit, I felt a bit like Indiana Jones uncovering some treasure when I came across the above mentioned article!  It also sheds some light on how they wanted the Marvel's appearance to be youthfully athletic - which really separated them from other superheros of their time.  I'm so thankful to have come across this information and hope you've enjoyed reading it!


I found C. C. Beck's article on page 30 in a book titled Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA edited by P. C. Hamerlink (Copyright 2001, TwoMorrows Publishing).  You can order a digital edition of the book here.

Did You Know...

Did you know that Tawky Tawny was originally known simply as Mr. Tawny - the talking tiger who had no first name!  Mr. Tawny made his debut in Captain Marvel Adventures #79.

Mr. Tawny made a few more appearances with Captain Marvel and then in Captain Marvel Adventures #90, Mr. Tawny bewailed the fact that he had no first name!

Despite Cap's suggestions, an appeal was made to readers in this same edition to come up with Mr. Tawny's first name.  The person who sent in the winning suggestion would receive a full-color picture of Mr. Tawny and Captain Marvel!

After thousands of suggestions, the winning entry was announced in Captain Marvel Adventures #96.

Mr. Tawny selected his new first name, Tawky, as suggested by Detroit readers Mary Garrisi and Pat Laughlin.  Mr. Tawny's first name dilemma was resolved thanks to the suggestions of Captain Marvel fans!  Did you know how Tawky Tawny got his first name?  Now you do!!

Did You Know...

Did you know that there was a tie-in between the Adventures of Captain Marvel movie serial and Whiz Comics?  Whiz Comics #22 has the story of Captain Marvel and the Temple of Itzalotahui (I love that title!!).  In this story, Cap and Billy team up with two characters featured in the movie: Professor Malcolm and Whitey Murphy.  Betty Wallace is another character from the movie who was featured in Cap's comics, but she does not appear in Whiz Comics #22.

Holy Moley - this really blew my mind!  I had previously posted how the movie serial had changed Cap's origin and now to read that Billy worked on making the movie just adds a whole new level of excitement...and confusion!  It's pretty incredible to me that they would tie-in the comic with the movie and even more so when the origin of Captain Marvel has been changed.

That's my 'Did You Know' for this post - hope you've enjoyed it!

Captain Marvel Comic of the Week

My Captain Marvel comic of the week is Whiz Comics #93.  This is one of my favorite Cap comics.  I like the story of Cap becoming a hobo to find a man and return him to his family.  It shows several admirable facets of Cap's character, facets that are hard to find in today's more gritty and dark comics.

The premise of the story is a man's house catches fire and the man thinks his wife and daughter were trapped inside and died.  The man runs away, not knowing that Captain Marvel has rescued them.  The wife tells Cap that her husband has probably returned to his life as a hobo thinking that his family is now gone.  She pleads with Cap to find him, and he agrees.  Using the wisdom of Solomon, Cap determines the best way to track him down and has quite an adventure doing so.  I won't go into detail but will say that it ends happily!

Through the story we see Cap's determination to help despite multiple setbacks.  We also see him backing down from a fight with a bunch of hobos - not because he couldn't win, but because the fight wasn't necessary.  I really enjoy seeing these good characteristics in a comic book hero.

There are also stories about The Golden Arrow and Ibis the Invincible in this comic.  These were pretty entertaining as well!

I enjoyed this comic so much that I purchased a copy on ebay (see photo above).  It's a complete edition (all the pages are there) but it's definitely showing its age!

You can read this comic online here.  I hope you enjoy reading this edition as well!

  

Captain Marvel 2.0?

(Spoiler Alert!  This post contains spoilers for the 1941 Adventures of Captain Marvel serial - if you haven't watched it, continue reading at your own risk!)

I thought that the origin of Captain Marvel (as told in Whiz Comics #2, 1940) hadn't been tampered with or tweaked until 1973 and after with the multiple reboots and reintroductions of Cap.  That thought was dashed when I watched all 12 episodes of the Adventures of Captain Marvel.  Holy Moley - they tampered with Cap's origin in episode 1 and in episode 12!  I won't go into all the details of the plot, etc., but below are the details of how Cap's origin was changed.

In episode 1, we find Billy Batson with the Malcolm Archaeological Expedition in Siam trying to discover the lost Scorpion Dynasty.  It is here that Billy meets Shazam.  Shazam tells Billy that it is his duty to see that the curse of the Scorpion doesn't fall on innocent people.  He, as Captain Marvel, is to protect the golden scorpion from falling into evil hands.  Shazam declares, "It is the duty of Captain Marvel to protect the innocent from its evil use. You must never call upon this power except in the service of right.  To do so would bring the Scorpion's curse upon your own head."  Billy says, "Shazam!" and turns into Captain Marvel and Shazam disappears.  

Episode 12 is the final episode in the serial.  Here we have Captain Marvel destroying the golden scorpion by throwing it into a volcano.  Once it has been destroyed, you hear a deep voice say, "Shazam!" and Captain Marvel turns back into Billy Batson - never to become Captain Marvel again!  Captain Marvel could only be around while the golden scorpion existed and now that it has been destroyed, there is no need for Cap!  

I was simply amazed that they had altered the origin of Captain Marvel so soon after he was introduced in Whiz Comics #2!  I wonder if there was any outcry from fans because of this?  As a fan of the original Captain Marvel I'm often disappointed at the various iterations that have been printed about Cap's origin post 1973.  But now I see that it isn't a new thing - it's been tweaked from the very beginning!

The Elements of Style - Captain Marvel Style That Is!

All superheros have costumes and uniforms that have meaning to them (think of the 'S' on Superman or Captain America's uniform).  Captain Marvel is no exception and I hope that through this article I can share some of the elements of Cap's uniform.

The genesis for this post comes from a discussion I saw on Twitter, so thanks to @LetsTalkShazam (Twitter) for getting me interested in this!  Please note that after hours of research I've not been able to come up with a lot of hard facts and information, nor have I been able to find articles/information from Captain Marvel's creators to substantiate some of my conclusions.  This leads me to state up front that this post is based on some facts, scant information and conjecture on my part.  (I will identify those things which are facts and those which are based on conjecture.)  If anyone has information that will supplement what I have here, please let me know!  

Captain Marvel from Whiz Comics #2

Captain Marvel is indeed a Captain.  This is a fact based on Whiz Comics #2, where he is commissioned Captain Marvel by Shazam (see page 7).  Additionally, in Captain Marvel Adventures #69 on page 5, a man calls him "General Marvel."  Captain Marvel corrects him and says, "Captain Marvel is my name."    

That brings me to the first element of Captain Marvel's costume and that is his Captain's rank located on his sleeves.  Below are pictures of the sleeve insignia for Captain in the Egyptian Navy (left) and US Navy (right).
  

Notice the similarity with Captain Marvel's uniform? On Twitter, @LetsTalkShazam  had also noted that that is Captain Marvel's rank on his sleeve.  They aren't gauntlets or bracelets, they are his Captain's rank!  (Just a note that in Whiz Comics #2, Cap originally had 6 stripes, but eventually he was drawn with 5.)

Now I want to consider Captain Marvel's cape.  The conjecture is that his white collared cape with gold trim is based on the ceremonial cape worn by English nobility.  After some research, I found the picture below of British nobleman Sir Thomas Innes (Lord Lyon).  Notice his cape is short and draped over his left shoulder - just as Captain Marvel wears his! Further conjecture is that the design on Captain Marvel's cape is the "fleur-di-lis."  

"Thomas Innes of Learney" by Boven at en.wikipedia

Finally, I want to consider the sash and bib front on Cap's uniform.  There is conjecture that elements of his uniform were based on Egyptian uniforms.  The picture below is of some old Egyptian army uniforms.  Notice the sash and the bib front?  It could be that these were considered when Cap's uniform was created.

(Please note that Cap's bib front didn't last long in the comics of the '40s and '50s and eventually his uniform no longer featured it.)

There you have it - the elements of Captain Marvel's style!  It's been fun trying to put these pieces together, but it's also been frustrating trying to research something and coming up with only few pieces of information here and there!

If you'd like to review some of the sites where I found bits of information for this post, please see these:

Captain Marvel Jr and Elvis  (Now this would make a fantastic post in and of itself!)

DC Debuts New Darker, Magical Look for Shazam (Look in the comments section)

Did You Know...

Did you know that according to Captain Marvel Adventures #41, Captain Marvel was to report to Shazam every leap year?  I didn't know that until I read it!

In Captain Marvel Adventures #41, in the story "Captain Marvel Battles the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man" we find Billy Batson opening a letter given to him and Captain Marvel from Shazam.  The year is 1944, just four years after Billy met Shazam and was given the ability to become Captain Marvel.  Shazam tells Billy and Captain Marvel to report to the underground cavern where they first met.

When Billy meets with Shazam, he transforms into Captain Marvel and Shazam asks him to give an account of what he has been doing the last four years.  As Cap recounts what he's done, Shazam interrupts and let's him know that he's proud of Cap and his accomplishments.  Shazam then proceeds to explain that every four years the seven deadly enemies of man meet together and plot evil against the world.  And, as a matter of fact, they are meeting as Shazam and Captain Marvel speak!

Captain Marvel must now find these seven deadly enemies and bring them to justice.  But before he leaves, Shazam commands him report to him every leap year with their next meeting in 1948!

Now just so you know, Captain Marvel does find and foil the seven deadly enemies.  I won't spoil the details but here's one picture of Cap in action.

So there you have it.  Every leap year Captain Marvel was to report to Shazam. I haven't had a chance to research if these future meetings were captured in the comics, but if they did I'll be sure to update this post.  This was an interesting little fact I didn't know about Captain Marvel and I'm glad to have discovered it while reading through one of his comics.  This is just one more thing that makes me like this character!