My grade school friend Donald Sims had inherited a bunch of comic books from some older relative who had tired of them and passed them along. He mostly had a smattering of stuff, but there was one complete run among his possessions. And that was SHAZAM, DC's 1970s revival of the original Captain Marvel, a … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #1
This being the fourth part of our review looking back at writer/editor Robert Kanigher's very early hardcover booklet giving a how-to on writing for comic magazines. It was published in 1943 and is therefore probably the earliest repository for such information. If nothing else, it gives a good sense of what the field was like … Continue reading How To Make Money Writing For Comic Magazines, Part Four
It's a well-known part of comic book history that Fawcett Publication's character Captain Marvel was one of the most popular characters of the Golden Age of Comics, regularly outselling Superman. And in fact, the series was successful until a lawsuit from DC/National Comics forced Fawcett to agree to cease publishing the Captain's adventures. For years, … Continue reading The Second Captain Marvel Story
And so, after four months, we finally come to the end of the titanic clash between the World's Mightiest Mortal and the vastly-overmatched foe of subversives as the running Captain Marvel vs Spy Smasher conflict reaches its inevitable climax. Once again, there isn't any clue given on the cover that this colossal story has been … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part four
Continued stories weren't really a big thing during the Golden Age of Comics. They got experimented with a bit, but in general the common wisdom seemed to be that the young audience for comic books couldn't be depended upon to reliably come back for the next installment, and that instead giving them a great and … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part three
The cover to WHIZ COMICS #16 gives no indication of the titanic struggle that was played out within its pages. Inspired clearly by the battle between the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner in MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS, a fight that made that series a best-seller, Fawcett's creative team decided to do their own super hero vs … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part two
As we've covered in the past, it was a relatively rare thing during the Golden Age of Comics for the heroes of two separate strips to meet one another. Despite the success of the Justice Society of America in ALL-STAR COMICS, no other company ever fielded a super hero team comprised of all of their … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part one
As we've covered in the past, despite the fact that crossovers between characters and strips were a rare thing in the Golden Age of Comics, publisher Fawcett wasn't reticent about having its players occasionally meet. But for whatever reason, when it came to their most popular headliners, the Marvel Family, while Captain Marvel wound appear … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: WOW COMICS #28
By 1949, the sun was setting for most of the great super heroes of the Golden Age of Comics. In the postwar period, public tastes had shifted to other genres and subject matter in terms of what was popular in the comic book medium. In particular, horror, crime, western, teen humor and romance comics had … Continue reading The Last Bulletman Story
After Superman had opened the floodgates and showed publishers that there was money to be made in comic books by putting out the adventures of costumed heroes, Fawcett jumped into the field with both feet. They were an established publisher already, and so had staff and connections in place to produce and distribute their new … Continue reading The First Bulletman Story
The Tom Brevoort Experience 