SHAZAM! WITH ONE MAGIC WORD - PART ONE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

CAPTAIN THUNDER was his original name, but by the time he

appeared in WHIZZ COMICS #2 (there was no #1), his name had

been changed to CAPTAIN MARVEL.  A couple of ashcan editions

were produced first to secure the copyright, but similarly-titled publi-

cations by rival publishers meant a change of name for the Cap's

debut before the public in 1939/'40.

Captain Marvel outsold SUPERMAN for a while, prompting

NATIONAL (DC) to launch a plagiarism suit against FAWCETT, 

but the initial decision fell in the latter's favour.  National appealed

and won - and although Captain Marvel himself wasn't found to be

a copyright infringement, it was felt that certain storylines and

situations might be, requiring a re-trial of the case to deter-

mine the facts.

However, because of the preceding seven years of litigation -

plus a decline in circulation of the CM titles over that time - Fawcett

decided it wasn't worth prolonging the battle and threw in the towel.

They discontinued their entire comics line and paid National $400,000

in damages - which tends to indicate that the legal fees must've been

enormous if paying such an astronomical sum to National was

considered the cheaper option.

National licensed the character from Fawcett for a revival in

1972, and finally acquired the rights to the Marvel Family line in

1991.  Of course, there's still the  MARVELMAN/MIRACLE-

MAN situation to consider, but I'll leave that for someone  else

to get into as, frankly, I can't generate the energy to go into it.

Let's just look at the pictures, okay?

    

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