I'm a comic book fan from way back, and one of my all-time favorites was Shazam! The Original Captain Marvel. On a recent perusal of IMDB.com, I found out they're making a movie!
For the unenlightened, Captain Marvel was at one time more popular than Superman, in fact he held the distinction of being the most popular comic book in the world at his peak. This of course caused what is now DC Comics (owner of Superman) to be very nervous, and they decided to make an example out of the publisher, Fawcett, by suing them for copyright infringement. The case dragged on for years, until Fawcett one day just gave up, as comics had been waning anyway. They agreed to never publish the character or its many spin-offs ever again.
In the early 70s, DC Comics finally purchased the rights to the character. But in another legal kerfuffle, they were not allowed to use the name. It seems that in the meantime, Marvel Comics grabbed the name "Captain Marvel" in the intervening years. So the new comic was named
Shazam!
DC never really knew what to do with the Captain Marvel Family. They tried to update them, while keeping their original whimsy, which is to their credit. They even allowed a Saturday morning live action kid's show based on the character to be made. Nothing seemed to click. They updated the character again, making him more realistic and grittier, but the book was cancelled, and the feature was shuttled from anthology to anthology for several years, only to sputter out.
There have been revivals over the years, none to my knowledge has pushed the character firmly into the mainstream. Having myself outgrown a regular dose of comics, I'm not really up on where Cap stands today, but I understand he's in another revival.
Enough backstory, on to the movie! Shazam! has been slated for a 2008 release, and I hope Cap finally gets his due. Brandon Molale has been tapped (reportedly) for the role, and though I know nothing of his acting, he's got the look, that's for sure!
Here are side-by-side pictures of the classic Captain Marvel, and Brandon Molale.
(Images from Wikipedia.com and IMDB.com, respectively)
For the unenlightened, Captain Marvel was at one time more popular than Superman, in fact he held the distinction of being the most popular comic book in the world at his peak. This of course caused what is now DC Comics (owner of Superman) to be very nervous, and they decided to make an example out of the publisher, Fawcett, by suing them for copyright infringement. The case dragged on for years, until Fawcett one day just gave up, as comics had been waning anyway. They agreed to never publish the character or its many spin-offs ever again.
In the early 70s, DC Comics finally purchased the rights to the character. But in another legal kerfuffle, they were not allowed to use the name. It seems that in the meantime, Marvel Comics grabbed the name "Captain Marvel" in the intervening years. So the new comic was named
Shazam!
DC never really knew what to do with the Captain Marvel Family. They tried to update them, while keeping their original whimsy, which is to their credit. They even allowed a Saturday morning live action kid's show based on the character to be made. Nothing seemed to click. They updated the character again, making him more realistic and grittier, but the book was cancelled, and the feature was shuttled from anthology to anthology for several years, only to sputter out.
There have been revivals over the years, none to my knowledge has pushed the character firmly into the mainstream. Having myself outgrown a regular dose of comics, I'm not really up on where Cap stands today, but I understand he's in another revival.
Enough backstory, on to the movie! Shazam! has been slated for a 2008 release, and I hope Cap finally gets his due. Brandon Molale has been tapped (reportedly) for the role, and though I know nothing of his acting, he's got the look, that's for sure!
Here are side-by-side pictures of the classic Captain Marvel, and Brandon Molale.
(Images from Wikipedia.com and IMDB.com, respectively)
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