Captain marvel jr

Captain Marvel Jr. is the title of a series of comic books published since 1941 by the US publishers Fawcett Comics (1941 to 1953) and DC Comics (since 1972).

The comics in the series, which is a so-called spin-off of the comics to Captain Marvel , mainly belong to the genre of science fiction comics, more specifically the superhero comics , a specifically US-American variety of science fiction Genres.

Release dates

The concept for Captain Marvel Jr. goes back to the Americans Ed Herron and Mac Raboy , who first introduced the character in a story in the December 1941 comic book Whiz Comics # 25, published by Fawcett Comics . The idea for the character was based on the simple premise that the character of Captain Marvel, introduced in 1940 - a child who by uttering a magic word turns into a grown man with "super powers" - should be given a junior partner. This should have similar powers as the "captain", but also remain a youth in his superhero form.

Following the Captain Marvel Jr. story in Whiz Comics # 25, DC published more stories about the character in Whiz Comics , before the character was the focus of its own eponymous series ( Captain Marvel, Jr. ) from November 1942 , which ran until 1953. In addition, stories about the character appeared in the series Master Comics and Marvel Family Comics (from 1945). All of these series were eventually discontinued by Fawcett in 1953 as a result of a lawsuit.

In contrast to the visually very cartoonish Captain Marvel Comics designed by CC Beck , the comics about Captain Marvel Jr., which in the first few years were almost exclusively illustrated by Raboy, used a very realistic drawing style.

While the Captain Marvel Jr. comics of the war time were particularly filled with propagandistic content - the young hero repeatedly fought fights with his archenemy "Hitler's Champion" Captain Nazi - after the victory of the Americans and their allies, socially critical stories emerged in the foreground. In his secret identity as a disabled teenager, the super boy had to grapple with the difficulties of life as a cripple. While most other superheroes only had to deal with super villains and tricky everyday situations, Captain Marvel Jr. also had to struggle with social problems, such as the oppressive poverty of the American working class to which he belonged, in his secret identity. Unless he was meeting President Roosevelt as a hero or fending off Japanese bomber attacks, he had to grapple with the pitfalls of poor housing and hostile surroundings.

With the often very "dark" tone of the Captain Marvel Jr. stories of the 40s and 50s, the series stood out clearly from the clearly cheerful and carefree atmosphere of the Captain Marvel Comics.

In 1953, the publisher DC Comics sued Fawcett for copyright infringement. Specifically, DC Fawcett assumed that the character Captain Marvel was a plagiarism of the comics published by DC about the sci-fi hero Superman . As a result, Fawcett stopped publishing the comics about Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. in 1953/1954.

In 1972, DC Comics acquired the rights to most of the publisher's old series and characters from the bankruptcy estate of the now bankrupt Fawcett Verlag, including the rights to Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. Since then, DC has also published comics under Captain Marvel at irregular intervals Jr. title, such as the one-shot Superboy Plus Captain Marvel Jr. (1997) or the twelve-part maxi series The Trials of Shazam (2006-2007). There were also roles as a permanent supporting character or one of several main characters in the series Shazam! (1972–1978), The Power of Shazam! (1995-1999) and Teen Titans (1997-1998).

Main character and plot

The starting point of the Captain Marvel Jr. stories is a Captain Marvel story in which the superhero is involved in a fight with the fascist super villain Captain Nazi. In the course of this fight, "Nazi" attacks two hobby fishermen who want to save him when he falls into a lake: the retired Jacob Freeman and his grandson Freddy.

While old Jacob, depending on the version, dies or falls into a coma, Freddy is seriously injured and is henceforth a cripple. Plagued by guilt over the boy's fate, Captain Marvel transfers some of his superpowers, which the magician Shazam gave him, to Freddy, who becomes Captain Marvel Jr., with his consent.

As Captain Marvel's junior partner, Captain Marvel Jr., or CM3 as he calls himself, supports him in his efforts to protect his hometown of Fawcett City from danger. In the same way as Captain Marvel's alter ego, the fourteen year old Billy Batson transforms himself into his superhero alter ego by uttering the magician Shazam, Freddy transforms himself into Captain Marvel Jr. by pronouncing the name of Captain Marvel. In practice, the transformation takes place when he is struck by lightning, which transforms him as soon as he brings the magical words over his lips. Conversely, when he utters the words "Captain Marvel" a second time, Captain Marvel Jr. transforms himself back into Freddie Freeman.

In terms of the story, this harbors the complication that Captain Marvel Jr. is probably the only superhero who cannot pronounce his own name - of which the words Captain Marvel are a part - in conversations, as he would otherwise (possibly in front of an audience) be in Alter ego transformed back. To avoid this difficulty he often uses the short name CM3 (for Captain Marvel 3; CM1 is Captain Marvel himself and CM2 is his sister, Mary Marvel ).

As Captain Marvel Jr., Freddy engages in confrontations with his archenemy Captain Nazi and other villains like Sabbac and IBAC, joins the Teen Titans and Outsiders hero teams and lays claim to the legacy of the Captain Marvel title after Billy Batson succeeds the old wizard Shazam as the guardian of a magical place called the Rock of Eternity. As Freddy Freeman, however, he has to grapple with the difficulties his handicap brings - he has been injured in the spine since Captain Nazi's attack, when he has not just turned into CM3, and is therefore crippled and dependent on crutches.

In more recent comics, Captain Marvel Jr. becomes - confusingly - the new Captain Marvel (senior superhero) under the name Shazam (Shazam 2) after Captain Marvel became the new Shazam (mentor of Captain Marvel) under the name "Marvel". To prove his worth for this role, he has to assert himself in a series of competitions against a Creole named Sabina, who also claims the magical gifts that give the captain's power ( Trials of Shazam maxiseries).

Adaptations

Captain Marvel Jr. appeared as a character in the 1980 animated series The Kid Superpower Hour with Shazam! in which he was voiced by Barry Gordon .

Influence on pop culture

The Captain Marvel Comics, delayed by Elvis Presley , who was an avid reader of the comics about CM3 in the late 1940s, had a lasting influence on American hair and clothing fashion in the United States, and thus the whole world . By giving Presley his Captain Marvel Jrs. This was copied - by millions of fans who imitated the hairstyle of their model - in the 1950s and 1960s to a mass look all over the world.

In addition to mimicking his famous "Schmalzlocken" hairstyle, Captain Marvel Jr., Presley also recreated several of his stage costumes based on the superhero costume of the "Captain". According to some of his biographers, the cut and color of many of the "King's" suits, as well as the tendency of the "old" Presley to wear capes, go back to the costumes of the eponymous hero in the Captain Marvel Jr. Comics. Presley's friend Billy Smith reported: "If you go back and look at a drawing of Captain Marvel Jr., it looks a whole lot like the seventies Elvis - one-piece jumpsuit, wide belt, boots, cape, lightning bolt and all . [...] That's where he got the idea for the capes. From the comic books. "

Finally, it should be noted that the TCB logo developed by Presley and his wife Precilla (optically this consists of the three letters T, C and B grouped around a jagged lightning bolt), which is the abbreviation for Presley's motto "Talking Care of Business in a Flash "(something like" Do what is due as fast as you can. "), stands in a conspicuous way on the Blitz logo on Captain Marvel Jr.'s chest. Presley wore the logo, processed in gold and other metals, as a pendants in the form of necklaces and bracelets, which he also distributed to friends, and with it adorned the tail unit of his private plane, the "Lisa Maria", and the salon of his villa. Elaine Dundy writes about this in her Elvis biography: "The lightning bolt emblem Captain Marvel Jr. wore on his chest beame Elvis' logo, his signature." Smith confirms this when he remarks about the logo: "The lightning [...] in the back of his mind, he identified it with Captain Marvel Jr."

Individual evidence

↑ Pamela Clarke Keogh writes about this in her biography Elvis Presley. The Man. The Life. The Legend : "Elvis used comics as an escape. Like a lot of kids with a chaotic home life, Elvis created his own world inside his head. He read comic books and was drawn to Superman, Batman, and, most of all, Captain Marvel Jr. Around the age of 12, Elvis discovered Captain Marvel Jr. and quickly became almost obsessed with him. " The remnants of Presley's collection of old childhood Captain Marvel Jr. comics are now kept at his Graceland estate . In addition, an issue of Captain Marvel Jr. # 51 from July 1947 is part of the furnishings of the faithfully restored apartment that the Presley family lived in in Lauderdale Court in the late 1940s / early 1950s and which is now an "Elvis Museum". There it lies as a permanent display item on the desk in Presley's old nursery, which has been furnished as it looked when Presley lived in it.
↑ Elaine Dundy expresses himself in the same way: "Subconsciously, the grown Elvis copied his hero's glistening black hair, his sideburns and his triumphant stance. Years later he wore his version of the Marvel Jr. cape, and the white scarf Freddy Freeman often wore turned up around Elvis' neck in performance. "

Reprints

The classic CM3 stories from the 1940s were reissued by DC Comics as anthologies.

The Shazam! Family Archives , Vol. 1, 2006. ( Master Comics # 23-32 and Captain Marvel Jr. # 1) ( ISBN 1-40120-779-0 )

There is also an anthology with more recent stories:

The Trials of Shazam! , Vol. 1, 2007. ( The Trials of Shazam! # 1-6) ( ISBN 1-40121-331-6 )

Web links

[1] Pamela Clarke Keogh writes about this in her biography Elvis Presley. The Man. The Life. The Legend : "Elvis used comics as an escape. Like a lot of kids with a chaotic home life, Elvis created his own world inside his head. He read comic books and was drawn to Superman, Batman, and, most of all, Captain Marvel Jr. Around the age of 12, Elvis discovered Captain Marvel Jr. and quickly became almost obsessed with him. " The remnants of Presley's collection of old childhood Captain Marvel Jr. comics are now kept at his Graceland estate . In addition, an issue of Captain Marvel Jr. # 51 from July 1947 is part of the furnishings of the faithfully restored apartment that the Presley family lived in in Lauderdale Court in the late 1940s / early 1950s and which is now an "Elvis Museum". There it lies as a permanent display item on the desk in Presley's old nursery, which has been furnished as it looked when Presley lived in it.

[2] Elaine Dundy expresses himself in the same way: "Subconsciously, the grown Elvis copied his hero's glistening black hair, his sideburns and his triumphant stance. Years later he wore his version of the Marvel Jr. cape, and the white scarf Freddy Freeman often wore turned up around Elvis' neck in performance. "