posted
I read all the Marvelman books as a kid and they terrified and delighted me in equal measure! They'll probably still be in my parents loft somewhere, must look them out and have a reread, I'll probably enjoy them even more now....
From: home sweet home... unless i'm posting from work | Registered: Jul 2003
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Isn't it amazing how MARVELMAN really started? the UK publisher found out Fawcett was getting out of the comics biz, but wanted to continue, so, they just changed the names & costumes, and continued on their way! What nerve.
Then again, I understand a South American publisher did the same thing-- except, THEY didn't bother changing the names & costumes.
I wonder if anyone, anywhere, will ever reprint any of that material?
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
It's really complicated with all the Marvel rights business (should be a topic in of itself!), but here is the breakdown:
DC sued Fawcett for many years and finally won. They got the copyrights to the original Captain Marvel because it was considered a clone of Superman.
Foreign publishers don't know/don't care and keep publishing. I can't speak for England, but South America was undergoing some interesting and violent political changes around this time. If you could give me the exact country I could give you more detail (writing a lovely 10-15 page paper about colonial Brazil right now).
The copyright for Captain Marvel falls into disuse, Marvel Comics takes this opportunity to create Captain Marvel. I got to admit that The Death of Captain Marvel is my favorite graphic novel. And Noh-Varr is gorgeous...so I guess now that they have this copyrights there will be more good-looking bricks in the Marvel Universe. That's not always a bad thing.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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posted
Read all the Moore/Gaiman stuff a few years ago. It's good, and I wouldn't mind seeing it in a affordable format someday. Too many egos involved at this point though...so I am not getting my hopes up.
The Marvel thing has turned out just like I thought it would...a big fat dud.
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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I've read about this so many times... My impression is, while DC sued Fawcett repeatedly, and kept harrassing them for at least a decade (nothing pissed DC off more than the fact that Captain Marvel was SELLING MORE than Superman!!). By the early 50's sales of all comics were starting to fall. Fawcett decided to settle out of court, and agreed not to publish CM anymore (in fact they'd decided to drop out of comics publishing entirely!), nor to allow anyone else to do so.
I guess on the UK and South American things, they didn't follow thru too well... heh.
I believe in the early 60's, the fanzine ALTER EGO was prevented from doing much CAPTAIN MARVEL stuff, because of the agreement. I forget if I heard that Fawcett actually sent them a "cease and desist" letter after AE did one issue focused on CM.
Jules Feiffer's book THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES (1965) was prevented from so much as reprinting a single CM story because of the agreement, and only managed ONE PAGE, for reference.
But then Myron Fass put out a comic called "CAPTAIN MARVEL" about a red-clothed android (created by Carl Burgos-- gee, where have we heard that name before?), and it pissed off Martin Goodman, because he felt readers would mistake it for one of HIS "Marvel Comics".
The M.F. Enterprises series didn't last... and before long, Martin Goodman told Stan Lee to create a character called "CAPTAIN MARVEL" so MARVEL could publish it. Before long, he secured the Trademark for the magazine title, so NOBODY else could put one out with that name.
A few years later, DC LICENSED the original character from Fawcett (who still owned it), but, prevented from using "CM" as a magazine title, put "CM" out in a book titled "SHAZAM!"
Years later, DC bought the character outright from Fawcett.
Registered: Aug 2003
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