The Original Captain Marvel

Every comic book fan has heard of the name Captain Marvel.  There have been many characters with this name since the original debuted in late 1939.  Fawcett Publications tried to secure a copyright on both the names "Flash Comics" and "Thrill Comics" and released an abbreviated version of what eventually became known as "Whiz Comics" #2 as an ashcan edition.  Ashcan editions are basically black and white comics printed up in very small quantities, often without the entire contents of said comic, in order to secure the copyright.  Captain Marvel's original name was Captain Thunder.  Another suggestion was Captain Marvelous, which was shortened to Captain Marvel.  All of this is legend amongst comic fans.  You can read this on Wikipedia as well as any number of fan blogs, which basically rehash what's on Wikipedia.  I'm not here to give you a history lesson, though.

Below are the ashcan covers for Captain Marvel's debut.

Here now are the best scans I have seen of the Captain Marvel story in "Whiz Comics" #2 (February 1940).  

Now here's a funny story.  Many "experts" on the various characters named Captain Marvel have shared the cover for "Whiz Comics" #2 on their blogs, but do not seem to be aware of the various versions of the cover.  The cover was redrawn for various DC Comics reprints, as DC now owns the rights to the character.  While I understand the need to remove "Gangway For Captain Marvel!" in order to avoid any problems with Marvel Comics, I don't understand the other changes.  Why, for example, was it necessary to have only one gangster fly out of the smashed car?  Why change a flying brick to a white puff?  

I guess no one thought comic book readers would notice the differences. 

I won't go into details about the various versions of Captain Marvel published by M. F. Enterprises or Marvel Comics.  You can read about them elsewhere.  Captain Marvel at DC Comics has undergone many changes.  He is now referred to as Shazam! in order to avoid copyright issues with, of course, Marvel Comics.  There is even a movie for SHAZAM! coming to theaters in April 2019.  

Thank you to all the people who have generously shared scans of these wonderful comics.  And thank you for reading my blog.  Captain Marvel and Shazam! are copyrighted by DC Comics (at least the version I'm blogging about).