Capt. Marvel and Serial Retro-Mania, by Michael H. Price

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9 Responses

  1. mike weber says:

    Just about the final straw in the DC/Fawcwtt Superman/Cpt Marvel case came when Many Wade Wellman (who at one time or another wrote for both companies) testified that he'd been handed a stack of "Superman" comics and told "Do it like this, but different."Firesign Theatre's "J-Men Forever", a short feature compiled from multiple serials with a small amount of original footage and all-new dialog (and hilarious, at least the first time), features a scene with the Tyler Marvel (as "the Caped Madman", i believe) in a fight with "the Lightning Bug"'s thugs in a garage – he tosses one of them into a corner, then picks up an engine black and hurls it after him. Shriek from off-screen "You sadistic bastard! You crushed my skull!"In some ways, the Republic Marvel has more in common with Black Adam than he does with today's Captain Marvel.

    • Mike Gold says:

      J-Men Forever is a personal favorite of several (at least) ComicMixers, including yours truly. Captain America and Spy Smasher are also among the many superheroes in the story. But it wasn't Firesign Theatre per se, it was half of the group — Proctor and Bergman, who also toured separately at the time.Some people might find the overall theme dated, but the jokes are swell.

      • Elayne Riggs says:

        One of these days they'll work out the rights to that sucker and officially release it. I think Proctor's been trying for about a decade now…

    • Marilee J. Layman says:

      I didn't know Manly Wade Wellman did comics!

      • Mike Gold says:

        Big-time, mostly for Quality Comics: Blackhawk, Plastic Man, and The Spirit, particularly while Will was in the service. He used to live near me, and I believe he was an early customer at ComicMix Radio podcast producer Mike Raub's first comic book store.

        • Marilee J. Layman says:

          I have his fantasy books, but I didn't know about the comics. I didn't know about Bester, either.

      • mike weber says:

        Alfred Bester wrote for comics a lot, too – mostly DC, i think. He told a story about noticing that they were rewriting his gibberish – you know, the stuff you put in the baloons that's supposed to be "native language". When he asked why the hell, he was told "We know about your sense of humour. We figure you're putting in dirty word sin foreign languages." As it happened it wasn't.But this ticked him off, so he introduced a character named Mr Merkin. And it got past.(BTW _ it being several years since both are dead, is there anyone who might know why Manly despised Bester and be willing toi tell? I mentioned Bester's name in his presence one time, and he said "That SOB crosses the street if he sees me coming…", while making throttling motions on the head of his cane.)

        • Mike Gold says:

          Bester wrote a lot of Green Lantern in the 40s, and continued to work for Julie in the 50s.

    • Rick Taylor says:

      I liked it when CM turns the machine gun on the escaping bad guys.