Remembering Captain Marvel

Big Think remembers the superhero.

From the piece...

As anyone who’s shouted “Shazam!” should know, young Billy Batson shouts that magical word to transform into the adult Captain America. Whereas Superman and Batman tried to appeal to their young audience through young sidekicks Jimmy Olsen and Robin, Captain Marvel appealed directly to kids by making the hero’s alter ego a kid, with the added benefit of making him a daring kid reporter. C. C. Beck created the flat, simple look of the hero and writer Bill Parker provided the “aw, shucks” feel of the stories. Perhaps the greatest barometer of this powerful attraction for kids is the fact that Fawcett Comics, publishers of Captain Marvel, hired 35 to 40 employees just to handle the mail of the Captain Marvel Fan Club, which reached 400,000 members worldwide at its peak.

Building on that kid-centric approach, a whole “Marvel Family” soon arose, first with the addition of Captain Marvel Jr. (drawn by Mac Raboy) and later Mary Marvel (drawn by Marc Swayze), both of whom looked their age when foiling evil. Legend has it that a young Elvis Presley modeled his hairstyle after that of Captain Marvel Jr. (and maybe even later styled his late-period jumpsuits after the Marvel Family’s look). As Kidd explains, each member of the Marvel Family found a specific niche. “Whereas Billy [Batson]’s tales as Captain Marvel took on a grand, madcap scheme of crazed scientists, and the threat of Earth’s doom,” Kidd writes, “Freddy [Freeman’s, Captain Marvel Jr.’s alter ego,] were much more homespun and routinely involved troubled orphans, the poor, or the occasional troll being exploited by a conniving circus freak show dictator.” For Kidd, it’s this family atmosphere that really separated Captain Marvel from the pack of other heroes and helped him rise to the top.