COMIC BOOK URBAN LEGENDS # 3

My thanks to the CBR For the interesting article.

Enjoy

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Joe Orlando illustrated the famous depictions of Sea Monkeys.

STATUS: True

In many ways, the early 60s were Joe Orlando’s “lost years.” He left EC in 1956, where he made many classic contributions to comic science fiction. After working at Classics Illustrated until 1959, Orlando spent the 60s working at a variety of places, until finally settling down in 1968 when he became an editor at DC Comics. He did some work at Mad Magazine, he did some comic strip writing, and he did a lot of commercial advertisement (mainly for toys).

Meanwhile, in the early 60s, comic book marketer Harold von Braunhut had a product that was selling well enough, but not doing great business. Called “Insant Life,” von Braunhut debuted the product in 1957. What is was a crustacean that von Braunhut discovered that lived in suspended animation until they were born. They could live in this status for YEARS. Therefore, this was a perfect opportunity for von Braunhut. He would package a few of these crutaceans (which, while similar to brine shrimp, were NOT, in fact, brine shrimp) and sell it as “Instant Life.” However, a few years later, in an attempt to jump start the product, von Braunhut decided to rename the product “Sea Monkeys.”

And along with the new name, there was the following, soon to be famous, illustration (click on the photo for a larger version)

The illustration, though never credited to him, was by Orlando. Sales of the newly title product skyrocketed, no doubt in part due to Orlando’s illustration.

Well, that’s it for me this week!

COMIC URBAN LEGENDS # 2

My thanks to the CBR For the interesting article.

Enjoy

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Marvel changed the name of the Black Panther because of the political group by the same name.

TRUE, Marvel did change the name to avoid confusion, but then decided to keep T'Challa's BLACK PANTHER name.

When the Black Panther, the first black superhero, was introduced in 1966, the Black Panther Party was not around for months, so Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did not think that their new character’s name would have any special connotations.

By 1972, though, that was not the case, and the name “Black Panther” was known more for its connection with the political group than for the comic book character. Therefore, in an attempt to move the character away from the group, writer Roy Thomas wrote Fantastic Four #119.

In the issue, the Thing and the Human Torch get caught up in an international problem when T’Challa, in pursuit of some crooks, gets arrested in “Rudyarda,” the stand-in for South Africa.

When Johnny and Ben free T’Challa, they are unprepared to hear the following…

Luckily, T’Challa makes sure to explain himself right away…

The change, as you are well aware, did not last long. Soon, it was the Black Panther once again!

CBR's Comic Urban Legends: Vol. #1

Here's some interesting little tid bits from CBR that I found amusing

Here we go...enjoy.

Let’s begin!

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: DC almost had a black Captain Marvel.

STATUS: True

As I discussed in the second installment of Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed, after a lengthy lawsuit with DC Comics and with sales dwindling, Fawcett Comics decided to simply cease publication of their comic book superheroes, putting such notable heroes as Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. into mothballs.

This is where they remained for many years, until the late 60s, when rumors began circulating that DC was interested in dusting the old Fawcett Comic characters out of the mothballs and publishing them again.

Earlier in the 60s, Marvel began trademarking various titles that had the word Marvel in it, but it was not until they heard that DC was interested in bringing Captain Marvel back, that they rushed out their own title, called Captain Marvel, to establish their trademark (this was all detailed in a previous Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed installment here).

Still, DC continued to consider publishing the Fawcett characters, and by the early 1970s, DC pretty much had determined that they WOULD give licensing Fawcett’s superheroes a shot (DC was in a pretty strong bargaining position - as who ELSE would try to license Captain Marvel from Fawcett and risk a DC lawsuit?), but they were unsure as to HOW to do the comics.

Ultimately, DC decided to just bring the character back the same way he appeared 19 years earlier, as Captain Marvel. They just decided to title the new book Shazam!, after the magic word Billy Batson says to become Captain Marvel.

The new title debuted in early 1973.

After the book ended, newly arrived at DC writer/editor, Roy Thomas had a proposal for a revamp of the character in the very early 80s. Along with artist Don Newton, Thomas suggested that, since they could not call Captain Marvel Captain Marvel, they rename him Captain Thunder. This was a reference to the Golden Age origin of Captain Marvel, as the character was ORIGINALLY named Captain Thunder, but Fawcett discovered before publication that another hero was going by that name, leading to the name change. Thomas presumably felt that it only made sense to return to the original name, if Captain Marvel was unavailable.

The twist, though, was that Thomas thought that the character should be black! Yep, an African-American Billy Batson and Captain Marvel!!

In the Comics Buyer’s Guide #16, in 1982, Thomas told the story, and (courtesy of the amazing Marvel Family website - the premiere website for Captain Marvel information!) here are some unpublished drawings of Billy and the good Captain from the proposal!!

cool, huh?

The Marvel Family website also had the little tidbit of information that the inker of the above Newton piece was none other than future Power of Shazam! writer/artist, Jerry Ordway!