Shazam! The New Beginning Fawcett Publications more or less shut down it’s comic book publ

Shazam! The New Beginning Fawcett Publications more or less shut down it’s comic book publishing division and sold off the majority of their characters to rival comic book companies in 1953 - this was the aftermath of a twelve-year legal battle with DC comics over allegations of Fawcett’s Captain Marvel being a copyright infringement of DC’s Superman. Part of the settlement included Fawcett never publishing another Captain Marvel or Mavel Family comic book again. You can find more information about the lawsuit at National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications.In 1972, DC comics licensed the rights to Captain Marvel (and associated characters) from Fawcett Publications with the intention of taking advantage of the fanfare Captain Marvel had built up in the 1940s. DC comics were no longer able to use the name ‘Captain Marvel’ however, since Marvel Comics had trademarked the name in 1968. Thus, DC renamed 'Captain Marvel’ to 'Shazam!’. In the 1970s, DC had used Shazam! to full effect - not only did he receive an ongoing series in 1973, but he was also the lead character in a 1974 live-action television series (Filmation’s Shazam!) and starred in two episodes of NBC’s Legends of the Superheroes in 1979. Despite all of the publicity DC put into Shazam, it did not sell as well as it *should* have. DC cancelled the Shazam! ongoing series in 1978 after 35 issues, and Shazam!’s adventures continued in the pages of World’s Finest. Apparently, Fawcett’s licensing agreement with DC had a per-use fee for every appearance a Fawcett character made in a DC publication, hence DC’s reluctance to use the characters after the Shazam! series ended.In 1981, Captain Marvel got ANOTHER crack at television - this time in an animated cartoon produced by Filmation that ran from 1981 to 1982. NBC’s The Kid Power Hour with Shazam! ran on Saturday mornings, featured Captain Marvel as well as of the Marvel Family and their associated rogues, and lasted 13 episodes.Sometime in the early 1980s, Roy Thomas, Don Newton and Jerry Ordway submitted a proposal for a new Captain Marvel. This new version of Captain Marvel would be an Earth-One character (as Shazam! and the rest of the Marvel Family in the 70s Shazam! ongoing series were part of the Earth-S/Earth-5 universe) and would be an African-American character who would turn into Captain Thunder when he said the word “Shazam”. Calling this new character 'Captain Thunder’ was obviously a throwback to the original Fawcett version of the character (Captain Marvel was originally intended to be named Captain Thunder, but couldn’t - due to trademark reasons). The proposal never saw approval from the DC editorial board. In 1985 the Crisis On Infinite Earths cross-over event happened, which was DC’s effort to simplify it’s continuity by eliminating all of those 'other’ earths in the DC multiverse (Earth-S/Earth-5 included). Shazam and the Marvel Family were now part of the same DC universe as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. For reasons I cannot explain, DC decided to publish a re-adaptation of the Shazam!/Captain Marvel origin (as per the Fawcett Publications version) in Secret Origins #3 (1986). This is a little confusing to me since Roy Thomas retconns Shazam!/Captain Marvel’s origin once again in the Shazam! The New Beginning mini-series. As explained by Roy Thomas, the goal of this mini-series was to re-introduce the Shazam!/Captain Marvel mythos back to DC readers, but in a way that was more in line with the current state of comic books. The theory was that the reason why DC’s Shazam! never hit the astonomical sales numbers of it’s Fawcett Publications heyday was because the stories were too silly/whimsical for the modern audience - the new modern audience wanted more realistic stories/art that could relate to the world they lived in. So, Roy and (his wife) Dann Thomas got to work scripting the new Shazam!/Captain Marvel reboot.Major changes Thomas introduced: Dr Sivana became Billy’s evil uncle Uncle Dudley became Billy’s real uncle Billy kept his own personality when becoming Shazam! (versus switching between his and Captain Marvel’s personality - as seen in Fawcett issues) Black Adam is quickly introduced and is part of Captain Marvel’s origin No plans of introducing Lieutenant Marvels Fawcett city is removed, Shazam! now operates on the West Coast of the USA A little more insight into Billy Batson’s life before the death of his parents is given. This is meant to flesh out the character of Billy Batson. origin of Wizard Shaman set before age of pyramids in Egypt - mentions “God-Birds” (I am 99.9% sure they are sliding in a Hawkman reference here) the Wizard Shazam is aware of the pre-Crisis Marvel family from Earth-S/Earth-5 Dr Sivana is no longer a humorous villain, he is now deadly and a threat to be taken seriously. On a side note, Thomas originally wanted to make Billy a more typical kid with a typical job, but the first issue of LEGENDS got plotted and penciled before the LEGENDS creative team were made aware of Thomas’ new plans for the character. Shazam! The New Beginning was actually a prequel to the LEGENDS mini-series (although this mini-series would only be published as LEGENDS was ending), and Shazam! became a member of Giffen’s Justice League in 1987. Shazam! even got an action figure of himself in the third wave of Kenner’s Super Powers Collection toyline (1986). Illustrated by artist Tom Mandrake, the mini-series was a great read and did really well in sales. According to Thomas, when the possibility of an ongoing series was discussed, the idea was shot down by DC management. Shazam! later appeared in 1988’s Action Comics Weekly for a few issues and a new Shazam! ongoing series was announced, but the idea never saw the light of day. Some have speculated that the reason the idea never went anywhere was because DC didn’t completely own the rights to Shazam! (Filmation acquired the television rights to Captain Marvel in the 1970s), and didn’t want to invest heavily in a character they weren’t guaranteed would actually belong to them.DC would ultimately purchase the full rights to Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family from Fawcett publications in 1991 and Jerry Ordway would go on to reboot the Shazam!/Captain Marvel origin yet again in DC’s Power of Shazam! 1994 graphic novel. -- source link

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