I have always preferred Freddy Freeman's Captain Marvel costume to Billy Batson's. The original is a classic, but there's something about the color scheme on Captain Marvel Jr's outfit that really makes the design pop to my eyes. Marvel Boy didn't have quite the same fashion sense, but it has been cool to see how the character and concept have been handled over the years.
I always liked Mac Raboy's more "realistic" style of drawing with Captain Marvel Jr. Again, the original is a classic, but it's nice that Jr. wasn't simply a carbon copy.
ReplyDeleteIf you do a follow up on this one, you could have Kid MarvelMan join the fun!
ReplyDeleteMaybe your favoritism was because Marvel Junior's outfit was so similar to that of the Silver Age Superboy.
ReplyDeleteAn obvious correlation with the whole "kid hero named Marvel" thing, but the cover's story makes it all happen! And again, I love seeing the original, _real_ Captain Marvel and his family in action. Perhaps Talky Tawny and Rocket Raccoon next?
ReplyDeleteFor any other CM fans out there, did anyone ever think Marvel Boy, when they brought him back as The Crusader in F4, kind of looks like Magnificus Sivana?
Yes, I did notice. And I second that Tawky Tawny & Rocket Raccoon team up. Althought I'm still holding out for Green Lantern Ch'p & Rocket. Or a team up with a certain Rocket J. Squirrel. Or Rocky & Squirrel Girl!
ReplyDelete@astrocitizen: Actually, yeah, Marvel Boy did resemble Magnificus (was that his name?), although Sivana's suspiciously tall, blond and beautiful son and daughter had years earlier disappeared and then were replaced with an appropriately trollish-looking pair by the time Marvel Boy was introduced. There was this weird recurring theme in golden age comics where advanced civilizations or perfect physical specimens were conveyed in visual shorthand by dressing them in clothes that borrowed their look from ancient civilizations. This common Roman pattern:
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...or something very like it shows up in their headbands and the hems of their sleeves and shorts. Jor-El also has the headband, but not the pattern. Green Lantern and Green Lama borrow from Asian motifs, etc. Flash wore winged hat and boots, like depictions of the god Mercury. For a character like Dr. Fate this makes sense, but for everyone else it's odd that these elements keep coming together in comics' formative years, but aping ancient civilizations was one meme that didn't get retained when super-heroes were revived after the Comics Code started.
That dude looks a bit like Quasar from Marvel...
ReplyDeleteLooks cool tho, great cover!
Imagine a team-up between the original Captain Marvel and Captain Mar-Vell (when attached to Rick Jones.)
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to imagine it - it's in the archives!
ReplyDeleteLEEE777, Quasar used to be the Crusader and before that in short pants, Marvel Boy. It's all the same marvelous fellow you see
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