Mar-Vell - Publication History

Publication History

The name "Captain Marvel" had been originally trademarked by Fawcett Comics between 1940 and 1953 for a different character. Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel comics in 1953 due to a 1951 copyright infringement suit from DC Comics, and their trademark ostensibly lapsed. Taking advantage of this, Marvel debuted its new Captain Marvel character in 1967 and quickly trademarked the name. It was not the first company to try to capitalize on Fawcett's lapsed trademark; in 1966 the small publisher M. F. Enterprises released a short-lived Captain Marvel.

Marvel's character debuted as the lead feature in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (December 1967), written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Gene Colan. Shortly thereafter he was given his own series, commencing with Captain Marvel #1 (May 1968). The series failed to register with readers, and the series was revamped by writer-artist team Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in issue #17 (October 1969). The character was given a new uniform, designed by Kane and colorist Michelle Robinson, and greater abilities. An added plot feature was the introduction of sidekick Rick Jones. Jones and Marvel "shared molecules" allowing only one to exist in the real world at a time. Thomas stated that the intent of the change was to create a more science-fiction oriented update that was reminiscent of Fawcett Comics's original Captain Marvel, who similarly had an alter-ego that could not co-exist with the superhero.

The change, however, was not successful, and the series was published only intermittently from 1969. It was initially canceled with issue #21 (August 1970), though the character appeared in the Kree-Skrull War storyline in Avengers #89 - 96 (June 1971 - March 1972), also written by Thomas. In 1972 plotter and artist James Starlin decided to revamp the character, with the series recommencing with issue #22 (Sept. 1972). A spin-off series, Ms. Marvel, was launched in 1977, but sales remained modest, and the series was published on only a bimonthly basis until it was ultimately canceled in 1979. The continued publication, however, kept the trademark current. This had the effect of requiring DC Comics, which in the meantime licensed the original Fawcett Captain Marvel for publication, to print its new comics under the trademark Shazam!. Comics historian Don Markstein states, "Marvel didn't seem to quite know what to do with him—but they did put his comic out every other month through most of the 1970s, if only to maintain their trademark on his name..."

Mar-Vell made very few appearances in the Marvel Universe outside the title, appearing in Sub-Mariner #30 (Oct. 1970); Avengers #108 (Feb. 1973); Marvel Team-Up #16-17 (Dec. 1973 - Jan. 1974); Daredevil #107 (Jan. 1974); Defenders #62-63 (Aug.-Sept. 1978); Ms. Marvel #19 (Aug. 1978); Marvel Two-In-One #45 (Nov. 1978); Marvel Spotlight #1-4, #8 (1979-80); What If #17 (Oct. 1979) and Hulk #246 (April 1980). Starlin wrote Mar-Vell's death in Marvel's first graphic novel, The Death of Captain Marvel (Jan. 1982).

Following the character's death, Marvel published several comics with new characters taking up the "Captain Marvel" moniker, thereby maintaining their trademark on the name. The character returned, although not in a living capacity, in storylines in Silver Surfer vol. 3, #63 (March 1992) and Captain Marvel vol. 5, #5 (March 2003). The limited series Captain Marvel vol. 6, #1 - 5 (January - June 2008) was released as part of the 2008 Secret Invasion storyline and supposedly heralded the return of the character, although it was eventually revealed that this "Mar-Vell" was an alien Skrull.

Mar-Vell was one of the feature characters in the 2011 three-issue limited series Chaos War: Dead Avengers.