It won’t come as any surprise to longtime visitors of my site to hear this, but most of my friends know that when you say the words “Captain Marvel” to me, my default setting is to think of the original Fawcett character. However, this ain’t him!
This Captain Marvel is an android. His comic debuted in 1966, published by M.F. Enterprises, 13 years after Fawcett published their last adventure of the original Captain Marvel.
So what does this Captain Marvel do? He seems to have a lot of the usual superhero powers: strength, flight, etc. But his real calling card is that when he says his magic word (“Split!”), he can detach parts of his body at will and have them fly around and do his bidding. A unique power, to be sure, but more than a little odd. To rejoin, he speaks his other magic word, “Xam!”
In looking for a fresh take on this Captain, I thought it was such an oddball concept that it might have been better-suited to Saturday Morning cartoons. So I started to re-imagine it as the kind of semi-comedic superhero adventure cartoon that back then would’ve fit in well alongside Hanna-Barbera shows like Frankenstein Jr., The Impossibles, or Atom Ant. Since those shows appeared as Gold Key comics, that seemed a good place for my re-imagined Captain Marvel too.
Doesn’t his magic word make it difficult to order at an Ice Cream Parlor?
“I want a banana split.…oops!”
Those old Gold Key covers that you do sure bring back memories.….nice job!
Thanks! Yeah, I had a few of those Gold Key comics when I was younger. I think I actually appreciate the artistry that went into some of those books even more now than I did then.
I think this is perfect! I somehow have a feeling that humorous stories by Gold Key would have been a ton lot better than the ones told by MF Enterprises!
I’m glad you like it, Captain. Yeah, it just seemed to me that the oddity of that version of the character would lend itself better to more of a cartoony version, ala Hanna-Barbera.
Brilliant piece!
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it. He’s definitely a different kind of “Marvel” from the one I’m more familiar with, but I just had a feeling there was this other way of looking at him that might be worth trying out.
I have some of those MF Captain Marvel comics in my collection, and I love ’em. I’m sure that I would’ve loved a Hanna-Barbera Captain Marvel animated series, too; one done like Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, which captured my imagination when I was little. And of course, the requisite Gold Key comic.?
The MF Captain Marvel is one of those things that’s kind of “so bad, it’s good.” It’s hard not to like him, quirky weirdness and all.
Hahaha…Your take would be a lot more fun. I also have a few of the MFE titles. They are so bad that they are good.
Yeah, I’ve picked up a few of those too. They’re not great, but somehow entertaining despite or even because of it. The wackiness of their Capt. Marvel just seemed a natural fit for a ’60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon, where it’s all in fun.