Flash Comics [ashcan] #1

History

In 1939, Fawcett Publications entered the superhero boom by hiring staff writer Bill Parker, who conceived a team of six mythologically empowered heroes; Fawcett's editorial director Ralph Daigh ordered the concept collapsed into a single character, and artist C.C. Beck was assigned to design and illustrate him. The resulting character, Captain Thunder, was slated to headline a new anthology titled Flash Comics, and Fawcett rushed out a black-and-white ashcan edition — printed in a handful of copies and sent by registered mail to wholesalers and distributors — to establish first-use priority for the title and character. The strategy failed on every count: All-American Comics had already released a Flash Comics of its own starring The Flash and Hawkman, and the names "Captain Thunder" and "Thrill Comics" (used for an identical second ashcan) were likewise already claimed. Beck re-lettered every instance of "Thunder" to "Marvel," the title became Whiz Comics, and the debut issue was numbered #2 — with the ashcans effectively serving as the uncelebrated #1. The ashcan copies remained unknown to the collector community until 1983.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First printed appearance of Captain Thunder (the character who became Captain Marvel / Shazam), created by writer Bill Parker and artist C.C. Beck in 1939.
• Produced as a black-and-white ashcan — a tiny-print-run internal copyright document — sent by registered mail to wholesalers and distributors to establish first-use priority for the title 'Flash Comics' and the character.
• Fawcett could not secure trademarks for 'Flash Comics,' 'Thrill Comics,' or 'Captain Thunder'; the title was subsequently renamed Whiz Comics and the hero renamed Captain Marvel, directly causing Whiz Comics to debut as issue #2 rather than #1.
• The eight-page Captain Thunder origin story corresponds closely to the first portion of the Captain Marvel origin published in Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. 1940); Beck re-lettered all references from 'Thunder' to 'Marvel' for the newsstand version.
• The issue contains the first appearances — in their Captain Thunder-era forms — of Billy Batson/Captain Thunder, the wizard Shazam (who dies after granting Billy his powers), Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana (alias the Phantom Scientist), Uncle Ebenezer Batson (in flashback, as the villain who throws Billy out), and Sterling Morris (owner of Amalgamated Broadcasting, later Station WHIZ).
• Captain Thunder is not named on the cover but is identified on the interior masthead; the cover art is by C.C. Beck.
• An identical ashcan with the same contents was simultaneously published as Thrill Comics #1; the two ashcans are the twin prototypes of Whiz Comics.
• The Captain Thunder origin story from this ashcan was later reprinted (with the name changed to Captain Marvel) in The Great Comic Book Heroes (Dial Press, 1965), DC's Famous First Edition F-4 (1974), and The Shazam! Archives Vol. 1 (DC, 1992), among other collections.

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