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I am not shazam... But now I am?

ZennistradZennistrad
edited 2012-01-30 22:22:11 in Media

People familiar with DC Comics all know about Captain Marvel, who's comics are titled "Shazam" to avoid legal troubles with Marvel Comic. This has lead to many people calling him "Shazam," and inspiring the name of the trope "I Am Not Shazam."



Well, the funny thing is, now that DC's done a reboot, they're deciding they should probably just avoid all of that trouble and just call him Shazam.

Comments

  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.

    hatehatehatehateahate

  • vandrovandro
    edited 2012-01-30 22:28:01
    He who laments and can't let go of the past is forever doomed to solitude.



    indifferenceindifferenceindifferenceindifferenceindifferenceindifferenceindifferenceindifferenceindifferenceindifferenceindifference


     




  • ninjaclownninjaclown

    I like it.

  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!

    This displeases me. 

  • ZennistradZennistrad

    ^ I like how that's pretty much everyone's knee-jerk reaction even though it clears up a lot of confusion and he's still presumably going to be the same character. Every long-running superhero's greatest power is the Nostalgia Filter.

  • NovaNova
    If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.

    I  do not really mind.


    Captain Marvel is a cooler name than Shazam though.

  • MalkavianMalkavian
    edited 2012-01-30 22:30:24
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!

    I just dislike that the only reason they can't use Captain Marvel is because Marvel (the company) is an asshole about it.

  • ninjaclownninjaclown

    Didn't Marvel get the rights to the name AFTER DC? Not sure how that works.

  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    edited 2012-01-30 22:32:13
    You can change. You can.

    My problem is the immediate implication that people are stupid enough to not open a comic book and they need to have the protagonist's name in the title. Turns out that comics can be deep enough to have their protagonist and title be different. 


    It's not just that, though. Shazam doesn't sound as delightfully immature as Captain Marvel. I mean, that's the kind of a name a kid like Billy Batson would come up with. 


    And Shazam's the name of the wizard who gives the Captain his powers, so there's that too.


    ETA: Oh, I somehow managed to forget Marvel's a thing. Still annoying. Even more so.

  • ClockworkUniverseClockworkUniverse
    OOOooooOoOoOOoo, I'm a ghoOooOooOOOost!

    I really liked that comic Watchmen, about the guy named Watchmen.

  • ZennistradZennistrad

    I tried to open a thread in the Trope Repair Shop about this, but apparently it's over capacity. I don't trust myself to remember about my To-Do list, so could someone else open a thread as soon as the space is available? I'll probably forget by the end of the week.

  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!

    Which guy in the Justice League is Justice again?

  • NyktosNyktos
    a little muffled

    @ninjaclown:



    Didn't Marvel get the rights to the name AFTER DC? Not sure how that works.


    Captain Marvel was created by some other comic company in the 40s.  After they died, Marvel made their own character called Captain Marvel. In the Silver Age, DC bought the rights to the original character and brought him back, but Marvel's character already existed then.


    I am probably getting the details slightly wrong, but that's the gist of it.


  • vandrovandro
    He who laments and can't let go of the past is forever doomed to solitude.

    They bought him before Marvel made its Captain Marvel, just that they didn't use it and didn't trademark for shit.

  • ZennistradZennistrad

    I think it has more to do with the fact that "Marvel Comics" is the name of their biggest competitor.

  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.

    true, but I don't honestly think that people really care that much about what studio/publisher's behind the comic books they read. 

  • SaigyoujiSaigyouji
    But you never had any to begin with.

    true, but I don't honestly think that people really care that much about what studio/publisher's behind the comic books they read.



    Hahahano.

  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    edited 2012-01-31 08:25:36
    You can change. You can.

    internet jackasses are not a majority outside the internet.

  • SaigyoujiSaigyouji
    But you never had any to begin with.

    Who said I was talking about the internet?

  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.

    In my experience, most of the people who bitch about studios and whatnot tend to be a rather vocal minority, both in web and meatspace.



    Anyway, you have to remember that the reboot's main purpose is not to maintain old readers but to reach new readers. And I'm sure that, without counting on Marvel fanboys who hate DC, most people who don't read comics beyond underground shit (Because American Splendor = underground amirite) or at all probably don't care about who published what's in their hands as long as they're enjoying it.


    or maybe i'm just too hopeful


  • TheConductorTheConductor
    edited 2012-01-31 09:17:55

    Couldn't they just call it "Warrior of Shazam" or something, if they are so adamant on describing the main character on the title.


     


    Or even better, just strike a deal with Marvel to use "Captain Marvel" as the name. Like, say, if either company prints a comic called Captain Marvel then the other is entitled to 5% of the profit or something.


     


    Also, oldish news isn't it? The last Captain Marvel comic featured Freddy Freeman as Shazam.


     


    Also, tone of the article bugs me.

  • captainbrasscaptainbrass

    ^^ In further shock news, future issues of American Splendour will introduce a new protagonist, Mr A. Splendour.

  • ninjaclownninjaclown

    I wish Dark Horse was an actual superhero. DH Comics could totally make a killing off that.

  • MadassAlexMadassAlex
    One foot in front of the other, every day.

    Shadow Stallion.


    Black Steed.


    African-American Servant.


    racism, racism everywhere

  • CountryPumpkinCountryPumpkin
    I clench my fists and yell "anime" towards an uncaring, absent God, and swear solemnly to press my thumbs into Chocolate America's eyeballs until he is blinded, to directly emasculate sporting figures, to beat the shit out of tumblr users with baseball bats, and to quietly appreciate what Waylon Smithers being gay means to me.

    On the one hand, I like the name Captain Marvel much more, but on the other renaming him makes more sense from a legal perspective. 


    But now I'll never be able to read Kingdom Come the same way ever again 

  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.

    Captain Marvel Shazam'd for your sins.

  • NyktosNyktos
    a little muffled

    They should have changed his name back to Captain Thunder instead.

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