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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

We're back!

Hi, everyone. I've been away for a while, fighting at international medieval combat tournaments, producing videos, working in the insurance industry, having a girlfriend, that sort of thing, but I am revving back up the Captain Marvel Culture project. With that in mind, I wanted to share some very recent Captain Marvel news.

As you should know by now, Marvel Comics has reprinted scads of Marvelman comics and is currently reprinting the Alan Moore series about the character under the name "Miracleman," it's title in the US.

Noh-Varr became The Protector and descended into obscurity, a dead Mar-Vell showed up in a miniseries, and Carol Danvers took on the mantle of Captain Marvel in a new series written by Kelly Sue DeConnick (who I interviewed at NY Comic Con. I'll post that interview in a later blog post).

Meanwhile, over at DC, the newest re-imagining of "Shazam" (now the name of the character carrying the franchise of the original Captain Marvel) has become a regular back-up character in Justice League comics. He had his own back-up series that established the new character's origin, which includes a half-dozen foster kids (including Billy Batson and Mary) who can all transform into variants of Shazam heroes.

Now let's see what's out there on the Interwebs...


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Young Heartthrob to play a Captain Marvel?

Here is a little blip on the "Captain Marvel in the movies" radar screen. Kevin Pennington, model/actor/hearthrob seen in the recent "90210" TV series, has been rumored to be playing a role in the  upcoming "Avengers" movie.

The story seems to start at on 5/8/2010 on AvengersNews.com where it is reported that an "inside source" says that the young man has signed with Marvel Studios to play a character in the next "Avengers" film.

The news hits the big tme a few days later when on 5/11/2010 Comic Book Movie.com  posts Pennington's Twitter tweets about signing a three-picture deal with Marvel Studios, and repeats speculation that the character may be Hawkeye/Clint Barton as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent

Then on 5/15/2010, AvengersNews.com gives a list of eight characters, all presumably S.H.I.E.L.D agents, that Pennington may potentially be playing. Of interest to us here at Captain Marvel Culture are "Agent Jones" and "Noh Varr." Agent Jones could presumably be Rick Jones, Marvel Comics' all-purpose sidekick who spent years swapping atoms with Captain Mar-Vell, going back and forth into the Negative Zone. Jones also was sidekick to the Hulk and Captain America, so it sounds reasonable that the character would be in an Avengers movie.

The next day, 5/16/2010, a Spanish website, Blogdesuperheroes.es picks up the story.

Also on that day, AvengersNews reports that Pennington tweeted that his role will not be Clint Barton/Hawkeye, which leaves Rick Jones or Noh-Varr.

A couple of days later, on 5/29/2010, Comicbookmovie.com
sums up the story so far, adding the news that Jeremy Renner is talking with Marvel about playing Hawkeye. A tweet by Pennington is posted here, as is an on-line poll in which the viewers are asked whether they would rather see Pennington as Rick Jones or Noh-Varr. The results come in at 185-156 in favor of Rick Jones. There is also a very lengthy list of comments giving a wide variety of fan opinions on the subject.

On 5/24/2010,
That same day
Comicbookmovie.com reports the AvengersNews.com news, highlighting the ambiguousness of which Captain Marvel it would be, and suspecting that since Pennington was going to be at San Diego Comic Con that year, that's when the announcement would be made. Massive passionate fan posts.

...and also on that same day, that same Spanish site reports the news, but does add Genis-Vell to the possible Captain Marvels Pennington could play.
 
On 6/8/2010, AvengersNews.com reports that Rick Jones is one of four characters Pennington may be playing in upcoming movies.

Then on 6/13/2010, , the "Celluloid and Cigarette Burns" blog speculates on the possibilities of a "Ka-Zar" movie with Pennington in the lead role.

On 6/18/2010, AvengersNews.com posts pictures of Pennington with a Marvel watermark and lists the roles he is currently speculated to be playing, and none of them are Captain Marvel-related.

Time passes, and on 8/23/2010
the Hollywood Spy blog suggests that Pennington might play the Human Torch in a reboot of the "Fantastic Four" franchise.

Summer turns to autumn, autumn to winter, the holidays come and go, and then more than a month into the new  year, on 2/8/2011, Blastr.com Reports that Strahotski.com reported that Yvonne Strahovski from the spy comedy TV show Chuck will be playing Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel. This rumor does not last long.

On 2/8/2011,
 Gotham News reports that there was to be an event in the springtime involving the casting and shooting of the Avengers movie in NYC. Present at the event would be many of the lead actors, including "Kevin Pennington (Agent Wendell Vaughn)."

The report cites Big Shiny Robot as one of the several sites that posted this information. Big Shiny Robot is skeptical of the source. Gotham news even posts an update that Marvel denies the whole business.

...and here is how the rest of the 'netoshpere reported and reacted to the news...

2/9/2011 g4tv: The Feed Blog "The Avengers To Be Joined By Quasar?"

2/9/2011 Calluloid and Cigarette Burns "Kevin Pennington Is Quasar In Avengers?"

2/9/2011 IGN "No Quasar in The Avengers"

2/9/2011 Comic bookmovie.com "RUMOR CONTROL: You Can Join the Avengers Initiative and Kevin Pennington for Quasar After All?"

2/9/2010 Moviefone "'The Avengers' Update: Kevin Pennington Joins Cast, SHIELD to Recruit in NYC"

2/10/2011 Comicvine.com "Kevin Pennington Playing Quasar in the Avengers?"

2/13/2011 Movieweb "The Avengers Will Not Feature Kevin Pennington" In this article a tweet from the man himself dispells all rumors. Apparently even imdb.com was convinced he would be doing something in the Avengers franchise.

As a sign that this whole Pennington rumor cycle was past its prime, most of the fan posts were moans about how the X-Men franchise was being ruined.

...and so the hopes of seeing any Captain Marvel in a motion picture have once again been dashed, and another actor rumored to play one is revealed to not be.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Marc Swayze, 1913 - 2012

RIP Marc Swayze. He was one of the last, if not THE last artist alive who drew the original Captain Marvel for Fawcett publications. I designed the look of Mary Marvel and drew her first adventures. He had a regular column in the "Fawcett Collectors of America" section of Alter Ego magazine titled "We Didn't Know It Was the Golden Age." He was close friends with P.C. Hamerlinck, the publisher of FCA. He will be missed.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

"Shazam" gets the cover of Justice League #0

So this is what DC is doing with "The-Character-That-Cannot Use-His-Name-On-The-Cover." I've been following the story. It is well-written and interesting, and I am approaching it as a sort of "Earth 2," "alternate universe," or "ultimates" Captain Marvel. It stands up well for itself so far, but it's like watching King Arthur movies. You have to take it on its own terms or else your body may rebel from trying to swallow all the "re-interpretations." That being said, I am not a big fan of this new, over-glitzed costume. I preferred the hero that he used to look like than the one that this one is looking like.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Gotta Post This...

For the first time in about seven years, I-Con is not hosting my ever-evolving lecture on the history of the many Captain Marvels. Nor is it hosting my popular lecture on the history of armor and chivalry. Nor am I going to be part of the cabaret. however I do have two performances scheduled on the filk track, Saturday at 6 Pm and sunday at 2 PM.

But I am really making this post so I don't lose the link for this post by John Babos on Comics Nexus...

Demythify: DC Comics Bends To Marvel & Piecing Together Curse Of Shazam With… Justice League Dark?

In it, he rounds up several directions "Shazam!" has gone recently and might go in the very near future.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A New Return?

Marvel Comics is teasing us. Check this out.

The new SHAZAM is on the way...

so thye workd it out, the promotional articles have been written and posted, and the advance solicitations made: the new "Justice League" #7 will include a backup feature titled "The Curse of Shazam" and feature Billy Batson and DC Comics' newest incarnation of the Big Red Cheese, a magical hero known as "Shazam."

this character will have a new uniform and that combines elements of the classic and Trials