Comments on: Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #58

By: Ted Watson

Ted Watson — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:24:51 +0000

Ahhhhh! This Silberkleit connection makes sense of it all. Thanks, Brian. Incidentally, I was already planning on tempering my "ethics" remark with a posting admitting that the JSA deal between National and All-American--two separate and competing companies then, of course--certainly suggests that the regulations and the Federal Trade Commission weren't all that strict about such things at that time anyway.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 21:50:43 +0000

MLJ saw it before #1 hit and complained about it then.

So they were able to fix it for #2.

Louis Silberkleit (the L in MLJ) worked with Martin Goodman, as well, and Captain America was a big deal for Goodman (note above where I point out how he got his own title right away, which was extremely rare back then), so Silberkleit probably filled Goldwater in, who, in turn, complained to Goodman before the issue was released.

By: Ted Watson

Ted Watson — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 19:46:57 +0000

Just now took a GOOD look at the item about the shape of Cap's shield and why it changed, and noticed something. Any explanation of how a competing company's executive could know to complain about its resemblance to the chest plate of their own hero's costume in time for the results of said complaint to appear on and in the SECOND issue? And with a MONTHLY frequency, no less! Given the known lag time in comics publishing, I have to believe there is more to this story than related. I mean, if Goldwater saw something of "Captain America" #1 far enough in advance of publication (which doesn't sound like an ethical business practice, anyway) for his complaint to affect the designs in #2, wouldn't it have been early enough for #1 to get retouched? Could it be that someone at Timely saw The Shield on a newsstand or somewhere shortly after "Cap" #1 went to the printers and recommended the change in time for #2? The GCD indicates that your indication of early 1940 for PEP and early 1941 for CA is right on, Brian, so any further details?

By: Ted Watson

Ted Watson — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 19:55:08 +0000

Interesting to see Cap's head wings in the poster art (which itself looks like a hand-colored still), as the stills--one on the poster itself--clearly show they aren't on the actual costume used in filming. The midriff stripes don't go around the back, and even though you can't tell here, he doesn't carry a shield, either. Somewhere, probably in Jim Harmon and Donald Glut's book, "The Great Movie Serials" (Doubleday, 1973), I read that Timely/Marvel complained about all the costume and conceptual changes, and Republic's response was to claim that nowhere in the comics made available to them was anything in contradiction to their depiction of his secret identity and such (apparently ignoring the costume). THEY had him not as soldier Steve Rogers but a stateside district attorney whose name I don't recall, but was definitely NOT Steve Rogers. The interesting thing is that, according to Roy Thomas via his 70s comic The Invaders, Timely's own star-spangled knock-off character, The Patriot, WAS a D.A. Is it plausible--at this late date anything's possible--that this is somehow not a coincidence? I certainly don't think it's a coincidence that Republic never again--unless I've missed a serial, which would be quite a surprise to me--licensed serial rights to a pre-existing character/property.

By: Mark S

Mark S — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 13:15:45 +0000

What about featuring the astonishing story of how the Radio Superman helped fight the real life Klu Klux Klan, as featured in the book â€œFreakonomicsâ€, (other sources on the web too).

By: Omar Karindu

Omar Karindu — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:58:29 +0000

Dag! I knew I should've asked my question about the longstanding rumor that Liefeld's Fighting American stories were just slightly redrawn Heroes Reborn Captain America stories -- it'd be the second time that sort of thing happened to Cap, the first being the 1940s stories of the Defender and Rusty. (If the the Defender sounds familiar to you, that's because he was the minor 40s hero Bendis and Maleev aced in an issue of the "Golden Age" arc in Daredevil.

By: StevenRowe

StevenRowe — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 22:51:56 +0000

two more interesting things about Martin Goodman and MLJ--
Goodman got his start in the mag bizness when he got some of the remains of Louis Silberkleit (the L of MLJ)'s first pulp line (he had been working for Silberkleit). Silberkleit quickly got back on his feet and started his next pulp line..... Goodman and Silberkleit had previously worked together for other companies - thus knew each other real well. Maurice Coyne (the M of MLJ) besides co-owning MLJ was the treasuer of the Goodman pulp and comics company!

By: David C

David C — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 17:11:40 +0000

Wow, what's with the coloring on that movie poster? Was Cap fighting for Uncle Sam or "Uncle Joe?"