Mego. That was where it all started for me. My considerable toy collection today stems from the love of play that a handful of figures engendered decades ago. They were all my favorites, of course — how could I choose just one? Superman and Batman (along with Robin, obviously) were essential, as were Spider-Man and Captain America. The Hulk and Iron Man both had powerful hand candy appeal, as did Green Arrow. But in spite of their merits, none of these characters captured my imagination quite like Captain Marvel. Or should I say “Shazam!”
Captain Marvel was created by writer Bill Parker and artist CC Beck, under publisher’s mandate that their new character be like “… Superman, only have his other identity be a 10- or 12-year-old boy rather than a man.” So was born Billy Batson, orphan newsboy transformed by an ancient wizard into the World’s Mightiest Mortal. The transformation occurs when Billy speaks the wizard’s name, the acronym SHAZAM. Once changed, Captain Marvel could call upon the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. The Captain first appeared in Fawcett’s Whiz Comics #2.
The good Captain actually struck a chord with the comic’s readership, standing out in a sea of Superman imitators and generating the type of instant success that comics companies ordinarily only dreamed about. Soon, Captain Marvel Adventures was selling 1.3 million issues a month, leaving even the Man of Steel trailing far behind. DC Comics took it personally and, well, they should have; with his incredible powers, colorful costume, and dual identity, Captain Marvel bore more than a passing resemblance to their flagship character. In 1953, DC began legal action against Fawcett. Fawcett eventually lost the rights to publish comics featuring their best-selling property and the Captain went to sleep for the better part of two decades.
In 1972 DC Comics licensed the Marvel family of characters, but there was a problem. As a result of losing their lawsuit against DC years before, Fawcett had found itself unable to renew it’s copyright on the name “Captain Marvel.” Marvel Comics publisher Mort Goldman discovered this fact and quickly rushed a character bearing that name into print, securing the copyright for himself as well as sticking it to his competition. DC had won the battle but lost the war, unable to market their new acquisition by it’s actual name.
Rebranding the Captain “Shazam,” the character was integrated into the greater DC Universe. He received his own comic and then, improbably, landed a TV deal. Filmation, having already partnered with DC on a Superman cartoon, produced 28 episodes of a live-action Saturday morning television show for the CBS network. Also titled SHAZAM!, the show followed a slightly older Billy Batson as he and his mentor Mentor (ugh) traveled around in an RV teaching kids “important life lessons,” like to not smoke or to not lie to aviation officials. Yeah, it sounds lame now, but as a lad I ate it up.
The show was my first real exposure to the Captain. I’m sure I saw the character in the in-house ads that were ubiquitous to DC titles of the day, but it wasn’t until SHAZAM! first aired that I discovered the character. The show was live-action, which gave it an excitement and energy the poorly-animated cartoons of the day sorely lacked. Watching Billy call down the lightning always gave me goosebumps.
Captain Marvel worked. The concept hooked 6-year old me — and the appeal was universal. What kid doesn’t fantasize about being an adult and the power that comes with it? Every Saturday morning I tuned in, bath-towel around my neck, my gaze unwavering as I shoveled Frosted Flakes into my face. My grandparents would yell at me not to sit so close to the television or to put on my slippers. I’d endure their badgering for that half-hour just to catch up with the Captain.
Mego was in a prime position to benefit from the Captain’s popularity. Having licensed the character along with a handful of other DC properties in the early part of the decade, the toy company issued him in the 1974 assortment of their WORLDS GREATEST SUPER-HEROES! line, just in time to tie in with the show. Shazam’s vibrant colors and lightning-bolt emblem made him one of the more eye-catching DC Megos, in spite of the company’s simplification of the iconic costume.
Instead of his usual white half-cape with gold flowers, the Captain had to make do with a scrap of plain yellow fabric. Details like his metal bracers were represented by simple fabric banding, while an entire generation of kids bemoaned the fact that he didn’t have cuffed boots. Mego felt the Captain could get by on the same boots Superman and Batman had worn, a pragmatic, if unpopular, decision. If the company had spent a few extra bucks on tooling, they could have done right by both of their Captains — Marvel’s Captain America was also stuck with the generic hero boot instead of receiving the comic-accurate cuffed footwear.
Shazam was built on the standard Mego body. Only characters with wildly distinctive physiques got special bodies — Thing and Hulk because they were overly-muscled, Penguin and Mister Mxyzptlk because they were overly fat. Shazam’s head was generic enough to pass for TV actor Jackson Bostwick; Mego decided it was generic enough to pass for Peter Parker as well, issuing it with slight deco changes in their 1974 Montgomery Ward’s exclusive Alter Egos set.
I spent many a summer vacation with my grandparents. They lived outside of the city, in a small township near the Greater Pittsburgh airport. Their little house sat at the end of a dirt road, surrounded by a few acres of converted farmland. I don’t know what was once farmed there — from the time my mother was a little girl all that ever grew was a wide, flat plain of grass. I spent my summers playing in that grass, growing tan enacting the Captain’s latest adventures with my trusty Mego. Where he flew, I flew. Eyes open, eyes closed, my arm holding him higher than I could reach. His cape scraping the clouds, racing the thunder above the endless vista of green that ran and ran beneath my feet. A hero, a Marvel, bursting red against the limitless blue. The speed of a thought, a word, racing planes as he framed the sky. The Captain.
Eventually I got around to buying a SHAZAM! comic — and hated it. It’s not that it was bad (I guess) so much as the fact that it was so different from my vision of Captain Marvel. What was the matter with the Captain’s eyes? Who were all those other clowns? Why was there a rabbit?
After that it was kind of over. The Captain vanished along with my other Megos and I got into more grown-up pursuits like looking at stolen Playboy magazines and burnin’ stuff. When Super Powers figures first came out I wanted Green Lantern — obviously, I’d moved on. But nostalgia is a funny thing. It colors what was once mundane, giving even the most ubiquitous items a kind of mystical sheen. In time I came to enjoy the Captain again. His appearance in Kingdom Come was pretty cool (anyone know where I can get a red tuxedo jacket?) and the character was given his due in the JSA comic. As far as figures go, nothing new has really blown me away. Mattel’s attempt at 8″ figures were god-awful. In my opinion, the Mego format simply doesn’t work in the 21st century — the casual buyer is put off by the similarity to “antiquated” figures, while nostalgia buyers are disappointed in the differences. It’s a no-win situation.
See what I mean? Those Retro-Action figures were a travesty. The DC Universe Classics figure redeemed the Captain somewhat, restoring important costume details and providing a wonderfully characteristic head sculpt. In spite of that, I’m afraid he’s just another action figure to me. My feelings for the Mego don’t transfer over — why? It’s the same character, the same costume, but he’s not the same. It’s easy to see, just hold him up against the sky. In spite of advances in sculpting, painting and construction, there’s no equal to the experience of playing with that Mego — not because it was a better toy, but because it was my toy. The Captain is a key to my childhood, but I no longer need a figure to unlock it: the memory and myth and magic are merely a word away…
Jason R Mink IS the Man in the Ant Hill!
I just bought another type 2 Mego Shazam figure in very good condition to add to my Shazam memorabilia. Jackson Bostwick is Capt. Marvel!
Thanks for readin’, guys! More Mego Goodness coming soon!
I still have my mego Shazam from my childhood; i held onto him since i was 8 years old (now I´m 42 and counting) and, even tough he lost a thumb and both of his legs got broken at the knees, he´s still the man that gave orders to He-man and Lion-O in their neverending fight against evil, he beat the CRAP out of my best friend´s Six Milion Dollar man (13 inches height notwistanding) AND walked away with my sister´s Malibu Barbie (5 inches height difference my butt). Long live Shazam!
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I loved me some Megos when I was a kid. I probably owned just about all of them at one time or another. (I still have my Spider-Man). My first one was Aquaman, but like you, I was a big fan of SHAZAM! (Captain Marvel) back then. I loved the live action TV show. It was must see TV when I was 9. Unlike yourself though, I also liked the comics. I didn’t like Uncle Marvel and some of the other sillier aspects of the book, but I liked the good Captain, and still do.
I remember the Mego figure used to bug me because of the inaccurate cape and boots. In fact, I once made him a “proper” cape out of an old sheet I cut up and decorated with a yellow marker. I thought it looked great back then, but in truth, it was probably god awful.
My other gripe about Megos was the paper chest emblems that would stay on for a bout 5 minutes after they were out of the package. Oh, and those stupid “mitten” gloves that Batman and Aquaman and others wore used to bug the crap out of me. I guess Mego figured that dumb kids wouldn’t know the difference. Well, we did. Despite their shortcoming however, in their heyday, Mego WGSH figures were toy gold as far as I was concerned. (No lame, spring loaded action features required).
Ah, wonderful musings of Mego nostalgia that I can definitely identify with. Nice blog post! (I just got the “new” retro Capt. Marvel figure from Amazon because it was in my $10 or under price range and because I never had the Mego one, since it was my brother’s and he did not take care of and hold onto his Megos like I did and who knows what happened to it?)