| Captain Marvel Adventures | |
|---|---|
 Issue #18 depicting the originalMarvel Family:Captain Marvel (left),Mary Marvel (center) andCaptain Marvel Jr. (right) | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Fawcett Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly Every third Friday Biweekly |
| Format | Anthology |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | March 1941 – November 1953 |
| No. of issues | 150 |
| Main character | Captain Marvel |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Otto Binder,William Woolfolk,Ed Herron,Joe Simon |
| Artist(s) | C. C. Beck,Pete Costanza,Jack Kirby |
| Editor(s) | Ed Herron, Wendell Crowley |
Captain Marvel Adventures is a long running comic bookanthology series that was published byFawcett Comics, starringCaptain Marvel during theGolden Age of Comic Books.[1]
The series was the first solo series starring thesuperhero after he was the star of theanthology titleWhiz Comics. It was first released in 1941. The premiere issue was written and drawn byJoe Simon andJack Kirby.[2] The series was a huge success at the time. It sold 14 million copies in 1944,[3] and was at one point being published bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue. Several issues ofCaptain Marvel Adventures included a blurb on their covers proclaiming the series the "Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine".[4] The series would be cancelled with issue #150 in November 1953.[5][6]
Outside of Captain Marvel stories, there were other featured character stories within the anthology every now and then, like Captain Kid.[7]
Otto Binder andC.C. Beck introducedsupervillains likeIbac in issue #8,Mister Mind and the Monster Society of Evil in issue #26[8] andMister Atom in issue #78, which would remain recurring antagonists for the superhero.[9] The series' most significant debut was introducingMary Marvel in issue #18, along with the formation of theMarvel Family.[10][11][12] Also introduced wasMr. Tawky Tawny in issue #79.[9]
The success of the comic series leadDC Comics tofile a lawsuit on Fawcett Comics regarding the character being too similar toSuperman, which Fawcett would forfeit, and DC would win.[4]
In 1944, the best-selling comic book title (Captain Marvel Adventures) sold more than fourteen million copies for the year.
By the middle of the decade, Captain Marvel had received a self-titled comic book,Captain Marvel's Adventures [sic], which had a circulation that reached 1.3 million copies per month. Captain Marvel's circulation numbers exceeded National's Superman title and the rivalry between the companies led National to sue Fawcett for plagiarism.
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