This Court Rules in Favor of Fawcett: A Collaborative Timeline

[TheMolluskLingers]

August 30, 1951: After a three-month court case in which National Comics Publications attempted to sue its competitor Fawcett Comics over alleged similarities between Superman and Captain Marvel. The court rules in favor of Fawcett, primarily citing their evidence that the concepts behind Superman are nothing original and that National let the copyright on Superman expire, making their case null and void. National is forced to pay $800,000 dollars[1] worth in damages, and dissolves not long thereafter.

[1] or double the amount Fawcett paid IOTL.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

This is an interesting scenario, I'd say. While not in chronological order, here's what I think would happen...

1: Fawcett Publications doesn't go defunct. However, it does shift its focus from magazines to comics, changing their company name to Fawcett Comics.

2: Captain Marvel(AKA: Shazam) keeps his name for a few more years. However, once the Marvel Comics version of the namesake comes into power in 1967, a massive change in the franchise occurs: Captain Marvel Sr. dies, and his sidekick, Captain Marvel Jr., takes on the mantle. However, not wanting to be the exact same as his rival-turned-best friend, he now goes under the name of Shazam. This is an in-universe explanation to the sudden name change, which probably confused readers at the time for a while.

3: Fawcett Comics buys Krantz Films, essentially the successor to Grantray-Lawrence Animation, renames it to Fawcett Animation, and has the studio work on a Shazam animated series during the early 1970's. Oh, and one more thing. They still cooperate with Ralph Bakshi on Fritz the Cat.

4: National Comics Productions ends up having a serious rival that isn't Marvel Comics that lasted until 1997, when they bought Fawcett Comics, and the Shazam franchise with it. This also gave WB, who owned them and changed their name to DC Comics, the Grantray-Lawrence animation studio. That part didn't amount to much of anything, though.

 

[THeaven]

Well anything I could add is already part of my Fawcett comics survives TL
though does that mean Grantray-Lawrence doesn't make Spider-man cause in that case Steve Ditko probably stays on for another year and his other creations (Creeper, Question, Hawk & Dove) become Marvel characters*
* in MTL I made them Fawcett characters

 

[THeaven]

This is an interesting scenario, I'd say. While not in chronological order, here's what I think would

4: National Comics Productions ends up having a serious rival that isn't Marvel Comics that lasted until 1997, when they bought Fawcett Comics, and the Shazam franchise with it. This also gave WB, who owned them and changed their name to DC Comics, the Grantray-Lawrence animation studio. That part didn't amount to much of anything, though.

So DC is called National comics in this TL does that mean that the Collaboration between All American comics to make Justice Society doesn't happen & National Comics has

• No Wonder Woman
• No Flash
• No Green Lantern
• No Hawkman/Hawkgirl
• No Atom

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

So DC is called National comics in this TL does that mean that the Collaboration between All American comics to make Justice Society doesn't happen & National Comics has

• No Wonder Woman
• No Flash
• No Green Lantern
• No Hawkman/Hawkgirl
• No Atom

Actually, if you were to read the whole thing, you'd find that National Comics would still be called DC Comics and still be under WB's ownership. It's just that they don't get the Shazam Fam until the late-90's, rather than the 70's or 80's.

 

[JonClark]

2: Captain Marvel(AKA: Shazam) keeps his name for a few more years. However, once the Marvel Comics version of the namesake comes into power in 1967, a massive change in the franchise occurs: Captain Marvel Sr. dies, and his sidekick, Captain Marvel Jr., takes on the mantle. However, not wanting to be the exact same as his rival-turned-best friend, he now goes under the name of Shazam. This is an in-universe explanation to the sudden name change, which probably confused readers at the time for a while.

Unless Fawcett slipped up somewhere wouldn't they actually have the rights to the Captain Marvel name? Marvel would be the ones needing to do the re-naming of the character.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

Unless Fawcett slipped up somewhere wouldn't they actually have the rights to the Captain Marvel name? Marvel would be the ones needing to do the re-naming of the character.

Well, my other option was to call the other Captain Marvel "Ms. Marvel" since Day 1. Y'know, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

 

[TheMolluskLingers]

So DC is called National comics in this TL does that mean that the Collaboration between All American comics to make Justice Society doesn't happen & National Comics has

• No Wonder Woman
• No Flash
• No Green Lantern
• No Hawkman/Hawkgirl
• No Atom

I think you misunderstand where the POD is.

1) National Comics is what DC was called at this time; All-American Publications and National Allied have already merged. The name DC Comics was not officially adopted until 1977.

2) The JSA was already created, and the Golden Age incarnations of those heroes already exist.

 

[Ogrebear]

September 15, 1951:The Court case has left National shattered and rumours circulate about them dissolving. Never one to miss an opportunity Stan Lee of Atlas Comics walks into National’s office with a chequebook ahead of the expected fire sale of their assets.

Lee would purchase the rights to the JSA including Batman, Flash, and their assorted villains. With Superman instead of buying him directly Lee partnered with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster the characters creator- they would buy and own Superman, and Atlas would lease him for publication.

With the paperwork done Lee got to work with his stable of artists to produce new an anthology book with the characters he had purchased meeting the popular wartime characters Atlas already owned such as Captain America. Martin Goodman Atlas’s publisher was skeptical about the chances of success since superhero books had gone into a slump, but interest in the case and the speed Lee was able to get a book out saw decent enough sales for Amazing Adventures though not 1940’s numbers.

 

[TheMolluskLingers]

September 15, 1951:The Court case has left National shattered and rumours circulate about them dissolving. Never one to miss an opportunity Stan Lee of Atlas Comics walks into National’s office with a chequebook ahead of the expected fire sale of their assets.

Lee would purchase the rights to the JSA including Batman, Flash, and their assorted villains. With Superman instead of buying him directly Lee partnered with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster the characters creator- they would buy and own Superman, and Atlas would lease him for publication.

With the paperwork done Lee got to work with his stable of artists to produce new an anthology book with the characters he had purchased meeting the popular wartime characters Atlas already owned such as Captain America. Martin Goodman Atlas’s publisher was skeptical about the chances of success since superhero books had gone into a slump, but interest in the case and the speed Lee was able to get a book out saw decent enough sales for Amazing Adventures though not 1940’s numbers.

Stan Lee purchases the Distinguished Competition!? This oughta create some interesting butterflies!

Anyways...

November 21, 1951: With his creators now given full creative control once again, Superman is given a reboot under the Atlas banner; returning to a decidedly more antiheroic streak influenced by Siegel and Shuster having recently read The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin, the storyline of the new Superman #1 shakes up the status quo for what was up to then seen as an American symbol. The story retcons away Clark's time as Superboy and deals with, in an unprecedented move for the time, PTSD from World War II and disillusionment with "the American way". This story, "Truth, Justice, and the Humanist Way", upheaves the status-quo completely by Kal-El revealing his identity to Lois, abandoning the Clark Kent persona for good, and adopting a red-and-black suit, a subtle indication towards Jerry and Joe's newfound anarcho-communist sympathies. It is also the first major aversion towards "comic book time", establishing that while Kal-El is 35 (having been born in 1916), he will always look between 22 and 24 due to Kryptonians being biologically immortal. The story was met with wide acclaim but not without controversy, and still remains as important a comic as Superman's debut today.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

I most assuredly didn't expect any of this! Nice job!

 

[TheMolluskLingers]

I most assuredly didn't expect any of this! Nice job!

Just wait 'till you see what I have planned for the Comics Code Authority. You thought an anarcho-communist Superman was a game-changer? You ain't seen nothing yet.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

Just wait 'till you see what I have planned for the Comics Code Authority. You thought an anarcho-communist Superman was a game-changer? You ain't seen nothing yet.

I have only two words for this...

Uh oh.

 

[Igeo654]

December 15th, 1951: With the $800,000 won from their victory against National Comics and their rival's purchase by Atlas, Fawcett Publishing owns, for the first time, the largest and most profitable comic book divisions in the United States of America. Riding high off of this victory, Roscoe Fawcett seeks to capitalize by buying up the assets of the defunct comic publisher, Fox Feature's syndicate. What with Fox having filed for bankruptcy a year before, this feat is less than easy. However, eventually, after several calls made, in particular to former Chief Editor, Victor S. Fox, the assets of Fox hand in the lap of Fawcett for a reasonable sum and the new head of the comic division, Captain Marvel Co-Creator, CC Beck. With a new pack of heroes ready to be brought back to life, Beck's team plans on reviving Blue Beetle, The Flame and Flame Girl, The Dart and Ace, Phantom Lady, and, strangely enough, Fletcher Hanks' Stardust the Super Wizard for the new decade.

The aforementioned Super Wizard in particular is scheduled to get some special treatment from the higher-ups. With the red scare about to explode across the country and Superman's sudden turn towards Anarchism, Fawcett has smelled blood on the water and has commissioned Beck, despite the history of the character, to take the Stardust character and sanitize the previously merciless Supercop into a Civicly Proud, Law Abiding, scientifically advanced, Larger than life, Alien Super Sheriff, to serve as a friendly Rival to Captain Marvel and his Marvel Family, who will also be made more all-American and wholesome. In the meantime, Fawcett has set his eyes on Fiction House Publishing, in the hopes of convincing them to sell Hanks' other ''star'' Fantomah.

(Made an Edit.)

 

[TheMolluskLingers]

December 25th, 1951: After purchasing Hanks' Fantomah for an undisclosed sum, Fawcett previews their own superteam, the Crimebusters[1] in a backup story in their Whiz Comics Christmas issue. The team consists of Captain Marvel, Stardust the Super Wizard, Blue Beetle, The Flame, Flame Girl, Phantom Lady, and Fantomah; the story consists of the team trying to stop a plan between Eris, the Greek goddess ofchaos, and the all-but-stated lesbian vampire Carmilla to sow the seeds of atomic warfare between the USSR and US.

[1] OTL, this name was used in-universe for the second (and quickly aborted) super-team in Watchmen; here it's used several decades earlier for Fawcett's attempt to cash in on the JSA.

 

[Igeo654]

I have no idea how things will work out, now that DC is dead and under Marvel. One thing is for super, if the Marvel heroes do come about, Supes, Bats and Wondy will never leave the golden age. At least in my mind.

 

[King Krazy]

EARLY 1952: Famous Studios licenses out its cartoon characters (most notably Baby Huey, Little Audrey and Casper) to Harvey Comics.

(AN: New user, I like comics so I'm gonna keep an eye on this one. This event also happened in our world.)

 

[JonClark]

I have no idea how things will work out, now that DC is dead and under Marvel. One thing is for super, if the Marvel heroes do come about, Supes, Bats and Wondy will never leave the golden age. At least in my mind.

Or we get a "Crisis" type situation where the Marvel Age is new heroes like Spidey and the FF alongside rebooted or 2nd generation versions of the JSA (plus Superman and Batman). Superman might take the place of Captain America as the 1940's guy trying to fit in with the changing times. Batman might become an adult Dick Grayson or someone inspired by Bruce's 1940/1950 adventures. Flash is a mutant (aka Quicksilver) or a Barry Allen-type but with a Marvel-load of life problems (job, love-life, health issues). Wildcat is a 1960's character similar to Wolverine. Doctor Midnight is either reworked to be closer to Daredevil or Charles McNider becomes a retired hero in the supporting cast of Matt Murdock.

 

[Ogrebear]

One thing to remember is that superhero comics where in a big slump in 1950’s that they didn’t recover from until the 60’s. I don’t see this case doing much to revive their fortunes right now, but the shuffling about of characters and companies might put things in a different at place than otl when sales pick up again post moral and red panic.

The companies did all put out ‘funny animal’ books, westerns, true crime, fashion, war etc books so could something there be the next big thing instead of the FF?

 

[King Krazy]

Ogrebear, one of the things I have in mind for this is that the superhero genre doesn't become as dominant as it did in our world, and as a result there's more variety in American comics (compared to our world, where it's two companies offering one genre and everyone else fights over table scraps). I also want to try and save Harvey Comics from falling into obscurity like in our world (I'm thinking they could expand into animation in the 60s).

On another note...since we have an openly communist Supes in this, I imagine Wertham is gonna have more ammunition against comics when he shows up...unless OP has a trick up his sleeves.