Even DC's Forgotten Green Lantern Knows Shazam is a Superman Rip Off

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Even Alan Scott, DC’s forgotten Green Lantern knows Shazam is a Superman rip off. The long-standing rivalry between Superman and Shazam stretches back to comics' Golden Age; it would spill over into the courts as well, resulting in a long legal battle that saw DC victorious. This rivalry continues to this day, and in 1985’s All-Star Squadron #52, Alan Scott calls the rivalry out with a subtle joke.

Superman’s debut in 1938 launched the Golden Age of Comics, and before long a number of other publishers had launched comic lines as well. One such company was Fawcett Publications, who in 1940’s Whiz Comics #2 by Bill Parker, Greg Duncan, and Bob Kingett, introduced Shazam, then called Captain Marvel. The character was an instant success and was allegedly outselling Superman within a few years. This did not sit well with DC Comics, who brought suit against Fawcett, claiming Captain Marvel was a rip off of Superman. The suit would last until the early 1950s, by which time the Golden Age had ended, and with it, the popularity of superhero comics; the suit had also bled Fawcett dry financially, and the publisher ceased publication of its comics’ line. Ironically, DC would license the character twenty years later, publishing their own line of Shazam comics. DC bought the rights to the character in the early 1980s, and the rest is history. However, this feud still resonates with fans, and the original Green Lantern calls this fact out in All-Star Squadron #52, written by Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas, illustrated by Arvell Jones, inked by Alfredo Alcala, colored by Carl Gafford and lettered by David Cody Weiss.

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