Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: captain marvel, golden age, mary marvel, shazam

Mary Marvel Debuts in Captain Marvel Adventures #18, Up for Auction

The first appearance & origin of Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Adventures #18 is historic in its own right, & this copy has fascinating history

Mary Marvel made her debut in Captain Marvel Adventures #18, cover-dated December of 1942, in a story that explained that she was actually Billy Batson's twin sister, and could also summon the power of the wizard Shazam by speaking his name.  Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Marc Swayze, Mary Marvel became part of the rapidly-expanding Captain Marvel franchise, which had already come to include Captain Marvel Jr and the Lieutenant Marvels by the time of her introduction.  This issue also features a painted cover by Captain Marvel legend C.C. Beck. The character has received renewed attention in recent times as a part of the current DCEU Shazam film franchise, with the upcoming Shazam! Fury of the Gods is set to hit theaters on March 17.  In this film version, the character is played by Grace Fulton as a teenager and Michelle Borth as an adult.  There's a rare chance at a high-grade copy of Captain Marvel Adventures #18 Cosmic Aeroplane Pedigree (Fawcett Publications, 1942) CGC VF/NM 9.0 Cream to off-white pages up for auction in the 2023 January 12 – 15 Comics & Comic Art Signature® Auction #7338 from Heritage Auctions.

As co-creator Marc Swayze would later recall, "I laid aside the Captain Marvel story I was working on in the Captain Marvel production line and whipped up some sketches as requested. There was only one character to create, inasmuch as she was to remain the same with only a costume change. I didn't work up a variety of poses and expressions, as I was certain that my first drawings were going to come back, time and time again for revisions before final approval upstairs.  'Holy Moley,' as Billy would have said, the drawings were accepted without a single change or even any suggestions! I was given the script for the first Mary Marvel story and went to work on it." Shortly after Mary Marvel had debuted in Captain Marvel Adventures #18, the character became a regular cover feature of Wow Comics.

The Debut of Mary Marvel and the Cosmic Aeroplane Pedigree

According to the CGC Census, there are only 170 entries for Captain Marvel Adventures #18, and this CGC 9.0 is tied with two other copies as the highest-graded copy. Furthermore, it is from the Cosmic Aeroplane Pedigree, a collection purportedly amassed in the 1940s and 1950s that originally surfaced to the collecting community around 1972. As these things go, the details behind this collection have become somewhat confused among the collecting community over the years, and there are two different versions of the story behind this collection that can likely be unified.  It would appear that the collection was originally acquired by collector Dave Faggioli, and initially sold via the fanzine scene of that era, with the remainder eventually sold to Cosmic Aeroplane Bookstore co-owner Ken Sanders years later.

For the sake of clarity, it should be noted that Faggioli's name is universally misspelled "Faggiola" in comic book pedigree references and that he was not a Cosmic Aeroplane owner as is typically stated, though according to later Cosmic employee Par Holman, Faggioli and Sanders "set up a stand of comics in the Cosmic's old head shop location near the Union Pacific train depot, around 1969 or so." Sanders himself describes this era at Cosmic Aeroplane similarly. But Faggioli had opened his own shop, Round Records & Bound Books, by 1972.  Holman, who worked for Sanders 1976-1981, recollects the Cosmic Aeroplane purchase of what remained of the collection as being handled by Sanders and implies it happened while he was an employee (which was well after Faggioli's time there).  Holman further notes that the comics contained tracing paper used to trace various panels of comic art, saying that the tracings were crudely done and that the art teacher backstory usually attached to this pedigree is not likely.  Comics in the collection often have checkmarks and notes next to specific panels. Longtime collector Pat Kochanek places Cosmic Aeroplane's acquisition of what was left of the collection in 1979.

Apparently, the original owner of this collection purchased most or all of these comics off the newsstand in Salt Lake City from By's Magazine Shop, a popular newsstand outlet in Salt Lake City during the 1940s-1970s run by Byron and Virginia Simmons, which was considered one of the best sources of periodicals in the area.

As for the collection's initial discovery by the collecting community, it would appear that Faggioli qualified as a famous local collector in Salt Lake City, and in late 1971, made the AP Newswire for selling vintage comics to finance his way through the University of Utah.  Faggioli appeared to be in possession of a sizeable accumulation of Golden Age comics at the time of this story, from which he had already made $2,000 in sales.  He was also contemplating parting with his most prized 1939 Marvel (presumably a Marvel Comics #1) for $200.  The article describes him as an active seller in the fanzines of the day, which would account for Matt Nelson's original info about the collection in regards to heavy hitters of that era, such as Bruce Hamilton and Gary Carter being early buyers from Faggioli.

Presuming that there are not two different major Salt Lake City collections involved here, and that Faggioli did not leave anything significant behind during his original purchase, it is perhaps most likely that Faggioli unearthed the collection in 1970-1971, began selling it on his own, and eventually sold what was left in one lot either directly or through an intermediary to Cosmic Aeroplane by the end of that decade, perhaps passing the original owner's story along to Sanders in the process.

Captain Marvel Adventures #18 is a historic comic book key featuring the first appearance and origin of Mary Marvel, and this high-grade copy has some fascinating history behind it as well. Prospective bidders who are new to Heritage Auctions should check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters.

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