Tuesday, May 06, 2008

SHAZAM! MY MOM WAS A MEMBER OF THE MARY MARVEL CLUB

My mom was a charter member of the Mary Marvel Club back in 1945-46 and the amazing thing is that my grandmother saved mom’s letter from the club. Here’s the scan of the letter and envelope.



Mary Marvel’s Club was an exclusive all-girls club and just for joining each member got this magical badge that would transform Mary Batson into Mary Marvel each time the string was pulled and “SHAZAM” was shouted.


Mom’s badge apparently disappeared, so this photo comes from Hake’s Americana & Collectibles, where this cardboard badge sold for $230.00 back in January. (Ok mom, let’s hope this shows up buried in a drawer somewhere!)

Instead of advertising the club with a regular one page ad, those fun lovin’ Fawcett people introduced the club with an eight-page story. The club’s first appearance was in issue #39 of Wow Comics from Nov.-Dec. 1945 and the story title was Mary Marvel Launches Her Club. Here’s the full story by the Binder brothers with Otto writing and Jack drawing. Be sure to click on the pages to read them!










8 comments:

Mr. Karswell said...

Amazing! Was this something you just discovered recently or did your mom ever tell you about being a member before? I think I'd have a heart attack if I ever found out that my mom even looked at a comic book anytime in her life.

Todd Franklin said...

My grandma found this a few years ago stored away. My mom doesn't remember getting anymore letters or premiums. Both my parents read comics as kids, but unfortunately didn't save any.

Mike Middleton said...

NC, I'm upset. You never told me this. That's fantastic!

Mike Middleton said...

Do you have the actual issue or did you scan it from somewhere else? Also is that the right time frame? I thought our moms were about the same age and that would mean she got this when she was really little. If so, that's even cooler!

Todd Franklin said...

Really? I thought I showed this to you. Yeah, that's my issue from my collection. It wasn't mom's. I picked it up at a con a few years ago. She was pretty young, but she was probably trying to keep up with her older brother since he was a comic reader too.

Stephen said...

Wow, your mom was cooler than mine :(

Mike said...

Your mom rocks!!

Paul Duca said...

Mary's nice, but she's no Isis...