Free Imagine Blogs

I took a perverse satisfaction in the "announcement" of Marvel's new book, The Order. It's not because I necessarily think the book will fail, or because I bear the creators any ill will. No, I am satisfied because Marvel was going to call the book The Champions. But now they can't.

If you haven't heard, a small publisher of super-hero comics managed to snatch up the trademark for Champions when Marvel wasn't looking. In much the same way that Marvel snatched up the trademark for Captain Marvel.

DC can't title a book Captain Marvel. They can't use that name on a cover. Even though the Golden Age Captain Marvel predates the existence of Marvel as a comic book company by decades. And all Marvel has to do to keep it that way is have their "Captain Marvel" headline a mini-series every few years.

It's always annoyed me, that. So it pleases me to see that Marvel is getting a taste of its own medicine (even if, admittedly, the medicine in this case is pretty weak). It won't change anything of course... Captain Marvel books will continue to be titled Shazam!, much to the confusion of non-comic book geeks the world over.

But it did make me laugh maniacally for a moment. And that's really what matters, right?