Superman #276, Make Way For Captain Thunder!

It's the question we've all asked; "Who'd win a fight between Superman and Captain Marvel?"

Admittedly, I never actually have. After all, the answer's blatantly obvious. How's Captain Marvel supposed to beat Superman when he's got Rick Jones griping in his ear and singing all the time?

But, of course, there was another Captain Marvel, one who never dared speak his name, for fear of the solicitors getting involved and, in 1974, he got to meet his old nemesis from the 1950s law courts, the Man of Steel.

Except he didn't, because the foe Superman tangles with in his 276th issue bears absolutely no resemblance at all to the original Captain Marvel. Seriously, no one could possibly confuse the red and white clad Captain Thunder and his youthful alter-ego Willie Fawcett with Captain Marvel and Billy Batson.

It all begins with Willie appearing, from nowhere, in a Metropolis street, just in time to see Superman flying overhead on his way to dealing with some threat or other.

This is all very odd, as Willie's never heard of Superman before, even though everyone else seems to recognise him.

Then, while Superman's dealing with an imaginary monster conjured up to distract him while a gang of criminals rob an armoured truck, Willie decides Captain Thunder had better tackle the gang. He rubs his belt buckle, says the magic word, "THUNDER," and, in his super-heroic guise, sets off to sort out the miscreants.

There's only one problem. No sooner has he transformed into the captain than he's stricken with an irresistible urge to help the wrongdoers!

Needless to say, this quickly brings him into conflict with Superman, in a fight which only ends when Thunder gives Supes the slip by changing back into Willie.

Willie goes to see Clark Kent because he's told the reporter's a friend of Superman.

He tells Clark how he first became Captain Thunder and of how his last battle was with a gang of villains comprising Dracula, the Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy.

As he left the defeated fiends in a cage he'd created for them, they shouted a mysterious threat at him, one he only now understands as meaning they'd found a way to send him to the wrong dimension and turn Captain Thunder evil.

Together, boy and reporter set off to solve the mystery of just how he got here and how to get him back home.

But, before they can even start, yet another crime breaks out and Willie once more transforms himself into Captain Thunder, causing the resumption of his fight with Superman.

This time, the Kryptonian clobberer manages to hold on to Thunder for long enough for the out-of-sorts hero to figure out how to get back home and cure his malfeasance. With one more rub of his belt, Thunder's gone and that's that problem sorted.

So, is this the epic, no-holds barred lurch into action, destruction and chaos that Nick Cardy's cover leads us to expect?

No. Of course it isn't. It's a 1970s Superman comic. That means reading it's like putting on a comfy pair of slippers and eating some chocolate biscuits. No one is, at any point, in any peril. Despite using their most powerful blows, the two heroes totally fail to hurt each other and everything's wrapped up simply and straightforwardly with a total lack of animosity.

This makes it sound like a bad thing.

And it kind of is.

And it kind of isn't.

Like all Superman tales of this era, it's appealing because Curt Swan draws it with a charm and lightness of touch few artists could match.

In fact, the main enjoyment comes not from the somewhat low-key clash between crime fighters but from spotting all the changes writer Elliot S! Maggin makes to the character of Captain Marvel, especially the retelling of his origin, this time involving a helpful owl, a cave and an elderly native American

Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing ultimately depends on your tolerance for storytelling that lacks any desire to be dramatic.

As I've said in the past, I must have a massive tolerance for the dramatically unambitious because, as a youth, I probably had more Superman comics than books starring any other costumed American hero, and something must have been making me come back for more.