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Wonder Woman: A Celebration of 75 Years


By William Moulton Marston & Harry G. Peter, Robert Kanigher, Dennis O’Neil, Roy Thomas, Greg Potter, George Pérez, William Messner-Loebs, Eric Luke, Phil Jimenez, Greg Rucka, Darwyn Cooke, Brian Azzarello, Gail Simone, Amy Chu, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, Mike Sekowsky, Don Heck, Gene Colan, Jill Thompson, Mike Deodato Jr., Yanick Paquette, Matt Clark, Drew Johnson, J. Bone, Cliff Chiang, Ethan Van Sciver, Bernard Chang & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6512-0 (HB/Digital edition)

Wonder Woman is the very acme of female icons. Since her debut in 1941 she has grown to permeate every aspect of global consciousness and become not only a paradigm of comics’ very fabric but also a symbol to women everywhere. Whatever era you choose, the Amazing Amazon epitomises the eternal balance between Brains & Brawn and, over those decades, has become one of that rarefied pantheon of literary creations to achieve meta-reality.

The Princess of Paradise Island originally debuted as a special feature in All Star Comics #8, conceived by psychologist and polygraph pioneer William Moulton Marston and illustrated by Harry G. Peter, in a calculated attempt to offer girls a positive and forceful role model and, on forward-thinking Editor M.C. Gaines’ part, to sell more funnybooks to girls. Immediately catapulted into her own series and cover-spot of new anthology Sensation Comics one month later, she was an instant hit. Wonder Woman won an eponymous supplemental title a few months later, cover-dated summer 1942, enabling the Star-Spangled Siren to weather the vicissitudes of the notoriously transient comic book marketplace and survive the end of the Golden Age of costumed heroes beside Superman, Superboy, Batman and a few lucky hangers-on who inhabited the backs of their titles.

This stunning compilation – part of a dedicated series introducing and exploiting the historical and cultural pedigree of venerable DC icons – offers a sequence of sublime snapshots detailing how Diana of the Amazons evolved and thrived in worlds and times where women were generally regarded as second class, second rate, painfully functional and strictly ornamental, collects material from All-Star Comics #8, Sensation Comics #1, Wonder Woman (volume 1) #7, 28, 99, 107, 179, 204, 288, Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #1, 64, 93, 142, 177, 195, 600, Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #0, Justice League: New Frontier Special #1, Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #1 & 7 – cumulatively covering July 1940 to November 2012.

The groundbreaking appearances are preceded by a brief critical analysis of significant stages in her development, beginning with Part I: The Amazon 1941-1957 which details the events and thinking which led to her creation and early blockbusting dominance of Man’s Boy’s World…

‘Introducing Wonder Woman/(Wonder Woman Comes to America)’ originated in All-Star Comics #8, (December 1941) and Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942) respectively, revealing how, once upon a time on a hidden island of immortal super-women, US Army Intelligence aviator Steve Trevor crashes to Earth. Near death, he is nursed back to health by young, impressionable Princess Diana. Fearful of her besotted child’s growing obsession with the creature from a long-forgotten and madly violent world, Diana’s mother Queen Hippolyte reveals the hidden history of the Amazons: how they were seduced and betrayed by men but rescued by the goddess Aphrodite on condition that they forever isolate themselves from the mortal world and devote their eternal lives to becoming ideal, perfect creatures.

However, when Trevor explains the perfidious spy plot which accidentally brought him to the Island enclave and with the planet in crisis, goddesses Athena and Aphrodite order Hippolyte to send an Amazon back with the American to fight for global freedom and liberty. The Queen declares an open contest to find the best candidate and, although forbidden to compete, young closeted, cosseted Diana clandestinely overcomes all other candidates to become their emissary.

Accepting the will of the gods, the worried mother outfits Diana in the guise of Wonder Woman and sends her out to Man’s World armed with an arsenal of super-scientific and magical weapons…

The Perfect Princess gained her own series and cover-spot in new anthology title Sensation Comics a month later, with the story continuing where the introduction had left off. ‘Wonder Woman Comes to America’ sees the eager immigrant returning the recuperating Trevor to the modern World before trouncing a gang of bank robbers and briefly falling in with a show business swindler. The major innovation was her buying the identity of lovelorn Army nurse Diana Prince, elegantly allowing the Amazon to be close to Steve whilst enabling the heartsick medic to join her fiancé in South America. Even with all that going on, there was still room for Wonder Woman and Captain Trevor to bust up a spy ring attempting to use poison gas on a Draft induction centre. Typically, Steve breaks his leg and ends up in hospital again, where “Nurse Prince” can look after him…

The new Diana soon gained a position with Army Intelligence as secretary to General Darnell, further ensuring she would always be able to watch over her beloved. She little suspected that, although shallow Steve only had eyes for the dazzling Amazon superwoman, the General had fallen for the mousy but supremely competent Lieutenant Prince…

As previously mentioned, the Amazing Amazon was a huge and ever-growing hit, quickly gaining her own title in late Spring (cover-dated Summer 1942). The comic frequently innovated with full-length stories, and here ‘America’s Wonder Women of Tomorrow’ (Wonder Woman volume 1 #7, Winter 1943) offers an optimistic view of the future in an extract of a fantastic fantasy tale wherein America in 3000 AD is revealed as a true paradise.

Ruled by a very familiar Lady President, the nation enjoys a miracle supplement which has extended longevity to such an extent that Steve, Etta Candy and all Diana’s friends are still thriving. Sadly, some old male throwbacks still pine for the days when women were subservient, meaning there’s still much work for the Amazing Amazon to do. With a wry but wholesome sex war brewing (and no bears available), faithful Steve goes undercover with the rebel forces and uncovers a further startling threat…

As the Golden Age drew to a close and superheroes began to wane, Wonder Woman #28 (April 1948) debuted ‘Villainy Incorporated!’ in an epic-length tale of revenge wherein eight of her greatest enemies – Queen Clea, Hypnota, Byrna Brilyant, the Blue Snowman, Giganta, Doctor Poison, Eviless, Zara, Priestess of the Crimson Flame and The Cheetah – unite to ensure her destruction and escape from Amazonian mind-bending gulag Transformation Island, where they were being rehabilitated…

Whilst costumed colleagues foundered, Wonder Woman soldiered on well into the Silver Age, benefitting from constant revisionism under the auspices of Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, who re-energised her for the Silver Age renaissance and beyond: a troubled period encapsulated in the briefing notes for Part II: The Princess 1958-1986…

Using the pen-name Charles Moulton, Marston had scripted all Diana’s adventures until his death in 1947, whereupon after a period when his assistant Joye Hummel wrote the stories, Kanigher took over the writer’s role. H. G. Peter soldiered on with his unique artistic contribution until he passed away in 1958. In April of that year Wonder Woman #97 was his last hurrah and truly the end of an era.

With the exception of DC’s Trinity (plus a few then-innocuous back-up features like Green Arrow and Aquaman), superheroes all but vanished by the early 1950s, replaced by mostly mortal champions in a deluge of anthologised genre titles. Everything changed again after Showcase #4 rekindled public interest in costumed crimebusters with a new iteration of The Flash in 1956. From that moment fanciful floodgates opened wide once more, and whilst reinventing Golden Age Greats such as Green Lantern, The Atom and Hawkman, National /DC methodically updated those venerable veteran survivors who had weathered the backlash. None more so than the ever-resilient Wonder Woman…

As writer/editor Kanigher tweaked or reinvented much of the original mythos, tinkering with her origins and unleashing Diana on an unsuspecting world in a fanciful blend of girlish whimsy, rampant sexism, strange romance, alien invasion, monster-mashing and utterly surreal (some say-stream-of-consciousness) storytelling. This was at a time when all DC’s newly revived, revised or reinvented costumed champions were getting together and teaming up at the drop of a hat – as indeed was the Princess of Power in Justice League of America. However, on the pages of her own title a timeless, isolated fantasy universe was carrying on much as it always had.

Wonder Woman #99 (volume 1, July 1958) heralded a new start and introduction of the Hellenic Heroine’s newly revitalised covert cover: Air Force Intelligence Lieutenant Diana Prince, launching a decade of tales with Steve perpetually attempting to uncover her identity and make the most powerful woman alive his blushing bride, whilst the flashily bespectacled glorified secretary stood exasperated and ignored beside him. ‘Top Secret’ sees Steve trying to trick Diana into marriage – something the creep tried a lot back then – by rigging a bet with her. Of course, the infinitely patient Princess outsmarts him yet again…

Although not included here, WW #105 had introduced Wonder Girl: revealing how centuries ago the gods and goddesses of Olympus bestowed unique powers on Hippolyta’s daughter and how even as a mere teenager indomitable Diana had brought the Amazons to Paradise Island. Continuity, let alone consistency or rationality, were never as important to Kanigher as a strong story or breathtaking visuals and that eclectic odyssey – although a great yarn – simply annoyed the heck out of many fans; but not as much as the junior Amazon would in years to come…

The teen queen kept popping up and here ‘Wonder Woman – Amazon Teen-Ager!’ (#107, July 1959) sees the youngster wallowing in a new, largely unwanted romantic interest as mer-boy Ronno perpetually gets in the way of her quest to win herself a superhero costume…

As the 1960s progressed, Wonder Woman looked tired and increasingly out of step with the rest of the company’s gradually gelling – ultimately cohesively shared – continuity but, by the decade’s close, a radical overhaul of Diana Prince was on the cards.

In 1968 superhero comics were once again in decline and publishers were looking for ways to stay profitable – or even just in business – as audience tastes and American society evolved. Back then, with the entire industry dependent on newsstand sales, if you weren’t popular, you died. Handing over the hoary, venerable and increasingly moribund title to Editor Jack Miller and Mike Sekowsky, the bosses sat back and waited for their eventual failure, and prepared to cancel the only female superhero in the marketplace…

Sekowsky’s unique visualisation of the Justice League of America had greatly contributed to the title’s overwhelming success, and at this time he was stretching himself with a number of experimental projects, focussed on the teen and youth-markets. Tapping into the teen zeitgeist with the Easy Rider styled drama Jason’s Quest proved ultimately unsuccessful, but with Metal Men and hopelessly hidebound Wonder Woman, he had much greater impact. Sekowsky ultimately worked the same magic with far greater success for Supergirl in Adventure Comics (another epic and intriguing run of tales long overdue a curated compilation).

With relatively untried scripter Denny O’Neil on board for the first four tales, #179 heralded huge changes as ‘Wonder Woman’s Last Battle’ (December 1968, with Dick Giordano inking) saw the immortal Amazons of Paradise Island forced to abandon our dimensional plane. They took with them all their magic – including all Diana’s astounding gadgets and weapons like the Invisible Plane and Golden Lasso – and ultimately even her mighty powers. Despite all that, her love for Steve compelled her to remain on Earth. Effectively becoming her own secret identity of Diana Prince, the now-mortal champion resolved to fight injustice as a human would…

Sekowsky’s root & branch overhaul offered a new kind of Wonder Woman (and can be seen in a magical quartet of collections entitled Diana Prince: Wonder Woman) but, as always, fashion and reader response ruled and in a few years, with no fanfare or warning, everything that had happened since Wonder Woman lost her powers was unwritten.

Her mythical origins were revised and re-established as she abruptly returned to a world of immortals, gods, mythical monster and supervillains. There was even a new nemesis: an African/Greek/American half-sister named Nubia who debuted in ‘The Second Life of the Original Wonder Woman’ (Wonder Woman #204, February 1973, by Kanigher, Don Heck & Vince Colletta) which delivers the murder of Diana’s martial arts mentor I Ching as prelude to Diana being restored to her former glory by the returned and restored Amazons on Paradise Island…

Such an abrupt reversal had tongues wagging and heads spinning in fan circles. Had the series offended some shady “higher-ups” who didn’t want controversy or a shake-up of the status quo?

Probably not.

Sales were never great even on the Sekowsky run and despite strident public protests about depowering a strong woman from feminists like Gloria Steinem, the most rational and realistic reason is probably Television money. The Amazon had been optioned as a series since the days of the Batman TV show in 1967, and by this time (1973) production work had begun on the 1974 pilot featuring Cathy Lee Crosby. An abrupt return to the character most viewers would be familiar with from their own childhoods seems perfectly logical to me…

By the time Lynda Carter made the concept work in 1975 by going back to ancient basics, Wonder Woman was once again “Stronger than Hercules, Swifter than Mercury and More Beautiful than Aphrodite”…

Eventually however – after the TV-inspired sales boost ended with the show’s cancellation – the comic slumped into another decline, leading to another revamp.

Notionally celebrating the beginning of her fifth decade of continuous publication, Wonder Woman #288, (February 1982) saw Roy Thomas. Gene Colan & Romeo Tanghal take over, rededicating the Amazon to fighting for Love, Peace, Justice and Liberty in ‘Swan Song!’

The story features the creation by war god Mars of new villain Silver Swan – transformed from an ugly, spiteful ballerina into a radiant, spiteful flying harridan – whilst the biggest visible change was replacing the stylised eagle on Diana’s bustier with a double “W”, signifying her allegiance to women’s action group The Wonder Woman Foundation.

The Silver Age had utterly revolutionised a flagging medium, bringing a modicum of sophistication to a returning and evolving sub-genre of masked mystery men. However, after decades of cosy wonderment, Crisis on Infinite Earths transformed all of DC’s interconnected Universe, leading to a truly reimagined Wonder Woman with a different history and character as discussed and then displayed in Part III: The Ambassador 1986-2010…

Wonder Woman volume 2 #1 debuted with a February 1987 cover-date. Crafted by Greg Potter, George Pérez & Bruce Patterson, ‘The Princess and the Power’ reveals how Amazons are actually reincarnated souls of women murdered by men throughout primordial times. Given potent new form by female Hellenic gods, they thrived in a segregated city of aloof, indomitable women until war god Ares orchestrated their downfall via his demigod dupe Herakles.

Abused, subjugated and despondent, the Amazons were rescued by their guardian goddesses in return for eternal penance in isolation on hidden island Themyscira. Into that paradise Diana is born: another murdered soul, imbued with life in an infant body made from clay. She will excel in every endeavour and become the Wonder Woman…

On relocating to the outer world, Diana becomes an inspirational figure and global hero constantly trying to integrate and understand the madness of “Patriarch’s World”…

In ‘The Heart of the City’ (Wonder Woman vol. 2 #64, July 1992) Bill Messner-Loebs, Jill Thompson & Denis Rodier focus on that dilemma as Diana attempts to recover a kidnapped child used as leverage by gangsters while saving a weary, outraged but righteous cop from confusing vengeance with justice…

That struggle for understanding – and sales – led to the Princess surrendering her right to the role of Wonder Woman after losing a duel with fellow Amazon Artemis. The aftermath seen in ‘Violent Beginnings’ (Wonder Woman #93, January 1995 by Messner-Loebs & Mike Deodato Jr.) reveals how her brutal, hard-line replacement takes over her ambassadorial role in Patriarch’s World with the defeated but undaunted predecessor keeping watchful eyes on the brutal warrior in her clothes…

These years are categorised by a constant search for relevance and new direction, and in ‘The Bearing of the Soul’ (WW #142 March 1999 by Eric Luke, Yanick Paquette, Matt Clark, Bob McCloud & Doug Hazlewood) the Amazon, supplemented with incredible alien technology, declares herself a global peacekeeper, dashing to flashpoints and conflict zones to end wars and save lives, irrespective of others’ political or moral objections…

From three years later, ‘Paradise Found’ (#177, 2002, by Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning) sees another course change as Themyscira is rebuilt following war between gods and offered to the outer world as an exemplar of Paradise on Earth and the oldest and youngest of its sometimes-united nations…

The often-hilarious downsides of ‘The Mission’ (WW #195, 2003) are explored by Greg Rucka, Drew Johnson & Ray Snyder and reiterated in a wry out-of-world vignette by Darwyn Cooke & J. Bone, teaming the Diana of 1962 with equally-pioneering female crimefighter Black Canary. ‘The Mother of the Movement’ (Justice League: New Frontier Special #1, 2008) sees the occasional sister-act confront a magazine owner and aspiring nightclub impresario over the way he makes his staff dress up like rabbits. Moreover, history fans, one of those indentured luscious lepines is an undercover reporter…

Many such minor tweaks in her continuity and adjustments to the continuity accommodated different creators’ tenures until 2011, when DC rebooted their entire comics line again and Wonder Woman once more underwent a drastic, fan-infuriating root-&-branch refit as represented here in Part IV: The Warrior 2012-2014. Possibly to mitigate the fallout, DC okayed a number of fall-back options such as the beguiling collected package under review today…

After a full year of myth-busting stories, ‘Lair of the Minotaur’ was the subject of Wonder Woman vol. 4 #0, (November 2012) wherein Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang puckishly explored a different history as a teenaged Princess Diana underwent trials and training and fell under the sway of a sinister god…

As an iconic figure – and to address the big changes cited above – a number of guest creators were invited to celebrate their take on the Amazon in an out-of-continuity series, and from Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #1, (2014) Gail Simone & Ethan Van Scriver’s ‘Gothamazon’ deliciously details how a mythologically militaristic Wonder Woman uncompromisingly and permanently cleans up Batman’s benighted home when the Gotham Guardians are taken out of play, whilst in Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #7, Amy Chu & Bernard Chang go out-of-world (and into ours?) to celebrate the inspirational nature of the concept of Wonder Woman.

‘Rescue Angel’ sees soldiers pinned down in Afghanistan saved by Lt. Angel Santiago. The wounded woman warrior claims her outstanding actions under fire are the result of a vision from her favourite and most-beloved comic book character…

This magical and magnificent commemoration is packed with eye-catching covers from the stories but also from unfeatured tales, by the likes of H.G. Peter, Irwin Hasen & Bernard Sachs, Sekowsky, Dick Giordano, Heck, Gene Colan, Pérez, Brian Bolland, Deodato Jr., Adam Hughes, Chiang, Van Sciver, Shane Davis & Michelle Delecki, Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert, Nicola Scott & Francis Manapul.

Wonder Woman is a primal figure of fiction and global symbol, and set to remain one. This compilation might not be all of her best material – or even up to date – but it is a solid representation of what gave her such fame and would grace any fan’s collection.
© 1941, 1942, 1943, 1948, 1958, 1959, 1968, 1973, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman volume 1


By Gail Simone & Ethan Van Scriver, Amanda Deibert & Cat Staggs, James Bischoff & David A. Williams, Ivan Cohen & Marcus To, Sean Williams & Marguerite Sauvage, Ollie Masters & Amy Mebberson, Gilbert Hernandez & John Rauch, Rob Williams & Tom Lyle, Neil Kleid & Dean Haspiel , Corinna Bechko & Gabriel Hardman & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5344-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

Beyond all dispute or doubt, Wonder Woman is the very acme of female role models. Since her premier in 1941 she has dominated every aspect of global consciousness to become not only a paradigm of comics’ very fabric but also a brilliant and vivid visual touchstone and mythic symbol to women everywhere. In whatever era you observe, the Amazing Amazon epitomises the perfect balance between thought and competence and, over those decades, has become one of that rarefied pantheon of literary creations to achieve meta-reality.

For decades, the official story was that the Princess of Paradise Island was conceived by psychologist and polygraph pioneer William Moulton Marston as a calculated attempt to offer girls a positive and forceful role model who would sell more funnybooks to girls. Thanks to forward-thinking Editor M.C. Gaines, an introductory guest shot for the Amazon in All Star Comics #8 (cover-dated December 1941 and on sale from the third week of October), served to launch her one month later into her own series – and the cover-spot – of new anthology title Sensation Comics. We now know Wonder Woman was in fact a team if not communal effort, with Moulton Marston acting at the behest of his remarkable wife Elizabeth and their life partner Olive Byrne.

An instant hit, Wonder Woman won an eponymous supplemental title (cover-dated summer 1942) some months later. That set up enabled the Star-Spangled Sensation to weather the vicissitudes of the notoriously transient comic book marketplace and survive beyond the Golden Age of costumed heroes beside Superman, Batman and a few lucky hangers-on who inhabited the backs of their titles. She soldiered on well into the Silver Age revival under the official auspices of Kanigher, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, but by 1968 superhero comics were in decline again and publishers sought new ways to keep audiences interested as tastes – and American society – changed.

Barring a couple of early fill-ins by Frank Godwin, the vast majority of outlandish, eccentric, thematically barbed adventures they collectively penned were limned by classical illustrator Harry G. Peter. When Marston died on cancer in 1947, his assistant Joye Hummell carried on writing stories until DC replaced her with a man – in fact a “real Man’s Man” – Robert Kanigher…

Once upon a time on a hidden island of immortal super-women, American aviator Steve Trevor of US Army Intelligence crashed to Earth. Near death, he was nursed back to health by young, impressionable Princess Diana. Fearful of her besotted child’s growing obsession with the creature from a long-forgotten and madly violent world, Diana’s mother Queen Hippolyte revealed the hidden history of the Amazons: how they were seduced and betrayed by men but rescued from bondage by the goddess Aphrodite on condition they isolated themselves forever from the mortal world, devoting their eternal lives to becoming ideal, perfect creatures.

However with the planet in crisis, goddesses Athena and Aphrodite instructed Hippolyte to send an Amazon back with the American to fight for global liberty. Although forbidden to compete, closeted, cosseted teen Diana clandestinely overcame all other candidates to become their emissary: Wonder Woman.

On arriving in the Land of the Free she purchased the identity and credentials of lovelorn Army nurse Diana Prince, which elegantly allowed the unregistered immigrant to stay close to Steve whilst enabling the heartsick care-worker to join her own fiancé in South America.

The new Diana soon gained a position with Army Intelligence as secretary to General Darnell, further ensuring she would always be able to watch over her beloved. The Princess little suspected that, although the painfully shallow Steve only had eyes for the dazzling Amazon superwoman, the General had fallen for the mousy but supremely competent Lieutenant Prince…

Back then, the entire industry depended on newsstand sales and if you weren’t popular, you died. Editor Jack Miller & Mike Sekowsky stepped up with a radical proposal (a makeover in the manner of UK TV icon Emma Peel) and made comic book history with the only female superhero to still have her own title in that marketplace. Eventually the merely mortal troubleshooter gave way to a reinvigorated Amazing Amazon who battled declining sales until DC’s groundbreaking Crisis on Infinite Earths, after which she was radically rebooted.

There were minor tweaks in her continuity to accommodate different creators’ tenures, until 2011 when DC rebooted their entire comics line again and Wonder Woman once more underwent a drastic, fan-infuriating but sales-boosting root-&-branch re-imagining. Perhaps to mitigate the fallout, DC created a number of fall-back options such as this intriguing package: the first of three to date…

Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman began as an online “digital first” series before being collected (months later) as a new standard print comic reprinting three post/chapters per issue. Crafted by a fluctuating roster of artists and writers, the contents highlighted every previous era and incarnation of the character – and even a few wildly innovative alternative visions – offering a variety of thrilling, engaging and sincerely fun-filled moments to remember.

The comic book iteration was successful enough to warrant its own series of trade paperback compilations which – in the fullness of time and nature of circularity – gained their own digital avatars as eBooks too.

This first full-colour compilation collects Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #1-5 (October 2014 – February 2015), displaying a wealth of talent and cornucopia of different insights, starting with Gail Simone & Ethan Van Scriver’s ‘Gothamazon’, detailing how a mythologically militaristic Wonder Woman uncompromisingly, permanently cleans up Batman’s benighted home when the Gotham Guardians are taken out of play…

Amanda Deibert & Cat Staggs’ ‘Defender of Truth’ pits the Amazon against man-hating sorceress Circe to deliver a lesson that never gets old before ‘Brace Yourself’ from James Bischoff & David A. Williams reveals how little Princess Diana spent her formative years testing her growing abilities – and the Queen’s patience and love…

In ‘Taketh Away’ Ivan Cohen & Marcus To tackle an interesting issue by addressing the religious implications of a pagan-worshipping hero in Judaeo-Christian America whilst delivering an action-packed mystery and super duel with old enemies Cheetah and Doctor Psycho, before Sean Williams & Marguerite Sauvage explore her media profile as crime buster, role model and singer/lead guitarist with global rock sensation ‘Bullets and Bracelets’.

‘Morning Coffee’ by Ollie Masters & Amy Mebberson offers a quirky, manga-inspired duel of wits and ideologies with infallible thief Catwoman after which Gilbert Hernandez & colourist John Rauch go incontrovertibly retro for a blockbusting Silver-Age celebration of maidenly might as Wonder Woman, Mary (Shazam!) Marvel and Supergirl smash robots, aliens, supervillains and each other in cathartically cataclysmic clash ‘No Chains Can Hold Her!’

An alternate Earth mash-up by Rob Williams & Tom Lyle sees the classic Justice League and Thanagarian shapeshifter Byth face the ‘Attack of the 500-Foot Wonder Woman’ whilst ‘Ghosts and Gods’ (Neil Kleid & Dean Haspiel) finds the Golden Age Amazon and trusty aide Etta Candy united with restless spirit Deadman to foil the schemes of immortal eco-terrorist Ra’s Al Ghul.

The comic cavalcade concludes on a far more sombre and sinister note as ‘Dig for Fire’ by Corinna Bechko & Gabriel Hardman discloses how Diana invades Hellworld Apokolips to rescue two Amazon sisters only to discover amidst the horror and degradation that true evil is not the sole preserve of depraved New God Darkseid…

Augmented by spectacular covers-&-variants from Van Scriver & Brian Miller, Phil Jimenez & Romula Farjardo Jr., Ivan Reis, Joe Prado & Carrie Strachan, Adam Hughes & Lawrence Reynolds, this fascinating snapshot of the sheer breadth and variety of visions Wonder Woman has inspired in her decades of existence is one to delight fans old and new alike.
© 2014, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Bizarro


By Heath Corson, Gustavo Duarte, Pete Pantazis, Lee Loughridge & Tom Napolitano, with Bill Sienkiewicz, Kelley Jones, Michelle Madsen, Francis Manapul, Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Darwyn Cooke, Raphael Albuquerque, Tim Sale, Dave Stewart & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5971-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

One of the most consistent motifs in fiction is the “Dark Opposite” or “player on the other side”: a complete antithesis of the protagonist. Rock yourself to sleep at night if you wish, listing deadly doppelgangers from Professor Moriarty to Sabretooth to Gladstone Gander…

The Caped Kryptonian’s “imperfect duplicate” Bizarro either debuted as a misunderstood freak and unwilling monster in Otto Binder & George Papp’s captivatingly tragic 3-part novel ‘The Battle with Bizarro’ (Superboy #68, cover-dated October 1958) or in the similarly titled Superman newspaper strip sequence written by Alvin Schwartz (episode 105/#6147-6242 spanning August 25th – December 13th 1958) with the latter scribe claiming that he thought up the idea months earlier. The newsprint version was certainly first to employ those eccentric reversed-logic thought-patterns and idiomatic speech impediment…

Although later played primarily for laughs, such as in his short tenure in Tales of The Bizarro World (June 1961 to Aug 1962 in Adventure Comics #285-299), most earlier comic book appearances – 40 by my count – of the dippy double were generally moving, child-appropriate tragedies, unlike here where we commemorate his 65th anniversary with possibly the funniest book of the last twenty years… at least if you’re a superhero fan.

Post Crisis on Infinite Earths, he was a darker, rarer beast, but this tale by screenwriter and comics scripter Heath Corson (Justice League: War, Nightwing/Magilla Gorilla, Super Pets: The Great Mxy-Up) & Gustavo Duarte (Monsters! & Other Stories, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dear Justice League) stems from DC’s brief New 52 continuity sidestep and refers almost exclusively to his earlier exploits and character.

Collecting 6-issue miniseries Bizarro and material from DC Sneak Peek: Bizarro #1, the saga starts as another misunderstood and deeply unappreciated visit to Metropolis – augmented by a new origin – sees the lonely, bored, eternally well-intentioned living facsimile teamed up with boy reporter Jimmy Olsen on a road-trip to “Bizarro-America” (we call it Canada)…

It’s ostensibly to prevent a disastrous super-battle but more importantly, someone suggested that the journey could provide enough candid material for a best-selling coffee table book that could liberate the eternally cash-strapped kid from his financial woes…

Jim’s certain he can handle the big super-doofus, but not so sure that applies to a pocket alien Bizarro picked up somewhere. After ‘The Secret Origin of Colin the Chupacabra’, the story truly starts with ‘Bizarro-America: Part 6’ and a weary ‘Welcome to Smallville’ where the need to fix the car leads to a clash with a dynasty of very familiar villains at King Tut’s Slightly Used Car Oasis. It all goes without incident until some other ETs give papa Tut a reality-altering staff and he seeks to achieve his great dream – selling everyone a used car…

Having navigated their way out of that bad deal, the Road Worriers further embarrass themselves in ‘Bizarro-America: Part 5’ with stopovers and pertinent guest stars in Gotham, Central, Starling and Gorilla City, before doing more of the same in Louisiana, Chicago and all points lost. Somewhere along the way they pick up a tail and in seeking to ditch their pursuers drive into Ol’ Gold Gulch: a ghost town with real spooks and a distant descendant of a legendary gunfighter. Chastity Hex is a bounty hunter too, which comes in handy when Bizarro is possessed by an evil spirit in ‘Unwanted: Unliving or Undeaded’ and a destructive rampage triggers the spectral return of great grandpa Hex as well as Cinnamon, Nighthawk, Scalphunter and El Diablo…

Another issue (‘Bizarro-America: Part 3’ if you’re still counting) and another city sees the automotive idiots catching mystic marvel Zatanna’s act in ‘Do You Believe in Cigam?’ and fresh disaster as Bizarro’s backwards brain allows him to accidentally access the sorceress’ backwards spells, prompting diversions to many, many alternate DC realities and Jimmy and Bizarro trading bodies (sort of) before order – if not sanity – is restored…

As they near their final destination, the covert shadows finally move in. A.R.G.U.S. agents Stuart “chicken Stew” Paillard and Meadows Mahalo get their X-Files on: compelling the travellers to infiltrate Area 51, but aren’t happy with the outcome once the idiots unleash every alien interned or interred there…

Ultimately the voyage concludes with ‘Bizarro-America: Part 1’ and long-deferred meeting with Superman (drawn by Tim Sale & Dave Stewart) in ‘Who Am on Last?’ The last of the Tuts returns for another stab at vengeance and high-volume marketing and as chaos reigns Colin comes up trumps, before assorted former guests coagulate as the never to be reformed Bizarro League to save the world in a way it has never been saved before.

All that’s left is to get Bizarro into Canada but there’s one last surprise in store…

This outrageous romp is punctuated with a round-robin of guest illustrators (Bill Sienkiewicz, Kelley Jones, Michelle Madsen, Francis Manapul, Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Darwyn Cooke, Raphael Albuquerque and more) adding to the manic madness via their signature characters, and a variant cover gallery provides more boffo yoks courtesy of Kyle Baker and Kevin Wada. Topping off the fun is an unmissable sketch section by Duarte, packed with many scenes and moments somebody was too nervous to publish…

Fast, funny, fantastic and far too long forgotten, Bizarro is a superb romp that would make a magnificent movie. Do not miss it.
© 2015, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Blue Beetle Graduation Day


By Josh Trujillo & Adrián Gutiérrez, with Wil Quintana, Lucas Gattoni & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-2324-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

As the most recent incarnation of the vintage and venerable Blue Beetle brand at last makes the jump from comic book limbo and kids’ animation into live action movie madness, the event sparked a new comics miniseries bridging the teen hero’s old life and new comic book series. Here that is…

The Blue Beetle first appeared in Mystery Men Comics #1, published by Fox Comics and cover-dated August 1939. The eponymous lead character was created by Charles Nicholas (AKA Charles Wojtkowski) as a pulp-styled mystery man and born nomad. Over years and crafted by a Who’s Who of extremely talented creators, the Beetle was also inexplicably popular and hard to kill: surviving the collapse of numerous publishers before ending up as a Charlton Comics property in the mid-1950s.

After a few issues sporadically published, the company shelved him until the superhero revival of the early 1960s when Joe Gill, Roy Thomas, Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico revised and revived the character in a 10-issue run (June 1964, February 1966). Cop-turned-adventurer Dan Garrett was reinvented an archaeologist, educator and scientist who gained super-powers whenever he activated a magic scarab with the trigger phrase “Khaji Da!”

Some months later, Steve Ditko (with scripter Gary Friedrich) utterly reimagined the Blue Beetle. Ted Kord was an earnest and brilliant young researcher who had been a student and friend of Professor Garrett and when his mentor seemingly died in action, Kord trained himself to replace him: a purely human inventor/combat acrobat, bolstered by ingenious technology. This latter version joined DC’s pantheon during Crisis on Infinite Earths, earning a solo series and quirky immortality partnered with Booster Gold in Justice League International and beyond…

When Kord was murdered in the run up to Infinite Crisis, it led to all-out war across realities and at the height of the linked catastrophes El Paso high-schooler Jaime Reyes found a weird blue jewel shaped like a bug. That night, as he slept, it invaded him and turned him into a bizarre insectoid warrior. suddenly gifted with great powers, and revealed how some heroes are remade, not born – especially when a sentient scarab jewel affixes itself to your spine and transforms you into an armoured bio-weapon. Almost instantly, he was swept up in the chaos, joining Batman and other heroes in a climactic space battle.

Inexplicably returned home, Jaime revealed his secret to his family and tried to do some good in his hometown but had to rapidly adjust to huge changes. Best bud Paco had joined a gang of super-powered freaks, he learned the local crime mastermind was the foster-mom of his other best bud Brenda, and scary military dude named Christopher Smith (The Peacemaker) started hanging around. He claimed the thing in Jaime was malfunctioning alien tech, not life-affirming Egyptian magic that he also had an unwelcome and involuntary connection to…

That led to a secret war against an alien collective of conquerors called the Reach whose shady dealings and defeat have been covered in Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes volumes One & Two. You should get those also.

Gathering Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #1-6 (cover-dated January to June 2022), and including an excerpt from the new Blue Beetle series it leads into, this collection is also quite rightly available in a Spanish language edition.

In an effort to maximise your fun and save time let’s briefly hit the high notes here.

Crafted by scripter Josh Trujillo (Adventure Time, Captain America, Rick & Morty), illustrator Adrián Gutiérrez (Batman, The Flash), colourist Wil Quintana and letterer Lucas Gattoni, ‘Graduation Day’ is set following recent DC megaevent Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths with our neophyte champion at long last getting a handle on his other life. He’s even become pals with his sentient passenger bug Khaji Da, allowing them to seamlessly work together.

With school days practically done, as the story opens Jaime is currently wrecking downtown El Paso battling magical thief Fadeaway and worrying about his non-superhero future. After almost missing his own graduation ceremony, Reyes suddenly finds it all going wrong again when he receives a terrifying vision of The Reach and loses control, uncontrollably shifting to his blue battle form…

His family share his secret, but aren’t happy about it and when he returns to his own party hours later, the festivities are long over and his furious mother wants to know what he’s doing with his life. So does Superman, who “just” popped by to see if the alien conquerors had regained control of their greatest weapon…

Intel confirms that The Reach are coming back and the (adult) superhero community feels it might be prudent if Jaime doesn’t use his powers for the foreseeable future…

Benched, grounded, jobless and not destined for college any time soon, the frustrated lad is summarily packed off to toil in his aunts’ diner in Palmera City, but fate has other plans. Repeatedly targeted by extremely Reach-like and savage Beetle-morphs Dynastes and Nitida, BB is forced to fight back until the Justice League shut him down again…

Some salvation comes when mentor Ted and his terrifying older smarter sister Victoria Kord offer him an (unpaid!) internship at Kord Industries. Ted is laid back and cool but Jaime can’t stop thinking how Victoria has the largest collection of alien tech on Earth and keeps looking at him funny…

As Beetle catastrophes keep coming, Reyes and still-on-the-fritz Khaji Da encounter a splinter faction of The Reach. Unable to trust The Horizon, they instead put themselves in the hands of Teen Titans Starfire, Cyborg and their allies. At least they can keep Batman and his private superhero goon squad off their collective shiny blue buggy back. Or Not…

And that’s when Paco and Brenda show up, begging Jaime to help their new best buddy Fadeaway. That does not go well…

With imminent doom encroaching and everybody telling him what” they” should do, Jaime and Khaji Da finally unlock the root problem that’s been jamming them up, consequently evolving into whole new Blue Beetle able and ready to fix their own problems…

And that’s when the aliens all come screaming into Earth’s atmosphere…

An enticing extra offers an extract and sneak peek from the new Blue Beetle #1 (‘Scarab War!’) due for release in September 2023, before a gallery of covers and variants by Cully Hamner, Rafael Albuquerque, David Marquez & Alejandro Sánchez, Ramon Villalobos, Gutiérrez & Quintana, Joe Quinones, Chokoo!, Danny Miki & Ivan Plascencia, Serg Acuña, Ricardo López Ortiz, Baldemar Rivas, Daniel Sampere & Alejandro Sánchez, Bruno Redondo, Jorge Corona & Sarah Stern segue into an extensive and expansive sketch gallery from Gutiérrez.

Here’s another smart, fast and joyous fun ride to delight fans of comics and other, lesser, media forms. So few series combine action and adventure with all-out fun and genuine wit, or can evoke shattering tragedy and poignant loss on command. Now read this even before you wallow in film fun…
© 2022, 2023 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Shazam! The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal


By Bill Parker & C.C. Beck, Roscoe Fawcett, Marcus Swayze, Pete Costanza, Otto Binder, Jack Binder, Mac Raboy, Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Chad Grothkopf, Kurt Schaffenberger, and many & various: compiled & written by Chip Kidd and photographed by Geoff Spear (Abrams ComicArts/Harry N. Abrams, Inc.)
ISBN: 978-0-8109-9596-3 (2010 HB) 978-1-4197-3747-3 (2019 PB)

One of the most venerated and beloved characters in American comics was devised by Bill Parker & Charles Clarence Beck as part of a wave of opportunistic creativity following Superman’s debut in 1938. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett Comics character moved swiftly and solidly into the realm of light entertainment -and even broad comedy – whilst, as the 1940s progressed the Man of Steel increasingly put whimsy aside in favour of action and drama.

Homeless orphan and thoroughly good kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard to battle injustice: granted the powers of six gods and mythical heroes. By speaking aloud the mage’s name – an acronym for the patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury – Billy transformed from scrawny boy to brawny adult Captain Marvel.

At the height of his popularity, “the Big Red Cheese” significantly outsold The Man of Steel – published twice monthly and topping 14 million copies per month. Before eventually evolving his own affable personality the full-grown hero was a serious, bluff and rather characterless powerhouse, whilst alter ego Billy was the true star: a Horatio Alger archetype of impoverished, resourceful, boldly self-reliant youth overcoming impossible odds through gumption, grit and sheer determination…

However, as the decade moved on, tastes changed and sales slowed. A court case begun in 1941 by National Comics contesting copyright infringement was settled. Like many other superheroes, Cap disappeared, reduced to a fond memory for older fans. A big syndication success, he was missed all over the world…

In Britain, a reprint line had run for many years, so creator/publisher Mick Anglo had an avid audience and no product. His solution was to reimagine the franchise with atomic age hero Marvelman and Co. continuing to thrill readers well into the 1960s.

As America experienced another superhero boom-&-bust, the 1970s dawned with a shrinking industry and wide variety of comics genres servicing a base increasingly dependent on collectors and fans rather than casual or impulse buyers. DC needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unlikely places. Following a 1953 court settlement with Fawcett, DC ultimately secured the rights to Captain Marvel, his spun-off extended Family and attendant strips and characters.

Despite the actual name having been taken by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous route and quirky robotic hero published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967), the home of Superman opted for tapping into that discriminating, if aging, fanbase. In 1971, they licensed the dormant rights to the character stable (only fully buying them out in 1991) and two years later, riding a wave of national nostalgia on TV and in movies, DC resurrected and relaunched the entire beloved cast in their own kinder, weirder, completely segregated and separate universe.

To circumvent intellectual property clashes, they named the new/old title Shazam! (‘With One Magic Word…’): the unforgettable trigger phrase used by the majority of Marvels to transform to and from mortal form and a word that had entered the American language thanks to the success of the franchise (especially an excellent movie serial) the first time around.

Issue #1 carried a February 1973 cover-date and generated mixed reviews and unconvincing sales, but was pushed hard by DC. It even briefly scored the big prize in the publisher’s eyes. Adapted as live action Saturday morning TV series Shazam!, it ran three season (28 episodes) from 7th September 1974 to October 1976…

The comics are universally welcoming and wonderful and you should read them all, but we’re looking at a different aspect of the phenomenon here. Like any multi-media property, the Marvel Family franchise spawned tons of merchandise and this compendium sublimely showcases those tantalising collectables and examples of ephemera from the first 14 years – 1940-1953.

Most gems reproduced here come from the truly enviable personal collection of Harry Matesky as photographed by Geoff Spear (Batman Collected, The Peanuts Poster Collection, Mythology: The DC Art of Alex Ross). The multi-media melange is compiled, arranged and curated by frequent collaborator and acme and everyman of design fascinations and armchair indolences Chip Kidd (Cheese Monkeys, Batman: Death by Design, Only What’s Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts, Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design, Batmanga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan, Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits).

This celebration of comics’ true magic was first released in 2010 as an epic oversized (235 x 310mm) hardback jam-packed with 3D cutaways, gatefolds and other print technology “bells & whistles”, and re-released in paperback (260 x 190mm) to tie-in with the first modern Shazam movie in 2019.

It’s a virtual wonderland for anyone who’s still a kid inside (AKA all men), overflowing with letters from the Captain Marvel Club, dynamic blow-ups of key characters such as Dr Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, classic covers, early toys, models, games, action figures and even candid shots of happy kids in their Captain and Mary Marvel costumes.

In its heyday, the Captain Marvel Club boasted a membership topping 400,000, serviced by a steady stream of priceless – and exclusive – tat to acquire: buttons, watches, key chains, paper rockets, tin toys, figurines, clothing, patches, transfers and more. Its inclusive and commercially canny model was repeated by later stars like Mary Marvel and others.

These feature amidst a wealth of mouth-watering displays of old comics, covers, original art, movie posters, apparel, toys, games and far rarer items – like Fawcett’s outreach material for potential manufacturers and merchandising partners and in-house writing guidelines.

Publishing house Fawcett first gained prominence through an immensely well-received light entertainment magazine for WWI veterans. From Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang they branched out into books and general interest magazines. Most successful publication – at least until Batson hit his stride – was ubiquitous boy’s building/activity bible Mechanix Illustrated. As the 1940s unfolded, scientific and engineering discipline and can-do demeanour underpinning MI suffused and informed both art and plots of Marvel Family titles.

On show here are long-lost treats like the Captain Marvel Magic Whistle (complete with packaging), secret codes and decoders, the Captain Marvel Magic Membership Card, gewgaws and gimcracks, house ads, prize competitions and editorials, interspersed with a terse but informative history of the company, the creators, characters and entire beguiling phenomenon,

The star and his spin-offs sparked a huge campaign of coordinated ancillary merchandising, especially once the Big Red Cheese made a spectacular leap to the silver screen in 12-part chapter play The Adventures of Captain Marvel. That luminous landmark provides some rousing stills featuring star Tom Tyler as the Good Captain…

As detailed in ‘Hey Kids! See Capt. Marvel in the Movies’, in 1940 Republic Pictures reached out to Detective Comics Incorporated with the notion of turning Superman into a movie serial. No deal was struck and a year later Republic catapulted Fawcett’s big gun onto screens and into history. This essay is augmented by biographies, lobby cards, posters from many countries, contemporary ads and write-ups from magazines and comics of the period.

The only complete comics yarn included here is a corker. In the formative years as the feature rocketed to the first rank of superhero superstars, there was a scramble to fill pages. Following his Whiz Comics residency and epic one-shot Special Edition Comics, the indomitable innocent was promoted to his own solo title, but with Beck and his studio overstretched, Captain Marvel Adventures #1 (cover-dated March 1941, and on sale from January 17th) was farmed out to up-and-coming whiz-kids Joe Simon & Jack Kirby. With inker Dick Briefer they produced the entire issue in a hurry from Beck and Parker’s guides. Apparently they did it in two weeks whilst finalising the launch of Captain America…

‘Captain Marvel versus Z’ remains a visually impressive action-drama with the irrepressible Sivana creating a hulking android brute designed to be the Captain’s equal. Despite numerous clashes and subsequent upgrades, after one last brutal knock-down, drag-out, Kirby-co-ordinated dust-up, it is apparent that Z isn’t…

The hero soon spawned sidekicks and assistants aplenty. The two most successful were Captain Marvel Junior and Mary Marvel who each have their own sections, replete with merch and memorabilia – both American made and from syndicating publishers who reprinted them around the world. There are also short sections devoted to other Fawcett stars Spy Smasher (who also had a Republic movie serial and club – the “Victory Battalion”) and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.

Toys, stationary, puzzles and games include Captain Marvel Lightning Racing Cars (glorious tin toys!), Captain and Mary Marvel Wristwatches (plus ads and packaging), keychains, a Captain Marvel Fun Kit, Helicopter and Power Siren (“world’s mightiest whistle!”). There are images of Captain Marvel’s Radar Racer, Rocket Raider and Magic Eyes (all with some assembly required); a compass-ring, Shazam board game, 3-D Magic Picture, a jigsaw, paper “punch-out book, and ceramic figurines ready to illuminate in the Captain Marvel Adventures in Paint set.

Throwable toy Hoppy the FLYING Marvel Bunny also needs assembling before launch, as does his Musical Evening Miracle Toy of Today, and there are examples of ultra-rare velveteen stuffed dolls of both the rabbit and his human inspiration…

As well as painting and colouring books, pencils, plastic statuettes, buzz bomb paper planes and Christmas tree decorations, are projects and covers from all across the globe, like lead figures and assorted Pre-Mick Anglo comics from Britain, plus a (gloriously painted) trading card set from Spain. There’s even a bootleg trading card album set from Havana, Cuba, based on the 1941 Republic serial.

Ready to wear items include novelty shirts, braces, neckties and a cape; bean bags, tie-clips, beanie-hats, vinyl saddlebag, bike/wall pennants, “overseas style” hats and caps, skin tattoo and iron-on tee-shirt transfers, illustrated soap (!?), numerous Premium postcards, patches and badges with even Billy and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny proudly included amongst the regular costumed heroes…

Leasing his fame, the Captain appears in strip ads for Coola Cola and other salient sales points (illustrated by Costanza) and proudly confirms his patriotic zeal via many inspirational war-time covers and with the Comics Canteen! packs (comics distributed gratis by Fawcett to US servicemen in 1942).

The titanic tome terminates with an examination of the end as ‘Twilight of the Golden Age’ reveals details of the court settlement, and reviews extracts from trial transcripts.

All items cited here are merely the tip of an iceberg of fabulous stuff no fan could resist, and an evocation to the simple pleasure of youth, making this book an unparalleled package of pure weaponised nostalgia impossible to resist. So don’t…
© 2010, 2019 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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The Power of Shazam! Book One: In the Beginning


By Jerry Ordway, Peter Krause, Mike Manley, Curt Swan, Mike Parobeck, Rick Burchett, Kurt Schaffenberger, Glenn Whitmore& various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-9941-5 (HB/Digital edition)

Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in the summer of 1938. Created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, the character proved extremely popular across many disparate media, sparking a new kind of hero and story form. You’re here right now because of him…

Another of the most venerated and loved characters in American comics was created by Bill Parker & Charles Clarence Beck for Fawcett Publications as part of a wave of opportunistic creativity that followed that successful launch of Superman. However, although there were many similarities in the early years, the “Big Red Cheese” moved swiftly and solidly into the arena of light entertainment and even broad comedy, whilst – as the 1940s progressed – the Man of Tomorrow increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action and drama.

At the height of his popularity, Captain Marvel hugely outsold Superman but, as the decade progressed and tastes changed, sales slowed. When an infamous copyright infringement suit filed in 1941 by National Comics was settled the Captain and his crew – like so many other superheroes – disappeared to become fond memories for older fans.

A syndication success, he was missed all over the world. In Britain, where a reprint line had run for many years, creator/publisher Mick Anglo had an avid audience and no product, so transformed Captain Marvel into atomic agent Marvelman, continuing to thrill readers into the 1960s.

Decades later, American comics experienced another superhero boom-&-bust, and the 1970s dawned with a shrinking industry and wide variety of comics genres servicing a base that was increasingly dependent on collectors and fans rather than casual or impulse buyers. National Periodicals/DC Comics needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unusual places.

Since the court settlement with Fawcett in 1953, they had pursued the rights to Captain Marvel and his spin-offs. Now, though the name itself had been claimed by Marvel Comics (via a quirky robot character published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967), the publishing monolith opted to tap into that discriminating if aging fanbase.

In 1973, riding a wave of national nostalgia on TV and movies, DC brought back the entire beloved cast of the Original Captain Marvel crew in their own kinder, weirder universe. To circumvent the intellectual property clash, they named the new title Shazam! (…With One Magic Word…) referencing the memorable trigger phrase used by myriad Formerly Fawcett-Marvels to transform to and from mortal form… a word that had entered the idiom and language due to the success of the franchise the first time around.

He’s been a star in DC’s firmament ever since, but one who’s endured much rejigging, refurbishment and narrative refinement, even if the fundamentals have never varied…

Homeless orphan and thoroughly good kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard to battle injustice with the powers of six gods/legendary heroes. By speaking aloud the wizard’s name – itself an acronym for the six patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury – Billy would transform from scrawny boy to brawny (adult) warrior Captain Marvel: dispensing justice and mercy with the forgiving grace of an innocent child…

There have been many enjoyable, effective and fittingly contemporary treatments, but perhaps the very best was one fully embracing the original  tone: successfully recapturing the exuberance and charm – albeit layered with a potent veneer of modern menace.

It began with Jerry Ordway’s 1994 re-imagining in an Original Graphic Novel: based as much on the 1941 movie serial as the forceful yet fun comics of Bill Parker, Otto Binder, C.C. Beck, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Pete Costanza and their cohort of creative colleagues…

That groundbreaking yarn and the series it spawned became a thriving, vibrant cornerstone of DC Continuity. This reprint edition combines the OGN and first dozen issues (cover-dated March 1995-February 1996) of that series, each with a lovely painted Ordway cover. Adding to the appeal is a short but sweet contemporary treat from young readers title Superman & Batman Magazine #4, a new Introduction from Ordway and a swathe of extras at the end…

With Ordway doing everything but the lettering (that’s courtesy of John Costanza) the epic reboot opens in Egypt, where archaeologists Charles “CC” Batson and his wife Marilyn lead the prestigious Sivana Expedition in a search for knowledge and antiquities.

That doesn’t precisely fit with orders given to the sponsor’s ruthless representative Theo Adam, who has his own instructions regarding certain treasures. When the Batsons uncover the lost tomb of unknown dignitary “Shazam”, tensions boil over and murder occurs.

The historians had left their son in America with Charles’ brother, but taken their toddler Mary with them. After the bloodshed ends, both she and Adam have vanished without trace.

Some years later Billy Batson is a little boy living on the streets of ultra-modern art deco Fawcett City. His parents had left him with CC’s brother Ebenezer when they went away. When they never returned, the boy was thrown out as his uncle stole his inheritance. No one knows where Billy’s little sister is…

Sleeping in a storm drain, selling newspapers for cash, the indomitable kid is pretty street-savvy, but when a mysterious shadowy stranger who seems comfortingly familiar bids him follow into an eerie subway, Billy just somehow knows it’s okay to comply.

When he meets the wizard Shazam and gains the powers of the ancient Gods and Heroes he knows he has the opportunity to make things right at last. However, he has no conception of the depths evil corporate vulture Thaddeus Sivana can sink to, nor the role mystical exile Black Adam played in the fate of his parents…

Newly empowered by the wizard, Billy turns his life around, adapts to life as an underage superhero and spectacularly brings both murdering Theo Adam and his maniacal boss Sivana to justice whilst defeating his own wicked predecessor, before setting out to confront even greater challenges like finding his lost sister…

This superb and mesmerising retelling led to the most successful comic book revival Captain Marvel has yet experienced. Characters refitted there are potently realistic but the stories offer a young voice and sensibility. Moreover, the pulp adventure atmosphere conjured up by Ordway in conjunction with his sumptuous painted art and spectacular design make for a captivating experience, and his writing has never been more approachable and beguiling.

The author – with penciller Peter Krause & inker Mike Manley – would build on the tale in the series that followed: employing a cunning long-term scheme to adapt classic Golden Age tales to modern tastes under a slick veneer of retro fashion.

Before that though, Ordway, artists Parobeck & Rick Burchett, colourist Glenn Whitmore & Constanza delivered a smart vignette in Superman & Batman Magazine #4. Aimed at introducing the DCU to early readers, the comic saw Billy stumble into a museum robbery by an old enemy before saving ‘The Scarab Necklace’…

Ordway, Krause & Manley then began the long haul – in its own rather staid and timeless corner of the DCU – with The Power of Shazam! #1 as ‘Things Change’. Billy now has a job as an announcer/roving reporter for WHIZ radio and an apartment. He lives there alone, using his alter ego as his live-in “responsible adult” Uncle Eben. Billy has been sporadically mentored by the wizard who has also been fruitlessly seeking Billy’s vanished sister…

Captain Marvel has established himself as the champion of Fawcett City: defeating countless crooks, monsters and even the occasional supervillain.

A new chapter begins when one of them – IBAC – literally crashes the launch of a new Wayne-Tech facility sponsored by property speculator Sinclair Batson. The shallow sleazeball is apparently the son and heir of the real Ebeneezer Batson, but neither Billy or anyone else has ever heard of him…

Late for school again, the cousins unknowingly “meet” when the Big Red Cheese pulls Sinclair out of the skyscraper’s razed rubble. Always ready to schmooze, the speculator “rewards” the hero with an invitation to his next high society soiree…

Elsewhere, concerned school custodian Dudley H. Dudley has deduced Billy lives alone. He tries to help the scrappy little guy, interceding whenever head teacher Miss Wormwood targets the lad for “special attention”. Billy is baffled but grateful, yet has bigger problems, like IBAC and a scheming female racketeer with a hidden agenda and unknown powers…

Never one to miss a free meal, Billy attends the party as his older self: taking the opportunity to assess just what he’s missing in the mansion he grew up in and which should by rights be his. It’s an uncomfortable experience. When not fending off distant relatives who all recognise him somehow (Marvel is the spitting image of dead CC Batson) he’s being not-so-subtly hit on by ultraglamorous vamp Beautia Sivana. Thus it’s actually a relief when the wizard summons him to the Rock of Eternity to chastise him for misusing his abilities…

The confrontation is acrimonious and ends with Billy being stripped of his gifts and sent back to Earth… just as the Batson mansion goes up in flames, trapping everyone inside!

A vision of Hell ruled by demon queen Lady Blaze briefly paralyses the boy before Billy finds a way to get all the rich folk out, but in the aftermath the juvenile journalist pokes around and discovers a connection between embezzling Ebeneezer and mystic pyromaniac ‘The Arson Fiend’. Thankfully, Shazam is monitoring, and returns Billy’s powers when the flaming fury goes after the boy…

IBAC returns in TPoS! #3 as the Captain saves undercover cop Muscles McGinnis, before ‘Lost and Found!’ sees the lost sister subplot advanced by the introduction of rich Mary Bromfield. She’s a competitor in a Spelling Bee compered by Billy for WHIZ – as is perfect jock Freddy Freeman: another kid who will have a momentous impact on Batson’s life…

When adopted Mary and her devoted nanny Sarah Primm are kidnapped, super-thug IBAC again battles our hero, and the wizard realises the child he’s been searching for was under his nose all along. Moreover, if he couldn’t see her, who or what has been frustrating his efforts?

In ‘Family Values’ a staged fight between Cap and McGinnis magnifies the secret cop’s underworld standing whilst covertly providing proof of Mary’s identity. Billy then has a chat with her favourite doll as stuffed toy Mr. Tawky Tawny comes to life and joins the cast. By now, the boy takes weird happenings in his stride, but is still rattled enough to inadvertently reveal his secret identity to “Uncle Dudley”. Billy assumes the tiger’s animation was Shazam’s doing, but he couldn’t be more wrong…

When Tawky Tawny manifests to Mary, his urgings result in her saying “Shazam!” and transforming into an adult superhero in time to thrash the returned kidnappers. Tragically it’s not enough to save Nanny Primm, whose deathbed confession reveals her as Theo Adam’s sister, as well as her part in getting baby Mary back to the USA after the Batsons died…

Enraged and vengeful “Mary Marvel” goes after Adam – struck dumb by the wizard ever since he was briefly possessed by Black Adam – before regaining her composure. She then stumbles into a riot sparked by a mind-bending neo-Nazi as ‘Madame Libertine Strikes!’

In Hell, guilt-wracked Sarah Primm is being tortured by upstart Lady Blaze as part of a byzantine plot to rule all, which also includes Libertine. Escaping the justifiably angry superwoman, the racist killer returns to her grandfather’s laboratory just as he cracks open a suspended animation capsule that has kept a WWII terror alive for half a century…

As Billy and Mary are summoned to the Rock of Eternity to learn that the gifts of the gods are finite and when both use them at once their power halves, Fawcett City trembles at ‘The Return of Captain Nazi!’ As McGinnis meets the racket boss and accidentally gleans her horrific secret, the Aryan atrocity goes on a rampage. Clashing with Captain Marvel whilst robbing a bank, Nazi grievously injures Freddy Freeman and his grandfather, prompting Mary (who has a far more instinctive and effective grasp of the magic) to suggest that she and Billy further share it…

Freddy regains a modicum of health in ‘The Balance of Power’ as he also becomes a superhero: tapping into the Shazam force as Captain Marvel Junior, but his desire for revenge and rebellious nature make his a volatile ally at best…

Insight into the oddly timeless nature of Fawcett City comes in ‘After the Fall…’ (with additional art by Curt Swan) as Golden Age greats Bullet-Man, Minute-Man and Spy Smasher appear in a telling flashback detailing their last battle with Captain Nazi, and hinting at the Übermensch’s unfinished business today. The veteran heroes are still robust and spry in modern times and offer useful hints to reporter Billy, whose investigations mean he’s not around to stop the Aryan busting Theo Adam out of custody, or vengeance-mad Freddy going after them both. Worst of all with Mary powered up and soon joined by Captain Marvel, none of them are strong enough to stop the villains. With Blaze moving all her pawns into place, Captain Nazi finally completes his 50-year delayed mission, but learns that time is ruthless and unforgiving…

As the Marvels converge on the despondent fanatic and combine ‘…The Power of Shazam!’, Blaze strikes the Rock of Eternity, using a restored Black Adam to capture the wizard and drag him to Hell. For good measure, she also liberates humankind’s most pernicious spiritual predators and unleashes them to Earth…

Adam joins them there and – with the wizard gone – neither Mary nor Freddy can change back and surrender their portion of the power to Billy. The twisted nemesis savagely beats Captain Marvel: breaking limbs and leaving him near-death. As the Underworld Unleashed event impinges on these stories, Lady Blaze reveals her shocking connection to Shazam as ‘In the Beginning…’ (with additional art by Ordway) explores the origins of the wizard and all superheroes on Earth…

With the Demon Queen’s plans revealed and ultimate universal horror The Three Faces of Evil almost liberated, Tawny’s true nature is exposed, Earthbound Mary gathers allies for the final battle and the greatest sorcerer of all time is revived to join the fray…

With additional pencilling by Swan, ‘The Seven Deadly Enemies of Man’ pits a valiant team of veteran Fawcett champions against the infernal antagonists before charging off to face Blaze, with Black Adam’s pivotal power vacillating between destroying despised heroes and saving his sister Sarah from Hell…

With writer Ordway again joining Krause & Manley on illumination, it all thunders to a cataclysmic climax in ‘End Game’, as the heroes plunge into Hell, the truth about CC Batson and Fawcett City come to light and Shazam details the true extent of his manipulations of the city and its most valiant citizens. With order restored, the Marvels return just in time to expose the truth about Sinclair Batson and presage the appearance of possibly their greatest and most bizarre adversary…

A breathtaking joy from beginning to end, this superhero saga closes with those promised extras: a bevy of bonuses for everyone interested in how magic is made. These include author commentary, preliminary pencils and finished cover art for The Power of Shazam! OGN and trade paperback collection, the art deco-inspired retail poster and Ordway’s original story notes and preliminary pencils for TPoS! #8.

Much like the modern movie iteration, these comic classics triumph by remembering that fun is as important as thrills or action, and everything works best when three become one…
© 1994, 1995, 1996, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Bizarro Comics! – The Deluxe Edition


By a big bunch of very funny people AKA Jessica Abel, Todd Alcott, Rick Altergott, Peter Bagge, Kyle Baker, Gregory Benton, Charles Berberian, Aaron Bergeron, Nick Bertozzi, Ariel Bordeaux, Rand & David Borden, Ivan Brunetti, Eddie Campbell, Jim Campbell, Dave Cooper, Leela Corman, Mark Crilley, Jef Czekaj, Farel Dalrymple, Brian David-Marshall, Paul Dini, Paul Di Filippo, D’Israeli, Evan Dorkin, Mike Doughty, Eric Drysdale, Ben Dunn, Philippe Dupuy, Sarah Dyer, Phil Elliott, Hunt Emerson, Maggie Estep, Bob Fingerman, Abe Foreu, Ellen Forney, Liz Glass, Paul Grist, Matt Groening, Tom Hart, Dean Haglund, Tomer & Asaf Hanuka, Dean Haspiel, Danny Hellman, Sam Henderson, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Matt Hollingsworth, Paul Hornschemeier, Dylan Horrocks, Nathan Kane, John Kerschbaum, Chip Kidd, Derek Kirk Kim, James Kochalka, John Krewson, Michael Kupperbaum, Tim Lane, Roger Langridge, Carol Lay, Jason Little, Lee Loughridge, Matt Madden, Tom McCraw, Pat McEown, Andy Merrill, Scott Morse, Peter Murrietta, Tony Millionaire, Jason Paulos, Harvey Pekar, Will Pfeifer, Paul Pope, Patton Oswalt, Brian Ralph, Dave Roman, Johnny Ryan, Alvin Schwartz, Marie Severin, R. Sikoryak, Don Simpson, Jeff Smith, Jay Stephens, Rick Taylor, Raina Telgermeier, Craig Thompson, Jill Thompson, M. Wartella, Andi Watson, Steven Weissman, Mo Willems, Kurt Wolfgang, Bill Wray, Jason Yungbluth, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-1012-9 (HB/Digital)

Here am big, dull shopping list of top-ranking cartoonists from beginning of twenty-oneth century. Bunch of names not very entertaining, but what they draw and write am, especially when taking loving pot-shots at beloved DC Comics icons and moments…

I’ll happily go on record and say that practically all of the fun and true creativity in comics has come out of the ‘alternative’ or non-mainstream writers and artists these days. To prove my point I’d list a bunch of things, and very near the top of that list would be this book -actually two older, smaller books sensibly nailed together in 2021.

In its near 90 years of comics publishing, DC Comics has produced many of the most memorable, most engaging and most peculiar comic characters and concepts you could imagine. For all that, they also managed to stir echoes and forge a deep and abiding affection in the hearts and minds of some of the most creative people on the planet.

As I’ve already said, the material in this titanic tome of titters (sorry, apparently I’m channelling my inner Frankie Howerd today) first emerged in a brace of cartoon anthology volumes: Bizarro Comics and Bizarro World in 2001 and 2005, disrespectively.

They delivered fast and furious skits, sketches and gags by profoundly engaged – often deeply disturbed – fans turned pros. There was a heavy dependence on small-press and self-published creators all used to having complete control of their work…

It was all meant to make you laugh and feel longing for simpler whackier times, and the Introduction by Kyle Baker should be all you need to steer you through what follows.

If I were you, I’d stop here and just buy the book, but just in case you’re a stubborn holdout, I’m going to add to my editor and proof-reader’s many woes by listing exactly who is in the thing, what they did and even add a few critical comments, just to earn my keep.

Then I’ll make my poor staff read the book too, just to cheer them up after all my word salad…

Following Matt Groening’s Bizarro Comics cover (which you get here for free) lurks a hilarious framing sequence, as a monstrous unbeatable creature attempts to conquer Mr Mxyzptlk’s 5th dimensional home. Chris Duffy & Stephen DeStefano – aided by legendary cartoonist and colourist Marie Severin – tell a weird and wonderful tale of outlandish failed Superman clone Bizarro that begins in ‘Bizarre Wars Part One’ and diverges into a wonderland of individual battles against cosmic games player A.

As the appointed defender of the entire endangered dimension, Bizarro resorts to a heretofore unsuspected ultimate power: producing comic strips featuring unfamiliar adventures of DC’s most recognizable heroes that come to life …ish.

Cue a veritable Who’s Who of the cool and wonderful of modern comics creating a plethora of wacky, dreamy, funny, wistful and just plain un-put-downable strips that would delight any kid who read comics but then accidentally grew up.

In rapid rollercoaster fashion and Fighting the Goof Fight for reality come ‘Bizarro-X-Ray One’ by Gregory Benton, Bizarro-X-Ray Two’ by John Kerschbaum and Bizarro-X-Ray Three’ by Gilbert Hernandez – all coloured by Tom McCraw. Sam Henderson & Bob Fingerman reconvene the ‘Super-Pets’ whilst Duffy & Craig Thompson expose Green Lantern in ‘The Afterthoughts’. Chip Kidd & Tony Millionaire revisit early days of ‘The Bat-Man’ in stylish monochrome before Henderson, Dean Haspiel, Bill Oakley & Matt Madden recount the silly charm-packed saga of ‘Captain Marvel and the Sham Shazam’…

Baker & Elizabeth Glass test the mettle of ‘Letitia Lerner, Superman’s Babysitter!’ and Aquaman endures double trouble as Evan Dorkin, Brian David-Marshall, Bill Wray & Matt Hollingsworth draw attention to ‘Silence of the Fishes’ before Andy Merrill & Jason Little douse the Sea King in ‘Porcine Panic!’

Fingerman, Pat McEown, Oakley & Hollingsworth inflict ‘The Tinnocchio Syndrome’ on The Metal Men before Andi Watson, Mark Crilley & Lee Loughridge orchestrate ‘Wonder Girl vs Wonder Tot’ and James Kochalka, Dylan Horrocks & Abe Foreau pit Hawkman against ‘The Egg-Napper!’, even as ‘The GL Corps: The Few, The Proud’ glean more story glory courtesy due to Will Pfeifer, Jill Thompson, Clem Robins, Rick Taylor & Digital Chameleon.

Horrocks, Jessica Abel & Madden then see Supergirl and Mary Marvel have a moment in ‘The Clubhouse of Solitude’ whilst Nick Bertozzi & Tom Hart tune in to ‘Kamandi: The Last Band on Earth!’ before Jeff Smith, Paul Pope & Loughridge depict Bizarro demanding ‘Help! Superman!’ as Jef Czekaj & Brian Ralph confront Aquaman with ‘The Man Who Cried Fish!’ in advance of Wonder Woman pondering ‘One-Piece, Two-Piece, Red-Piece, Blue-Piece’ on a shopping trip organised by Fingerman & Dave Cooper.

Ellen Forney, Ariel Bordeaux & Madden probe a young girl’s ‘Bats Out of Heck’ and Eddie Campbell, Hunt Emerson, Rick Taylor & Digital Chameleon went full-on Batmaniacal in ‘Who Erased the Eraser’ before Crilley & Watson negotiate a shocking ‘First Contact’ with The Atom, after which The Batman invites us ‘Inside the Batcave’ with Pope & Jay Stephens as tour guides.

Dorkin, D’Israeli & Digital Chameleon expose ‘Solomon Grundy: Bored on a Monday’ before Alvin Schwartz, Roger Langridge & Loughridge debut ‘The Most Bizarre Bizarro of All’ and Ivan Brunetti, Dorkin & Sarah Dyer reveal ‘That’s Really Super, Superman!’ to The World’s Finest Team whilst Dorkin, Carol Lay, Tom McCraw & Digital Chameleon invite everyone to ‘The J’onn J’onzz Celebrity Roast’ before Bordeaux, Forney & Madden share ‘Wonder Woman’s Day Off’…

The initial volume and that framing Mxyzptlk yarn are coming to a close as Dorkin, Wray, John Costanza & Hollingsworth craft ‘Unknown Challenges of the Challengers of the Unknown’ and Dorkin, Steven Weissman & Dyer go to bat for all the forgotten creature sidekicks in ‘Without You, I’m Nothing’ before Duffy, DeStefano, Phil Felix, Severin & Digital C reunite for the climactic conclusion of ‘Bizarre Wars – Part Two’…

If you haven’t heard of anybody on that overwhelming list then get Googling. Then get this book and get enjoying.

No? that’s okay… There’s More…

The turn of this century was a particularly fraught time – aren’t they always? – and one of the best ways to combat the impending travail was to make people laugh. A follow up to the remarkably successful Bizarro Comics again invited a coterie of alternative comics creators (and guests!) to make sport of various hallowed DC icons. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and all the lesser gods were dragooned into more tales humorous, dolorous and just plain peculiar, drawn in an eye-wrenching range of styles. Many of those involved continued to display a disturbing knowledge of, if not respect for, the DC continuity of the 1960s whilst others seem to centre on the TV and Movie interpretations, but the fondness for times gone by was readily apparent throughout.

Behind a Bizarro World cover from Jaime Hernandez, Rian Hughes & Coco Shinomiya is unsurprisingly story ‘Bizarro World’ by Duffy, Scott Morse, Rob Leigh & Dave Stewart as a couple of unwary kids fall into a universe stuffed to overflowing with everyday super people…

Answers come from a crusty reporter with extensive files and notes from many stringers…

Kidd, Millionaire & Jim Campbell review ‘Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder’ and Merrill, Langridge & Madden get seasonally silly in ‘Jing Kal-El’, whilst Mo Willems, Forney & Madden reveal ‘The Wonder of it All’ for the youthful feminist before Foreu, Kochalka & Madden have shapeshifter Chameleon Boy ask ‘Where’s Proty?’

Nostalgia and childish wish-fulfilment masterfully merge in pants-wettingly funny ‘Batman Smells’ by American National Treasures Patton Oswalt, Fingerman & Stewart, whilst Duffy & Craig Thompson channel ‘The Spectre’ and Jasons Yungbluth & Paulos confirm with Hal Jordan that ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’ even as Aaron Bergeron & Kerschbaum revel in ‘The Power of Positive Batman’…

Mike Doughty & Danny Hellman’s Fish-out-of-water ‘Aquaman’ segues into another true Stand Out story: ‘Batman: Upgrade 5.0’ by Dean Haglund & Peter Murrieta, illustrated by Don Simpson, before comics bad boy John Ryan joins Dave Cooper to explore being ‘Super-Dumped’ via the sad story of Clark and Diana…

Elsewhere, Dorkin & M. Wartella retroactively introduce Batman to ‘Monkey, the Monkey Wonder’ whilst comics verité legends Harvey Pekar & Dean Haspiel declare ‘Bizarro Shmizarro’ just as Dylan Horrocks, Farel Dalrymple & Paul Hornschemeier proposition ‘Dear Superman’ on behalf of a youngster with a secret…

‘The Red Bee Returns’ courtesy of Peter Bagge, Gilbert Hernandez & Madden, after which Eric Drysdale, Tim Lane, Oakley & Madden organise ‘The Break’ for the JLA. Dorkin & Watson then find The Legion of Super-Heroes ‘Out with the In Crowd’ just as Todd Alcott, Michael Kupperman & Ken Lopez detail the ‘Ultimate Crisis of the Justice League’…

Tomer & Asaf Hanuka join Lopez & Campbell to define ‘Batman’ whilst Paul Dini & Carol Lay have the very last word on ‘Krypto the Superdog’ and Ariel Bordeaux & Rick Altergott unwisely launch ‘Legion.com’ before mercurial Harvey Dent enjoys a ‘Dinner for Two’ thanks to Dorkin & Iva Brunetti…

Maggie Estep & Horrocks take on ‘Supergirl’ and her horsey history before Leela Corman & Tom Hart steer a ‘Power Trip’ for Batgirl, Wonder Woman and the Girl of Steel, whilst Eddie Campbell, Paul Grist & Phil Elliott schedule ‘A Day in the Life in the Flash’ before hilariously reprising their manic madness via ‘The Batman Operetta’…

Bizarro returns in an activity page from his ‘Daily Htrae’ – by Dorkin & R. Sikoryak – and the GL Corps turn Japanese in ‘Lantern Sentai’ from Rand & David Borden of Studio Kaiju, manifested by multi-talented Benn Dunn. Philippe Dupuy & Charles Berberian then offer a continental touch in ‘Batman of Paris’, Kurt Wolfgang & Brian Ralph have fun with ‘The Demon’ and John Krewson, Dorkin & Dyer expose ‘Kamandi, The Laziest Boy on Earth’.

Despite all the craziness, the best has wisely been left until last and end begins with The Justice League of America regretting ‘Take Your Kids to Work Day’ (by Dave Roman & Raina Telgemeier) whilst ultimate manservant Alfred Pennyworth conducts his master’s business as a “Personal Shopper” thanks to Kyle Baker & Elizabeth Glass, before we finish with Deadman who learns with horror – from Paul Di Filippo & Derek Kirk Kim – that ‘Good Girls Go to Heaven. Bad Girls Go Everywhere’…

What do you get if you give a whole bunch of vets and alternative comics creators carte blanche and a broad brief? You should get this.
© 2001, 2005, 2021 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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Shazam!: The World’s Mightiest Mortal volume 3


By E. Nelson Bridwell & Don Newton, with Gil Kane, Kurt Schaffenberger, Dave Hunt, Joe Giella ,Bob Smith, Steve Mitchell, Frank Chiaramonte, Dan Adkins, Larry Mahlstedt, John Calnan & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0946-8 (HB/Digital edition)

One of the most venerated and beloved characters in American comics was devised by Bill Parker & Charles Clarence Beck as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity that followed the debut of Superman in 1938. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett Comics character moved swiftly and solidly into the realm of light entertainment – and even broad comedy – whilst, as the 1940s progressed the Man of Steel increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action and drama.

Homeless orphan and thoroughly good kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard to battle injustice: granted the powers of six gods and mythical heroes. By speaking aloud the mage’s name – an acronym for the six patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury – Billy transformed from scrawny boy to brawny adult Captain Marvel.

At the height of his popularity, “the Big Red Cheese” significantly outsold Superman – even being published twice a month. However, as the decade progressed tastes changed and sales slowed. An infamous court case begun in 1941 by National Comics contesting copyright infringement was settled. Like many other superheroes, Cap disappeared, becoming a fond memory for older fans. A big syndication success, he was missed all over the world…

In Britain, where an English reprint line had run for many years, creator/publisher Mick Anglo had an avid audience and no product, and so reimagined the Captain Marvel franchise into atomic age hero Marvelman and Co., continuing to thrill readers well into the 1960s.

Then, as America lived through another superhero boom-&-bust, the 1970s dawned with a shrinking industry and wide variety of comics genres servicing a base that was increasingly founded on collectors and fans rather than casual or impulse buyers. DC Comics needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unlikely places.

Following a 1953 court settlement with Fawcett, DC ultimately secured the rights to Captain Marvel, his spun-off extended Family and attendant strips and characters. Despite the actual name having been taken by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous route and quirky robotic hero published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967), the monolithic publishing home of Superman opted for tapping into that discriminating, if aging, fanbase.

In 1971, they licensed the dormant rights to the character stable (only fully buying them out in 1991) and two years later, riding a wave of national nostalgia on TV and in movies, DC resurrected and relaunched the entire beloved cast in their own kinder, weirder, completely segregated and separate universe.

To circumvent intellectual property clashes, they named the new/old title Shazam! (‘With One Magic Word…’): the unforgettable trigger phrase used by the majority of Marvels to transform to and from mortal form and a word that had entered the American language thanks to the success of the franchise (especially an excellent movie serial) the first time around.

Issue #1 carried a February 1973 cover- date and featured ‘In the Beginning’: relating, in a wittily engaging, grand old self-referential style, the classic origin, after which ‘The World’s Wickedest Plan’ related how the Captain, his super-powered family and all the supporting cast had been trapped in a timeless state for 20 years by the invidious Sivana Family… who had subsequently been trapped in their own Suspendium device too.

I can’t think of any better reason for you to grab the first volume of this series, or the second for that matter…

The series received mixed reviews and unconvincing sales results, but was pushed hard by DC. It even briefly scored the big prize in the publisher’s eyes: being adapted to television as live action Saturday morning series Shazam!, which ran for three season (28 episodes) from September 7th 1974 to October 16th 1976…

The comic book continued until #35, June 1978 before commercial pressures killed it – and many other DC titles. Happily, the series had enough fans – in the marketplace and amongst creators and editors – to be thrown a lifeline…

The stories and milieu had already begun course correction by then. Radical change and darker, “more realistic” adventures had started in Shazam! #33, and more mainstream artists heralded a metamorphosis via action and drama-heavy battles against Nuclear robotic menace Mister Atom, sadistic super-fascist Captain Nazi, murderous primordial “Beastman” King Kull and infernal foe Sabbac…

This third stylish compendium spans cover-dates November 1978 to October 1982, collecting material from World’s Finest Comics #253-270 and 272-282, plus one final fling from Adventure Comics #491-492. Mostly unseen since first release, all the stories were ritten by unsung legend E. Nelson Bridwell, and mostly pencilled by supremely gifted, gone-far-too-soon Don Newton. The latter was born in 1934 and came up through the burgeoning fan press of the 1960s and 1970s. In his too-short career, Newton distinguished himself on The Phantom, The Avengers, The New Gods, Star Hunters, Aquaman and especially Batman, but was clearly at his happiest with Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Family – now and forevermore grouped under the electrical umbrella of Shazam!

Newton was a huge fan of the Captain and his clan, having studied under originator C.C. Beck. The gifted prodigy had been drawing Batman since 1978 and his version was well on the way to being the definitive 1980s look, but Newton’s tragically early death by heart attack in 1984 cut short what would surely have been a superlative and stellar career.

Author Bridwell (Super Friends; Secret Six; Inferior Five; Batman; Superman; The Flash; Legion of Super-Heroes and fill-ins absolutely everywhere) was another devout Captain Marvel acolyte. His day job and secret identity was as editorial assistant/continuity coordinator at DC, where – thanks to an astoundingly encyclopaedic knowledge of publishing minutiae and almost every aspect of history, myth, popular trends and general knowledge plus the ability to instantly recall every damn thing! – he was justly famed as Keeper of Lore and top Continuity Cop.

Bridwell & Newton had just begun collaborating on their dream project when the title was cancelled. Happily, the Shazam Family were moved lock, stock and barrel to experimental giant-sized anthology World’s Finest Comics just as tone and content seamlessly shifted from whimsy to harder-edged contemporary superhero stories.

The wonderment resumes here moments after that final Shazam! issue, wherein King Kull tried to reverse history and re-establish his extinct race and empire. In the rubble-strewn aftermath, WFC #253 opens with ‘The Captain and the King!’ wherein Bridwell, Newton & inker Kurt Schaffenberger recount how Billy, his sister Mary Marvel and their teenage ally Freddy Freeman – AKA Captain Marvel Junior – set off after the brute, blithely unaware that an alliance of the Sivana family and Captain Nazi has faltered.

Despite the fascist now acting on his own, he had inadvertently – and unsuspectedly – gained the power of mind control, and accidentally defeated himself by having the Marvels, science-hero Bulletman and villainous Kull and Sivana attack him…

Meanwhile, wicked Ebeneezer Batson (who had embezzled Billy and Mary’s inheritance) had his soul claimed by Satan, prompting an heroic rescue mission to Hell in #254’s ‘The Devil and Capt. Marvel’, after which Mary takes centre stage as the boys and Bulletman join the enslaved army of irresistible sorcerous seductress ‘Dreamdancer’, leaving only his wife Bulletgirl and the Shazam sister to save the city…

A wry change of pace tinged WFC #256 as the Marvels foil the schemes of a time-travelling swindler in ‘The Gamester’s Death Wager!’, before Billy employs the wisdom of Solomon to defeat ‘The Invincible Man’ threatening Earth – and foiling the masterplan of wicked worm Mister Mind – before backing up Junior when he goes after his Aryan archnemesis.

It’s an extremely personal and delicate case since the lovesick monster has abducted Beautia Sivana (a family black sheep who isn’t evil!): subjecting her to ‘The Courtship of Captain Nazi’. Frankly, she really doesn’t need any help stopping the lech, and the beating CM Junior delivers is just an afterthought…

In these yarns Bridwell assiduously filled in backstory and origins of a world largely unfamiliar to new and younger readers, and for WFC #259 focused on the urbane talking tiger who is the Family’s great ally as a scientist solves ‘The Secret of Mr. Tawny’ and derives an evolutionary process to become futurised, enhanced, all-conquering dictator The Superior …until the Captain and the big cat strike back…

Inked by Dave Hunt, ‘There Goes the Neighborhood!’ deposits a delicious dose of whimsy and contemporary politicking as citizens furiously protest weird strangers moving into their area. The immigrant newcomers are mythologicals – satyrs, centaurs, siren, lamia and mermaids – but even Captain Marvel can’t fight human prejudice and nimbyism …until a geological crisis makes allies of everyone…

Mary flies solo in #261, defeating an old foe by solving ‘The Case of the Runaway Sculpture’, before Billy enjoys a revelatory history lesson after meeting ‘The Captain Marvel of 7,000 B.C.’ and helping set the universe on its true cosmic course whilst Freddy again faces octogenarian outlaws when ‘The Greybeard Gang’ unleash a taste of the bad old days…

Fawcett invented big fight stories and multi-part serial epics at the dawn of the Golden Age and for World’s Finest Comics #264 Bridwell, Newton & Hunt celebrated the tradition with Mister Mind getting his old gang back together. ‘The Monster Society Strikes Back!’ sees the alien worm, Sivana, Mr. Atom, King Kull, IBAC (combining the awesome “Evil” of Ivan the Terrible, Borgia, Attila and Caligula in one weedy nerd with his own acronymic magic word), Oggar (“World’s Mightiest Immortal”) and evil antithesis Black Adam united in a scheme to kill the hero kids and conquer everything.

First to strike are Oggar and Adam, but their resurrected Egyptian armies are no match for Mary and Billy, and the focus falls on the human-hating beastman and atomic automaton who trigger ‘The Plot Against the Human Race’ (inked by Frank Chiaramonte) but just can’t outsmart Billy and Freddy…

Joe Giella applied his classical inking to WFC #266’s as murderous mystic malcontent IBAC joins ‘Sivana’s Space Armada’, recruiting aliens from everywhere to attack Earth, yet once again failing to get past mighty Captain Marvel. Bob Smith then inked #267’s concluding chapter as the ghastly gang regroup to perpetrate an ‘Assault on the Rock of Eternity!’, sparking the return of part-timers The Three Lieutenant Marvels to help save creation…

Like Philip Jose Farmer, Bridwell was one of those creators who always sought links between heroes and villains, and he indulged himself via a trick of fortuitous continuity in #268’s ‘A Sleep and the Deep’ (Steve Mitchell inks) as Freddy Freeman’s origins were re-examined via some very nasty nightmares…

In brief: Captain Marvel Jr. and his originating antithesis Captain Nazi sprang out of a crossover experiment in 1942, starting in the Bulletman feature of Master Comics. The Ballistic Wonder was undoubtedly Fawcett’s runner-up attraction: hogging the cover spot there and even winning his own solo comic book. That all changed with #21 and Captain Nazi. Hitler’s unholy Übermensch made manifest, the monstrous villain was despatched to America to spread terror and destruction and kill all its superheroes.

Nazi stormed in, battling Bulletman and Captain Marvel, who naturally united to stop the Fascist Fiend razing New York City. The clash ended inconclusively and restarted in the Captain Marvel portion of Whiz Comics #25 with the Nazi trying to wreck a hydroelectric dam. Foiled again, he sought to smash a fighter plane prototype.

Captain Marvel countered him, but was not quick enough to prevent the Hun killing an old man and brutally crushing the young boy beside him. Freddy Freeman seemed destined to follow his grandfather into eternity, but guilt-plagued Billy brought the dying lad to Shazam and the wizard saved his life by granting him access to the power of the ancient gods and heroes. Physically cured – except for a permanently maimed leg – the process generated a secondary effect: whenever he uttered the phrase “Captain Marvel” Freeman transformed into a super-powered version of his mortal self.

The epic concluded in Master Comics #22 when the teen titan joined the Bullets in stopping Captain Nazi, victoriously concluding with a bold announcement that from the very next issue he would be starring in his own solo adventures…

In our modern age, the net result was that Freddy experienced a portentous dread that the seas which had taken all his family had not done with him and something evil was coming…

Before that though, Bridwell, Newton & Dan Adkins reveal how composite demon host Timothy Karnes (carrying infernal icons Satan, Any, Belial, Beelzebub, Asmodeus & Craeteis) is revealed as the cruel cause of those nightmares in #269’s ‘SABBAC Strikes Back!’ but is unable to survive when CMJ deduces the plot and turns the tables…

It’s smiles all around – eventually – when Billy’s alter ego convinces hideous extraterrestrials to take back their well-meaning gift of transforming his landlady’s offspring into ‘Our Son, the Monster!’ (Larry Mahlstedt inks) whilst Mary Marvel confronts a deadly new foe in #272. As inked by Mitchell, ‘Chain Lightning’ can divert and absorb the magic bolts that bestow godlike power, but she can’t think as quickly as the Shazam girl…

Adkins returned for #273 as the World’s Wickedest Scientist writhes in shame after being awarded ‘Sivana’s Nobel!’ for the discarded and despised benevolent devices he invented before turning evil. To restore his own pride, the batty boffin tries to trigger World War III, but thanks to Captain Marvel only makes himself eligible for next year’s Peace Prize…

Billy Batson steals the show next, solving a baffling murder mystery in the Mahlstedt inked ‘Silence, Please’ and Adkins embellishes a compelling kidnap drama as the Marvel family seek a temporary replacement following ‘The Snatching of Billy Batson!’

Inked by Chiaramonte, weird war and magical mystery inform WFC’s #276 pan-dimensional invasion saga, but the last stand of ‘Magicians and Mercenaries’ – and the Marvel Family – proves but a simple prelude to Junior tackling ‘The Menace of the Moon-Tree!’ when fairy tales come true and magic beans link Earth to Luna…

A glimmer of understanding comes in #278 as satanist Dora Keane accepts ‘The Power of Darkness!’ from Satan, and as Darkling defeats the Shazam- powered champions. Saved by another enigmatic magical manifestation, the heroes are set on the trail of an unknown operator acting anonymously from the shadows…

His identity is revealed in #279 as a ruthless plutocrat blackmails the world into finding a cure for his fatal illness, or else ‘When Bancroft Fisher Dies, Everybody Dies!’…

As the Marvels race to find the global boobytrap endangering life on Earth, they are assisted by beings impossible to believe or comprehend and a boy Freddy recognises…

The truth emerges in ‘The Secret of the Freeman Brothers!’ and the return of Kid Eternity…

Way back in Shazam! #27, Bridwell had revived a Quality Comics character DC had also acquired when the Golden Age ended. The ghostly child and his spiritual advisor (that’s a pun, sons & daughters) fitted perfectly into what Silver Age fans dubbed Earth-S continuity, despite previously only being seen in reprint tales…

Devised by Otto Binder & Sheldon Moldoff, the Kid had debuted in Hit Comics #25 (cover-dated December 1942): an innocent boy machine-gunned by Nazis on a U-Boat, and taken to the heavenly realm of Eternity by a hapless soul collector years before his actual due date. Bureaucracy being the ultimate force of Creation, the lad was unable to simply return to life, but was granted compensation in the ability to temporarily walk the Earth, and power to summon any person, myth or legend from literature or history.

Aided by bumbling but beneficent spirit Mr. Keeper, the Kid fought crime and injustice until all the really good Golden-Age comic books were cancelled, but now was revealed as Freddy’s brother Christopher “Kit” Freeman, who had died on the same day Freddy had been attacked by Captain Nazi and both grandfathers had been killed…

As the boys compare origins it’s revealed that Mr. Keeper’s original mistake was taking Kit instead of Freddy and that the wizard was deeply involved in setting the situation right…

Having at last made contact with his sibling and saving Earth from mystic menaces, Kid and Junior are at the forefront of the next crisis as Mister Mind steals ultimate power in #281 to become ‘The One-Worm Monster Society!’ (John Calnan inks). Once that catastrophe cataclysmically concluded, the spooks silently stuck around, helping scupper the schemes of con artists Silk and Her Highness in the final World’s Finest outing.

Illustrated by Gil Kane, ‘Charity Begins…’ (#282 August 1982) was set in a circus and featured everyone – even charismatic charlatan/honorary Marvel Uncle Dudley – but was not the intended last hurrah. That had been delayed and only appeared in DC Digest-series Adventure Comics #491 & 492 (September and October 1982, illustrated by Newton, Chiaramonte & Calnan).

It began with ‘The Confederation of Hell’ as Satan assembled former failed agents IBAC, Darkling, SABBAC and old Kid Eternity enemy Master Man who attacked the heroes in their human forms, and unleashed primordial deities to do their dirty work. However, with Kit and Keeper turning the tide the Marvels easily won their ‘Battle with the Gods!’ to fade safely into comics limbo until the next reboot…

Although still controversial amongst older fans like me, the 1970’s incarnation of Captain Marvel/Shazam! has a tremendous amount going for it. Gloriously free of breast-beating angst and agony (even at the end) these adventures are beautifully, compellingly illustrated and charmingly scripted: clever, rewarding, funny and wholesome superhero yarns to appeal to any child and positively promote a love of graphic narrative. There’s a horrible dearth of exuberant superhero adventure these days, so isn’t it great that there is still somewhere to go for a little light action?

Just say the word…
© 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!: Family Affair


By Mike Kunkel, Art Baltazar, Franco, Byron Vaughns, Ken Branch & Stephen DeStefano & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-49650-290-2 (HB/Digital edition)

After the runaway success of Jeff Smith’s magnificent reinvention of the original Captain Marvel (Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil ) it was simply a matter of time before that iteration won its own title in the monthly marketplace. What was a stroke of sheer genius was to place the new Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! under the bright and shiny aegis of the company’s young reader imprint – in what used to be the Cartoon Network spin-off section.

This collection re-presents the first dozen issues, spanning cover-dates September 2008 through March 2010 and opens on a most familiar world, slightly askew of the mainstream DC Universe. These frantically ebullient and utterly contagious tales of the orphan Batson and his obnoxious, hyperactive little sister Mary – both gifted by an ancient mage with the powers of the gods – could play out in wild and woolly semi-isolation hampered by nothing except page count…

Billy Batson is a homeless kid with a murky past and a glorious destiny. One night he followed a mysterious figure into an abandoned subway station and met the wizard Shazam. The ancient guardian of good granted him the ability to turn into an adult superhero called Captain Marvel.

Gifted with the wisdom of Solomon, strength of Hercules, stamina of Atlas, power of Zeus, courage of Achilles and speed of Mercury, the lad was despatched into the world to do good: a noble if perhaps immature boy in a super man’s body.

Accompanied by talking tiger-spirit Mr. Tawky Tawny, Billy tracked down his missing little sister, but whilst battling evil genius Dr. Sivana (US Attorney General and would-be ruler of the universe) he impetuously caused a ripple in the world’s magical fabric through which monsters and ancient perils now occasionally slip through. Currently, the reunited orphans are trying to live relatively normal lives, but finding the going a little tough…

Firstly, without adults around, Billy often has to masquerade as his own dad and when he’s not at school he’s the breadwinner, earning a living as a boy-reporter at radio/TV station WHIZ. Moreover, little Mary also has access to (most of) the Power of Shazam, and she’s a lot smarter than he is in using it… as well as a real pain in Billy’s neck.

Animator and storyteller Mike Kunkel, inspired creator of the simply lovely Herobear and the Kid, leads off this collection: writing, drawing and colouring a breakneck, riotous romp over the first four issues reintroducing the new Marvel Family to any new readers and, by virtue of that pesky rift in the cosmic curtain, recreating the Captain’s greatest foe: Black Adam. In case you’re wondering, Steve Wands did the lettering…

The villain was once the mightiest man alive but was banished for abusing Shazam’s gift. However, after the damage to reality Billy caused, he’s back but nowhere near the Man he was…

This time the evil predecessor of the World’s Mightiest Mortal is a powerless but truly vile brat: a schoolboy bully who returns to Earth after millennia in limbo, ready to cause great mischief – but he cannot remember the magic word that activates his evil adult self…

This hilarious tale has just the right amount of dark underpinning, as the atrocious little thug stalks Billy and Mary, trying to wheedle and eventually torture the secret syllables from them. When – inevitably – Black Adam regains his mystic might and subsequently liberates the petrified Seven Deadly Evils of Mankind from their imprisonment on the wizard’s Rock of Eternity, the stage is set for a classic confrontation.

Along the way to that climactic clash there’s oodles of sheer hilarity as Billy’s troubles are magnified by increasing demands on his time by overzealous teachers and Principal Strikta wanting to conference with his “dad”, whilst his journalistic partner and mentor Ms. Fidelity seems romantically attracted to his older body – which is still piloted by Billy’s pre-teen mind…

It’s no comfort at all that Mary is still thinking up better and cleverer ways to use the powers they share and that she might be the Wizard’s favourite, but the real problem is Theo Adam…

The returned terror might be stuck in his child form, but when he joins Billy in class, it soon becomes clear that the bully is sticking painfully close just in case one of the emergencies he’s orchestrated allows him to overhear Billy shouting out that word…

Inevitably all Billy’s worries come true and Black Adam regains his powers, leading the resurrected Seven Deadly Evils against humanity. Happily, although outpowered, out-fought and at his lowest moment, Billy comes up with a plan…

Pitched perfectly at the young reader, with equal parts danger, comedy, sibling rivalry and the regular outwitting of adults, this first storyline screams along with a brilliantly clever feel-good finish, perfectly setting up the next all-action comedic challenge…

From issue #5 (September 2009) writing team Art Baltazar & Franco (Franco Aureliani) – collectively responsible for the incomparably compulsive madness of Tiny Titans and Superman Family – took over the legend-spinning, and artists Byron Vaughns & Ken Branch limn the first bombastic tale as convict Doctor Sivana unleashes a stolen atomic automaton against the two kids he hates most in the world in ‘Mr Who? Mr. Atom!’.

The destructive giant robot rampage was simply a ploy to cover his escape from prison. Although the mighty marvels overcome the onslaught thanks to input from its creator, Billy has a bigger problem to solve. He has a tremendous crush on Ms. Fidelity but she barely notices him whenever his heroic alter ego is around and even when he’s not…

‘To Be King’ then pits the champions of Fawcett City against primordial super-caveman King Kull: a physical and mental giant trying to reconquer the planet he ruled in millennia past. Older fans of gentle fantasy will be enthralled and delighted here by the singular art of Stephen DeStefano, who won hearts and minds with his illustration of Bob Rozakis’ seminal series Hero Hotline and ’Mazing Man – both painfully, criminally overdue for graphic novel collections of their own…

The King’s defeat is singular and shocking, but the young warriors are unaware that Sivana has again benefitted from their actions and is now weaponizing Kull’s remains…

Encroaching disaster is everywhere. At the Rock of Eternity, Shazam is helpless to prevent the Seven Evils from slowly awakening again and senses another hidden enemy in play. Calling on long-sidelined shapeshifting tiger totem Mr. Tawky Tawny, he inadvertently tips off evil genius Sivana and leads him to the Batson’s home. The wicked misfit even captures the tiger-man and uses him to power a newer, deadlier Mr. Atom in the Byron Vaughns illustrated ‘Deception Reception’…

With (the original) Captain Marvel on the ropes, ‘Come Together!’ sees Sivana press his attack, deploying enslaved Kull to back up his killer bot, before being again outsmarted by Mary Marvel whose grasp of physics saves the day and the tiger…

Another classic villain is revived as Shazam’s observations of Earth hone in on a deadly arsonist just as Billy begins acting strangely …like a jerk or perhaps pubescent schoolboy…

As Mary talks things over with recuperating houseguest Tawky-Tawny, they realise they haven’t seen Billy for some time, only his increasingly obnoxious adult alter ego. The crisis comes to head in ‘Fire Fire Everywhere!’ as the hero appallingly overreacts to the firebug, employing excessive force and accidentally creating an Arson Fiend…

‘The Legacy of Mr. Banjo!’ also channels a Golden Age bad guy as Billy and Mary stumble into a bank robbery perpetrated by Axe, the teenage son of the Axis agent and using his mystic music to mesmerise mortals into parting with their money. Although Billy is wilful enough to shrug off the spell it takes a pep talk from Ms. Fidelity to give him the edge needed to free Mary and stop Axe…

One good thing about the clash is that Billy is clearheaded now and realises he must not say his magic word ever again…

With Mary and Tawky-Tawny in tow, Billy heads for Shazam’s citadel and  proper diagnosis. The result is the freeing of an evil duplicate in ‘Mirror Mirror’, but the stupendous battle between hero and reflection is just a prelude to the final clash as the fight exposes the long-hidden secret villain in ‘Mr. Mind Over Matter!’ and Billy and his sister must stop both the wicked worm and its Monster Society of Evil with brains not brawn…

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!: Family Affair is ideal for bringing kids into comics: funny, thrilling, stylishly illustrated and perfectly in tune with what young minds want to see. Moreover, with another major motion picture adaptation set to premiere in March, it’s a timely moment to get reacquainted with the Big Red Cheese …and the Little Babybel…

Incorporating a full cover gallery and a Kunkel variant, plus a key code for those pages written in the ‘Monster Society of Evil Code’ this is an addictive treat for all readers who can still revel in the power of pure wonderment and still glory in an unbridled capacity for joy.
© 2008, 2009, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil



By Jeff Smith, coloured by Steve Hamaker (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1466-1 (HB) 978-1-4012-0974-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

With the long awaited Shazam movie sequel flashing imminently into view, I’m seizing the opportunity to plug a few of better books old and new starring “the Big Red Cheese”. As far as all-ages material goes, modern superhero comics don’t get better than this…

In a tale originally published as a 4-issue prestige format miniseries in 2007, Jeff Smith (Bone, RASL, Little Mouse Gets Ready, Tüki: Save the Humans) came the closest yet to recapturing the naive yet knowing charm that made the original Captain Marvel – AKA the World’s Mightiest Innocent – far and away the most successful super-character of the Golden Age. Moreover, this epic yet accessible reworking still stands as of one of his greatest adventures…

So, with the latest screen interpretation set to bust all the blocks, it’s well past time to take one more look at the glorious beast – especially as its still available in assorted physical and digital formats.

Following an adulatory Introduction from Alex Ross, the trip back to our communal childhoods kicks off with a scene of appalling deprivation and terror…

Billy Batson is a little homeless boy with a murky past and a glorious destiny. One night, he follows a mysterious figure into an abandoned subway station and meets the wizard Shazam, who gives him the ability to turn into a full-grown superhero called Captain Marvel. Gifted with the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury, the lad is sent into the world to do good.

Accompanied by verbose tiger-spirit Mr. Tawky Tawny, Billy sets out to find a little sister he never knew he had, and even parlays himself into a job as a source for TV reporter Helen Fidelity…

He sets to, fighting evils big and small, but at his heart he’s still just a kid. Thus, when Billy impetuously causes a ripple in the world’s magical fabric, it causes cosmic conniptions that endanger the universe. So, after he finally tracks down his little sister, he accidentally shares (some of) his powers with her and suffers the ignominy of having her be better at the job than he is…

The neophyte champion also encounters evil genius Dr. Sivanna, US Attorney General and would-be ruler of the universe, and the deadly and hideous minions of the mysterious Mr. Mind, whose Monster Society of Evil is dedicated to wiping out humanity! Can he make amends and save the day… Maybe, if Mary Marvel helps…

The original saga this gem is loosely based on ran from 1943-1946 in Captain Marvel Adventures #22-46: a boldly ambitious and captivating chapter-play in the manner of popular movie serials of the day, and still regarded as one of the most memorable achievements of Golden Age comicbooks.

It’s fairly safe to say that this reworking will stay in people’s hearts and minds for a good long time, too. It certainly spawned an excellent spin-off series which I’ll be covering soon, just to cash in on the movie…

Jeff Smith accomplished the impossible here. He (re)created a superhero tale for all ages and returned some part of the genre to the children for whom it was originally intended. Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil is exciting, spectacular, moving and unselfconscious: revelling in the power of its own roots and the audience’s unbridled capacity for joy.

If you can track down the hardback volume, it’s stuffed with added features. The dust jacket opens into a truly magical double-sided poster, there are sketch and script pages for the reader with industry aspirations, biographies and historical sections, a lavishly illustrated production journal, puzzles and even a modern version of the secret code used as a circulation builder in the 1940s. Most importantly though, and irrespective of what iteration you get, it is the mesmerising quality of the story and artwork that you’ll remember, forever.

Words are cheap and I’ve used enough: now you do yourself a big favour and get this truly magical, utterly marvellous book.
© 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.