Category: Shazam!

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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.

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JSA by Geoff Johns Book Two


By Geoff Johns, David S. Goyer, Stephen Sadowski, Michael Bair, Carlos Pacheco, Jesus Merino, Phil Winslade, Mike Perkins, Steve Yeowell, Keith Champagne, Buzz, Rags Morales, Dave Meikis, Paul Neary, Rob Leigh, Javier Saltares, Ray Kryssing, Andrew Pepoy & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8154-0 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Pure Perfection for Superhero Connoisseurs… 9/10

After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – for which read the creation of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the genre, and indeed industry’s progress, was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus, what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven – a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces and readerships. Plus of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is a lot cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick.

The Justice Society of America was created in the third issue of All-Star Comics (Winter 1940/1941), an anthology title featuring established characters from various All-American Comics publications, by the simple expedient of having the heroes gather around a table and tell each other their latest adventure. From this low-key collaboration, it wasn’t long before the guys – and they were all white guys (except the original Red Tornado, who only pretended to be one) until Wonder Woman premiered in the eighth issue – regularly joined forces to defeat the greatest villains and social ills of their generation.

Within months the concept had spread far and wide…

And thus, the Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comics and, when Julius Schwartz revived the superhero genre in the late 1950s, a key moment would come with the inevitable teaming of the reconfigured mystery men into a Justice League of America.

From there it wasn’t long until the original and genuine returned. Since then we’ve enjoyed many attempts to formally revive the team’s fortunes but it wasn’t until 1999, on the back of both the highly successful revamping of the JLA by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter and the seminal but critically favoured new Starman by Golden Age devotee James Robinson, that the multi-generational team found a concept and fan-base big enough to support them.

It didn’t hurt that the writers – all with strong Hollywood connections – adored the original concept, but also knew what mass-market action audiences liked. And now that the JSA have cracked the large and small screen markets, my cup – at least – truly runneth over…

Their highly successful revival began as the last survivors of the original team reconvened after losing most of their membership to old age, infirmity or enemy action. Following the death of founding comrade Wesley Dodds/The Sandman, Wildcat, Flash and Green Lantern/Sentinel united with youthful inheritors of the old team’s legacy. These included members’ children and former Infinity Inc members Atom Smasher, Obsidian and Hourman, Dodds’ sidekick Sand, Stargirl (then called Star Spangled Kid), the third Dr. Mid-Nite, Starman and Mister Terrific plus new Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders, Black Canary and Wonder Woman (in actuality, her mother Hippolyta who was an active Nazi crusher during WWII).They all united to rescue three babies; one of which became the next incarnation of magical hero Doctor Fate. Once they were successful most of the squad stuck together to continue the traditions and train a new generation of heroes…

Shortly thereafter, as old guard Flash, Sentinel and Wildcat assumed the role of mentors for both current and future champions, the multi-generational unit was attacked by demented super-human (and current Man of the Moment) Black Adam: a magically empowered superman, who usually harassed agents of do-gooding wizard Shazam!. The bombastic battle served to introduce more very far-reaching plot threads and led to a fearsome clash with a new iteration old enemy outfit the Injustice Society…

Officially concentrating on the efforts of Geoff Johns, this second volume re-presents in whole or in part Secret Origins of Super-Villains File 80-Page Giant #1, JSA #16-25, Our Worlds at War #1, JLA/JSA: Secret Files & Origins #1 and JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice: bringing the revered, revived and very legendary Justice Society of America into DC’s modern pantheon and continuing the writer’s campaign to restore and re-induct all the classic stars by resurrecting the biggest name and most visually arresting of the originals – Hawkman.

It begins with a prelude from December 1999’s Secret Origins of Super-Villains File 80-Page Giant #1. Crafted by Johns & Goyer and illustrated by Phil Winslade & Mike Perkins, ‘Sorrow Ever More!’ sees demonically-tainted gang boss Johnny Sorrow break veteran villain Cameron Makent – AKA legacy JSA foe The Icicle – out of super penitentiary The Slab. The lachrymose liberator has connections with the original Icicle and expects the successor to join his war on modern heroes. He also knows an awful lot about the Makent family…

Major storyline Injustice be done opens with ‘Divide and Conquer’ (JSA #16, illustrated by Stephen Sadowski & Michael Bair) wherein an expanded Injustice Society – including Black Adam and in possession of the heroes’ most intimate secrets – ambushes them and fellow Golden Age champion Scarab whilst they’re off guard…

The blitz attack meets with significant success, and in ‘Cold Comfort’ mastermind Johnny Sorrow reveals his plans as the heroes begin their fight back, and we see his horrific origins in ‘Sorrow’s Story’ (with additional art Steve Yeowell), before the World goes to Hell with ‘Into the Labyrinth’ (extra inks by Keith Champagne) and the ghostly Spectre returns to save the day from Sorrow’s patron master The King of Tears.

And spectacularly fails…

The saga concludes in cataclysmic fashion with ‘Godspeed’ as Black Adam and Jakeem “J.J.” Thunder (heir of genie-wielding Johnny Thunder) join the team, but not before first Flash Jay Garrick is lost in time and space…

Compelling as it was, that entire saga was just a set-up for the eponymous ‘Return of Hawkman’ which I’ll get to after this necessary diversion…

One of the oldest and most revered heroes in comics, Hawkman premiered right behind Jay Garrick in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940). He was created by Gardner Fox & Dennis Neville, although the most celebrated artists to have drawn the Winged Wonder are Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Kubert, whilst young Robert Kanigher was justifiably proud of his later run as writer.

Carter Hall was a playboy archaeologist until he found a crystal knife that unlocked his memories. He knew that once he had been Prince Khufu of ancient Egypt, and that he and his lover Shayera had been murdered by High Priest Hath-Set. Moreover, with returned lives came the knowledge that his love and his killer were also nearby.

Using the restored knowledge of his past life, Hall fashioned a costume and flying harness, hunting his past and future murderer as the Hawkman. Inevitably triumphant, he and modern-day amour Shiera Saunders maintained their “Mystery-Man” roles: warring on modern crime and tyranny with weapons of the past.

Lost as the Golden Age ended, they were revived by Julie Schwartz’s crack creative cohort in the early 1960s (specifically Fox, Joe Kubert & Murphy Anderson) and – after a long career involving numerous revamps and retcons – “died” during the Zero Hour crisis.

Now in JSA #21 after the race of his life, lost Jay Garrick awakens in old Egypt: greeted by a pantheon of that era’s super champions. Nabu, the Lord of Order who created Doctor Fate, the original incarnation of Black Adam and Prince Khufu himself reveal the true origins of Hawkman whilst in the 21st century the JLA’s heavenly hero Zauriel informs the modern Hawkgirl just who and what she really is in ‘Guardian Angels’…

The epic further unfolds as a major connection to the alien Hawkworld of Thanagar is clarified and explored in ‘Lost Friends’ and as Garrick returns to his home era, Hawkgirl is abducted to Thanagar by its last survivors, desperate to thwart the schemes of the insane death-demon Onimar Synn who has reduced the entire planet to a zombie charnel house.

As the JSA frantically follow their abducted member to distant Polaris in ‘Ascension’ Carter Hall makes his dramatic return from beyond and saves the day in ‘Icarus Fell’, before leading the team to magnificent victory in spectacular conclusion ‘Seven Devils…

Illustrated by Buzz, Rags Morales, Sadowski, Bair, David Meikis and Paul Neary, this latest return not only led to Hawkman regaining his own title (more graphic novel magic to review ASAP) but also stands as one of the most cosmic and grand-scaled of all the JSA’s adventures.

The cosmic calamity continued as current DC Crossover Event “Worlds At War” – wherein an alien doomsday device/inimical manifested concept Imperiex almost destroyed the planet and unravelled the universe – tragically impacted the team. JSA: Our Worlds at War #1 saw the embattled planet calling on all its metahuman resources with Society members past, present – 28 in all – and simply affiliated gather as ‘The All-Stars’ (Johns, Javier Saltares & Ray Kryssing). Their mission is to take the war to Imperiex, assaulting its Jupiter-sized base-ship and even American President Lex Luthor is astounded by the result of the raid…

Billy Batson/Captain Marvel makes his troubled debut with the team via an introductory prelude in JLA/JSA: Secret Files & Origins #1 (January 2003). ‘The Day Before’, by Johns, Goyer, Sadowski & Andrew Pepoy, has the teen hero warned by his wizard mentor that an indiscernible threat menaces both teams of heroes. That conference leads directly into the last item on this agenda: JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice (February 2003).

Once upon a time the Justice Society was Earth’s premiere super-team: formed to crush oppression and injustice while raising morale during World War II. When the Justice League debuted in 1960, their success led to the reintroduction of the originals – albeit now revealed to have worked on the alternate reality dubbed Earth-Two. After many years of annual team-ups, the heroes of both – and indeed other worlds – were merged in mega event Crisis on Infinite Earths.

A reordered history reduced the JSA to the role of elder statesmen of metahumanity and they became an organisation regularly saving the world whilst mentoring the next generation of superheroes.

Their inspired successors, the Justice League of America were currently the World’s Greatest Superheroes – and have all the characters who until very recently appeared on TV and in cartoons and movies. You now have all the background you need to read this superb Original Graphic Novel.

As they have done for years, the JLA and JSA have gotten together to celebrate Thanksgiving when suddenly alien conqueror Despero attacks them and the entire world by releasing the Seven Deadly Sins. These deadly demons promptly possess Batman, Power Girl, Mister Terrific, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, Plastic Man and Captain Marvel (as today’s Shazam! was called back then)…

Can the remaining heroes defeat the Sins without killing their friends, and save humanity from total destruction at the hands of a hidden malign mastermind?

Of course they can; that’s the point. But seldom have they done it in such a spectacularly, well written and beautifully illustrated manner.

Crafted by Johns, Goyer, the much-missed Carlos Pacheco & Jesús Merino, this is the perfect conclusion to this sublime collection: a pure, iconic genre “Fights ‘n’ Tights bravura action romp that hits every target and pushes every button it should. If you love superhero comics, you will treasure this magnificent tale.

Complex and enthralling, these super shenanigans are the very best of their type: filled with wicked villains and shining, triumphant heroes, cosmic disaster and human tragedies, yet always leavening the doom and destruction with optimism and humour. Enticing, thrilling and stuffed with the biggest and best sort of superhero hijinks, if costume drama is your meat, this JSA compilation should be your prey…
© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2018 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman vs. Shazam!


By Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, Julie Schwartz, Paul Kupperberg, Joey Cavalieri, Mark Waid, Jerry Ordway, Judd Winick, Rich Buckler, Gil Kane, Alex Ross, Ian Churchill & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0909-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Golden Grudge-Match Magic… 8/10

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

Another one of the most venerated and loved characters in American comics was created by Bill Parker & Charles Clarence Beck for Fawcett Publications as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity that followed that successful launch of Superman. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the “Big Red Cheese” moved swiftly and solidly into the area 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.

Homeless orphan and thoroughly good kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard to battle injustice and subsequently granted the powers of six gods and mythical 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) hero Captain Marvel.

At the height of his popularity, Captain Marvel hugely outsold Superman but, as the decade progressed and tastes changed, sales slowed. An infamous court case begun in 1941 by National Comics citing copyright infringement was settled and like so many other superheroes, the Captain 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 transformed Captain Marvel into atomic age hero Marvelman, continuing to thrill readers into the early 1960s.

Decades later, 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. 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 secured the rights to Captain Marvel and his spin-off Family. Now, though the name itself had been taken up by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous and quirky robotic character published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967), the publishing monolith decided to tap into that discriminating if aging fanbase.

In 1973, riding a wave of national nostalgia on TV and in the movies, DC brought back the entire beloved cast of the 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…) after the memorable trigger phrase used by myriad Marvels to transform to and from mortal form and a word that had already entered the American language due to the success of the franchise the first time around.

Although the fortunes of Billy and Co have waxed and waned, one thing never did – the primal joy of all fans everywhere as they asked the eternal question of the golden age sales competitors: “Who would win if…?”

This rather hastily updated and rereleased volume is based on a 2013 edition but has come back presumably because it features so many stories starring surprise modern movie star Black Adam and gathers All-New Collectors’ Edition C-58, DC Comics Presents #33-34 & 49, DC Comics Presents Annual #3, Kingdom Come #4, Superman #216 and Power of Shazam #46 spanning 1978 to 2005. It’s by no means a comprehensive compilation with some notable omissions – such as my personal favourite ‘Make Way for Captain Thunder!’ from Superman # 276 (June 1974) – but there is plenty here to whet appetites and tantalise fading memories if you’re nearer the age of the Wizard than Billy…

The action begins ‘When Earths Collide’ as seen in May 1978’s tabloid-sized special All-New Collectors’ Edition C-58 as crafted by Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler & Dick Giordano. At this juncture, prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Shazam Family lived on alternate Earth-S whilst the regular DC pantheon inhabited the universe dubbed Earth-One.

This epic yarn sees ancient Martian sorcerer Karmang the Evil attempt to merge both worlds by harvesting the energy of cataclysmic combat, to which end he resurrects long-dead Shazam-empowered Black Adam and the mystic Quarmer being that haunted Superman as the Sand Thing.

As they stalk and provoke the heroes, Karmang curses the champions with addictive rage, compelling them to attack each other and liberate the super-forces Karmang craves. Thankfully, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Supergirl join Mary Marvel and an unsuspected secret ally to sabotage the scheme before the Big Blue Boy Scout and Big Red Cheese pummel each other and the worlds out of existence…

Conway, Roy Thomas, Buckler & Giordano then craft a 2-part epic in DC Comics Presents #33 and 34 (May & June 1981) as ‘Man and Supermarvel’ finds the Action Ace and Good Captain helplessly swapping powers, costumes and Earths, thanks to the mirthlessly manic machinations of Fifth dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk and malevolent alien worm Mr. Mind.

Despite the intervention of Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Junior in the concluding issue, the villains’ sinister manipulations allow antediluvian revenant King Kull to become ‘The Beast-Man that Shouted ‘Hate’ at the Heart of the U.N.’ (Thomas, Buckler & Giordano).

The consequent confrontational clash rumbles across myriad dimensions and only goes the heroes’ way after they stumble upon the garish homeworld of Lepine Legend Hoppy the Captain Marvel Bunny…

Black Adam takes centre stage in DC Comics Presents #49 (September 1982) as Thomas, Paul Kupperberg, Buckler & John Calnan detail how the troubled Billy Batson of Earth One is targeted by the immortal wizard in ‘Superman and Shazam!’

From his citadel in the Rock of Eternity, the mage seeks to empower a child and create a Marvel on Superman’s adopted homeworld. However, when he tries to enlist the Man of Steel’s assistance to create another Captain Marvel, everything goes badly wrong and the Earth-S original has to step in from his own world to stop the opportunistic depredations of his devil-hearted predecessor Teth Adam…

Captain Marvel’s blend of charm, drama and whimsy made and remade many fans, even prompting a live action TV series, but never quite enough to keep the series going in such economically trying times. Despite cancellation, however, the series persevered in back-up slots in other magazines and the character still made the occasional bombastic guest-appearance such as 1984’s DC Comics Presents Annual #3.

As delivered by Thomas, Julie Schwartz, Joey Cavalieri and illustrator Gil Kane, ‘With One Magic Word’ is a cracking and witty 40-page romp which sees the Earth-S Doctor Sivana appropriate the mystic lightning that empowers Billy, leading to a monolithic multidimensional melee involving not just the Marvel Family but also the Supermen of both Earths One and Two (this was mere months before Crisis on Infinite Earths lumped all these heroes onto one terribly beleaguered and crowded world) before peace, sanity and the status quo was restored…

Envisaged and designed by artist Alex Ross, Kingdom Come was originally released as a 4-issue Prestige Format miniseries in 1996 to rapturous acclaim and numerous awards and accolades. Although set in the future and an “imaginary story” released under the Elseworlds imprint, it almost immediately began to affect the company’s mainstream continuity.

Set approximately twenty years ahead, the grandiose saga detailed a tragic failure and subsequent loss of Faith for Superman and how his attempt to redeem himself almost caused an even greater and ultimate apocalypse.

Scripted by Mark Waid, the events are seen through the eyes and actions of Dantean witness Norman McCay, an aging cleric co-opted by Divine Agent of Wrath The Spectre after the pastor officiated at the last rites of dying superhero Wesley Dodds. As The Sandman, Dodds had been cursed with precognitive dreams which compelled him to act as an agent of justice.

This is a world where metahumans have proliferated: spawning a sub-culture of constant, violent clashes between the latest generation of costumed villains and vigilantes, all uncaring of collateral damage they daily inflict on mere mortals around and in all ways beneath them.

The preacher sees a final crisis coming… but feels helpless until the Spectre takes him on a bewildering voyage of unfolding events, McCay must act as the ghost’s human perspective as the Spirit of Vengeance prepares to pass judgement on Humanity…

Seen here is the concluding chapter: a staggering battle of superpowers, one last moment of salvation and a second chance for humanity during a calamitous ‘Never-Ending Battle’…

At first Superman’s plans seemed blessed to succeed, with many erstwhile threats flocking to his banner and doctrinaire rules of discipline, but as ever there are self-serving villains with their own agendas. Lex Luthor had organised a cabal of like-minded compatriots such as Vandal Savage, Catwoman and Kobra – a “Mankind Liberation Front”. With Captain Marvel as their utterly corrupted slave, this group is determined the super-freaks will not win, but salvation hinges on the outcome of their tool’s clash with a despondent, embittered Man of Steel…

The emotional trauma is heaped on Billy in Power of Shazam #46 (February 1999) as he reels from his failure to stop an atomic atrocity that killed many of his friends. Deeply traumatised, he at first ignores the depredations of Black Adam and allows Superman to fight his foe in Fawcett City, but when turns when pushed to far unleashing his ‘Absolute Power’ and lashing out at family, friends and foes alike in a powerful and disturbing tale by Jerry Ordway & Giordano…

The Fights ‘n’ Tights furore ends here with another single chapter from a greater epic as Superman #216 (June 2005, by Judd Winick, Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund) sees the heir of Shazam battling a Man of Steel controlled by rage-filled Demon of Darkness Eclipso in ‘Lightning Strikes Twice Part Three’ which was part of the build up to the Acts of Vengeance storyline…

Comics are such an interconnected, overlapping and entwined medium these days that I suppose my crusty old git reservations against incomplete stories can be ignored by most readers. That said, the material here is spectacular and thrilling and should gratify and satisfy new readers generated by movies or even word of mouth. With covers by Buckler, Giordano, Kane, Ross, Churchill & Dave Stewart and Ordway, this tome offers a quick glimpse of what’s great and topical, and for those in need of more there are entire worlds waiting for you to find them…
© 1978, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1996, 1999, 2005, 2013, 2018, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Crisis on Multiple Earths Book 2: Crisis Crossed


By Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Martin Pasko, E. Nelson Bridwell, Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Paul Levitz, Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, Frank McLaughlin, Joe Giella, Dick Giordano & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-77951-342-7 (TPB/Digital)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: utterly Unmissable Entertainment… 9/10

As I’ve incessantly mentioned, I was one of the “Baby Boomer” crowd growing up with Julie Schwartz, Gardner Fox and John Broome’s tantalisingly slow reintroduction of Golden Age superheroes during the halcyon, eternal summery days of the early 1960s. To me, those fascinating counterpart crusaders from Earth-Two weren’t vague and distant memories rubber-stamped by parents or older brothers – they were cool, fascinating and enigmatically new. And for some reason the “proper” heroes of Earth-One held them in high regard and treated them with obvious deference…

The transcendent wonderment began, naturally enough, in The Flash; pioneering trendsetter of the Silver Age Revolution. After successfully ushering in the triumphant return of the superhero concept, the Scarlet Speedster – with Fox & Broome writing – set an unbelievably high standard for costumed adventure in sharp, witty tales of science and imagination, always illustrated with captivating style and clean simplicity by Carmine Infantino.

The epochal epic that literally changed the scope of American comics forever was Fox’s ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ (Flash #123 September 1961, reprinted in many places, but not here): introducing to an emerging continuity the concept of alternate Earths and, by extension, the multiversal structure of the future DCU as well as all the succeeding cosmos-shaking yearly “Crisis” sagas that grew from it.

…And, where DC led, others followed…

Received with tumultuous acclaim, the concept was revisited months later in Flash #129 which also teasingly reintroduced evergreen stalwarts – Wonder Woman, The Atom, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Doctor Mid-Nite and Black Canary: venerable members of the fabled Justice Society of America. Clearly Editor Schwartz had something in mind…

That tale directly led into the veteran team’s first meeting with the Justice League of America and the start of an annual tradition. When ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ brought us the notion of Infinite Earths and multiple iterations of costumed crusaders, fan pressure had begun almost instantly to agitate for the return of the Greats of the “Golden Age”. Editorial powers-that-be were hesitant, fearing too many heroes would be silly and unmanageable, or worse yet, put readers off. If they could see us now…

These innovative adventures generated an avalanche of popular and critical approval (big sales figures, too) so inevitably the trans-dimensional tests led to the ultimate team-up in the summer of 1963. This second gloriously enthralling volume celebrating Infinite Diversity in Infinite Costumes gathers more summer double-headers starring the JLA & JSA and includes a number of revivals and outreach tam-ups designed to set young hearts racing and pulses pounding. The alliances encompass Justice League of America # 91-2, 100-102, 107-108, 113, 123-124, 135-137, 147-148 and 159-160: stunning superhero wonderments which never fail to astound and delight. Also on offer are Len Wein’s context-conveying Foreword ‘Too Much of a Good Thing?’ revealing how the landmark anniversary team-up he scripted came about, and colourist Carl Gafford’s Introduction discussing the incredible achievements of the series’ illustrators such as the criminally underappreciated Dick Dillin who pencilled every story here… usually with his long-term inker Frank McLaughlin, although there are few other old friends here.

In terms of narrative, the writing – by a formidable cohort of writers nurtured and mentored by “Julie” – consists of nothing more and nothing less than bunches of beguiling mystery men getting together to deal with extra-extraordinary problems…

From the early 1970s, DC started methodically reintroducing lost and forgotten characters from other companies and pantheons DC had bought out over the years, at last convinced that costumed heroes were not a fad but here to stay. With hindsight, it was all also about sales and the attempted revival of so many super-characters during a period of intense sales rivalry between DC Comics and Marvel was just sound business sense…

The dramas resume with Mike Friedrich, Dillin & inker Joe Giella’s Justice League of America #91 (cover-dated August 1971), the hero-heavy opening chapter of the annual get-together. In ‘Earth… the Monster-Maker!’, the Supermen, Flashes, Green Lanterns, Hawkmen, Atoms and Robins of two separate Realities simultaneously but ineffectually battle an alien boy and his symbiotically-linked “dog” on twin planets a universe apart.

The result is pointless carnage and imminent death until ‘Solomon Grundy… the One and Only!’ gives all concerned a life-saving lesson on togetherness and lateral thinking…

Justice League of America #100 (August 1972) heralded a move away from relevancy and social hot-button topics that had dominated the industry for a number of years and a return to full-on Costumed melodramas, beginning with a colossal 3-team collaboration that also featured almost every hero in then-DC’s pantheon.

‘The Unknown Soldier of Victory!’ saw debuting scripter Len Wein assemble champions of two Earths to facilitate a monumental hunt through time and retrieve forgotten heroes the Seven Soldiers of Victory: not simply out of common decency, but also because the vanished vigilantes held the answer to defeating a criminal mastermind literally holding the world of Earth-Two to ransom.

Inked by Giella & Dick Giordano, the quest continued in ‘The Hand that Shook the World!’ before ending in one adventurer’s gallant final sacrifice in ‘And One of Us Must Die!’…

A year gone by, Justice League of America #107 by Wein, Dillin & Giordano proclaimed ‘Crisis on Earth-X!’ as the opening chapter of another landmark crossover. Following the successful revival of a lost team in their previous get-together, this time the annual shenanigans reintroduced another band of Golden Age warriors – from corporate acquisition Quality Comics and newly rechristened The Freedom Fighters…

It begins when a recreational trip across the dimensional barrier is accidentally sabotaged by android stowaway Red Tornado, depositing Batman, Green Arrow and Elongated Man from Earth-One and Superman, Sandman and Doctor Fate from Earth-Two into another alternate universe – one where the Nazis had won World War II.

Trapped and outnumbered, the seven displaced heroes were rescued by the last liberty-loving champions of a world dominated by fascist super-science and a secret dictator. Joining forces with embattled champions Uncle Sam, The Ray, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, Black Condor and The Human Bomb, the newcomers ended the fascist threat forever in sinister sequel ‘Thirteen Against the Earth!’…

With everybody returned to their home planes, #113 (September/October 1974) proved how desperate times were the for the spandex set as the epic annual collaboration was restricted to a single issue. Nevertheless, ‘The Creature in the Velvet Cage!’ proved to be one of the very best tales as a JLA visiting party to Earth-Two (Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Elongated Man) share the shame and horror of The Sandman, when his greatest secret is catastrophically revealed.

Years previously, the Master of Dreams had accidentally transformed his sidekick Sandy, the Golden Boy into a ravening silicoid monster during an attempt to modify their crimebusting technology. Dreading a holocaust, Wesley Dodds been compelled to sedate and imprison his best friend for years…

Now after three decades the beast was awake and free, seemingly intent on destroying the world. At least, that’s what Hourman and the Golden Age Flash and Wonder Woman believe] when they join their old comrade on his tragic manhunt…

For the next annual yarn, Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Dillin & Frank McLaughlin stepped far off the reservation with ‘Where on Earth Am I?’ and ‘Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!’ (#123 and 124)….

In Flash #179 (‘The Flash – Fact of Fiction?’: May 1968) Bates & Gardner Fox first took the multiple Earths concept to its illogical conclusion by trapping the Monarch of Motion in “our” Reality of Earth-Prime, where the Sultan of Speed was merely a fictional comic book character.

For this sequel, Bates and co-scripter Maggin revisited the notion, as a story conference in Editor Julie Schwartz’s office leads to the oafish goons playing with the Flash’s hastily-constructed Cosmic Treadmill. Inevitably their meddling sends one of them hurtling between dimensions…

Transformed and empowered by the journey, Bates becomes the most dangerous villain alive, leading Earth-Two criminals The Wizard, Shade, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Icicle and The Gambler in a lethal assault on JSA heroes Robin, Hourman, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder and Dr. Mid-Nite.

Maggin, meanwhile, has followed his friend but ended up on Earth-One. Undaunted, he recruits Batman, Black Canary, Aquaman, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Flash to save three imperilled universes, but it takes the Divine Might of the supernal Spectre to truly set everything back to its assigned place and time…

Plotted by E. Nelson Bridwell and scripted by Marty Pasko, 12 months later the get-together attained epic proportions with the inclusion of venerable champions of the recreated Shazam! Universe – imaginatively dubbed Earth-S. It opens with a ‘Crisis in Eternity!’…

One of the most venerated and loved characters in American comics, the original Captain Marvel was created by Bill Parker & C. C. Beck: the best of a wave of costumed titans devised in the wake of Superman’s blockbuster 1938 debut.

Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett character moved early into fanciful light entertainment and even comedy, whilst as the 1940s progressed the Man of Steel increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action and drama.

Homeless orphan Billy Batson was chosen to battle injustice by an ancient wizard who bestowed upon him the powers of six gods and heroes. Billy transforms from scrawny boy to brawny (adult) hero by speaking aloud the wizard’s name – an acronym for the legendary patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury. At the height of his popularity Captain Marvel was published twice a month and outsold Superman.

However, as tastes and the decade changed, sales slowed and a court case begun by National Comics citing copyright infringement was settled. The Big Red Cheese disappeared – as did many superheroes – becoming merely a fond memory for older fans.

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 collector/aficionados, not casual or impulse buys. DC needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unusual places: opting to tap into a proven, discriminating fanbase…

After the settlement with Fawcett in 1953, DC secured the rights to Captain Marvel and Family, even though the name itself had been taken up by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous and quirky robotic character published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967). In 1973, riding a wave of nostalgia, DC brought back the entire beloved Fawcett cast and crew in their own kinder, weirder universe. To circumvent an intellectual property clash, they entitled the new comic book Shazam! (With One Magic Word!) the trigger phrase used by most of the many Marvels to transform to and from mortal form, and a word that had entered the American language due to the success of the franchise the first time around…

In Justice League of America #135, the usually stand-alone Shazam heroes meet other costumed champions when antediluvian dictator King Kull (a bestial despot from a pre-human civilisation who held mankind responsible for the extinction of his race) invaded the Wizard’s home on the Rock of Eternity.

From this central point in the Multiverse, Kull intends wiping out humanity on three different Earths and commences by capturing the gods and goddesses who empower Billy and his magical allies Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel.

Thankfully, fleet Mercury is able to escape, warning Earths-One and Two, even as lesser heroes Bulletman & Bulletgirl, Ibis the Invincible, Spysmasher and Mister Scarlet & Pinky take up the fight without the missing Marvels…

Recruiting an army of super-villains from three worlds, Kull unleashes a plague of unnatural disasters in ‘Crisis on Earth-S!’, unaware that Mercury, Shazam and dim-witted magic-wielder Johnny Thunder are undertaking a devious counterattack to bring the vanished Marvel Family back into action, just in time to avert a cataclysmic ‘Crisis in Tomorrow!’…

The cross-collaboration protocol resurfaces one year later in brace of double-length sagas guest-starring Silver Age DC’s second-most popular superteam…

Once upon a time, a thousand years from now, a band of super-powered kids from many worlds took inspiration from the greatest heroic legend of all time, founding a club of champions. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited their inspiration to join them…

Thus began the vast, epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder & artist Al Plastino when the many-handed mob of juvenile universe-savers debuted in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), just as the revived superhero genre was gathering an inexorable head of steam in America.

The coalition grew and prospered, becoming a phenomenon generally attributed with birthing organised comics fandom. After years of slavishly remaining a closely-guarded offshoot of Superman’s corner of continuity, the Legion finally crossed over into the broader DCU with this saga wherein Paul Levitz & Martin Pasko united to detail ‘Crisis in the 30th Century!’

It begins when ultimate sorcerer Mordru drags a handful of JLA and JSA-ers (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Black Canary from Earth-One plus the other Green Lantern, Doctor Fate, Power Girl, Flash and Hawkman from E-Two) into the future to replace a band of ensorcelled Legionnaires he has somehow lost contact with…

Mordru’s previous slaves had been tasked with retrieving three arcane artefacts that were in the JLA’s keeping a millennium past, but with the pawns lost, the wizard now expects his new pets to finish the task. Naturally, the ancient heroes have other ideas…

Even after linking up with the lost Legionnaires, the 20th Centurians cannot prevent the return of demonic triumvirate Abnegazar, Rath and Ghast, but happily, their eons in stasis have affected the eldritch horrors’ psychological make-up and their consequent disunity gives the puny humans one shot at saving the universe from a ‘Crisis in Triplicate!’

This monumental melange of metahuman mayhem concludes with another time tempest and more forgotten stars as five legendary warriors are plucked from history by a most malevolent malefactor for the noblest of reasons. They are then pitted against the greatest superheroes of two worlds in ‘Crisis from Yesterday!’ by scripter Gerry Conway and artistic dynamic duo Dillin & McLaughlin.

In his zeal to conquer and plunder, the nefarious Lord of Time has accidentally created an omnipotent super-computer which is counting down to permanently ending the passage of time. Unable to halt or avoid an impending cosmic catastrophe, the temporal terrorist extracts Jon, the Viking Prince, English freebooter Black Pirate, Revolutionary War heroine Miss Liberty, western gunman Jonah Hex and WWI German enemy ace Hans von Hammer: supercharging them with eerie energies and programming them to attack the united Justice League and Society.

The Time Lord’s logic is simple: after suffering a shattering defeat, the teams – fired with determination and righteous fury – will promptly track him down, invade his Palace of Eternity and destroy for him his unstoppable computer. Or at least, the survivors will…

Surprisingly, that convoluted plan seems to work out in ‘Crisis from Tomorrow!’, but only after the chronally kidnapped quintet overcome their perfidious programming and revert to their valiant true selves. Even as the beleaguered superhero teams sacrifice everything to thwart the Lord of Time, the time-lost warriors prove their mettle against the errant computer…

This staggering panoply of multi-manned calamities and alternate Armageddons is rounded off with an instructive contextual lecture in John Wells’ Afterword ‘Those Were the Days’, augmented by all the rousing front covers by Neal Adams, Giordano, Nick Cardy, Ernie Chan, Frank Giacoia, McLaughlin, Rich F. Buckler, Jack Abel & Dillin: supported by full creator biographies and a ‘Cover Gallery’ from Alex Ross, featuring his painted delights from earlier collected editions.

These tales won’t suit everybody, and I’m as aware as any that in terms of the “super-powered” genre, the work here can be boiled down to bunches of heroes formulaically getting together to deal with extra-extraordinary problems.

Thankfully, I don’t have to be mature in my off-hours and for those who love costume heroes, crave cunningly constructed modern mythologies and actually care about fun, this is simply a grand parade of straightforward action, great causes and momentous victories.

…And since I wouldn’t have it any other way, why should you?
© 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold volume 1


By Sholly Fisch, Rick Burchett, Dan Davis & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3272-6 (TPB)

The Brave and the Bold premiered in 1955 as an anthology adventure comic featuring short complete tales about a variety of period heroes: a format reflecting the era’s filmic fascination with flamboyantly fanciful historical dramas. Devised and written by Bob Kanigher, issue #1 led with Roman epic Golden Gladiator, medieval mystery-man The Silent Knight and Joe Kubert’s Viking Prince. Soon the Gladiator was alternated with Robin Hood, but the adventure theme carried the title until the end of the decade when the burgeoning costumed character revival saw B&B transform into a try-out vehicle like Showcase.

Used to premiere concepts and characters such as Task Force X: The Suicide Squad, Cave Carson, Hawkman and Strange Sports Stories as well as the epochal Justice League of America, the comic soldiered on until issue #50 when it found another innovative new direction which once again caught the public’s imagination.

That issue paired two superheroes – Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter – in a one-off team-up, and was followed by more of the same: Aquaman and Hawkman in #51, WWII “Battle Stars” Sgt. Rock, Captain Cloud, Mme. Marie & the Haunted Tank in #52 and The Atom & Flash in #53.

The next instant union – Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash – evolved into Teen Titans and after Metal Men/the Atom and Flash/Martian Manhunter appeared, a new hero debuted in #57-58: Metamorpho, the Element Man.

From then it was back to the increasingly popular superhero pairings with #59. Although no one realised it at the time, that particular conjunction – Batman with Green Lantern – would be particularly significant….

A return engagement for the Teen Titans, issues spotlighting Earth-Two stalwarts Starman and Black Canary and Earth-One’s Wonder Woman and Supergirl soon gave way to an indication of things to come when Batman returned to duel hero/villain Eclipso in #64: an early acknowledgement of the brewing TV-induced mania mere months away.

Within two issues (following Flash/Doom Patrol and Metamorpho/Metal Men), B&B #67 saw the Caped Crusader take de facto control of the title and a lion’s share of team-ups. With the late exception of #72 and 73 (Spectre/Flash and Aquaman/Atom), the title was henceforth a place where the Gotham Gangbuster invited the rest of DC’s heroic pantheon to come and play…

Decades later, Batman: The Animated Series – masterminded by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini in the 1990s – revolutionised the Dark Knight and subsequently led to some of the absolute best comic book adventures in his 80-year publishing history. It also led to a spin-off print title…

With constant funnybook iterations and tie-ins to a succession of TV animation series, Batman has remained immensely popular and a sublime introducer of kids to the magical world of the printed page. One fun-filled incarnation was Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which gloriously celebrated the team up in both its all-ages small-screen and comicbook spin-off.

Shamelessly and superbly plundering decades of continuity arcana in a profusion of alliances between the Dark Knight and DC’s lesser creations, the show was supplemented by a cool kid’s periodical full of fun, verve and swashbuckling dash, cunningly crafted to appeal as much to the parents and grandparents as those fresh-faced neophyte kids…

This stellar trade paperback and digital collection re-presents issues #1-6 of the second series – The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold – in an immensely entertaining all-ages ensemble suitable for newcomers, fans and aficionados of all ages. It was originally released between January and June 2011. Although absolutely unnecessary to the reader’s enjoyment, a passing familiarity with the TV episodes will enhance the overall experience as will knowledge of the bizarre minutiae of 1960s and 1970s DC lore…

Crafted by Sholly Fisch, Rich Burchett & Dan Davis and following the format of the TV show, each tale opens with a brief vignette/prequel adventure before telling a longer tale. TA-NB:TB&TB (last time I’m typing that!) #1 sees the Caped Crimebuster battle Joker robots  beside Black Canary before main feature ‘Bottle of the Planets’ reunites him the “World’s Finest” partner in a devious mystery set in the last outpost of Krypton: the Bottled City of Kandor…

Having successfully solved the case of vanishing super-weapons, Batman teams with talking tiger Mr. Tawky-Tawny, magical (Captain) Marvel Shazam and his gods-powered family to save Christmas in ‘That Holiday Feeling’. That involves finding, fighting and foiling the emotion-bending Psycho-Pirate whilst #3 sees Flash (two, actually) and the Dark Knight hunting Mirror Master and the Mad Hatter through a mirror dimension inhabited by all the characters from Lewis Carroll’s books. Curiouser and curiouser …

Wonder Woman headlines in #4 as irate godling Eros seeks to teach her a lesson by using his arrows to instigate a wedding in ‘The Bride and the Bold’. The ceremony between Bat and Amazon sparks a lot of interest and – thanks to jealous Talia Al Ghul – a wave of super-villain attacks and the biggest wedding party brawl of all time before order and sense are restored…

‘Man-Hunted’ find Batman and Emerald jerk Guy Gardner fractiously allied to defeat a legion of the killer robots, but diverted to other realms to save a glorious enclave of nigh-forgotten 1960s alien beasts and sidekicks like Cryll and Zook(look them up, I double-dog dare ya…) from manic main man Lobo…

Ending this excellent excursion through DC’s daftest corridors is a beguiling contest between the Dark Knight Detective and Martian Manhunter J’onn J’onzz who tests his abilities against classic observation and deduction in ‘Now You see Me…’; sadly the salutary learning experience goes slightly awry when the calamitous Clayface is accidentally exposed…

Despite being ostensibly aimed at TV-addicted kids, these mini-sagas are wonderful, traditional comics thrillers no self-respecting fun-fan should miss: accessible, splendidly rendered yarns for the broadest range of excitement-seeking readers. This is a fabulous rollercoaster ride confirming the now-seamless link between animated features and comic books. After all, it’s just adventure entertainment in the end; really unmissable entertainment…

What more do you need to know?
© 2010, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Shazam! The World’s Mightiest Mortal volume 2


By E. Nelson Bridwell, Gerry Conway, Elliot S! Maggin, Denny O’Neil, Kurt Schaffenberger, Dick Giordano, Rich Buckler, Tenny Henson, Alan Weiss, Don Newton, Bob Oksner & various (DC)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0117-2 (HB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Joyous Superhero Fun… 9/10

One of the most venerated and loved characters in American comics was created by Bill Parker and Charles Clarence Beck as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity that followed the successful launch of Superman in 1938. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett character moved swiftly and solidly into the area 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 is selected by an ancient wizard to battle injustice and subsequently granted the powers of six gods and mythical heroes. By speaking aloud the wizard’s name – itself an acronym for the six patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury – he can transform from scrawny boy to brawny (adult) hero Captain Marvel.

At the height of his popularity, Captain Marvel hugely outsold Superman and was even published twice a month. However, as the decade progressed and tastes changed, sales slowed, and an infamous court case begun in 1941 by National Comics citing copyright infringement was settled. Like many other superheroes, the “Big Red Cheese” 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 transformed Captain Marvel into atomic age hero Marvelman, continuing to thrill readers into the early 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. National – now DC – Comics needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unusual places.

After the court settlement with Fawcett in 1953 they had secured the rights to Captain Marvel and his spin-off Family. Now, and though the name itself had been taken up by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous and quirky robotic character published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967), the publishing monolith decided to tap into that discriminating if aging fanbase.

In 1973, riding a wave of national nostalgia on TV and in the movies, DC brought back the entire beloved cast of the 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…’): the memorable trigger phrase used by myriad Marvels to transform to and from mortal form and a word that had already entered the American language due to the success of the franchise the first time around.

Now the latest star of film and TV is back in print in this stylish Hardback and digital compendium, collecting select material from Shazam! #14-17 and all of 19-35; and All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-58 (spanning July 1975 – May 1978).

The previous volume – ya gotta gettem all! – revealed how the entire Marvel family was trapped in time for a generation before being released to preserve gain justice and decency on their own kindler, gentler, more whimsical Earth and here Shazam! #19 introduces extra-dimensional delinquent Zazzo, the malevolent culprit revealed when Elliot S! Maggin and Kurt Schaffenberger ask ‘Who Stole Billy Batson’s Thunder?’.

Billy’s super sister Mary Marvel is the back-up feature, cannily solving E. Nelson Bridwell and Bob Oksner’s ‘Secret of the Smiling Swordsman!’, before the next issue teams the entire Marvel Family in full-length sci fi thriller ‘The Strange and Terrible Disappearance of Maxwell Zodiac!’, courtesy of Maggin and Schaffenberger.

Shazam! #21, 22, 23 and 24 were all reprint, represented here by covers from Ernie Chua & Bob Oksner, two from Schaffenberger and then another from Chua & Oksner, reflecting a scheduling change that saw the comic released quarterly.

I suspect, but have no proof, that this coincided with the TV show that ran in parallel being off-air, as – when issue #24 appeared in Spring 1976 – new editor Joe Orlando oversaw a massaging of the scenario which would see young Billy and Uncle Dudley (a mainstay of the TV incarnation) set off around America in a minivan as roving reporters, encountering threats and felons in America’s Bicentennial year.

Bridwell and Schaffenberger became the permanent creative team, with occasional inkers such as Vince Colletta, Bob Wiacek and Bob Smith pitching in, if seldom to the enhancement of Schaffenberger’s pencils.

There were even bigger changes in store. Shazam! #25 (September/October 1976) featured a team-up of the Captain with Mighty Isis, a TV character that DC was then licensing for a tie-in comic book. ‘Isis… as in Crisis!’ is by Denny O’Neil & Dick Giordano and sees Cap reduced to a cameo as Isis recalls how archaeologist Andrea Thomas uncovered an Egyptian Amulet and scroll, gaining the powers of an ancient goddess to fight modern crime and injustice…

That issue’s back-up ‘The Bicentennial Villain’ introduces a new roving format as TV reporter Billy briefly clashes with arch-nemesis Dr. Sivana and learns of a far-reaching plot to destroy America in its anniversary year, courtesy of Bridwell & Schaffenberger …

Issue #26 sees the saga properly launched in a highly enjoyable romp. ‘The Case of the Kidnapped Congress’ finds Billy and Uncle Dudley battling Sivana in Washington DC. Vince Colletta inked the self-explanatory ‘Fear in Philadelphia’, but that doesn’t detract from a right royal romp as the Mad Doctor uses a resurrection machine to bring back the greatest rogues in America’s history – a much shorter list to pick from in 1976…

Clearly having tremendous fun, writer Bridwell began his own resurrections: bringing back Fawcett and Quality Comics characters as guest-stars. First up was the ghostly Kid Eternity and Mister Keeper, and with issue #28 he scripted his masterstroke with ‘The Return of Black Adam’: a Golden-Age villain whose fabled single appearance was a landmark long remembered by fans.

That he is still a huge favourite today shows the astuteness of that decision. That was in Boston, with #29 set in Buffalo and Niagara Falls where ‘Ibac meets Aunt Minerva!’: a comedic battle of the sexes that was heavy on the hitting.

Another faux meeting with his greatest rival occurred in #30’s ‘Captain Marvel Fights the Man of Steel’, wherein the Batson bus reaches Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here, inspired by a comic book Sivana recrates local folk legend Joe Magarac (the Paul Bunyan of Steel workers) and the Three Lieutenant Marvels guest-star.

All girl villain-team ‘The Rainbow Squad’ expose Captain Marvel’s gentlemanly weakness in #31, heralding the return of patriotic hero Minute Man to step in, step up and save the day.

Tenny Henson pencilled #32’s tale from Detroit (with Bob Smith inking) as aliens led by wicked space worm Mr. Mindattempt to eliminate baseball in ‘Mr. Tawny’s Big Game!’ and fans knew that the good old days were coming to an end. A radical change to Shazam!

issue #33 heralded the metamorphosis in ‘The World’s Mightiest Race’ (Bridwell, Henson & Colletta) as Nuclear robotic menace Mister Atom tries to disrupt the Indianapolis 500 motor race. The radical about-face came with #34 (April 1978) as Bridwell, Alan Weiss & Joe Rubinstein ditch the charming light-heartedness to insert a brutal dose of reality. ‘The Fuhrer of Chicago’ reintroduces sadistic super-fascist Captain Nazi, but his plans to annexe the city are brought to sorry end by a vengeful Captain Marvel Junior, eager for some payback on the monster who crippled him…

The realism was reinforced in #34 as Bridwell, Don Newton & Schaffenberger decreed ‘Backward, Turn Backward, O Time in Your Flight!’ with the Marvels battling murderous Beastman King Kull‘s attempts to roll back history and re-establish his extinct race and empire. The war carries on into Hell itself and features a return for infernal foe Sabbac…

Part of DC’s experimental line of bigger, bolder comics, All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-58 was a tabloid-sized, 72-page extravaganza intended to restore the “wow-factor” to the medium and industry.

Crafted by Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler & Giordano, ‘When Earths Collide!’ features a trans-dimensional team up of Captain Marvel and Superman, engineered by primordial Martian sorcerer Karmang, who seeks to resurrect his people and civilisation by destroying two Earths. Aid, abetting and adding tension are Black Adam and the Quarrmer Sand-Thing Superman, with Supergirl and Mary Marvel also intent on averting Armageddon.

The epic adventure wraps up with a series of essays and vignettes from Shazam! #14-17 and 22, detailing the histories of the Patrons in ‘Legends of Shazam!’ – specifically Solomon, Hercules, Atlas and Zeus in prose by Bridwell with Achilles rendered in strip form by Schaffenberger & George Papp.

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 angst and agony (mostly), beautifully, simply illustrated, and charmingly scripted, these are clever, funny wholesome adventures that would appeal to any child and positively promote a love of graphic narrative. There’s a horrible dearth of exuberant superhero adventure these days. Isn’t it great that there is somewhere to go for a little light action?
© 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Shazam! Archives volume 1


By Bill Parker, C. C. Beck & Pete Costanza (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-053-6 (HB)

At their most impressive, superhero comics combine the gravitas of mythology with all the sheer fun and exuberance of a child’s first rollercoaster ride. A perfect example of this is the original happy-go-lucky hero we can’t call Captain Marvel anymore.

First seen in the February 1940 issue of Whiz Comics (#2 – there was no #1) and cashing in on the comicbook sales phenomenon of Superman, the big red riot eventually won his name after narrowly missing being Captain Flash or Captain Thunder. He was the brainchild of Bill Parker and Charles Clarence Beck.

Originally dispensing the same sort of summary rough justice as his contemporaries, the character soon distanced himself from the pack – Man of Steel included – by employing and enjoying an increasingly light, surreal and comedic touch, which made him the best-selling comics character in America.

Ultimately, he proved that he could beat everybody but copyright lawyers; during his years of enforced inactivity the trademarked name passed to a number of other publishers before settling at Marvel Comics and they are never, never, never letting go. You can check out and compare their cinematic blockbuster version with the DC Extended Universe’s Shazam! flick too…

Publishing house Fawcett had first gained prominence through an immensely well-received magazine for WWI veterans entitled Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang, before branching out into books and general interest magazines. Their most successful publication – at least until the Good Captain hit his stride – was the ubiquitous boy’s building bible Mechanix Illustrated and, as the comicbook decade unfolded, the scientific and engineering discipline and “can-do” demeanour underpinning MI suffused and informed both art and plots of the Marvel Family titles.

As previously stated, the big guy was created by writer/editor Bill Parker and brilliant young artist Charles Clarence Beck who, with his assistant Pete Costanza, handled most of the art on the series throughout its stellar run. Other writers included William Woolfolk, Rod Reed, Ed “France” Herron, Joe Simon, Joe Millard, Manley Wade Wellman and the wonderfully prolific Otto Binder.

Before eventually evolving his own affable personality, the Captain was a serious, bluff and rather characterless powerhouse, whilst his juvenile alter ego was the true star: a Horatio Alger archetype of impoverished, boldly self-reliant and resourceful youth overcoming impossible odds through gumption, grit and sheer determination…

Homeless orphan and good kid Billy Batson is selected by an ancient wizard to be given the powers of six gods and heroes to battle injustice. He transforms from scrawny precocious kid to brawny (adult) hero Captain Marvel by speaking aloud the wizard’s name – an acronym for six legendary divine patrons: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.

This magnificent full-colour, deluxe hardback compendium re-presents the first 15 exploits from Whiz Comics #2 to 15 (February 1940 to March 1941). There was no #1, two issue #5’s and two editions in March, but I’ll try to explain all that as we go along) to cash in on the sales phenomenon of Superman and his many imitators and descendants.

Author, journalist and fan Richard A. Lupoff covers in great detail the torturous beginnings of the feature in his Foreword before the magic proper starts with a rare and priceless glimpse at the hero’s nigh-cursed design stage. This shamefully out-of-print tome also contains biographical details on all the creators.

To establish copyright, publishers used to legally register truncated black and white facsimile editions called “Ash-can Editions” in advance of their launch issues. For Fawcett, the production of their first comicbook proved an aggravating process since this registration twice uncovered costly snags which forced the editors to redesign both character and publication.

Contained herein are cover reproductions of Flash Comics #1 starring Captain Thunder (obliviously scheduled for release mere days after DC’s own Flash Comics title hit the stands), and Thrill Comics #1 which repeated the accident just as Standard’s Thrilling Comics launched. Also on view is the uncoloured art for the first half of the story of “Captain Thunder” which would eventually be re-lettered and released as the lead in anthology title Whiz Comics #2, finally safely released cover-dated February 1940.

Like many Golden Age series, the stories collected here never had individual titles and DC’s compilers have cleverly elected to use the original comics’ strap-lines or cover blurbs to differentiate the tales…

‘Gangway for Captain Marvel!’ – drawn in style reminiscent of early Hergé – sees homeless orphan newsboy Billy Batson lured into an abandoned subway tunnel to a meeting with infinitely ancient wizard Shazam. At the end of a long life confronting evil, the white-bearded figure grants the lad the powers and signature gifts of six gods and heroes; bidding him to continue the good fight.

In 13 delightfully clean and simple pages Billy gets his powers, has his secret origin revealed (he’s heir to a fortune embezzled by his crooked uncle Ebenezer), wins a job as a roaming radio reporter for Amalgamated Broadcasting and defeats the demonic schemes of Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, who is holding the airwaves of America hostage. The mighty, taciturn and not yet invulnerable Marvel is only sparingly used to do the heavy lifting. It is sheer comicbook poetry…

The March issue had no cover number but was listed as #3 in the indicia. It featured ‘The Return of Sivana’ as the insane inventor unleashes a mercenary army equipped with his super-weapons upon the nation, attempting to become Emperor of America. His plan is duly thwarted by Billy acting as a war correspondent, and the mighty muscles of Marvel…

The third (April) Whiz Comics had “Number 3” on the cover but #4 inside and proudly proclaimed ‘Make Way for Captain Marvel!’ before bolding leaping into full science fiction mode as Billy is shanghaied to Venus in Sivana’s mighty rocket-ship. The boy is forced to reveal his amazing secret to the demented inventor whilst battling incredible monsters and giant frog-men dubbed “Glompers”, with the magnificently guileless and gallant Marvel seemingly helpless against the savant’s new ally Queen Beautia as the deadly duo prepare to invade Earth.

Only seemingly though…

‘Captain Marvel Crashes Through’ (4 on the cover, #5 inside) details how the bewitching Beautia, aided by Sivana’s technology, runs for President. However, the sinister siren has a soft heart and when Billy is captured (and faces the first of a multitude of clever gadgets designed to stop him saying his magic word), she frees him, thus falling foul of the gangsters who were backing her. Luckily Captain Marvel is there to save the day…

An inexplicable crime-wave shakes the country in ‘Captain Marvel Scores Again!’ (the wild numbers game finally ends here as there’s a 5 on the cover and #5 inside) as a different sinister scientist uses a ray to turn children into thieves. Even Billy is not immune…

‘Captain Marvel and the Circus of Death’ (July 1940) sees Sivana return with fantastic Venusian dino-monsters which the Good Captain is hard-pressed to handle. Incidentally, this was the first issue where the Big Red Cheese is seen definitely flying as opposed to leaping – something Superman is not acknowledged as doing until late 1941. It means nothing, I’m just saying emulation goes both ways…

In ‘Captain Marvel and the Squadron of Doom’, young Billy travels to the North Pole for a radio story and discovers a secret organisation thawing out frozen cavemen to act as their army of conquest, after which he and his mature magical avatar foil a murderous spiritualist causing mass-drownings to bolster his reputation and fortune in ‘Saved by Captain Marvel!’

Whiz #9’s ‘Captain Marvel on the Job!’ finds man and boy foiling a revolution, recovering foreign crown jewels and flummoxing a madman with a shrinking ray, after which Sivana and Beautia return in ‘Captain Marvel Battles the Winged Death’: a blistering yarn involving espionage and America’s latest secret weapon. In this tale, the Empress of Venus finally reforms to became a solid American citizen…

‘Hurrah for Captain Marvel!’ finds Batson investigating college hazing and corrupt sporting events whilst in #12 (January 1941), the World War looms large as “Gnatzi” maritime outrages bring Billy to London where he uncovers the spy responsible for sinking refugee ships in ‘Captain Marvel Rides the Engine of Doom!’

‘Captain Marvel – World’s Most Powerful Man!’ then features Sivana’s latest atrocity as the madman disrupts hockey matches, blitzes banks and incapacitates the US army with a formula that turns men into babies. Even Billy isn’t immune, but at least Beautia is there to help him…

War looked increasingly inescapable and many heroes jumped the gun and started fighting before America officially entered the fray. ‘Captain Marvel Boomerangs the Torpedo!’ is a superb patriotic cover for Whiz #14 (March 1941) even though the actual story involves Sivana’s capture and subsequent discovery of a thought process which allows him to walk through walls – and cell bars. Happily, the World’s Mightiest Mortal possesses the Wisdom of Solomon and deduces a solution to the unstoppable menace…

This superb collection concludes after another stirring cover ‘With the British Plane Streaking to a Fiery Doom, Captain Marvel Dives to the Rescue!’ (issue #15 and also cover-dated March), fronting an unrelated adventure which reveals the incredible origin of Dr. Sivana, his astounding connection to Beautia, and also introduced her brother Magnificus – almost as mighty a fighter as Marvel after Billy is kidnapped and trapped once again on Venus…

DC/National Periodical Publications had filed suit against Fawcett for copyright infringement as soon as Whiz Comics #2 was released. The companies slugged it out in court until 1953, when, with the sales of superhero comics decimated by changing tastes, Captain Marvel’s publishers decided to capitulate. The name lay unclaimed until 1967 when M.F. Enterprises released six issues of an unrelated android hero before folding after which Marvel Comics secured rights to the name in 1968.

DC eventually acquired the Fawcett properties and characters and in 1973 revived the Good Captain for a new generation, to see if his unique charm would work another sales miracle during one of comics’ periodic downturns. Retitled Shazam! due to the incontestable power of lawyers and copyright convention, the revived heroic ideal enjoyed mixed success before being subsumed into the company’s vast stable of characters…

Nevertheless, Captain Marvel is a true icon of American comic history and a brilliantly conceived superhero for all ages. This collection only scratches the surface of the canon of delights produced over the 80 years of his tumultuous existence, but is an ideal introduction to the world of adventure comics: one that will appeal to readers of any age and temperament.
© 1940, 1941, 1992 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Shazam! The World’s Mightiest Mortal volume 1


By Denny O’Neil, Elliot S. Maggin, E. Nelson Bridwell, C.C. Beck, Kurt Schaffenberger, Dave Cockrum, Bob Oksner, Dick Giordano & various (DC)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8839-6 (HB)

One of the most venerated and loved characters in American comics was created by Bill Parker and Charles Clarence Beck as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity that followed the successful launch of Superman in 1938. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett character moved swiftly and solidly into the area 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 good kid Billy Batson is selected by an ancient wizard to battle injustice and subsequently granted the powers of six gods and mythical heroes. By speaking aloud the wizard’s name – itself an acronym for the six patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury – he can transform from scrawny boy to brawny (adult) hero Captain Marvel.

At the height of his popularity Captain Marvel hugely outsold Superman and was even published twice a month, but as the decade progressed and tastes changed sales slowed, and an infamous court case begun in 1941 by National Comics citing copyright infringement was settled. Like many other superheroes the “Big Red Cheese” 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 transformed Captain Marvel into atomic age hero Marvelman, continuing to thrill readers into the early 1960s.

As America lived through another superhero boom-and-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. National – now DC – Comics needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unusual places.

After the court settlement with Fawcett in 1953 they had secured the rights to Captain Marvel and his spin-off Family. Now and though the name itself had been taken up by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous and quirky robotic character published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967), the publishing monolith decided to tap into that discriminating if aging fanbase.

In 1973, riding a wave of national nostalgia on TV and in the movies, DC brought back the entire beloved cast of the 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…’): the memorable trigger phrase used by myriad Marvels to transform to and from mortal form and a word that had already entered the American language due to the success of the franchise the first time around.

Now the latest star of film and TV is back in print in this stylish Hardback and digital compendium, collecting the first 18 issues (spanning February 1973 – May/June1975) of a glorious revival. It’s by rapturous and informative introduction With One Magic Word… by Jerry Ordway, writer and artist of latter day reinvention The Power of Shazam!

Back in 1972, the company tapped editor Julie Schwartz – instigator of the Silver Age of Comics and the go-to guy for hero revivals – to steer the project. He teamed top scripter Denny O’Neil with original artist C.C. Beck for the initial re-introductory story. ‘…In the Beginning…’

Delivered in grand old self-referential style, the engaging yarn reprised the classic origin after which ‘The World’s Wickedest Plan’ relates how the entire cast were trapped in a timeless “Suspendium” trap for twenty years after their arch-foes the Sivana family (Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana and his vile but equally brilliant children Georgia and Thaddeus Jr.) attacked them all at a public awards ceremony.

Two decades later, they were all freed, baddies included, to restart their lives. That first issue also included a text-feature/score-card by devotee E. Nelson Bridwell to bring new and old readers up to speed, and ‘Shazam & Son: The Story of the World’s Mightiest Mortal’ is included here to again bring new readers up to super speed.

With issue #2, a format of two stories per issue was instigated. ‘The Astonishing Arch Enemy’ heralds the return of super-intelligent Venusian worm Mr. Mind and a running gag about how strange people in the 1970s are. Written by Elliot Maggin, the second tale introduces eerily irresistible, scrupulously honest Sunny Sparkle who lives awash in the generosity of others who can’t resist giving stuff to ‘The Nicest Guy in the World’. Once again, the fun is counterpointed by a Bridwell text feature listing the many heroes sharing the powers of the gods in ‘Shazam and Family’.

For #3, O’Neil wrote ‘A Switch in Time’ wherein scrofulous underage magician Shagg Nasté disrupts the puny-boy-to-super-adult gimmick for young Billy, whilst Maggin & Beck craft a wry spy tale of daffy inventors in ‘The Wizard of Phonograph Hill’. Next issue evil Captain Marvel analogue ‘Ibac the Cursed’ disastrously re-emerged, courtesy of O’Neil & Beck, with Maggin again opting for a human-interest yarn in ‘The Mirrors that Predicted the Future’.

In the ’70s economics dictated costs in comics be cut whenever possible so there was really no choice about filling pages with reprints, which had been an addition from the start. A huge benefit, however, was that those stories were unknown to the general readership and of a very high standard. Although not included in this volume, I mention them simply because they kept the page-count of most issues to around fifteen pages of new material per month (Shazam! was actually published eight times a year so the savings were even greater). Hopefully DC will get around to reprinting the Fawcett stories too – perhaps in the same format as their excellent Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman Golden Age collections…

Maggin took the lead slot with #5’s ‘The Man who Wasn’t’ (a potentially offensive tale of leprechauns with a rather heavy-handed racial stereotype as the magical foe) as well as a back-up which sees the return of Sunny Sparkle. Here, his obnoxious cousin Rowdy briefly becomes ‘The World’s Toughest Guy!’

O’Neil returned in #6, as did Sivana in time bending tale ‘Better Late than Never!’ whilst Maggin reintroduced a 1940’s boy-genius in the charming ‘Dexter Knox and his Electric Grandmother’. The following issue, loquacious science experiment Tawky Tawny took centre-stage in O’Neil’s ‘The Troubles of the Talking Tiger’ before uber-fan and wonderful guy E. Nelson Bridwell finally got to write a script with the delightfully zany and clever ‘What’s in a Name? Doomsday!

Shazam! #8 was the first of many 100-Page Spectaculars stuffed with great Golden Age reprints, but as such it’s only represented here by the C.C. Beck cover, whilst normal-sized #9 provides us with O’Neil’s ‘Worms of the World Unite’ – another clash with scurrilous dictator Mr. Mind – and the first solo adventure of Captain Marvel Jr. in over twenty years.

‘The Mystery of the Missing Newsstand! is an action-heavy romp and fine tribute to the works of early Fawcett mainstay (and Flash Gordon maestro Mac Raboy); written by Maggin and illustrated by young Dave Cockrum. It is truly lovely to look upon. A third original story completes the issue and Maggin & Beck clearly had heaps of fun on ‘The Day Captain Marvel Went Ape!’ when a mystic jewel deflects Shazam’s magic lightning into a chimpanzee.

Beck, notoriously opinionated, had been unhappy with the stories he was being asked to draw and left the series with #10. He was a supremely understated draughtsman with a canny eye for caricature and gag-timing, and his departure took away some of that indefinable charm. Many other gifted artists continued the strip but a certain kind of magic left the strip with him. He wasn’t even the lead or cover artist on the issue.

Bob Oksner & Vince Colletta illustrated Maggin’s mediocre flying saucer yarn ‘Invasion of the Salad Men’, but happily, Mary Marvel’s solo debut ‘The Thanksgiving Thieves’ is a much better effort with Bridwell’s script handled by Oksner alone (if ever an artist should ink himself it was this superb stylist). Beck bowed out with Bridwell’s ‘The Prize Catch of the Year’ which featured the reappearance of formidable octogenarian villainess Aunt Minerva – one of the most innovative rogues of the Golden Age and here again on the prowl for a new husband…

Issue #11 kicks off with ‘The World’s Mightiest Dessert!’ (Bridwell, Oksner & Colletta) wherein a new sweet treat goes berserk, but the real gem of this comic is ‘The Incredible Cape-Man’. Written by Maggin it saw the long-awaited return of Kurt Schaffenberger, a brilliant and highly accomplished artist who, by his own admission, considered drawing Captain Marvel the best of all possible jobs.

He began his career at Fawcett before moving to DC, ACG and others when the company folded. When the Big Red Cheese returned, his resumption of the art-chores was inevitable. In this tale of a mail man who becomes a Mystery Man, the art positively glows with joyous enthusiasm. This end-of-year issue then concludes with a good old-fashioned Yule yarn featuring the entire extended cast in Maggin & Schaffenberger’s ‘The Year Without a Christmas!’, with our heroes again clashing with the wicked Sivana clan to save the season.

The 12th issue was another 100-Page Spectacular but included 3 all-new stories: modern-day Midas menace ‘The Golden Plague’ (Bridwell & Oksner); another glorious Captain Marvel Jr. adventure ‘The Longest Block in the World!’ (Maggin & Dick Giordano), and cheerfully daft Kung Fu spoof ‘Mighty Master of the Martial Arts!’ by Maggin, Oksner & Colletta. Also included are clip-art features detailing the boy hero’s heroic heritage in ‘Billy Batson’s Family Album’ and his divine sponsors in ‘The Shazam Gods and Heroes’.

The next six issues retained this same format, combining around 20 pages of new material with a superb selection of Fawcett reprints, but once the character was picked up for a children’s TV show, the comic was again slimmed down to a cheaper standard format and increased publication frequency.

Maggin and Oksner led in #13 as ‘The Case of the Charming Crook!’ revealing how a felon manages to synthesise “essence of Sunny Sparkle” to make his crimes easier. This is followed by clip-art historical features ‘The Seven Deadly Enemies of Man!’, ‘Friends of the Shazam Family!’ and ‘Mary Marvel’s Fashion Parade!’ before Oksner returns to familiar ground as an illustrator of beautiful women in Bridwell’s Mary Marvel solo strip ‘The Haunted Clubhouse!’

The entire Marvel Family was needed in the next issue when O’Neil & Schaffenberger crafted ‘The Evil Return of the Monster Society’: a splendid action thriller serving to remind us that the Original Captain Marvel Shazam was never just about charm and comedy…

You know what fans are like: they had been arguing for decades – and still do – over who is best (for which read “who would win if they fought?”) out of Superman or Captain Marvel, so it’s amazing that a face off meeting took as long as it did to materialise.

However, despite the cover, the lead strip in #15 wasn’t it. Instead fans had to be content with a notoriously familiar guest villain when Mr. Mind and ‘Captain Marvel Meets… Lex Luthor!?!’: the work of O’Neil, Oksner and veteran inker (Phillip) Tex Blaisdell, who had worked un-credited on many DC strips over the decades, as well as drawing Little Orphan Annie, On Stage and many others.

Bridwell & Schaffenberger closed the issue with an excellent crime-caper in ‘The Man in the Paper Armor!’, preceded by clip features ‘Shazam’s Scientists and Inventors’ and ‘A Tour of American Cities with Captain Marvel!’

Schaffenberger kicked off #16 with Maggin’s ‘The Man who Stole Justice’; a taut thriller involving the incarnation of the one of the iconic Seven Deadly Enemies of Man (Sins to you and me) and a key part of the legend since the strip’s inception. Bridwell & Oksner utilised another Deadly Enemy in Mary Marvel solo story ‘The Green-Eyed Monster!’, but aliens and a Hippie musician were the antagonists in the feature-length tale leading off #17, the last 100-page issue. ‘The Pied Un-Piper’ is a tongue-in-cheek thriller from O’Neil & Schaffenberger, whereas a slightly more modern tone tinged the whimsy in #18’s ‘The Celebrated Talking Frog of Blackstone Forest!’ (Maggin & Oksner) and Bridwell & Schaffenberger’s CM Jr. clash with Sivana Jr. in ‘The Coin-Operated Caper’, albeit not enough to deaden the charm…

DC pulled out all the stops with their new baby. Production ace Jack Adler teamed with illustrators such as Nick Cardy, Murphy Anderson, Beck and Oksner to create a string of amazing photo/drawn art covers. The experiments ended with 7, but even so, it gave the title a unique presence on newsstands of the time and you can also enjoy them here.

Although controversial amongst older fans, the 1970’s incarnation of Captain Marvel has a tremendous amount going for it. Gloriously free of angst and agony, beautifully, simply illustrated, and wittily scripted, these are clever, funny, wholesome adventures that would appeal to any child and positively promote a love of graphic narrative. There’s a horrible dearth of exuberant fun superhero adventure these days so isn’t it great that there’s somewhere to go for a little light action again?
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