Ideas for rewriting the Shazam 6

[SilverWarriorWolf]

So, I was reading some of the backlog on the Captain Marvel appreciation thread, and I stumbled upon a pro and anti Nu52 discussion. There were a lot of these, and while I read them, the conversation got me thinking. In particular, it was a comment from Ares, who was the one against the Nu52, and usually I tend to agree with him on his comments. However, there was one part of his argument that I had a problem with, and it was with three of the characters from the newly developed Shazam family.

I'm saying that if I'm introducing characters to the Marvel Family, I'm introducing them as fully fleshed out individuals, with an actual identity, personality, motivation, and purpose for the story, plans for future stories, and an actual idea for how the characters interact with each other. They'd be designed to actually have a point following the opening story and would be designed in a way that, if popular enough, they could support their own series. I'm looking to genuinely expand the Marvel Family with original content.

What you're asking for is someone to take these three character sketches that their owner discarded and do something with them. And I understand, you want more diversity in the Marvel Family, and these characters are at least a token effort at that. But that's all they are, token efforts that were designed to fill a space, a racial box and a plot role and nothing else. They were essentially plot points that existed in the story to make Billy feel bad for being rude to them (and thus show that he wasn't a complete jerk), to show up and hang around him long enough for him to consider them family (and thus teach him what family truly means in the shortest and least subtle way possible), and to fight the Seven Deadly Sins while Billy fights Adam (which was largely pointless in and of itself and could have been written out of the story with little consequence). And after their role in the story was done, their creator was done with them and never used them again.

Cutting here for space, but he (correctly) points out that in pre-Nu52 content, Mary and Freddy’s inclusions were meaningful to the plot.

In Curse of Shazam . . . Mary and Freddy are just part of Billy's foster family, along with 3 other kids. Of the five foster siblings, Freddy gets the most screen time because he was re-designed as a grifter/con-man, Mary's personality shines once or twice, Darla makes Billy feel bad, and Pedro and Eugene . . . exist. They were shoved into the story in the quickest, easiest and laziest way possible, they served their role, and they were done. When Batman: The Brave and the Bold does a better job of handling Mary's introduction than a mult-issue comic, something has gone wrong.

Again, I understand. You want diversity in comics, you liked aspects of Curse of Shazam, and you want someone to come in and rescue these rough character sketches from the cutting room floor, to try and maybe breath some life into them, develop them into fully fleshed out characters. Try and make something of them, see if any potential can be wrung out of them, make of them what their creator could not.

Once again cutting, because what was said related to personal opinions.

The most I'd do is make the new additions to the Marvel Family that share the same ethnicity have a similar name or look. Like, make the Mexican girl be called Pedra, have the Japanese boy be named Eiji, and have the African boy or girl be called something like Darya or Darrius. Little nods to the Cursed Kids, but also clear that these kids are not just "Billy's Conveniently Thrown Together Foster Family", they're kids who had their own lives in other parts of the world, of different cultures and are their own characters.

So again, I completely get that you want these kids to be made into something of value for the sake of diversity. I'd rather make actually interesting characters and have the diversity just be a nice benefit.

This is an area I have a problem with. Personally, I’d be leery of adding international characters into the mix (it seems too Captain Planet-y to me). That said, to each his own, and I’m not going to tell him how to write his story.

I would not recommend giving similar names as Easter Eggs to new characters, though. That doesn’t please anyone, as people who disliked those three kids aren’t going to care, and people who like them are going to be upset about the appropriation. I know, because that’s how people reacted to Darla having Uncle Dudley’s last name.

Now you might be asking, “SilverWarriorWolf, why give criticism with no recommendations?”

Well, actually, I do have a recommendation, as I do have an interesting in resurrecting and fleshing out “quarter made characters,” though I will be making some pretty big changes to some of them.

First of all, this would take place in my own version, so not pushing into Nu52 (I want nothing to do with that). Things would start with Billy’s origin, which would remain the same as it always was (tossing out the Nu52’s “no one’s pure of heart, but eh, close enough” crud). The only difference I would include is Billy’s slight change, which I elaborated on in this post. Here the focus would be more “a pure heart does not exclude a broken heart.”

Now, one part I completely agree with Ares on is having them all be foster siblings is lazy, so that’s the first change. Billy’s not in a foster home, he’s a runaway, like he was in early comics. And that’s where we’ll slide in Pedro.

Pedro’s the one I played around the most with. Here, he’s a fellow runaway/street urchin with Billy. In his case, he’s on the run because his mother was an illegal immigrant who was deported, and he wants to work to find a way to bring her back. He’s much more street smart than Billy, and the fire to Billy’s ice. He tends to be the one to reach a fight when lesser (as in, not a supervillain) trouble comes, since Billy’s more likely to shut down and try to get away.

He finds out about Captain Marvel/Shazam early on in Billy’s career, and initially Billy is only going with him to make sure he doesn’t tell anyone (as Billy, though good, is leery of getting close to anyone due to abuse at Uncle Ebenezer’s hands). It’s only after Pedro covers for him when he’s injured, despite it meaning almost getting caught by a street gang, does Billy start to warm up.

Freddy next. We actually meet him a good deal before he becomes Captain Marvel Jr. He’s at the same school as Billy and Pedro, and while not an out and out bully, he is the star athlete and a part of the in-crowd who wouldn’t give a strange kid like Billy a second glance. That changes after he and his grandfather get caught in a fight between Captain Marvel and Captain Nazi (though I’d probably rename him Aryan, as I have a hard time taking someone named Captain Nazi seriously). Freddy’s grandfather is killed after insulting “Captain Nazi” to give his grandson time to run. Freddy’s still injured in the attack, though, and Captain Marvel saves him by sharing his power (which he was only able to do because Freddy was dying.) Afterwards, a humbled Freddy joins up with them out of gratitude.

Mary and Darla after them. These two I’m mentioning together because I’m aging Darla down to a toddler, and Mary is her babysitter. Mary ends up meeting Billy at school, and she is interested in him, as a DNA she had taken said there was a Batson somewhere on her biological family tree. She goes to meet him along with her charge, which gets them caught in a fight between Captain Marvel and Black Adam. Due to her connection to Billy (being his long-lost twin), she ends up finding him right as he is changing. Due to their connection, he is also able to share the power with her as well.

As for Darla, it’s revealed that Mary only babysits her while her uncle is working…which give me an opening to introduce Uncle Dudley.

Finally, Eugene. Admittedly, I downgrade him the farthest, as he only appears in a few issues. He’s the son of scientists, and he was kidnapped by Dr. Sivana as a way of blackmailing them (probably to keep them from completing a project that would stop Sivana.) He would have previously been a friend of Pedro’s, and upon realizing that Pedro knows Captain Marvel (albeit, he doesn’t know how), he chooses to stay kidnapped, even when he could be rescued, as it allows for him to spy on Sivana.

One detail to make clear, ONLY Mary and Freddy share the power with Billy. The other three know, but are normal.

So, that’s how I’d work it. Just something I wanted to get off my chest!

[KurtW95]

IMO, Freddy and Mary should be the only ones that get powered up. (And Freddy shouldn't become an adult when powered up.) If you want to keep the other kids, they can be friends, but I'm not a fan of the foster home angle. And Darla should have a different last name, so Uncle Dudley can still be a thing. And maybe have Kid Eternity appear from time to tim e as Freddy's brother.

[SilverWarriorWolf]

IMO, Freddy and Mary should be the only ones that get powered up. If you want to keep the other kids, they can be friends, but I'm not a fan of the foster home angle. And Darla should have a different last name, so Uncle Dudley can still be a thing. And maybe have Kid Eternity appear from time to tim e as Freddy's brother.

I’m not sure you read my post, because I said only Mary and Freddy get powers. Eugene is a kidnapped mole, Pedro is ground control support, and Darla’s too young to do much. She’s also Uncle Dudley’s niece (he’ll still eventually take in Billy).

Also, no foster home. Billy and Pedro are street urchins, Mary was adopted by the Bromfords, Darla lives with her uncle, Eugene has his parents (though he’s currently kidnapped), and Freddy lives with whoever he originally lived with (not exactly sure who that was, appreciate the info.)

I don’t know who Kid Eternity is.

[KurtW95]

I’m not sure you read my post, because I said only Mary and Freddy get powers. Eugene is a kidnapped mole, Pedro is ground control support, and Darla’s too young to do much. She’s also Uncle Dudley’s niece (he’ll still eventually take in Billy).

I don’t know who Kid Eternity is.

I know/ I was agreeing. Just may have not worded my agreement that well. Kid Eternity was a Quality Comics character, who had a similar origin to Freddy (he died in a boat accident with his grandfather) and was then brought back to life with the power to summon the dead when he said "eternity". They then retconned him into being Freddy's brother, Christopher "Kit" Freeman, when DC acquired Fawcett and Quality. He was co-created by writer Otto Binder, who also co-created Mary Marvel.

[SilverWarriorWolf]

I know/ I was agreeing. Just may have not worded my agreement that well. Kid Eternity was a Quality Comics character, who had a similar origin to Freddy (he died in a boat accident with his grandfather) and was then brought back to life with the power to summon the dead when he said "eternity". They then retconned him into being Freddy's brother, Christopher "Kit" Freeman, when DC acquired Fawcett and Quality. He was co-created by writer Otto Binder, who also co-created Mary Marvel.

Ah, I see.

Thanks for the update!

[KurtW95]

Ah, I see.

Thanks for the update!

No problem. Kid Eternity is a cool character. Though in the 90s, they retconned him into being a much darker (rated M) character in the Vertigo imprint, where the grandfather was a child molester and the historical figures he summoned were actually demons. Not a fan of that version. Coincidentally, that was Morrison, who nailed the Marvel Family in Thunderworld. But his Kid Eternity was very typical of Vertigo and Morrison's weirdness.

[SilverWarriorWolf]

No problem. Kid Eternity is a cool character. Though in the 90s, they retconned him into being a much darker (rated M) character in the Vertigo imprint, where the grandfather was a child molester and the historical figures he summoned were actually demons. Not a fan of that version. Coincidentally, that was Morrison, who nailed the Marvel Family in Thunderworld. But his Kid Eternity was very typical of Vertigo and Morrison's weirdness.

Yikes! Further reason to continue avoiding the Vertigo label.