Captain Marvel / Shazam Appreciaton

[Bukdiah]

What is considered essential Captain Marvel reading? The only thing I ever read of him was New 52 Shazam.

[Ares]

What is considered essential Captain Marvel reading? The only thing I ever read of him was New 52 Shazam.

I would say that, if you had to read just one Captain Marvel story, read Paul Dini and Alex Ross' "Shazam: Power of Hope". To me, that more than anything is at the core of Cap and Billy's character.

After that, I'd recommend:

World's Finest 253-282 (1978-1981), by E. Nelson Bridwell and Don Newton. Some of the best Marvel Family stories around, IMO.

JUSTICE, by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger. It's a great story that shows how Cap and the Marvel Family could easily fit in with the rest of the DCU.

The Power of Shazam Graphic Novel, by Jerry Ordway. A solid re-introduction of Captain Marvel to the modern age.

Convergence: Shazam, by Jeff Parker and Doc Shaner. A nice send off of the classic Marvel Family.

Superman/Shazam: First Thunder, by Judd Winick. A very solid story about the first meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel, and one of the few stories where they don't fight each other.

Shazam, the Archieve Editions, Volume 1-4r. A collection of some of the Golden Age stories that started it all.

Captain Marvel Vs. The Monster Society Of Evil, by Fawcett Comics. A collection of some of comic's firsts. This was the first multi-part comics story, featuring the first supervillain team, and involved Cap dealing with the Monster Society of Evil in a 20 issue long story. Epic stuff for its day.

DC Comics Presents, Annual #3: A Silver Age team-up between Superman and Captain Marvel against a Shazam-powered Dr. Sivana.

All-Star Squadron #36-37 : Captain Marvel encountering the Earth-2 JSA/All-Star Squadron.

In my mind, those are some of the best Captain Marvel stories out there. After them, I'd included books like Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam (the whole series), Multiversity: Thunderworld, Scooby Doo Team Up #32, the Power of Shazam series, the 70's With One Magic Word: Shazam series, etc.

[justinslot]

Captain Marvel Vs. The Monster Society Of Evil, by Fawcett Comics. A collection of some of comic's firsts. This was the first multi-part comics story, featuring the first supervillain team, and involved Cap dealing with the Monster Society of Evil in a 20 issue long story. Epic stuff for its day.

Does this exist in any form other than a long out of print incredibly expensive hardcover that I wish I had?

[Bukdiah]

Does this exist in any form other than a long out of print incredibly expensive hardcover that I wish I had?

You can read it online for free on http://comicbookplus.com . Their stuff is all Public Domain Golden and Silver age stuff.

[Ares]

You can also apparently find it here for less than 40 bucks: https://www.amazon.com/Captain-Marve.../dp/1537553135

[justinslot]

Yeah, I saw that thing on Amazon...probably readable, but of dubious quality. And online comics are not my preferred way to read...I should just bite the bullet and buy a copy of the hardcover I mentioned, it's a really beautiful book (my college comics nerd club had a copy.)

I guess it's because it's public domain that DC has not reprinted it. Actually here's an article suggesting the ethnic stereotypes in that story are why it's never gotten a proper rerelease: http://www.comicscube.com/2015/11/to...arvel-and.html

Couldn't DC be putting together some best of Marvel Family books, public domain or not? I mean there's a lot of worthwhile stuff in there, right? Stuff that it would be nice to have an editor go through and pick out some choice stories for the larger audience?

[justinslot]

(Though thanks for the comicbookplus link, they are not ideal but they will do in a pinch on a good sized tablet. I just think these stories deserve better than scans.)

[Ares]

I just think these stories deserve better than scans.

No argument here.

[Ares]

Regarding the “Nu-Shazam Kids” that were introduced in Curse of Shazam, I’ve got to say that I really didn’t care for them. Mary was really the only one I felt was actually written in both a positive way and as a fully fleshed out character. Billy was basically given a more pessimistic/sarcastic version of Freddy’s personality, while Freddy was given the personality of a con man and a thief out of nowhere. Darla was the only other kid who actually had something resembling a personality, though it was basically to be as precocious as possible so that Billy being an ******* to her would make him feel bad enough to start a character arc. Pedro and Eugene don’t even have that, with their character elements basically being that Pedro is “big and dependable” and Eugene is “smart”.

I personally hope we do get a full on “Curse of Shazam goes away” reboot and that Darla, Pedro and Eugene goes away with it.

At the same time, I’m not really opposed to the idea of expanding the Marvel Family past the core three, including different ethnicities into the mix. Roy Thomas had wanted to do something like this as far back as the late 70s/early 80s by making the Billy Batson/Captain Marvel of Earth-1 a black boy, and a proposal by Alex Ross that was sidelined in favor of Trials of Shazam would have been about the Power of Shazam being split amongst other people in the world and Billy having to regain the power one person at a time. One of the kids people to get the powers would have been an African boy who used the power as a hero, and Billy would have allowed the kid to join the Marvel Family as an update of the Black Vulcan hero.

I’ll also say that the notion of a team of heroes with similar outfits in different colors kind of appeals to the Kamen Rider / Super Sentai fan in me. It’s just that neither the Nu-Shazam kids or the Nu-Shazam outfit holds any appeal to me, so seeing an outfit I can’t stand on multiple characters I don’t like doesn’t endear the concept to me.

I think if I was going to do a Shazam: Rebirth series with the goal of making the Marvel Family a legit superhero team, then I’d do something like this:

[Ares]

Shazam: Rebirth – Reclaiming Eternity

To set up the event, in the month or two leading up to the story, we’d have several crossovers with several other books to promote it. Have Billy team up with other big name heroes and teams to really showcase how Billy would feel in the DCU, each issue marked as a “Prelude to Eternity” issue. The only thing is, every issue would feature a different version of Billy.

The Superman issue might have Cap working with Clark, Batman and Diana, and Cap would be in the military/jacket outfit he wore for most of his Post-Crisis career, and behave in a similar manner. He might team up with several space heroes in a Green Lantern issue and dress in the more standard superhero uniform he wore during the 40’s, 50’s and 70’s, and make references to that era/time period. The team up with the Titans might have him in his Nu-Shazam look and attitude, hanging out with Cyborg and other Titans. One looks like the Shazam from the Injustice franchise. So on and so forth. And every issue acts like there’s nothing weird about this, save for one point where each character would ask if Cap “did something different with his hair” or something similar. But for the most part, each different version of Captain Marvel/Shazam is treated as if that’s how the character has always looked/acted. This would be a nice nod to each of those versions of the character, and help build the mystery.

When issue one of Reclaiming Eternity comes out, it would start with Fawcett City being under attack by the Monster Society of Evil, in their full on Pre-Crisis glory. Only the team that shows up to face them is Nu-Shazam, along with the Nu-Shazam Family that he’s empowered to help him out. The fight doesn’t go well initially, since the Nu-Shazam Family is very inexperienced, but Nu-Shazam himself is holding his own. But before things can get too bad, the Post-Crisis Marvel Family shows up to help out, somewhat confused by the people they’re seeing, but decide they can sort it out once the bad guys are done. As Nu-Shazam and Captain Marvel wind up fighting alongside each other, they compare notes and try to figure out what’s going on. The closer they get to each other, however, their respective “Wisdom” powers begin trying to enlighten them.

More villains show up, such as Nu-Black Adam, Post-Crisis Mr. Atom, Black Mary Marvel from Countdown, the Black Marvel Family. And then other versions of the Marvel Family show up to stop them, including some jabs at other Captain Marvel knock offs, like Miracle/Marvel Man, Captain Mar-Vell, Carol Danvers, Maximum Man, Prime, etc. However, every time a new version of Billy shows up they get drawn to the other Billys, their eyes glowing as they all realize something is wrong, and as one, all say “SHAZAM” in unison. A massive bolt of lightning hits the area, covering the entire city block and all of the inhabitants, and when the smoke clears, Billy Batson, Mary Batson/Bromfield and Freddy Freeman are lying in the center. They have visual elements of previous versions of themselves, going for a sort of “best of” look. Freddy would have his black hair, but have a modern leg brace and crutch, for instance.

The kids wake up, confused at what just happened, their minds being a jumble of conflicting memories. They decide it might be too risky transform right now, given how the Power of Shazam just reacted, so instead they make their way to the subway station that serves as their conduit to the Rock of Eternity. With some effort, they’re able to summon the train that takes them there, but when they get to the Rock of Eternity, they find that most of the mountain has been reduced to a debris field of floating rocks that expands as far as the eye can see in an otherwise empty void.

The kids make their way to the center of the largest mass that’s still connected to the train, and find the Wizard’s throne. They manage to light the brazier, and in a blast of lightning, the Wizard is returned to his throne. He’s clearly weak, but provides the exposition for what’s going on.

Essentially, there has only ever been one version of Shazam and the Rock of Eternity. Since the Rock exists at the center of existence, it touches all dimensions, alternate realities and the like equally, and can be used to travel in any point in time, space, dimension, etc. As such, all of the various Captain Marvels from throughout the multiverse were all empowered by the same person, and used the same Rock of Eternity. Shazam was immune to time distortions because he existed outside of space and time, and as such, is a unique being in existence. And it was his duty to safeguard the existence of the multiverse.

Part of this was by empowering champions to worlds that required them, but also by containing evils that were beyond the abilities of most heroes to fight. The Rock of Eternity was the base of operation for one of the most powerful beings in existence, but it was also a prison for certain supernatural entities. The most dangerous entity was known as the Three Faces of Evil, a Lovecraftian monster that literally embodies the concept of evil, and seeks to corrupt universes into evil before destroying them. I’d make Earth-3 an example of what happens to a universe that the Three Faces were able to influence before their imprisonment, and make it clear that it was only able to partially influence that universe rather than completely corrupt it.

Among the Three Face’s greatest servants were the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man, who act as forces of corruption that prepare realities for the coming of the Three Faces of Evil. When their master was imprisoned in pre-historic times by the Wizard, the Seven Deadly Enemies acted as corruptors to try and gain power to free the Faces, before Shazam eventually imprisoned all of them as well.

Shazam would further explain that the Seven Deadly Enemies tend to be somewhat “fluid” in their purpose, broader in scope and changing to suit the societies they destroy. Europeans might have called them the Seven Deadly Sins, while Buddhists of India and China would have referred to them as the Five Thieves/Poisons or the Six Root Kleshas. The Seven Deadly Enemies form was simply what form they’d taken when Shazam finally captured them.

Shazam would go on to explain that the trouble began during Infinite Crisis, which was basically when things began to go downhill for the Marvel Family. When the Spectre killed the Wizard and destroyed the Rock of Eternity, the Three Faces of Evil was partially freed. It escaped from the Rock of Eternity, but the spells that had bound it prevented it from completely leaving the center of existence. The Faces were no longer in the Rock, but could not leave the realm It was in.

However, it was able to influence things to a degree, and thus it subtly caused Trials of Shazam, made sure the Power of Shazam was scattered right before Flashpoint so that when Flashpoint occurred, the power of a single champion was spread amongst six people, and when Billy was killed there, the Rock of Eternity was shattered again, and the Wizard was incapacitated.

[Ares]

When the Nu-52 came about, there was no central Wizard anymore, no single Rock of Eternity. Instead we had a myriad of “echoes” of Shazam and the Rock, which created multiple versions of Shazam, the Rock and the Marvel Family. And these versions basically have been fading in and out of existence in the main timeline, and due to the nature of Eternity, no one notices the differences. That’s why we’ve only seen so little of Nu-Shazam, the times he’s been absent, other versions of the Marvel Family were doing heroic stuff, and no one knew any different.

Shazam has been partially restored thanks to the kids summoning his spirit, but neither he nor the Rock can be restored yet. During the last destruction, the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man were set free, and each took a large chunk of Eternity with them. Their goal will be to use those pieces to corrupt seven key locations with their own brand of evil across the multiverse, basically creating a multi-dimensional summoning circle that would finally let the Three Faces of Evil back into reality, where it will go on a multiverse-destroying rampage.

Billy, Mary and Freddy need to stop them, but they cannot do it by themselves. Shazam managed to defeat the Enemies of Man in the past, when humanity numbered only tens of millions. Today, each Enemy of Man can on billions of souls to corrupt and increase their power. To defeat these Deadly Enemies, the Marvel Family will require a champion to embody a virtue counter to each Enemy. Billy himself will act as the core virtues of Faith, Hope and Love to bind the group of seven heroes together, much as the Three Face of Evil are the core of the Seven Deadly Enemies. While Mary and Freddy represent a virtue (likely Charity/Generosity and Fortitude/Determination respectively), they must still find five other people to add to the Marvel Family’s ranks to thwart this evil.

Thankfully, when the various Captain Marvel/Shazams brought down that massive lightning bolt at the start of the issue, Shazam was able to make the power flow through the planet itself to worthy champions who embody the virtues they need. However, since Shazam and the Rock of Eternity were fractured when this happened, the Power the others received was changed. The other 5 will have abilities similar to the traditional Shazam powers, but shaped somewhat by the virtue and mind of the person that receives it.

From that point, Billy, Mary and Freddy have to collect their new allies, journey with them to fantastic locations, defeat the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man, thwart the return of the Three Faces of Evil, and in the end, reclaim Eternity.

It’d be here that we’d make any changes needed for the Marvel Family. If absolutely necessary, I’d rebrand them the Thunder Family, with Captain Thunder, Lady Thunder and Lieutenant Thunder. Preferably, we’d still stick with Marvel. The characters would also be in outfits more resembling their classic outfits, but with a few minor tweaks here and there. I’d also have Mary’s superpowered form grow older as well, and potentially rename her “Lady Marvel”, while Freddy would be Lieutenant Marvel to give him a name he can finally say while homaging older Marvel Family mythos. While Billy and Mary’s powers remain unchanged, Freddy’s powers are would be reduced to a level below the Superman-class Billy and Mary operate at. In compensation, Freddy would either gain a power or simply gain skill at being a team player, basically knowing how to use his abilities to instinctively make everyone else’s actions work better as

The other champions for this expanded Marvel Family would be taken from all over the world, they’d all be teenagers that transform by saying “Shazam”, and their powers would somewhat reflect the superheroes of their own real-world cultures. For instance, we’d get two heroes from Japan, a boy and a girl. The boy would be based on “Kamen Rider” style heroes, drawing mostly from the Courage/Power aspect of the Shazam powers. He’d be a superstrong/tough/agile guy with great power and lightning amped punches and kicks who can alternate between a Strong/Tough/Slow mode, a Fast/Leaping/Weak mode, and Highly Perceptive/Range Attack/Weak mode. He’d be the “hot-blooded” hero type embodying Valor / Courage / Vigor. Meanwhile the girl would be more based around the magic girl genre, having some physical enhancements but mostly using her Wisdom and a wand/staff to channel the Power through various magical effects, such as attack and defensive spells or healing. She’d likely be very outgoing and associated with the concept of Justice. The boy would likely be “The Masked Marvel” while the girl would be “Princess Marvel”.

I’m not 100% sure about the other three, but the additional countries I’d want to draw on would be Mexico, Africa and India. One of them would likely be a more magical version of a classic speedster (unable to fly, but still having a degree of superstrength, invulnerability and “magical” speed that’d let her get away with Flash-style stunts), but I’d have to give some thought about the other two. We’d have plenty of raw, physical power thanks to Billy, Mary and Freddy, Masked Marvel functions as the main fighter/combat expert, Princess as the versatile one who mostly fights at range, and then we’d have a pure speedster. I’d have to think about whatever compliments the team.

Once the adventure is done and this new Marvel/Thunder Family is the status quo of the new universe, I’d keep this as a permanent team. They would still all live in their own countries, but Billy would arrange to have a compound they can all live in as a family. Each of the family members individual homes would have some kind enchantment on one door of it where said door opens up into the Marvel Family compound, basically allowing them to instantly travel between their private homes and the larger compound, so they can hang out with each other daily. They can then assist each other in any missions, and as a whole would be a team that could give even the Justice League a run for their money.

Anyway, that was some idea that I came up with in the late evening/early morning hours. I apologize for any trauma that may have caused. ^_^

[dswynne]

Regarding the “Nu-Shazam Kids” that were introduced in Curse of Shazam, I’ve got to say that I really didn’t care for them. Mary was really the only one I felt was actually written in both a positive way and as a fully fleshed out character. Billy was basically given a more pessimistic/sarcastic version of Freddy’s personality, while Freddy was given the personality of a con man and a thief out of nowhere. Darla was the only other kid who actually had something resembling a personality, though it was basically to be as precocious as possible so that Billy being an ******* to her would make him feel bad enough to start a character arc. Pedro and Eugene don’t even have that, with their character elements basically being that Pedro is “big and dependable” and Eugene is “smart”.

I personally hope we do get a full on “Curse of Shazam goes away” reboot and that Darla, Pedro and Eugene goes away with it.

SNIP!

Nope. Darla, Eugene and Pedro can stay. In fact, having the kids com8ng out of Flashpoint series was one of the best things. Otherwise, you'll just have "Captain White bread and Family". Diversify the Marvel Family a bit (which is why I liked the new sextet that came out the Darkseid War one-shot). Include the revamp Lt. Marvels from Thunder World, as an auxiliary to the family while you are at it.

Ergo, marry the best parts of Curse of SHAZAM, THUNDERWORLD and Convergeance: SHAZAM!, and I think you will have a decent series...so long as Billy Watson as the headliner.

[adkal]

Ergo, marry the best parts of Curse of SHAZAM, THUNDERWORLD and Convergeance: SHAZAM!, and I think you will have a decent series...so long as Billy Watson as the headliner.

Billy whom?

[Lee Stone]

(Though thanks for the comicbookplus link, they are not ideal but they will do in a pinch on a good sized tablet. I just think these stories deserve better than scans.)

As an alternative, you could try Digital Comics Museum, which is the one I use.

[Batarang]

I always liked Captain Marvel, aspecially since The Kingdom Come. Captain Marvel vs Superman fight in The Kingdom Come was so epic. It really fueled my interest for the character which already has my syphaty but i have to admit, i haven't read much about Captain Marvel cause DC doesn't put out much material about him. (and i really like The Black Adam, he was so good in The 52 weeks) I read The new 52 trade about Captain Marvel by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank and it was good. (aspecially Billy seeing The Black Adam for the first time in the story and going like ''he wears the same costume but it's black, cool !'' was really one of the aspects of Black Adam that looks cool to my inner child too so that was a fun touch ) I really enjoyed new 52 Shazam trade. I got Multiversity and i heard that there is a fantastic Captain Marvel story in it which is called Thunderworld (this name beats Shazam if you ask me) but i haven't read Multiversity yet. I hope we will get more Captain Marvel in the future. Meanwhile i try to check some old stories out.