 |
| The Powers of Shazam, as demonstrated in the 1972 DC reboot of the comic book. |
"In time of dire need, young Billy
has been granted the power by the Immortals to summon awesome forces
at the utterance of a single word"
What kid didn't dream of being able to
do just that; shred his mortal coil and turn into a being who was
faster, stronger and, ideally, had the ability to fly. ''Wouldn't my
friends be impressed? Nobody could mess with me!'' Very early on in the long tradition of
Superhero comics, there was a conscious decision to pander to the
core audience of kids, and before we got the very fist instance of
a juvenile superhero sidekick in April 1940, when Robin made his
first appearance next to Batman in Detective Comics #38,
Billy Batson beat him to the punch by changing into CAPTAIN MARVEL just a
few months earlier.
Now I don't intend to make here a complete history of Captain Marvel. Many others have done it before and better than me. What I would like to do is to offer some insight in the major highlights of his career.
First, it's interesting to know that
Captain Marvel began his career under
another name, in an ashcan comic titled
FLASH COMICS #1 in late 1939, where he was named Captain Thunder. In the booming comic book business of the Golden Age,
ashcans were a cheaply produced mock-up of a comic produced in a very
small quantity. Only a few copies would be printed and sent out to establish distribution and date of first usage to secure the rights in case another publisher came up with a similar title.
The rights to the name FLASH COMICS was lost to DC, while the moniker Captain Thunder was allegedly changed to
CAPTAIN MARVEL to avoid a conflict with
Captain Terry Thunder who was
appearing at the same time in
JUNGLE COMICS #1 by Fiction House.
However, according to Jim Steranko's HISTORY OF COMICS #2, the name change was an editorial decision, which was corroborated by Fawcett editor Ralph Daigh during the National-Fawcett lawsuit. More about that lawsuit later. They published a second Ashcan with the same story, named
THRILL COMICS, but Better Publications had acquired the right to publish THRILLING COMICS already, Fawcett publishing finally settled on the title
WHIZ COMICS, starting at issue #2 (which is why no collector could ever find a copy of WHIZ COMICS #1), where the good Captain began officially his
fight with crime.
 |
| The cover to the extremely rare Ashcan edition of the very first appearance by Captain Marvel in FLASH COMICS # 1. |
Of course, if the name CAPTAIN MARVEL sounds confusing for the uninitiated, it's perfectly normal, considering there is another movie in the multiplexes at this very moment starring a comic book hero called CAPTAIN MARVEL, and it's a blonde woman, not a musclebound dark-haired dude. In fact, no less than 6 comic book characters have worn that moniker over the years. To have a better understanding of who's who, I invite you to check
my review for the MCU version of CAPTAIN MARVEL which explores that sharing of that particular sobriquet.
Created by artist Charles Clarence Beck
and writer Bill Parker in 1939 (with writer Otto Binder soon taking
over afterwards), CAPTAIN MARVEL was from the very start
strongly inspired by DC's SUPERMAN, created a year earlier by Joe
Shuster and Jerry Siegel, and knew a tremendous success. Both cape-wearing dark haired strongmen , with a bald evil scientist as their main villain,
the similarities were pretty obvious at a time that the comic book skies weren't yet
populated by flying do-gooders in long johns.
 |
| The first OFFICIAL appearance of Captain Marvel in WHIZ COMICS #1 (February 1940), followed by an amusing parody by an unknown artist. |
But CAPTAIN MARVEL
had an overall more juvenile tone, with an origin story more anchored
in the supernatural than in the ''science'' of SUPERMAN. Captain Marvel didn't come from another planet, but had his powers bestowed upon him by an aging wizard.The artwork
by C.C. Beck was also arguably slicker and more pleasant to read. CAPTAIN
MARVEL eventually gained a memorable cast of supporting characters
like Mr. Tawney the talking tiger, The evil Dr. Sivana, the twisted alien worm Mr. Mind, the powerful Black Adam, Billy's sister Mary and his friend
Freddie who would form with him the super-powered Marvel Family, as
Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. (Whose costume and hairstyle,
according to Elvis' cousin Bobby Smith, was a huge inspiration to
one of Elvis Presley's most famous stage outfit. An issue of CAPTAIN
MARVEL JR.
even sits on the King's desk in his preserved childhood
home in Memphis Tennessee.)
 |
| In Elvis Presley's restored childhood home in Memphis, a Captain Marvel Jr. comic book resting on his desk. |
 |
| The first issue in December 1945 of THE MARVEL FAMILY, starring its core members, including the comedy relief Uncle Marvel, who had no powers whatsoever.. |
It gained in popularity to such a
point that it not only outsold Superman, but it
also lead to what is considered the first Superhero film (if we
define superhero by being a costumed crime-fighter wielding super powers)
with arguably one of the best movie
serials out there,
THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, starring the
rugged Tom Tyler, who was previously known as a cowboy star in the
silent era, and had performed as the Mummy in 1940's
THE MUMMY'S HAND. Tom Tyler also starred as
THE PHANTOM in the equally fine 1942 Movie serial
of the same name. Already late into the genre of comic book
adaptations in Serial format, which had already seen
MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN,
FLASH GORDON or
BUCK ROGERS just to name a few, it still was better than AND predated DC
Comic's first serial adaptation;
BATMAN, by a couple of years, which
must have irked DC Comics to no end. Ironically, Republic Pictures
originally tried to get the rights to make a SUPERMAN serial, and
after failing to do so because of legal issues involving Paramount's own lavish
SUPERMAN cartoons by the Fleisher Studios, decided to knock at Fawcett's door.
 |
| Tom Tyler in Republic Pictures' phenomenal THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL serial in 1941. |
This success without a doubt contributed to the irritation DC comics felt over the similarities between CAPTAIN MARVEL
and SUPERMAN, and a
long legal battle was started in 1941, a battle that was lost by Fawcett in 1952. But by that point, superhero comics were losing steam, and a
new breed of illustrated entertainment was starting to gain the favor
of the readership, personified by the grim and mature offerings of EC
Comics. The record-breaking sales of CAPTAIN MARVEL were a thing of
the past, and the legal fight was just not worth it anymore.
 |
| Trying too hard to conform to the new trend towards crime and horror comics. The writing was on the wall, and the end was near. Cover by Bud Thompson for CAPTAIN MARVEL JR. #119 (June 1953). |
 |
| ''And then there were none!'' Prophetic words on the cover of the very last issue of THE MARVEL FAMILY in January 1954. |
Executive producer Michael Uslan (behind pretty much every Batman movies ever made)
summarizes it pretty well; “The comics industry was going into the closest damn thing to a
depression – you could call it a recession easily - after WWII. The
core need for superheroes was gone after WWII, and new genres were
arising. Of course, the biggest new ones were horror and crime
comics. Every publisher, in order to stay alive, tried to turn their
comics into horror or crime comics, whether it was turning
Captain America into
Captain America’s Weird Tales or
Black Cat into
Black Cat Mystic. And
Captain Marvel was not without its run of turning into horror comics,
much to the chagrin of C.C. Beck and Otto Binder. They were being
ordered to do this, and C.C. told me, ‘At that point, Captain
Marvel should have died. The book had lost its innocence, it had lost
its way.’ He was very resentful of this, of it being made to
conform to the market.”
 |
| What's in a name? MF Publishing and Marvel Comics own versions of CAPTAIN MARVEL, respectivaly in 1966 and 1967. |
In the meantime, the name Captain Marvel was up for grabs, and comic book entrepreneur Myron Fass grabbed it in 1966 with his own superhero, an android that can split itself in different parts at the utterance of the word ''split''. Fass was approached by Marvel Comics who felt the name was a natural for them, and offered him 4000$ for the rights, creating their own hero. (More about this in my review of
CAPTAIN MARVEL)
 |
| The February 1973 first issue of SHAZAM!, which brought the Captain Marvel property to DC, but not exactly to the DC Universe, even though Superman himself introduces the hero on the cover. |
DC ended up acquiring the rights
from Fawcett and relaunched the character in 1973, under the auspices
of its original creator C.C. Beck alongside the likes of Denny
O'Neal on scripts and Kurt Shaffenberger on the artwork. As Michael Uslan recalls;
“In 1972 or 1973, when
sales of Superman weren’t so great, DC turned to Fawcett and said,
‘Hey, you can’t do anything with this character without our
permission under the terms of the settlement, so how about licensing
the character to us, and we’ll publish it?Now , you’ll
find on the earliest issues of Shazam!, the title
reads Shazam!: The Original Captain Marvel. And then
Marvel sent them a cease and desist letter saying that under
trademark laws, you couldn’t even have the name prominently on the
cover like that. So they then had to change it to Shazam!:
The World’s Mightiest Mortal.”
 |
| A sweet nod to original CAPTAIN MARVEL writer Otto Binder in the first DC issue of SHAZAM!, acknowledging the long hiatus during which the character was stuck in limbo. Binder would end up dying the following year. |
While it was a great bit of nostalgia
to acquire the services of C.C. Beck for the reboot, he was very
unhappy about the state of comic books which he found had lost their innocence, and fought every scripts he
would get, even though they were much lighter in tone that the
regular superhero series at DC,. His grumpiness would get him to leave
the comic by issue #10 as he refused to illustrate a story about
plant people. Soon afterwards, the series featured artwork by LOIS
LANE's Kurt Shaffenberger, which kept the lighthearted approach of
the original series, but the style was just not selling anymore. And
the rebooted Marvel Family were still not part of the DC Universe, so
you couldn't have Superman or Batman showing up in a story, which was a common thing at this point. It would have also been complex given the different tone of SHAZAM! It may not seem that hard these days, when
Archie can meet with The Punisher, but at the time, it was a real challenge.
 |
SUPERMAN meets CAPTAIN MARVEL...sort of, in SUPERMAN #276 (June 1974)
|
 |
| ''That's not Superman, you turkey! It's just some cheap imitation!'' Page 5 of SUPERMAN #276. Written by Elliot S Maggin and drawn by Curt Swan. |
Attempts were made to bring the ''Big
Red Cheese'' to the modern DC era, by lampooning the character in an
issue of SUPERMAN as ''Captain Thunder''. Still, the tone was an awkward mix
of derision and reverence, and didn't let suppose that the good old
Captain could join the DC Universe any time soon. Another attempt was by having
artist Don Newton (who had worked on THE PHANTOM at Charlton Comics and BATMAN at
DC) bring a less cartoony approach to the illustration style, anchoring the
character a bit more in the world populated by the likes of Green
Arrow and Wonder Woman. Starting with the last issue of the series,
and continuing in a series of back-up stories in WORLD'S FINEST,
Captain Marvel survived for a little while longer, even though n thisis grittier style
turned out to be shocking for older fans of the Captain, but also a
welcome gateway to what was to come.
 |
| The final issue of SHAZAM! (June 1978), sporting a dramatic departure art-wise by featuring the work of Don Newton. |
Meanwhile, in 1974, the animation
studio
Filmation, stepping away from their mediocre Saturday morning
cartoon fare like
STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES and several DC
Superheroes in the mid-sixties, tried their hand at live-action shows
for the same target audience of kids on a sugary cereal high, the
most memorable being
SHAZAM! with Michael Gray as Billy Batson,
Jackson Bostwick and later John Davey as Captain Marvel, and veteran
actor Les Tremayne as his mentor (named, appropriately, Mentor).
Travelling from town to town in an RV, righting wrongs and delivering
corny morals at the end of everyone of its 28 episodes, the show had
its share of youthful fans, but I was 9 years old when it aired, and
it did nothing for me at the time. But according to star Jason
Bostwick, the show had ''had ratings in our time slot that were
higher than
I Love Lucy, the prime-time heavyweight of its
day .'' So what do I know?
 |
| Actor Jackson Bostwick gracing the cover of the over-sized SHAZAM themed issue of Limited Collector's Edition. |
Captain Marvel finally met with the man
of steel for ''real'' in the treasury Edition SUPERMAN VS SHAZAM in
1978. Written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Rick Buckler and
Dick Giordano, the special issue is an epic confrontation between the
two musclemen, manipulated into believing they are enemies, a classic
comic book ploy to oppose two heroes. Here, Captain Marvel is from
a parallel Earth, Earth-S, a situation that will remain until the DC
game-changing event
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS (1986, by Marv Wolfman
and George Perez).
 |
| They meet at last. A page by Rick Buckler from SUPERMAN VS SHAZAM in 1978. |
After the company changing series that
got rid of the clutter of parallel Earths, and consolidated every
remaining heroes on one single World, Shazam was rebooted as a full
member of the DC Universe, sharing the same Earth as Superman and his
friends. He got a new 4 part miniseries to celebrate, written by Roy
and Jann Thomas and illustrated by Tom Mandrake, titled SHAZAM!: THE NEW BEGINNING.
If
anything, the main change brought by the series was to hint at the
fact that the full grown Captain Marvel was keeping Billy Batson's
youthful personality. Something that made it into the new film. The series meant well,, but the choice of Tom Mandrake on the art was
an odd one considering how much his gritty style contrasted with previous
interpretations of the naive superhero. More amusing was his
membership in the new JUSTICE LEAGUE, while curated by the fun team
of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis on the story and
Kevin Maguire on the art,
where his naivete clashed beautifully with the temperament of rest of
the league.
 |
| Re-introducing, yet again, Captain Marvel to the DC Universe, in April 1987. |
 |
| Original cover artwork by Kevin Maguire for JUSTICE LEAGUE #3 (July 1987) |
It
took a few years, and DC completing their purchase of other Fawcett
characters like Bulletman and Spy Smasher, to try their hand at
giving CAPTAIN MARVEL the spotlight again. Writer/artist Jerry Ordway, who
was at the time doing beautiful work on the SUPERMAN comic, was given
the opportunity to retell the origin story once again in 1994, in a
best-selling Graphic Novel. It sold so well in fact that it spawned
it own regular series soon afterwards. Jerry Orway remembers: ''The
only direction I was given for the series was to integrate it into
the DC Universe somehow, and take it to the next level. The good part
was that let us create his own little corner of the DC Universe with
Fawcett City and its heroes. '' Personally, I would say this was
probably the best thing to happen to the character since he vanished
in 1953. Peter Krause's delicate artwork and Ordway's reverent
writing paid perfect tribute to the Marvel Family, while making them
part of the DC Universe. However, the series ended after 47 issues in
1999, its style not meshing with the growing trend towards grittiness
that pervaded comics in the 90s.
 |
| Gorgeous Jerry Ordway original painted art for the cover to POWER OF SHAZAM #6 , featuring the return of classic foe Captain Nazi. |
After having a pivotal role in Mark Waid and Alex Ross' depiction of a bleak future for the DC heroes in 1996's celebrated KINGDOM COME, Captain Marvel was brought back in a terrific one-shot by Paul Dini and Alex Ross once again, who does a wonderful job of giving our hero the likeness of the actor who apparently inspired C.C. Beck at the time; Fred McMurray. SHAZAM: POWER OF HOPE, is a thoughtful exploration of Captain Marvel's inherent decency, and the necessary acceptance of one's own limitations. A classic of the genre.
 |
| A poignant moment from SHAZAM!: POWER OF HOPE (2000) by Paul Dini and Alex Ross. |
While
Captain Marvel would still appear regularly in the other DC series
over the years, his next significant mini-series would be SUPERMAN/SHAZAM: FIRST THUNDER, written
by Judd Winick with art by Josh
Middleton,
which
portrayed the first meeting between the
heroes. The 2006 series is memorable for questioning
the motives of the wizard SHAZAM for bestowing such a heavy burden of
responsibilities on an 11 year old boy.
 |
| Superman confronting the wizard Shazam, about the ethics of giving a child powers and responsibilities well beyond his capacities. In SUPERMAN/SHAZAM: FIRST THUNDER, illustrated by Josh Middleton. |
Judd Winick also started the same year a 12 issues miniseries, THE TRIALS OF SHAZAM,
that tried to reinvent the character once again, by having an aging
Captain Marvel take over the role of the Wizard Shazam, sitting at the Stone of Eternity, while Freddy
Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr. would take his place as the World's Strongest Mortal. Meanwhile, possessed by the evil New God DeSaad,
Mary Marvel becomes a villainess. Sometimes, you can try too hard to play with the tone and concept of a classic, and soon enough, all these
changes went back to square one with the other DC Universe-changing
comic book event, THE NEW 52, which, over the course of a year,
proceeded to update and restart all the DC properties, including the
Marvel Family.
 |
| Shazam for a day. Freddie Freeman tasting his status as the World's Strongest Mortal in the final issue of THE TRIALS OF SHAZAM (2008). But soon, all would change once again. |
In
the meantime, not wanting to say goodbye to Captain Marvel yet, DC
released two new mini-series set outside the DC Continuity, so they
could use the character in his most classic sense. First, in 2007, Jeff Smith,
right off his award winning work on BONE, did his own spin on the
CAPTAIN MARVEL myths with SHAZAM! THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL,
which, at least in its illustrative style, brought back the character
to its more naive look, all the while the story, like it was the case
with BONE, melded adroitly a sense of innocence with more complex,
layered themes.
 |
| Jeff Smith's beautiful interpretation of CAPTAIN MARVEL in SHAZAM! THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL (2007). |
This
in turn lead to another more juvenile, kid-friendly take on the
character with BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM! by animator Mike Kunkel, who provides his unique style displayed on his series HEROBEAR AND THE KID. Kinkel chose to follow the lead
provided by Jeff Smith instead of trying to reboot once again. Unable
to keep up with the demanding schedule, he left his place to the team
of Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani who brought a BATMAN ANIMATED
ADVENTURES feel to the comic. Yet for all the talent displayed, it was cancelled after 21 issues.
 |
| The Kirby inspired cover for issue 6 of BILLY BATSON AND THE POWER OF SHAZAM! by Stephen DeStephano. Fun Fact: For a short time in the early 40s, Jack Kirby, along with Joe Simon, illustrated some CAPTAIN MARVEL stories. |
The
2011 ''New 52'' re-imagining is pretty much the iteration that is
present in the new film; Billy Batson is now a child of the Foster
Care system, street-smart but cynical. This version written by Geoff
Johns (Who's also co-producer on the film) changes the very nature of
the ''Marvel Family'', but I'll stop before getting into spoilers.
Another particularity of this version is that the moniker ''Captain
Marvel'', which had been suject to ligitaion since Marvel comics came
out with their own in 1968, has been taken away for good and our hero
is called simply ''Shazam'', which, let's face it, people have been
calling him for years anyway. The name issue by the way happens to be
a funny running gag in the film.
 |
| SHAZAM as he stands now, courtesy of writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank. |
|
|
|
So
how is SHAZAM! As a film? Horror director David F. Sandberg (LIGHTS OUT and ANNABELLE: CREATION, two pretty effectively creepy horror
films) goes for a totally change of pace here, in a superhero comedy
where the pitch meeting most likely was three words: ''BIG meets
SUPERMAN'' (A moment in a toy store actually makes a quick reference
to a classic scene from the Penny Marshall/Tom Hanks masterpiece).
Here, young Billy Batson (The magnetic Asher Angel) goes from foster
home to foster home, all the while trying to find her long-lost
mother. Running away from bullies, he is summoned by the Wizard
SHAZAM (Djimoun Housou) to take over as Earth's protector against the
peril of the Seven Deadly Sins. As the classic story goes, uttering
his name transforms Billy Batson into an adult super-being, but
keeping the mind of a child. (So much for the wisdom of Solomon).
With the help of his superhero fanboy friend Freddie Freeman (an energetic Jack Dylan Grazer), Billy tries to master his new abilities and
learn that with great power comes...well...you know. Interestingly
enough, as Billy toys with his powers, he actually exhibits behaviors
corresponding to some of the seven deadly sins; greed, sloth,
gluttony...I'm surprised more wasn't made of that fact in the plot.
 |
| Jack Dylan Grazer and Zachary Levi as Freddie Freeman and Shazam, not making the best use of his abilities. |
Zachary
Levi litteraly glows in the film as the Superhero with no name (an
amusing nod to the legal issues regarding the use of the name CAPTAIN
MARVEL), demonstrating a youthful exuberance and moments of pure joy
as he discovers his powers, making that thrill positively contagious with the
audience.
The
film features Dr. Sivana (played by bad guy by excellence Mark Strong, who had also confronted GREEN LANTERN as Sinestro) as
Shazam's foil, an appropriate choice as the bald scientist has been
his archenemy since the very beginning, predating that other bald
scientist villain Lex Luthor by a few months. In a knowing wink to fans, actor John Glover, who had played Lex Luthor's father in the series SMALLVILLE, here plays Sivana's father. Here though, the
character, while looking very much like its most modern interpretation in the comics, is bestowed with a brand new origin story and new powers.
While they make sense in the context of the film and help to tie the story-line together better, all the while giving a good reason for the
Wizard to settle on a flawed candidate like Billy Batson as his champion,
longtime fans may wonder why, if the producers wanted to have a
superhero fight at the center of their film, they didn't instead opt
for the character of BLACK ADAM, who would have made more sense in
that context. Other plans may be set aside for that character as
there are rumors he would be the subject of his own film starring
Dwayne Johnson. Sivana being powered by the Seven Deadly Sins, a
group of vile demonic creatures, this is where the director's
background in horror films shines through, especially in a board
meeting scene that is downright creepy and brutal, although
bloodless, which made some kids behind me seek comfort in the arms of their
parents.
 |
| Shazam (Zachary Levi) flanked by his foster home family, a group of characters I would be willing to follow in future adventures. |
Save
from those moments, the film is light, fun and has a lot of heart.
Some moments, like the conclusion of Billy's quest for his mother,
are downright heartbreaking. Others, like one that occurs during the
climatic fight in an amusement park (The same setting where Billy
lost his mother in the crowd years prior), a scene involving his roommates at the foster home he presently resides in, is literally
soaring and joyous, and brought tears of joyous geekyness to my eyes.
SHAZAM! is yet another
welcome departure from the bleakness of the first films of the DC
Universe like MAN OF STEEL and BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, and in a tone not
unlike AQUAMAN, where its comic book origins aren't drowned in dark puddles of grittiness, but are instead fully embraced with open arms.
The script by Henry Gayden doesn't reinvent the wheel, and isn't
without its occasional cliché, but also manages to be both touching and joyous. I
leave the film wanting to see more of the exploits of Shazam,and his
supporting cast of lovable characters.
TV's
Captain Marvel Jackson Bostwick put it best: “Never let
the child in you die. That is where your imagination lies. It is the
foundation on which your spirit for life is built. It is your calling
to the hero’s journey.''
No
other words could describe this delightful cinematic experience.
Comments
Post a Comment