My history with Captain Marvel

SHAZAM! The World’s Mightiest Mortal Volume 3 hardcover
DC Comics
Creators: E. Nelson Bridwell, Don Newton, Gil Kane, Kurt Schaffenberger, Dave Hunt, Joe Giella, Bob Smith, Steve Mitchell, Frank Chiaramonte, Dan Adkins, Larry Manlstedt, John Calnan, Adrienne Roy, Cory Adams, Milt Snapinn, Ben Oda, Gaspar Saladino, John Costanza, Todd Klein, Shelly Leferman, Philip Felix, Albert DeGuzman, Jean Simek, Peter Iro, Pierre Bernard Jr. and Michael Cho
Release date: May 18, 2021

Like many children around the same age, my first exposure to Billy Batson and his alter ego, Captain Marvel (That’s right, his name is Captain Marvel; Shazam is the wizard’s name.), came in the form of the live action Saturday morning television show “Shazam!” which began airing in 1974 and starred Michael Gray, Les Tremayne and Jackson Bostwick. I was 7 when the show premiered. These simple stories entertained me and my younger brother, but Cap never quite broke into my personal top-tier level of favorite superhero characters.

I knew nothing at this point about Captain Marvel’s publishing history — how he debuted in the Whiz Comics title published by Fawcett Comics in 1940; the legal battles that followed the character into the 1950s; the acquisition of the character by DC Comics and the demise of Fawcett; or the launch of a new Shazam! title by DC in 1973.

Fast forward to the early 1980s and Captain Marvel — and the extended Marvel family — began appearing again on Saturday morning television in animated shorts as part of “The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!” These shorts were my first introduction to Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Uncle Dudley and Mr. Tawky Tawny. The cartoons were a much more fantastical version of Cap than I’d known from the live-action “Shazam!” or its follow-up 1970s series “The Shazam!/Isis Hour.”

Over in the comics, that DC Shazam! title was not doing well, and the feature had become much shorter back-up stories in Worlds Finest Comics. That move happened in 1978 and continued into the early 1980s.

At this point in my life, my access to comics was very limited. My brother and I would accompany our mother on weekend shopping trips to the grocery store or department stores once or twice a month, and we would occasionally be allowed to pick out a comic or two from the meager selection offered by those venues. One such trip resulted in my getting a copy of World's Finest Comics #270, which contained the Shazam! story “Our Son, the Monster!,” one of the many great tales reprinted in this volume.  

Fast forward again to me being an adult collector. I don’t recall exactly when, but at some point, I purchased the first two volumes of The Shazam! Archives from DC Comics, which reprinted the earliest Captain Marvel adventures from the 1940s. I found I really enjoyed those early adventures of the Big Red Cheese, as Captain Marvel was often called. Likely, this purchase was spurred on by the 1995 reboot of Captain Marvel by the extraordinary Jerry Ordway in 1995, The Power of Shazam!, a series I tried and enjoyed and need to someday track down again.

Over the years, I’ve developed a fondness for Captain Marvel, and while he still isn’t numbered among my top three heroes, I do enjoy reading many of his adventures from throughout his history. So I tend to consider buying each new relaunch attempt or collected edition.

I decided to skip the first two hardcover volumes of this Shazam! The World’s Mightiest Mortal series when they were first announced. Partially that decision was motivated by the knowledge that many consider those early- to mid-1970s stories less than great. But mostly, I decided not to buy the fancy new hardcover collections because I already had most of those stories in the cheaper Showcase Presents Shazam! paperback collection from several years prior. I hadn’t read that Showcase collection yet. Best to wait and see how much I enjoyed the Captain Marvel tales from this period first.

But then I heard that this third volume would collect all of the later Worlds Finest Marvel family stories, AND that they almost all featured Don Newton artwork. Like Captain Marvel, Don Newton isn’t really in my top two or three as far as artists go, but he is definitely in my top 10 favorites, possibly even in my top five. Newton isn’t as prolific or as known for being a Batman artist as someone like Neal Adams or Jim Aparo or Norm Breyfogle, for instance. Newton isn’t as well known as an Aquaman artist as Aparo or Nick Cardy or Ramona Fradon. But I love Newton’s interpretation of both those characters.

And Don Newton is known as a very dynamic Captain Marvel family artist. He did the artwork on nearly every story reprinted in this volume. That made me curious to go ahead and spring for the full-color, hardcover treatment. And I was NOT disappointed. These tales are quirky and certainly they feel a bit dated now. But they are truly fun stories showcasing not only Cap, Mary and Junior, but the Lieutenant Marvels also make an appearance in one of the multi-part stories, playing a vital role in helping the main trio defeat the Monster Society of Evil. This collection also includes the origin of Mr. Tawky Tawny and reveals a connection between the Marvels and Kid Eternity, of which I was previously unaware.

All in all, this was a very wise purchase, and I enjoyed it very much!

Come back in two weeks, and we'll look at a pair of books that is not only a few years older even that this collection but they also come from a completely different publisher. I know I've been on a bit of a DC kick for the last several posts. That is about to change as I cover a couple related series from some non-Big Two publishers. See ya then!

More early adventures of the first kid sidekick

Showcase Presents Robin, the Boy Wonder tpb
DC Comics
Creators: Too many to mention
Release date: 2008

I marveled recently about how Robin, the Boy Wonder, had a number of solo adventures in Star-Spangled Comics as early as the 1940s and 1950s. Dick Grayson is one of my all-time favorite characters, and I had not known that he headlined his own solo series that far back. Those stories are collected in the Robin Archives Volumes 1 and 2.

I bought this giant phone-book sized black-and-white trade paperback collection when it came out back in 2008, but at that time, trades like this one were tossed onto a pile of stuff to read when I had more time. I decided to make the time after reading those Robin Archives volumes, and I’m glad I did.

This collection covers stories from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. It begins with a re-telling of Robin’s origin from Batman No. 213 from 1969. From there, it drops back to 1964 for World’s Finest Comics No. 141 and the formation of a Robin-Jimmy Olsen team. The junior partners fake their own deaths in an effort to aid their respective mentors.

Several other Robin-Jimmy Olsen team-ups follow from the pages of World’s Finest Comics and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, as well as Robin solo stories and team-ups with Batman, Batgirl, Superman and the Teen Titans from the pages of World’s Finest Comics, Batman and Detective Comics.

The adventures also see the Boy Wonder leave high school and Wayne Manor for the campus of Hudson University and the new name, the Teen Wonder. There’s even a two-part adventure with the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America in 1971 in issue Nos. 91 and 92 of the League’s own title. That last even has the Earth-1 Dick Grayson meet his Earth-2 counterpart and briefly adopt a new costume.

As sometimes happens with Silver-Age stories, some of these tales seem a bit dated now. But most all of them are fun reads showing the continuing growth and development of a classic comics character. I’m definitely calling this a worthwhile purchase!

Blast From The Past!

World's Finest Comics 241
Cover date: October 1976
DC Comics
Bob Haney, writer
Pablo Marcos, artist

This is not the most well-crafted story; there are quite a number of failures in logic and failures to simply use their abilities on the parts of both Superman and Batman in this team-up tale. But it is one I remember reading and enjoying as a kid.


The cover first drew my attention, as so many cool comics covers did in those days before advanced solicitation releases made it harder and harder to NOT know what was on the inside of the comic before you could hold it in your hands. That brutish cyclops figure threatening a small group of people while Superman and Batman fly off, indifferent -- how could one resist asking, "What is going on here?!?"

The story opens moments before the launch of Aquarius I, humanity's first attempt to journey into space beyond the moon. Such a major undertaking has led to the assembly of a crew of nine with some unusual backgrounds. The commander of the mission is ex-Air Force Major "Iron Mike" Jordan, who is looking for new challenges in his life. The others are P.K. Osborn, one of the world's richest industrialists bored with how easily he can make money, yet still consumed by the need to have more of it; Kitty Carstairs, a bitter stuntwoman looking for another avenue to prove she is better than any man; Spider Hart, a prize fighter who never got his chance at the title; Midge Dexter, a young widow looking for meaning in her lonely life; Holly Bishop, a fading rock star hoping to cash in on the rocket by relaunching his career; Bud Williams, a former convict looking for redemption; Bruce Wayne, the "playboy businessman whose company built the rocket;" and finally, Clark Kent, WGBS television news anchor covering the project for his viewers. That's quite a crew, many of whom have very large chips on their shoulders, but my favorite is Wayne, who thinks to himself, "Gotham City will have to do without Batman while I go along to see how my ship works!" The modern incarnation of the Darkknight Detective would shudder at this Batman's lack of dedication to his mission!

As one might expect, conflict breaks out among the crew before the rocket has even left the ground. Jordan and Hart butt heads over who's in charge, Dexter and Bishop quarrel over music, and Carstairs puts Wayne in his place when he offers to help her with her luggage. Even Osborn and Williams clash over the need to turn over all money to the mission's finance officer. It seems Osborn has brought a large box of cash with him, which Williams confiscates because it is against the rules to have cash in space "to upset things." At first, this might seem a silly rule -- although no less silly than why Osborn would bring the cash on a space mission anyway -- but it is actually a clue of sorts to later events.

The rocket blasts off and nine days quickly pass without incident, at least not any that we are shown. But on that ninth day, Jordan is unable to raise anyone from Earth on the radio. Wayne checks the rocket's other instruments only to find no evidence of Earth's existence. When the other startled members of the crew look out the rocket's viewing ports, they see only debris where Earth should be. Kent secretly slips out of the rocket and changes to Superman and confirms that Earth is no longer there! Kent comes back to the rocket, quickly confers with Wayne, and then the pair fake their own deaths, reappearing outside the rocket as Superman and a space-suited Batman. The heroes explain their sudden appearance by saying they were on the Justice League satellite when Earth was destroyed and came looking for the only survivors, the crew of Aquarius I.

Superman begins creating a new planet by first smashing together a number of asteroids, carving out continents with his strength, melting a comet for ocean water, and finally sucking up bits of atmosphere from other planets and bringing them to New Earth. The Aquarius I crew begins building a life for themselves, but their old prejudices taint their efforts; again they fight over wealth, personal space and breeding rights. Things only get worse when a sole alien visitor stops by. The reptilian visitor, named Alarik, claims his own planet is over-populated and that he is a scout looking for suitable expansion locations. Superman tells Alarik that there is plenty of room for more on the planet he has built since it is roughly the size of Earth but sustains only nine people at present. But the Aquaris crew refuses to share with an outsider and instead attacks Alarik. Superman and Batman, clearly disgusted by the Aquarius crew's behavior, vow to abandon them to their own selfish devices and fly off.

While the rest subdue Alarik, Bishop makes a discovery onboard Aquarius I -- a secret compartment -- but before he can tell anyone, the monstrous cyclops from the cover (remember him?) emerges from a nearby cave and threatens the humans. As the crew race to the safety of their ship, they theorize that the cyclops must have been trapped inside one of the asteroids Superman used to create New Earth. The humans make it to the Aquarius and see that Alarik has freed himself. The alien chastises the humans for not being willing to defend their new home. Alarik challenges the cyclops, and is killed for his efforts. Belatedly, the shamed humans decide to fight the cyclops, but don't fare too well until Superman and Batman return. The heroes were feeling guilty about abandoning the last humans, and arrive in the nick of time.

Once the cyclops creature is dispatched, the Aquarius crew notices that Alarik was not an alien after all, but a human in disguise. This discovery is interrupted by an announcement over the ship's radio -- an announcement from Earth! Superman flies off to investigate and confirms that Earth is, in fact, right where it should be. When he returns, Superman learns that the Aquarius crew has made more discoveries. "Alarik" was really Dr. John Travis, the scientist behind their project. The destruction of Earth and all that followed was a test to see how the crew would react to the news. They all resolve to be better people in the future as a result of all they've been through, and the crew blasts off for Earth. Once they touch down, Kent and Wayne emerge from the secret compartment, and Kent explains that they were part of the test to make it more believable. They'd only faked their own deaths earlier, a ruse that protects the heroes' secret identities.

Except, Superman and Batman couldn't have been "in" on the test idea. After Kent's explanation to the rest of the Aquarius crew, Wayne thinks to himself, "That Supes is no dummy! He bent the truth to cover our secret identities!" But then, if Superman and Batman weren't in on the test, why couldn't they figure out Dr. Travis was aboard the Aquarius I with them from the start? Superman should have noticed an extra heartbeat with his super-hearing. For that matter, Superman shouldn't have been fooled by the phony destruction of Earth. Once the ruse is revealed, he guesses that some nearby crystalline asteroids refracted the light from Earth, rendering it invisible, but he flew to where Earth should have been. Even invisible, he should have "bumped" into the planet.

Like many of Haney's stories, this one has some super-sized holes for an adult reader to puzzle over. But the kid in me still likes the fantastic nature of this story and gets too caught up in the action to wonder about silly questions that don't really matter.

Friends Again

Action Comics 11-12
DC Comics
Grant Morrison, writer
Rags Morales, Rick Bryant and Brad Walker, artists

During the infighting in the most recent issues of Justice League, Superman says at one point that he and Batman are friends and have worked together outside of Justice League missions. These two issues of Action Comics give us a glimpse of the beginnings of that cooperative relationship, and if handled properly in the future, this will be a nice return.

Batman is often portrayed in modern comics as aloof, always keeping himself distant and apart from his super-powered colleagues. This is often explained as a defense mechanism in Bruce Wayne's psyche as a result of his not having any actual super powers and never quite trusting the others who do. When handled well, that can be a valid portrayal of the Dark Knight Detective.

However, some of my favorite comic book stories from childhood have Superman working side by side with Batman and Robin, either as part of the larger Justice League of America or together alone in the pages of World's Finest Comics. It is nice to see these two acting as friends and confidants again. I hope this development lasts.

The reason Superman has asked for Batman's help is explained in the art above. Superman saved the life of his editor, George Taylor, from a bomb in the previous issue. But in doing so, it seemed to observers that Clark Kent died, and Superman allowed that belief to remain. But now he is regretting killing off his secret identity in favor of being Superman 24/7.