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!
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!
