Spanning the Universes: Captain Marvel/Shazam!
Posted By Leo Johnson on March 1, 2013
Spanning the Universes spotlights a different comic book character every week and suggests stories featuring those characters for you to seek out and gleefully devour. Want to see your favorite character featured in this column? Make suggestions in the comments and let us know who you’re passionate about!
WHO are they?
Whiz Comics #2
First appearing in Fawcett Comics’ Whiz Comics #2 in 1940, Billy Batson is a young boy, a child radio reporter and orphan, who gains great powers after being chosen as the champion of the powerful wizard Shazam. When he speaks the wizard’s name, a magical lightning bolt turns Billy into Captain Marvel and imbues him with the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. By saying the word again, Captain Marvel turns back into Billy. Billy uses his great power to battle evil, along with renting an apartment and using Captain Marvel’s muscles to pay rent.
In his original incarnation, Billy and Captain Marvel are separate entities, with Billy not being in control after saying “Shazam!”, but still remembering what Captain Marvel did, and vice versa. He was later absent from comics for twenty years, in legal limbo with his character rights tied up in a court battle from 1953 to 1972, after which DC Comics finally acquired his right from Fawcett. After his return in the seventies, and later stories in the eighties, it was retconned that Billy is in control all the time, explaining Marvel’s goofy, light-hearted personality in comparison to the more “dark” characters of the time and following years.
Captain Marvel and Billy were largely absent from DC continuity for many years during the 90s and 2000s, with a few scattered miniseries and series, including one in which Billy and Captain Marvel became the new Shazam, but he’s seemingly making a return in the New 52. It was in backup stories in Justice League that he made his comeback, now known as Shazam (though I refuse to call him such), with the wizard remaining nameless. Billy is no longer a radio reporter, but now a podcaster, and his orphan status is still intact. What his role in the DC universe is still remains to be seen, but it’s been said that he’ll play heavily into the more supernatural side of the universe.
WHY should I care?
Captain Marvel by Alex Ross
Captain Marvel is Superman with a child-like sense of humor. No matter what happens, it’s always apparent that Captain Marvel is just a child. Whether it’s the childish taunts or schoolboy problems, Billy is much more, and less, than just a superhero. In a given issue, he might fight aliens and have to avoid the principal at school for being late. He has to save the world, but also use Captain Marvel to work at the docks to make his rent.
Like DC’s two best-known heroes, Batman and Superman, Billy Batson is an orphan. Unlike them, he doesn’t have an Alfred or a Kent family. Billy is on his own, shunned completely by his only known living relative. He has no support network until he becomes Captain Marvel. It’s because of this lack of support that he always has a sense of doubt, but also strong determination. He’s 10 year old kid fighting demons and aliens, all while trying to avoid the truancy officer. It’s only with tremendous power that he feels he belongs and eventually finds friends and family in the expanded cast of other Marvels.
Captain Marvel was the first to do so many things that seem common in current comics. Marvel was the first to have a cast of related characters share in his name and powers, with the Lieutenant Marvels appearing in 1941. He was the first superhero to have a movie made about him, which occurred in 1941.
While Captain Marvel has all the powers, Billy is no slouch. As a child who is an orphan and has been abandoned by his family, he’s had to rely on his wits to survive. Even before he gained his unbelievable powers, Billy fought every single day of his life. He’s an eight year old living on the street, going to school, and still somehow making sure he has clothes and food. He’s got a chip on his shoulder, but he never lets that defeat him. As he’s shown in many instances, he doesn’t need Captain Marvel to defeat an enemy, it just makes it a bit easier.
What makes Captain Marvel really matter is that he’s from a simpler time. He fully embodies the Golden Age of Comics. He’s wholesome and fun with a child-like attitude. He can make light of any situation, while still using his brains and brawn to get out of it. He doesn’t take himself, or anything, too seriously, a fact perfectly evidenced by a super-intelligent worm being one of his greatest villains.
Captain Marvel is iconic. Marvel wasn’t based on pulp stories like many heroes of the time, but had his roots in folk-tales and myths. He’s the sort of archetypal hero that other heroes are modeled on, and, unlike Superman who is THE hero, he hasn’t changed from that. Even after being in legal limbo for 20 years, in a time which saw incredible growth for the comic industry, Marvel still ranks respectably on many lists of greatest superheroes.
Readers of modern comics, which Marvel has been largely absent from, can take him as a breath of fresh air, something other than the constant “dark” and “gritty” stories that are on the market. Whether he’ll stick true to his simple roots in his newest incarnation remains to be seen.
WHAT should I read?
Shazam: The Power of Hope
Shazam!: The Power of Hope
Though it’s debatable whether this is canon, this is a perfect glimpse of who Billy and Captain Marvel are. The stunning Alex Ross art and the simple story by Paul Dini show the true innocence of the character.
As a child at heart, Marvel goes out of his way to make the wishes of terminally ill children come true. It’s as Captain Marvel that he takes them flying and around the world, but it’s as Billy Batson that he befriends one child and makes the biggest difference of all.
There are also scenes of how Billy must use Captain Marvel to make his own life a bit easier, allowing a fun peek into the mundane things that happen between battles. This graphic novel helps remind readers that though he can lift mountains, Captain Marvel is still a kid who can’t rent an apartment and can form an instant friendship just through a game of catch. It’s simple, sweet, and emotional.
Power of Shazam! (graphic novel)
Power of Shazam
This is the graphic novel by Jerry Ordway that helped revive Captain Marvel in the 1990s. Though it was later followed by an ongoing series for several years, the story contained in these 96 pages sum up Billy, Captain Marvel, and their struggles wonderfully.
It introduces Black Adam into the story again, firmly setting him up as a major Captain Marvel villain for years to come. The story also keeps with the idea that Billy retains control while Captain Marvel, allowing for many fun moments and also the frustration of being a child with unknown power.
It’s a perfect origin story for the character, even if it isn’t the original origin story.
Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder
Superman/Shazam: First Thunder
While not strictly a Captain Marvel story, this miniseries gives great insight into both Marvel and Billy. It’s the first meeting between Superman and Marvel, a meeting which most comic fans hotly debate.
The two stop crime together, but it weights heavily upon Billy when a friend of his is killed. This moment is when it’s utterly apparent that Marvel is so much less than the burly hero he appears to be. The death angers and destroys Billy, as he feels he’s responsible. He almost commits a great act of violence, only to walk away at the last minute. He’s an innocent child with unimaginable power and a lot of grief to work through. The reader is once again reminded that Billy is truly just a kid in the last few pages as Superman finds him crying over his lost friend and looking for guidance.
While the miniseries plays up Superman a bit, it gives a great portrayal of how Billy just can’t cope with all that’s been thrust upon him sometimes. That he is just a kid, after all.
Captain Marvel Adventures #22-46
Captain Marvel Adventures #22
This two year long arc introduced The Monster Society of Evil to Captain Marvel continuity. While it was notable for being the first time hero battled both new and old villains banded together, it also introduced many villains to the Marvel story, such as the regular Marvel foe Mister Mind.
The storyline lasted over two years, something which would be unheard of in modern comics, with foes ranging from Hitler to Mussolini to Crocodile Men, all attempting to destroy the world and defeat Captain Marvel. They try to use magic fortune-telling pearls and cannons that can blow holes in countries. It’s this sort of ridiculous, over-the-top sort of adventures that makes Captain Marvel wonderful. Further making it ridiculous is that Mister Mind, the mastermind of it all, is a super-intelligent alien worm.
It’s a classic Captain Marvel story that many later storylines have drawn from and will surely influence many stories to come. There are collected editions of the whole arc, which make for a weighty read full of great fun.
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