So back in 2009 I started my Blog page. Among the early posts were posts I had on My
Space. Since then I have a separate
account for blogs and social media.
Back then DC Comics was still recovering from the Final Crisis event. Since then, almost four years later, things
have changed greatly. In the summer of
2011 they had the Flashpoint event. This
resulted in an altered reality. At the
end it seemed they would return to normal continuity. Nope, in comes the new 52. They relaunched everything. Most things changed. The big successful franchises, Green Lantern
and Batman stayed some what the same. So
DC started revamping various Characters and trying some different takes on
non-superheroes stuff in their superhero world.
When the pre-launch information came out of the New 52, the glaring
omission was my favorite hero Shazam/ Captain Marvel/ Billy Batson. Before the
New 52 they had depowered all the Marvel family. Freddy who became Shazam was
depowered after a run in with Osiris from the Black Adam Family.
For those who are not familiar, Captain Marvel/ Shazam is
young Billy Batson a 12 year old orphan.
He encounters a Wizard who gives him 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. Billy says the
name of the wizard, Shazam, and a lightning bolt hits and he becomes the adult
champion Captain Marvel with all those powers.
He later found his sister who became Mary Marvel and a young crippled
boy, Freddy Freeman, who idolized him, became Captain Marvel, Jr. As a group they were referred to as the
Marvel Family. Their two biggest
Arch-Enemies were Black Adam, Shazam’s former champion who was a tyrant, and
Dr. Sivana, a small, frail evil scientific genius.
They finally revamped the character in the 7th
month of the New 52. In the World of the
New 52, they began a new. They started
with Billy Batson again. This Billy was
different. He was a manipulative, smart
mouthed punk. This version is what the
writers believe is what he would be if he were a product of the modern foster
care system. The hopeful optimistic
characters exist, but they are the other members of the Marvel Family. That family has been expanded with 3 new characters
(Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña, and Darla Dudley) that were created during the
Flashpoint event. Darla is a nod to the failed Roy Thomas Earth One version of Captain
Marvel that was proposed in 1982. This
Character was to be called Captain Thunder the original intended name for the
character. In this version both Billy
and the Captain were African-American. The New 52 story starts with Billy being
place with a new foster home that includes the other kids. As to date Billy is the only one empowered by
the power of Shazam. The character is
also called Shazam since Marvel also has a Captain Marvel.
All the elements are there, I just have a problem with this
version of Billy Batson. They could have
made any of the other foster kids the cynical veteran of the foster
system. Maybe the writers plan to redeem
him and have him rediscover his innocence and wonder. They changed many things Dr. Sivana is no
longer the little, frail intellectual, but this buff scientist. I am still not sure what they mean to
accomplish. DC is leading up to their
new event the Trinity War. Shazam and
Black Adam are major players in this. So
it will take some time to see what the folks at DC are up to. So far what they are creating does not seem
to capture the wonder and innocence of the original character of the
1940’s. The closest DC ever got to this
was the Jerry Ordway series Power of Shazam from 1994-1999.
My history with the character goes to 1974 with the CBS
Saturday morning Live Action series.
During this time DC was publishing Shazam!, a book that reprinted old
stories and included new as well. These
stories were set in Earth S. During this
period DC had many Alternate realities.
When they acquired new character from other published they were given
their own universes. The Multiple Earths
lead to the Crisis in Infinite Earths event in 1985 which tightened
continuity. From 1981 to 1982 there were
some Captain Marvel cartoons on The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! show that
aired on NBC. DC reintroduced Captain
Marvel in the Legends miniseries, their relaunch of Justice League and the
Shazam!: The New Beginning Miniseries in 1986 and 1987. I read the Power of Shazam series until I
left comics in 1995.
Historically DC‘s track record with the character is
spotty. One reason is in the early
forties Captain Marvel was more popular than Superman. DC, then National Periodicals, sued Fawcett
saying they plagiarized Superman due to similar powers and costume. The concepts however were very
different. DC still won the
lawsuit. I wonder if the editorial
mistreatment of the character is due to the fact DC cannot abide any character
close to Superman’s power level existing to take his thunder. I am biased though; I love Shazam/ Captain
Marvel/ Billy Batson. As to Superman, I
am not a big fan of the Big Blue Boy Scout.
That Is My Not So Humble Opinion.
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