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I’m surprised none of the usual sites I follow took notice of this. Yes, the story is about supervillains being granted potential amnesty to prepare for another Darkseid invasion. The stakes can’t be any less than all of everything nowadays. Plus modern day writers want to blur the lines between “hero” and “villain” to the point that it doesn’t exist, which I’m sure I’ll be able to complain about again in the future. On the other hand, look what’s circled. It’s Billy Batson’s superhero name.
It isn’t Shazam.
It’s Captain Marvel!
Originally created by rival publisher Fawcett Publications, Captain Marvel and later the classic Marvel family of Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Junior and friends were the most popular superheroes in comics. Then superhero interest starting waning right around the time that DC Comics (National Publications at the time) decided to misuse the legal system to get rid of Superman’s biggest competition…and then buy it out and drag the characters into the DC Universe. Long story, and I hear different takes on who won what. It doesn’t matter. During the time there was Captain Marvel (just after a really name name swipe for a really lame character), Marvel Comics grabbed the name on the grounds that they’re Marvel Comics and thus should have a hero named Marvel. None of the Captains Marvel they’ve tried over the years, including the current Carol Danvers, have caught on nearly as well as Billy Batson.
At some point DC stopped trying. They couldn’t use the name on the comic covers but he was able to use it in the comic itself as well as the two TV shows produced by Filmation and the gag special two-parter Legends Of The Superheroes. There was also the old movie serial that predated this nonsense. He was never called Shazam, and why would they? The show starred more than one hero, especially the cartoon that also featured Mary, Captain Marvel Jr, Uncle Dudley (who liked to think he had powers), the Wizard, and the bipedal lionman Tawky Tawny. Meanwhile the previous live-action series had Billy joined by Mentor who lived up to his name alongside the various gods and heroes of legend that Captain Marvel’s powers were tied to. We all knew him as Captain Marvel regardless of what the merchandise said or what the comic/show title was.
They decided to go with “Shazam” anyway, meaning his magic word to transform was also his name. The same joke about Captain Marvel Jr, not being able to say his name without changing back, now would be applied to our hero if they didn’t add some nonsense about how you said it. Then the New 52 happened and Geoff Johns totally reimagined him and the Marvel Family concept, which I’m sure had nothing to do with royalties and Retcon Johns’ obsession with his own “better ideas”. More recent shows, as well as both theatrical and direct-to-video movies, have thus gone with the name even when he was just showing up in a team show. I think the last use of Captain Marvel was either Batman: The Brave & The Bold or Young Justice.
This return should be a bigger deal, but I only found out about it because Facebook showed me this article from ComicBook.com. Writer Marcus Helminiak questioned if this should happen after 15 years of Shazam. I see his points and he has some fair ones, but I disagree. He deserves his proper name back.
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Plastic Man, on the trail of whoever stole parts of the cover.
Police Comics #8
Comic Magazines Incorporated (March, 1942)
Comic Book Plus has a cleaner cover scanned and posted right after the one to the left, but I didn’t know that when I uploaded it. The gag’s in place so we’re leaving it. Also, this is the first mention I’ve seen for “Quality Comics” in an inside cover ad. Otherwise, the indicia says “Comic Magazines Incorporated” so that’s what I’ve been going with even though CB+ calls it Quality Comics. So now you know, let’s move on.
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Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
For those of you just joining us, the usual prose novel feature is doing a rather long graphic novel for this installment. It’s a comic-fied (not necessarily comedic, but certainly light in tone) retelling of the attempt by indie performance couple Pocket Vinyl to unofficially beat the record of 50 states in 50 days going on tour. This far we’ve covered New England and some of it’s neighbors. Went down to the East Coast, and we’re starting this chapter in Mississippi, known for a really long name and her husband, Mr. Sippi. (Very old knock knock joke.)
We’ve also been seeing the impact particularly on Elisabeth. As it was the events of the previous chapter were a bit rough for her as well as Eric getting a cough, and he’s the singer. She’s the artist of the graphic novel but both are credited as writers. However, he seems to be handling the stress far better than she is. If that’s true of the tour, it’s not total ignorance on Eric’s part as he has been watching out for her and letting her know she can confide in him if something is going wrong. I think she really wanted to be part of this and support Eric’s goal, and we know it ends okay because they’re still together and still performing, but I am kind of worried for her at this point even though these are past events.
That’s a strength of the story. I’m reading this like it’s currently happening, and it’s getting me invested in the characters and their journey. It’s not something I would have picked up myself but as something I was given I’m glad I was and given a chance to go over this. Let’s see where it goes as we reach the midpoint of the book. This has more pages that we’ve seen thus far, but it’s a comic so it balances out.
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“Dude, you’re ruining the cover scan glowing like that.”
Prototype #12
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (July, 1994)
“Assault On The Dark Tower”
WRITERS: Len Strazewski & Tom Mason
PENCILER: Roger Robinson
INKERS: Scott Reed, Tom Florimonte, Larry Welch, & Tim Roddick
COLORING: Keith Conroy & Violent Hues
LETTERER: Susan Dorne
EDITOR: Roland Mann
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Previously found by Caroline Furlong, who was inspired to make a commentary on the fairy tale princes by this video. I also remind you that the prince in Snow White & The Seven Dwarves , whose name I couldn’t tell you, only shows up three times in the Disney version, does not save her from the queen (the dwarves do that), and is essentially Snow White’s reward for suffering through all of the Queen’s attempts to kill her by (when not played by Rachel Ziegler) being kind and helpful to everyone while improving their lives. Cinderella stands up to her stepmom, first by going behind her back and then revealing the other slipper, and is rewarded for her taking charge of her life while in the Disney version also making friends who want to help her, even if they are mice. Caroline also notes that Phillip is the only prince in the video with any agency of his own and actually saves the day…but STILL needs help from the other fairies. It’s like the usual suspects don’t actually watch or read the things they complain about.
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