Though in recent years, what with legal wranglings with Marvel Comics over the name, Batson’s alter ego has gradually switched over to using the name “Shazam.” Since this is also the magic word that transforms him from boy to hero and then back to boy again, it seems that this change makes him the only existing superhero who can’t say his own name.īut there was, I think, something compelling in that original idea of invoking the power of names. ![]() Traditionally, this would change him into the hero Captain Marvel. When Billy Batson speaks the name, he is granted these virtues: 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. The old wizard’s name is actually an acronym of the names of six great figures from ancient mythology who embody certain heroic virtues. And perhaps that’s why he could never quite adjust to the later eras when the superhero genre began to take itself more seriously.Ĭoming out of a time when comic-books were seen as mostly adolescent wish-fulfillment, the Shazam saga is a kind of super-heroic portal fantasy.īilly Batson is an orphaned teen (although Jeff Smith’s 2007 miniseries, Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil depicts him as pre-adolescent) who is selected by the Wizard Shazam to be the new incarnation of the heroic champion Captain Marvel. He was the kind of hero who, when referred to by one of his adversaries as “the Big Red Cheese,” adopted it as an official nickname. With a couple different creative teams working on short-lived comic-book runs, a few attempts at revivals that never quite got off the ground, and a mid-seventies TV series which I vaguely remember as failing to engage my own pre-adolescent imagination, nothing really seemed to take off.Ĭaptain Marvel remained a Golden Age hero from a time when comics reveled in a kind of goofy nonsensical fun. It’s possible, too, that Marvel Comics’ introduction of their own “Captain Marvel” character might have spurred DC to dig up this old superhero, whom his first comic book covers billed as “The ORIGINAL Captain Marvel.” When Marvel Comics’ lawyers protested, it was quickly changed to “the World’s Mightiest Mortal.”īut the character never quite regained his former popularity. They acquired the rights to Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family from Fawcett, starting off with a pay-per-use arrangement but eventually owning the character outright. By this time superhero comics were enjoying a resurgence, and DC was actively expanding its stable of characters. The character languished in obscurity until around 1972. At this point the market for superhero comics was in decline, Fawcett decided it was best to settle with DC, and shut down its comic-book operation. The case went to court a couple times, with judges in general finding that there were some elements of the character and his stories that could be copyright infringements and elements that clearly weren’t. Which might have had something to do with Detective Comics (Superman’s publishers) suing Fawcett Comics (publishers of Captain Marvel) for copyright infringement. The Shazam franchise has a lot of untapped potential, which makes any new iteration of it something to get excited about.ĭuring the “Golden Age” of superhero comics – from around the late 1930s into the 1950s – Captain Marvel was selling more comics than anyone else, even the celebrated Superman. It’s not just what they have done or are doing with it, but the possibilities of what could be done. But to me, part of the fun of any hero, mythology, or franchise like this is in its potential. So of course, comic book publishers have generally never known quite what to do with the character. ![]() ![]() To me, it has always teased at the kind of deeply transcendent spirituality which Lewis excelled at. Currently going by Shazam!, the Hero Formerly Known as Captain Marvel is steeped in a potpourri of Classical Mythological references, of Ancient Magic, and of ordinary youth in extraordinary circumstances, drawing on Mysteries of the past to become the best possible versions of themselves. Lewis had ever tried his hand at the American comic-book superhero genre, he might have come up with something like this.
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