MARVELS and RUINS of the KINGDOM of ROSS! Blog History of the Many Captain Marvels Part 17!

The 1970's had been an era of creative exploration at DC and Marvel Comics because of the new directions pop culture was going at the time the generational change in editorial staffs, and some works of real genius wound up on the stands. The 1980's was an explosion of creative possibilities in the independent comics scene as brand new comic book companies gave creators full ownership of their properties and had no Comics Code Authority to censor their work.

Here is an interesting dialogue-style history of the Comics Code Authority from NPR.

The 1990's, however, incubated creativity through the need to come up with the next big, flashy, collectible "thing" that would prove to be a groundbreaking triumph and raise the bar for the comic book industry. Alternate covers! New first editions! Exciting new changes to characters! Foil-embossed! Polybagged with a trading card! Pogz!

All-Time Greatest Comic Book Gimmick Covers according to Comic Book Resources
Memories of Comic Book "Gimmicks" Resurface
Blown Cover: 15 Covers from the '90's that Destroyed Comic Books
A Pintrest page of gimmick comic book covers through the ages

The success in the late 1970's and '80's of comics that broke ground creatively and in format while referencing or reinventing familiar superheroes and other comic tropes (Dave Sim's Cerebus the Aardvark, Eastman & Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Frank Miller's Ronin and The Dark Knight Returns, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen) and works that re-set or re-organized the superhero universes of Marvel's and DC's superheroes (Marvel's Secret Wars, DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths) had established precedent for what was thought to be needed to have a popular, top-selling comic book.

The work that may well have had the most success as a creative re-imagination of a superhero universe, comic book format, and gimmicky concept and packaging, was 1994's Marvels limited series, by writer Kurt Busiek and artist Alex Ross (that is, the artist Alex Ross, not the music critic Alex Ross).

    

   

 

    

This series re-told the history of the Marvel Comics characters from before WWII up to the present day, but through the eyes of a news photographer, who called them "Marvels" (hence the title). The only Captain Marvel who appeared was Mar-Vell, who was in one double-page spread of the Kree-Skrull war, but The impact of this series, with its deluxe format and gloriously painted covers, was to become a superhero comic book benchmark.
    

This comic totally changed the game. Alex Ross set a new visual standard with his realistic painting, often compared with Norman Rockwell (he used models). The cover was a clear acetate sheet with a black border and the title framing the cover painting on the page beneath it. From thence on, the look of an Alex Ross-painted comic book, or even a book with his painted cover, would be seen as a mark of high quality epic storytelling.

The most directly-referencing work was a dark satire titled Ruins (written by Warren Ellis, painted art by Terese Nielsen, Cliff Nielsen, and Chris Moeller), in which everything that could have gone wrong with the Marvel superheroes did. In the case of Mar-Vell, he was part of a Kree invasion force that, due to a mishap involving the Silver Surfer, fell prey to American nuclear missiles that wiped out 90% of the force. They were captured and put in concentration camps in a former nuclear testing base.These last survivors and their children were slowly and painfully dying of radiation poisoning, and Mar-Vell was especially miserable, as his objection to the invasion was blamed for its failure.

     

Another, and much more well-known and impactful conceptual follow-up was from DC Comics in 1996, a vision of a dystopian superhero-deconstructionist future titled Kingdom Come, by writer Mark Waid and writer/artist Alex Ross. This story turned out to be the greatest use of the human/hero dichotomy of the original Captain Marvel ever.

   

  

  

 

Based on an idea Alex Ross imagined while working on Marvels and set in he hear future, super-powered being filled the skies and streets of cities having near-apocalyptic battles every day. Superman had retired to his family farm in Kansas, and Lex Luthor was organizing a movement against super-powered heroes. His personal bodyguard was Captain Marvel, dressed in a suit, standing quietly behind him lighting his cigar when needed. The threat of his power is enough to keep all other superheroes at bay.

A tragically destructive incident in a hero-villain battle brings Superman out of retirement, recruiting other superheroes to become the world's police and arresting and detaining those who decline or resist. Batman leads a resistance to this and teams with Luthor. I turns out, though that "Captain Marvel" is really a grown-up Billy Batson, brainwashed and mind-controlled by Luthor into believing that super-powered heroes are evil monsters. The climax occurs during a final, apocalyptic battle between all the superheroes and villains, and Billy Batson/Captain Marvel has the choice of either allowing them to all be destroyed (by a United Nations-launched nuclear weapon) or allow them to survive,  their conflict to continue, and thus doom humankind.

It is Superman who gives him this choice, the reason being that because he has seen life from both the normal human and super-powered perspectives, Billy Batson/Captain Marvel (along with  the wisdom of Solomon) is uniquely qualified to pass judgement on the existence of super-powers heroes. His decision sacrificed himself to same a portion of the heroes and inspired Superman to realize that it was the role of superheroes to help, but not lead, humanity to its future.

 

Other members of the Marvel Family were present in future-ized incarnations. Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel, Jr. was now "King Marvel," with a costume redesigned to evoke an Elvis Presley jumpsuit (a deliberate homage to the King of Rock & Roll, who was a big fan of the Little Blue Cheese). Mary Batson/Mary Marvel was now either "Lady Marvel" or "Queen Marvel" (depending on which fan wiki you read). She and Freddy Freeman were married and had a child, "Whiz," who was the inheritor of the SHAZAM! power. Their family dynamic was obvious in their actions (always visible in the background), but none of these characters were given anything significant to do in the story.

    

This production established two things:

1. Captain Marvel truly was the World's Mightiest Mortal in the DC Universe, able to go toe-to-toe with Superman and with power enough to hold all other heroes at bay. His magic lighting could even be used as a weapon.

2. Alex Ross was a big fan of the original Captain Marvel, and his vision of the character became the most popular iconic image through which the character would be marketed by DC for some time. He has placed the hero in the same level as DC's "Trinity" of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.

Ross had worked on a potential new SHAZAM! series in the very early 1990's.

 An Alex Ross design for his early 1990's project. Note the deliberate resemblance between Captain MArvel adn Fred MacMurray, Mary Marvel and Kathy Ireland, and Captain Marvel, Jr. with Michael Gray.

It never came to pass, being superseded by Jerry Ordway's Power of SHAZAM!, but Ross' star rose with Kingdom Come and other projects. He soon got more assignments designed to take full advantage of his majestic interpretation of comic book superheroes. One such was four tabloid-sized issues, each featuring one hero of DC's Trinity, plus one with the original Captain Marvel. That book was titled SHAZAM! The Power of Hope.

 

In this gloriously-painted book (written by Paul Dini), what was presented as special and unique about Captain Marvel was that even with his mighty powers, he could still relate to children (being, in his alter ego, a child himself) and give them hope in the midst of despair.

Review of SHAZAM! Power of Hope from Ground Zero Comics.

Ross continued to use the Big Red Cheese as a subject for his art in other publications, and just this year produced this piece, which in one picture sums up the entire focus of my project here:

https://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/echoes_of_shazam_web1200.jpg

How many of these Captain Marvels and Captain Marvel-related characters can you identify?

POWER of SHAZAM! and the history of ALL the Captain Marvels (Part 14)

Note: This page is continually being updated. Please feel free to revisit to see updates as more information and images get added to this entry.

In the early 1990's DC wagged its tail to the speculator market no less than Marvel. Although they did not have an exodus of artists like Marvel, they still needed to do something to remain relevant. Thus came The Death of Superman.

As we saw in the last chapter, the 1993 Death of Superman saga at DC was the high-water mark of the speculator's market and the comics industry serving it. As we also saw in Part 11 of this history, DC had combined all of its multiple "universes" into one through the Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 1980's. As the 1990's approached the midway point, both of these events were showing their downsides. The speculator's market bubble burst, leading to a precipitous decline in sales across the board, and inherent contradictions and unsettled character histories revealed weaknesses in the continuity of the new DC universe.

In an apparently unrelated move, the SHAZAM! franchise was revived.

DC's version of the original Captain Marvel, now (as of Part 12 of this history), the version created by Roy Thomas in SHAZAM! The New Beginning, had not been seen much since that 1986 mini-series. John Byrne proposed a version, wrote a story, and even drew a couple of pages, but that project never saw fruition. The Big Red Cheese did make big appearances; in 1991, as part of the War of the Gods miniseries, and in 1992, battling a Superman possessed by the villain Eclipso.

  

  

But while all this was happening, in 1991 Jerry Ordway was asked (according to his introduction in the most recent reprint volume of DC's initial revival of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family) to "relaunch the SHAZAM! characters." He researched the DC revival, the Fawcett comics, and even the Republic Pictures' Adventures of Captain Marvel serial. In 1994, his new graphic novel, The Power of SHAZAM! was released.

  

This gloriously drawn and painted, this new production was a loving tribute to the character and its history, but made certain drastic departures from the original stories.

In this story, Billy's parents, C.C. and Marilyn Beck, were archaeologists murdered during a dig in Egypt by Theo Adam, in the employ of Thaddeus Sivana, the wealthy industrialist who financed the mission. Billy wound up selling papers and living on the street when he was taken to the wizard Shazam by a stranger through a subway tunnel. Once he got his powers, though, he hated them. They were confusing and he lacked the maturity and experience to use them properly.

(And yes, this was where the recent movie got the names of Billy's parents.)

The "McGuffin" of the story, a scarab necklace on an ancient mummy, gave Theo Adam the power to transform into Black Adam, and it turned out that he was really the ancient villain reincarnated. He quit Sivana's employ, Sivana's financial empire and plans and schemes crumbled, Billy adapted to being Captain Marvel and defeated Black Adam, and the stranger who had led Billy to the old wizard turned out to be the spirit of his dead father.

But this was a different Captain Marvel. Set in a more realistic world where a 10-year-old boy living on his own would be snatched up by civil authorities, Billy Batson had to figure out how to survive, and turned out to be a scrappy, self-reliant survivor.

Jerry Ordway established Fawcett City as the home of Billy Batson/Captain Marvel (after Roy Thomas had created it for a story in All Star Squadron about ten years earlier) and made the city one that retained the modernist Art Deco style of the 1930's. This and other elements were blatant tributes to the Fawcett stories and the work of the writers, artists, and editors of those days. Streets were named after Fawcett-era writer Otto Binder and artist C.C. Beck, Billy's father was named after Beck, a scene of Captain Marvel throwing a car against a wall was an obvious tribute to the cover of Whiz Comics #2, and the subway tunnel, train car, and throne room of the old wizard were adapted very faithfully (with some detailization) from the original story.

The book was a big hit, critically and commercially, and led to a new series of the same title.

But before that new series began, in September 1994, DC began a new, company-wide, crossover epic miniseries, Zero Hour. It seems that the Crisis on Infinite Earths series of 1986 had set up a bunch of contradictions and failed to resolve certain matters in the DC Universe, so Zero Hour was an attempt to fix it.

     

As a result, a new DC Universe was established, mostly similar to the previous one, but it was assumed by most who cared that this re-invention of Captain Marvel was to belong to this post-Zero Hour world.

And thus did the new Power of SHAZAM! ongoing series begin in 1995. Set a few years after the graphic novel, Billy had his job at WHIZ broadcasting and was attending school. The school janitor, Mr. Dudley, helped the boy out where he could. Billy's uncle, Ebenezer Batson, had thrown him out on the street. In his Captain Marvel form, Billy would sometimes disguise himself to act as his own uncle or get work on the side.

The wizard Shazam played a much more integral part in the stories than he had in the Fawcett and pre-Crisis DC stories. It was revealed that his throne room was in the Rock of Eternity which was reached through a dimensional barrier. The old wizard had cast a spell on Fawcett City to make time pass more slowly and protect it from certain dangers, thus ensuring it kept it's Art Deco look and 1930's-'40's styles and cars all the way to the end of the 20th century.

Theo Adam/Black Adam was a regular adversary of the Marvel Family through the series. Eventually the Theo Adam personality was completely subsumed by Black Adam, to the point where his alter ego was his ancient self - Teth Adam.



         

The series started with both Billy and the wizard looking for Billy's sister Mary, and found that she had been adopted by the wealthy Bromfields, Nick and Nora (obviously based on the comedy-detective duo from the 1930's "Thin Man" series of films).

Mr. Tawny, the talking tiger from the Fawcett/DC comics, turned up as a "pookah," a Celtic shape-changing spirit who appeared to most everyone as a stuffed tiger doll, but to Billy and Mary was a full-size, anthropomorphic tiger. He guided Mary to say the magic word, granting her powers, but instead of calling herself "Mary Marvel," she called herself "Captain Marvel," so now there were two Captain Marvels.

 

Freddy Freeman was a recurring character as well, a star high school athlete and Big Man On Campus, but near-death injury resulting from Billy/CM's battle with Captain Nazi led to him being orphaned and granted the power to become Captain Marvel, Jr. by saying that "Captain Marvel." Because of the difficulty in introducing himself without transforming, he eventually chose to call himself "CM3."

  

CM3 at first had a crush on Mary, but it didn't go over well with Billy, so the third Marvel left town, joined the Teen Titans, and later the more edgy Outsiders.

The wizard Shazam involved himself directly in the lives of the Marvel Family, breaking up arguments and guiding them to important tasks. At one point he left the Rock of Eternity to explore life on Earth again, often comparing life today with that of the 1930's and '40's, a period of which he was fond, hence the magic spell he had cast over Fawcett City.

One unique detail regarding the powers of the Marvel Family in this version was that they were limited. When two or more of them were in their "Marvel" identity, that limited power was shared. So each of them became less powerful, less invulnerable. Black Adam was even able to break Billy/CM's arm under such circumstances. This limitation, however, was eventually eliminated when Ibis upgraded their powers while covering the old Wizard's position at the Rock of Eternity.

The wizard Shazam was brought into DC's magical realms, including the afterlife, and a couple of supernatural Superman villains, Blaze and Satanus, were revealed to be his children. The old wizard even advanced to godhood before the series was over (in the polytheist, mythological, Jack Kirby's New Gods style).

Mr. Tawny, it turned out, had been a stuffed animal all along, but given the opportunity to be "real" by Blaze, if he did her bidding. When Blaze was defeated, Ibis gave him the option of remaining a real, anthropomorphic, talking tiger. He jumped at the chance, and became a recurring character in the DC universe.

The series, like the graphic novel, had a lot of references to the Fawcett years. Street names, businesses, and characters were named after writers, artists and editors from Fawcett. Obscure characters like "Muscles" McGinnis made appearances, as well as old Fawcett heroes like Ibis the Invincible and his companion Taia, Bulletman and Bulletgirl, Mr. Scarlet (actually his old sidekick Pinky bearing his former mentor's identity), Spy Smasher, Minute Man, and Lance O'Casey.

Villains from the Fawcett stories that appeared included Ibac, Mr. Mind, Mr. Atom, and the Arson Fiend.

The series lasted for 47 issues (with one extra "One Million" issue as part of a company-wide crossover event that some count as the 48th). In it Ordway was able to explore the awkwardnesses of Billy trying to get along in adult society as a superhero although he was a teenage boy. He eventually got adopted by the Bromfields and they were able to live together as a family.

Additional Shazam-powered characters, some named "Captain Marvel," some not, were created in this series: C.C. and Marilyn Batson were Captain Marvels in an alternate timeline created by Sivana (now refered to as "Dr. Sivana.")

       

This three-part story also featured a great full-page illustration that interpreted several Captain Marvels in SHAZAM! style! (Note also the letters embedded under the golden man's arms!)

In Power of SHAZAM! One Million, the hero was a young man on the planet Mercury named Tanist, granted the power by an aged Billy Batson/Captain Marvel in the far future.

  

In the 1996 Power of SHAZAM! Annual, the hero was Cecebeck, who took the name "Thunder" when superpowered. She would later join the Legion of Super-Heroes.
  

DC had created a line of books under the imprint "Elseworlds," in which the heroes were put into alternate histories, contexts and situations. In Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl #1 (September, 1998) there was a Captain Marvel in the Justice Society. This was the first black Captain Marvel to see print in DC.

 

During this time, Captain Marvel made significant appearances in miniseries like Kingdom Come and Underworld Unleashed. When used to best effect, Billy Batson's humanity, youth, and purity of heart were deciding factors in the outcomes of the stories.

          

    

During this time the Big Red Cheese shared stories with many DC heroes, both as guests in their books and with them as guests in his, including Superman, Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Plastic Man, Starman, and even this old favorite...

   ...Hoppy the Marvel Bunny!

The series was highly regarded critically and sold well, but not well enough to avoid being cancelled just shy of its 50th issue (which disappointed Ordway). The final issue had a cover that was directly inspired by the cover of the final issue of DC's first SHAZAM! series:

    

 But though this series did not last out the decade, this Captain Marvel remained a major player in the DC universe...

Next for the DC Marvels: Society, Leagues, and crises, crises, crises!
For the Marvel Marvels: Genis-Vell cracks up! and Marvels, Marvels everywhere!