Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Shazam! - 1973

sg

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always thought it was funny how DC advertised the arrival of Captain Marvel. It was almost as if they wanted CM to uproot Superman's top spot. I guess they were so desperate to stop Marvel's rise to the top they'd use their biggest rival from the past to do it!

"SAY IT BILLY, SAY IT!!!"

Notice the shirt flap in the wreatyh pic? Long forgotten, but it would eventually make quite a comeback, wouldn't it?

Chris

Anonymous said...

Chris-

There was even a half-hearted attempt to start a Fan War between the two in the lettercols!

I skipped these at the time - except for the Treasury reprint of WHIZ #1. But reading them since, I think the first handful really did pretty much catch Magic Lightening in a bottle, and do justice to the originals.

Quickly lost that steam though; I think that kind of story's time had simply passed.

Best,
-Craig W.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's a question of "that kind of story" having a particular time so much as it is a mishandling of the character: the book especially failed once they altered Captain Marvel looks (gave him eyes) and tried to make the Marvel Family "realistic" (as if superheroes ever were or could be, no matter how "gritty" they get). And then they forever destroyed Captain Marvel by forcing him into the DC Universe where he's forever 2nd banana (or 3rd, 4th, what have you) to Superman due to corporate policy. There's nothing left of his original charm.