Let me get this straight: A poor orphaned kid, living on the street, gets invited into the subways by a stranger (and follows him!) where an old man says he’ll give him “magic powers” and make him grown up if he will just yell the old man’s name? Does this sound slightly creepy to anyone else?
Seriously, I’m not intending to be too “realistic” about this. I love comics and enjoy debating them. But come on, anyone picking a kid out, giving him enough power to go up against Superman and sending to do his work is not thinking too far ahead. The purity of a child is all very well and good in theory, but in fact it doesn’t work, because no matter how much wisdom you give the kid, he’s still a kid, with everything that means. And I’m not saying that all kids are undependable or immature, but a lot of them are, and no one is a saint 24-7. No one. I can’t think of any young person that age I’d give that kind of power and responsibilty to, including myself then or now for that matter.
Shazam’s record on picking champions sucks, and he inadvertantly gives his chosen hero’s sister powers too, not to mention someone else who is apparently Cap “Jr.” (which is weird, because isn’t he older than Billy?) The fate of the world and defeating dangerous people depends on a kid who has barely hit puberty? I just don’t get it. Why is he so loved?
And on a side question, why does Black Adam have pointed ears?
Captain Marvel is loved because of the original CC Beck art, which is delightful, and the scripts, which preserve a sense of fun.
BTW–the thought of a child’s wish-fulfillment dream of not merely being grown up, but better than grown up, and out on his own, with a cool job like radio announcer/journalist/DJ…that aspect of it never occurred to you?
We all wanted to be superheroes when we were kids. Billy Batson lives the dream, dude!
IIRC, Captain Marvel wasn’t intended to be all that serious. One of his arch villians was a super-intelligent worm Mister Mind, who was actually sent to the electric chair for his crimes.
Not unlike Arthur, his heart was pure. His age didn’t matter in granting him the powers.
He also ends up looking just like his dad; he “becomes” his father, a godlike hero in his world.
Of course, the age dichotomy can make for some interesting problems. If Moore ever gets to write “Twilight of the Superheroes,” you’ll see what I mean.
SPOILER: Moore’s Captain Marvel has severe sexual problems stemming from his being a child with the power of a god. He enjoys being dominated; he is killed by a domme who turns out to be Martian Manhunter.
The original Captain Marvel was as much a humor strip as a superhero one. You can’t really take seriously a strip that has a talking tiger (not to mention a bunny) as the hero’s pal and a talking worm as his archenemy (well, one of them).
Cap was a big, oversized kid and the stories were a lot of fun. C.C. Beck’s art was also nicely cartoony.
You can’t really make too much of it. And kids in the 40s were looked upon differently than the are now, so the idea that he’d be pure and honest was perfectly acceptable.
Ok, I’ll admit that I was in a slightly foul mood when I wrote the OP. Captain Marvel is a pretty neat character with a rather unique secret identity problem. I will still say that the setup does led itself to storylines like Moore’s, but it’s also fun. It’s just hard to put the “talking tiger” Cap and the “Kingdom Come” Cap together in my head, and that making a kid, say, have to visit Arkam or fight Darkseid , no matter his power, would be rough and cruel. However, I agree that the old comics are a lot of fun, and I recant some of my grouchy remarks, or at least their tone.
I STILL think that CM3 got kinda screwed when it came to his magic word, in that not being able to say your own name must be hard for dramatic introductions. He doesn’t get much face time, does he? I would have dropped the cape first thing, personally.
This reminds me of how much I’m loving Mary Marvel in Formerly Known as the Justice League right now.
Giant Dragon Monster: Roar smek THUD
One thing I like about the Marvels in the DCU (and something that doesn’t apply to someone like Superman) is how they can be used for humor one minute and an invincible menace the next, like in Kingdom Come or the Gray Man storyline in Justice League. Part of what makes Kingdom Come Cap so creepy to me is that he has the exact same goofy grin on his face, but this time it’s pure madness behind it.
Same thing with Mary in FKATJL, really, when she’s under Roulette’s control. Maguire’s art really helps with this, too. One minute she’s whistling in her cell, the next - holy shit, watch out.
So yeah, I’m a fan of the whole “I’m a big red cheese”/“I can like, crush the planet with my bare hands” contrast of the Marvels, and I think the fact that it’s really a kid underneath the costume is part of that. And as a random side note, my favorite portrayal of Cap ever is in the Shazam: Power of Hope story.
I liked it in Kingdom Come when Captain Marvel Jr. was portrayed as “King Marvel,” referring to the fact that Elvis was a big CMJr. fan, and had his barber try to style his hair like Mac Raboy’s CMJr.
“Billy Batson is confronted one day by an old man who invites him into a back alley and promises him power undreamt of. He falls for it, and spends the rest of his life recuperating from the physical and psychological trauma.”
–Comics for Physicists
Forget ye not that the old Wizard Ganda- I mean, Shazam, gave billy the wisdom of Solomon! As you know, there is a difference between wisdom and knowledge. No matter how immature and flawed you, as a kid, are, when you have the Wisdom of Solomon you are wise enough to not do something stupid and selfish.
Jerry Ordway did a relaunch of the Shazam! mythos a few years ago. It was one of the finest comics of the mid-90s, and it’s a damn shame they cancelled the thing. (The covers were gorgeous.)
Anyway, Ordway seems to have expanded on some of the “poor orphan” issues that the OP complained of. It was explained that Billy’s parents were on an archeological dig in Egypt (financed by the future Captain Marvel’s nemesis, Dr. Sivana) where they discovered Shazam’s tomb. The Batsons were on the verge of discovering the power of Shazam when they were killed by Theo Adam, the reincarnation (or somesuch) of Black Adam, Shazam’s ancient nemesis.
Based on those events, the Wizard took in Billy for two reasons: 1) to find an heir to help stop the threat of Black Adam, now free again in the modern world, and 2) to make it up to Billy, since Shazam’s power was inadvertently involved in the death of the Batsons.
I’m not sure how much of that is established continuity, and how much Ordway fleshed out. Anyway, it’s all available in The Power of Shazam! graphic novel, which is probably still available at specialty shops.
Like grandiose building projects, accumulating a vast harem, profaning your god by allowing the worship of foreign deities, or having your scheming power-hungry son as first in the line of inheritance?
Cute website but for this little gaffe:
**CAPTAIN AMERICA: Given the super-soldier serum (say it five times fast) and an unbreakable shield, he is sent into the battlefield against the evil Nazis. An enemy soldier fires at him but, as planned, the shield neatly deflects the bullet. Of course, the recoil is so hard that Cap’s arm is broken behind him, so that the next few bullets kill him, but…
**
I guess the author of this bit has never heard of bullet-resistant vests? Or riot shields? Because according to him, they’re impossible…
Something occured to me at work…perhaps some people in Washington should take a look at Ol’Captain Marvel. Doesn’t he have those fleur de lies French thingies on his cape? Maybe he’s a secret spy!
[Bad French accent] Ze Capitain Marvel, and ze Billy Batzon, they are the secret enemy, non?[/Bad French accent]
I still wanna know why Black Adam has pointed ears! Did his head get stuck in a rice picker? A magical rice picker? Maybe he said Shazam once too often and they appeared (along with blindness and and hairy palms)? Or did they have pointy ears in Ancient Egypt?
foolsguinea, I’m not trying to stir up any trouble, but I’m a huge Alan Moore fan and I’d be honestly curious to hear why you don’t like him. I don’t know if you want to go into it, and I’m not concerned with trying to win you over or anything, but I’m intrigued and would want to hear your thoughts.
I can somewhat agree with foolsguinea about Alan Moore. While I think he’s done good writing. His best work that I’ve run across is from taking an established charactor/situation and putting a bit of a twist on it. Unfortunately his “twist” is usually adding a dark psychosis where none was before. This was new and exciting when he did it the first time, but it gets old. And despite all of his weird, edgy, anti-establishment posturing, don’t forget that he still made DarkKnight 2.
I like some of his stuff I just don’t think that he’s some sort of comic-writing god.
