Revivals
In 1972, after twenty years on the shelf, Captain Marvel was brought back to the comic mainstream by the very people who had put him out of business. DC Comics began licensing the dormant character from Fawcett, both reprinting old issues and creating new stories. Though, Marvel having picked up the rights to the Captain Marvel name meant DC would have to publish under a different title.And so, both newly written Captain Marvel stories as well as old ones were printed under the title Shazam!, though DC had to pay a per-appearance fee for any of the characters. In 1978, the Captain’s series was cancelled once more.DC eventually re-launched the character in the 1987 miniseries Shazam: The New Beginning, after which they finally purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel in 1991.After a number of great stories over the years — The Power of Shazam (1990), Kingdom Come (1996), Shazam! Power of Hope (1999) and Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder (2005) — Captain Marvel was finally renamed “Shazam” during DC’s 2011 New 52 reboot, since a large number of readers already associated him with the name.In keeping with the darker feel of the New 52, the new Billy Batson was made a moody teen under writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank, while Shazam was now a hooded vigilante who robbed the occasional ATM. This was short-lived. In 2014, Grant Morrison’s universe-hopping Multiversity series released an issue (Thunderworld, drawn by Cameron Stewart) that took the character back to his Golden Age roots, telling a classic Captain Marvel story with supporting players like Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr. and Doctor Sivana, in a distinctly Golden Age style.The following year’s Convergence event also featured a Shazam! spinoff story, seemingly taking place on the same “Earth” as Multiversity: Thunderworld, with its bright palette, 1940s art style and general optimism. Given the increasingly dour adaptations of Superman and the likes, it seemed there was a market for this sort of old-world cheer.In the buildup to the Shazam! movie, in which Shazam is played by Zach Levi and Billy Batson by Asher Angel, the character was given his own solo title once more under Geoff Johns (with artist Dale Eaglesham) in December 2018. Only this time, he seemed to fall more in line with his original incarnations, with a focus on Batson balancing school and superheroics; an upcoming issue is even set in “Gameland.“A character who embodies the childhood power fantasy of superheroes, and who, ideally, isn’t bogged down by teenage cynicism, the artist formerly known as Captain Marvel has veered in and out of the mainstream consciousness for nearly seventy years. Though now, as we head toward his big-screen return, it seems he’s here to stay.
Say His Name: The Crazy Comic Book History Of ‘Shazam!’
By Siddhant Adlakha/April 4, 2019 7:00 am EST
The 1940s
Cancellation
Revivals
In 1972, after twenty years on the shelf, Captain Marvel was brought back to the comic mainstream by the very people who had put him out of business. DC Comics began licensing the dormant character from Fawcett, both reprinting old issues and creating new stories. Though, Marvel having picked up the rights to the Captain Marvel name meant DC would have to publish under a different title.And so, both newly written Captain Marvel stories as well as old ones were printed under the title Shazam!, though DC had to pay a per-appearance fee for any of the characters. In 1978, the Captain’s series was cancelled once more.DC eventually re-launched the character in the 1987 miniseries Shazam: The New Beginning, after which they finally purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel in 1991.After a number of great stories over the years — The Power of Shazam (1990), Kingdom Come (1996), Shazam! Power of Hope (1999) and Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder (2005) — Captain Marvel was finally renamed “Shazam” during DC’s 2011 New 52 reboot, since a large number of readers already associated him with the name.In keeping with the darker feel of the New 52, the new Billy Batson was made a moody teen under writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank, while Shazam was now a hooded vigilante who robbed the occasional ATM. This was short-lived. In 2014, Grant Morrison’s universe-hopping Multiversity series released an issue (Thunderworld, drawn by Cameron Stewart) that took the character back to his Golden Age roots, telling a classic Captain Marvel story with supporting players like Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr. and Doctor Sivana, in a distinctly Golden Age style.The following year’s Convergence event also featured a Shazam! spinoff story, seemingly taking place on the same “Earth” as Multiversity: Thunderworld, with its bright palette, 1940s art style and general optimism. Given the increasingly dour adaptations of Superman and the likes, it seemed there was a market for this sort of old-world cheer.In the buildup to the Shazam! movie, in which Shazam is played by Zach Levi and Billy Batson by Asher Angel, the character was given his own solo title once more under Geoff Johns (with artist Dale Eaglesham) in December 2018. Only this time, he seemed to fall more in line with his original incarnations, with a focus on Batson balancing school and superheroics; an upcoming issue is even set in “Gameland.“A character who embodies the childhood power fantasy of superheroes, and who, ideally, isn’t bogged down by teenage cynicism, the artist formerly known as Captain Marvel has veered in and out of the mainstream consciousness for nearly seventy years. Though now, as we head toward his big-screen return, it seems he’s here to stay.
