Showcase Presents Shazam!: Volume 1
With fond memories of CBS’ Saturday-morning live-action SHAZAM! of the ’70s, I looked forward to diving into Captain Marvel’s printed adventures in SHOWCASE PRESENTS SHAZAM!: VOLUME 1. As a kid, I had exactly one issue of SHAZAM!; all I remember about it was Captain Marvel’s pal, Tawny the Talking Tiger.
Turns out, conversationally adept jungle cats are about the least strange thing in Captain Marvel’s world. With the “big red cheese” having enemies that range from a super-genius worm and a Lucky Charms-esque leprechaun to a monster-led baseball team and a horde of vegetables from outer space, silliness is the name of the game. Typical plot: A batch of Jell-O keeps growing and growing, threatening to cover the entire city, so Captain Marvel and friends must eat as much of it as they can.
Who is this for? Is it Superman-lite for younger readers? Or is it tongue-in-cheek parody for the older, jaded ones? The answer: Who cares? With SHAZAM! being unlike anything else at the time, it’s a must. (Even those who’ve never read SHAZAM! know that Captain Marvel’s secret identity is that of mild-mannered radio reporter Billy Batson, who can turn into the “world’s mightiest mortal” simply by uttering the word “Shazam!”)
All of the contents are culled from SHAZAM!’s first 33 issues, though the issues themselves are not reprinted in their entirety. The early ones are the best, being the most simplistic and slapstick action-driven. Credit for this goes to artist/co-creator C.C. Beck, whose sparse backgrounds and abhorrence of detail suggest he was the most unlikely person to be drawing superhero comics at the time – just compare his work to the backup features of the too-cute Mary Marvel or the crippled newsboy Captain Marvel Jr., which look like any other more serious DC title of the times. Beck’s bold strokes have a unique, childlike charm – if you ever wondered what it might look like if Ernie Bushmiller had ditched “Nancy” for muscular guys with capes, have a gander.
The stories match the inoffensive look as well. There’s a chimp in his own Captain Marvel suit, wreaking havoc in a TV studio. A crook dressed head to toe in old newspapers. Best of all, there’s the bald, bespectacled Dr. Sivana pelting the Marvel Family with a “badness” ray. “Quick,” Captain Marvel tells Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr., “think good thoughts!” Their responses are “Apple pie!,” “Christmas!” and “Motherhood!” Yes, Virginia, SHAZAM! seeks the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. It gets mine, too. –Rod Lott
Buy it at Amazon.
Discuss it in our forums.
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE ELONGATED MAN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HAUNTED TANK: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS JONAH HEX: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS METAMORPHO: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE PHANTOM STRANGER: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN FAMILY: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER: VOLUME 1
[...] But those heroes are a mere fragment of all the players getting into the scuffle. There’s the Martian Manhunter, the Teen Titans, Captain Marvel, The Spectre, Superboy, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Adam Strange, the Green Lantern Corps, Green Arrow, Captain Comet, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, Animal Man, Firestorm, Power Girl, Aquaman, Black Canary, Metamorpho – that’s by no means a complete list, and doesn’t even begin to take into account all the alternate – Bizarro World included – incarnations of the heroes … and the villains, from the usual suspects (Lex Luthor, the Riddler) to the comparatively obscure (Deathstroke, Black Adam). [...]
[...] • SHOWCASE PRESENTS METAMORPHO: VOLUME 1 • SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE PHANTOM STRANGER: VOLUME 1 • SHOWCASE PRESENTS SHAZAM!: VOLUME 1 • SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN FAMILY: VOLUME 1 • SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER: VOLUME [...]