The Power of Shazam!
Encyclopedia
The Power of Shazam! is a 1994 hardcover
graphic novel
, written and painted by Jerry Ordway
for DC Comics
. The 96-page story, depicting the revamped origins of former Fawcett Comics
superhero
Captain Marvel
, was followed by an ongoing series, also titled The Power of Shazam!, which ran from 1995 to 1999.
by Roy Thomas
and Tom Mandrake in 1987 with the Shazam! The New Beginning miniseries, Captain Marvel was again given a revised origin in the 1994 graphic novel The Power of Shazam!.
Captain Marvel's origin would also be retold in in Jeff Smith
's Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil limited series
in 2007, though this origin takes place outside of DC continuity.
As The Power of Shazam! graphic novel opens, ten-year-old Billy Batson's parents, both archeologists, are working in Egypt, excavating the tomb of Ramses II with their associate Theo Adam. Murdering the elder Batsons, Adam also kidnaps their young daughter Mary and steals a scarab necklace once attached to one of the sarcophagi in the tomb. Billy had been left behind at home in Fawcett City
because of poor school grades. As in the Fawcett Comics origin story from Whiz Comics
#2 (1940), Billy is abandoned by his cruel uncle Ebenezer, and becomes a paperboy
to earn a living. One night, Billy meets a dark-clothed stranger outside of a subway tunnel, and follows the stranger onto a magic subway car. The subway car leads Billy to the realm of the Wizard Shazam
, who assigns the boy as his successor. By speaking Shazam's name, Billy is struck by a bolt of magic lightning and transformed into Captain Marvel, an adult superhero.
As Captain Marvel, Billy thwarts a plan by Theo Adam and his employer, the rich tycoon Dr. Sivana, to destroy the WHIZ radio building and silence a witness to Adam's murders. Adam's encounters with Marvel, who is the "spitting image of C.C. Batson", along with the clues from the expedition, lead him to realize he is the reincarnation of Teth-Adam, the original heir to the power of Shazam. Upon crossing the Wizard, Teth-Adam was killed and his powers drawn into a scarab, the very same scarab that Adam stole from the tomb after killing the Batsons. Taking the scarab from Sivana's trophy room, Adam says the Wizard's name and is struck by magic lightning, becoming Black Adam
.
Adam and Captain Marvel battle each other on the grounds of the Sivana-funded Fawcett World Fair, with Marvel winning the battle by snatching Adam's scarab from him. Marvel takes Adam to the Wizard, who takes Adam's voice and wipes his memory. Billy later learns that the stranger who led Billy to the Wizard was the spirit of his father, and that his sister Mary is still alive. Billy promises, as Captain Marvel, to fight injustice and evil, and also to find his missing sister. Meanwhile, Sivana has lost all of his money and possessions due to the destruction of his properties by Marvel and Adam, and swears revenge on the Captain.
Fan Award for Favorite Original Graphic Album of 1994, and led to the publication of an ongoing Power of Shazam! series. The series, which began publication in March 1995, reintroduced many of the characters from Fawcett Comics into current DC continuity, including Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel
, Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel, Jr., Beautia Sivana, Mister Tawky Tawny, Bulletman, Minute-Man
, Spy Smasher
, Ibis and Taia
, and even Hoppy the Marvel Bunny
. Villains reincarnated in the series included Ibac
, Mister Mind, Mister Atom
, Aunt Minerva, and Blaze and Satanus
from the Superman titles, who were retconned as the wizard Shazam's illegitimate children.
Mary Marvel was introduced as an adult instead of in her traditional teenage form, and insisted upon sharing the name of "Captain Marvel" with her brother. Captain Marvel, Jr., resenting being called "Junior" all of the time and needing a name he could say without calling down the magic lightning (his magic word being "Captain Marvel"), renamed himself "CM3". Jerry Ordway wrote all of the stories for the series and one annual, and provided painted covers in the style of the graphic novel as well. Peter Krause
, Mike Manley, Dick Giordano
, and Ordway himself served as the series' main artists.
While the series received good reviews and featured guest artwork from comic book icons such as Curt Swan
and Gil Kane
, sales for the Golden-Age
inspired series slowed as it went on, as darker, more intense comics had become more popular by the 1990s than the Marvel Family's more light-hearted adventures. The book was cancelled with issue number 47 in March 1999 (Issue #1,000,000 was published in November 1998 as part of the DC One Million
event, giving the series a total of 48 issues published). One annual issue was published in 1996.
being reanimated as a Black Lantern, and battling his killer, the Apokoliptian
crocodile man Sobek. Billy and Mary Batson, powerless after the events of Justice Society of America
(vol. 3) #25, appear briefly in the issue.
Issues #38-41 was collected in DC Comics Presents
: SHAZAM! #1 (Sept. 2011)
Issues #44-47 was collected in DC Comics Presents
: SHAZAM! #2 (Oct. 2011)
Hardcover
A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
, written and painted by Jerry Ordway
Jerry Ordway
Jeremiah "Jerry" Ordway is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books.He is known for his inking work on a wide variety of DC Comics titles, including the continuity-redefining classic Crisis on Infinite Earths , his long run working on the Superman titles from 1986–1993, and...
for DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. The 96-page story, depicting the revamped origins of former Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s...
superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel (DC Comics)
Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...
, was followed by an ongoing series, also titled The Power of Shazam!, which ran from 1995 to 1999.
The graphic novel
After a previous retconRetcon
Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
by Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
and Tom Mandrake in 1987 with the Shazam! The New Beginning miniseries, Captain Marvel was again given a revised origin in the 1994 graphic novel The Power of Shazam!.
Captain Marvel's origin would also be retold in in Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith may refer to:*Jeff Smith , coach in the Minnesota Twins' organization*Jeff Smith , councillor in Manchester*Jeff Smith , creator of the comic book Bone...
's Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
in 2007, though this origin takes place outside of DC continuity.
As The Power of Shazam! graphic novel opens, ten-year-old Billy Batson's parents, both archeologists, are working in Egypt, excavating the tomb of Ramses II with their associate Theo Adam. Murdering the elder Batsons, Adam also kidnaps their young daughter Mary and steals a scarab necklace once attached to one of the sarcophagi in the tomb. Billy had been left behind at home in Fawcett City
Fawcett City
Fawcett City is a fictional city, and the home of DC Comics' Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family. It first appeared in the graphic novel "The Power of Shazam" by Jerry Ordway in 1994. Its name is derived from the original publishers of Captain Marvel comics, Fawcett Comics...
because of poor school grades. As in the Fawcett Comics origin story from Whiz Comics
Whiz Comics
Whiz Comics was a monthly ongoing comic book anthology series, which was published by Fawcett Comics from February 1940 with issue #2 and stopping at issue #155 in June 1953, best known for introducing Captain Marvel. The first issue published of Whiz Comics was issue #2...
#2 (1940), Billy is abandoned by his cruel uncle Ebenezer, and becomes a paperboy
Paperboy
A paperboy is the general name for a person employed by a newspaper, They are often used around the office to run low end errands. They make copies and distribute them. Paperboys traditionally were and are still often portrayed on television and movies as preteen boys, often on a bicycle...
to earn a living. One night, Billy meets a dark-clothed stranger outside of a subway tunnel, and follows the stranger onto a magic subway car. The subway car leads Billy to the realm of the Wizard Shazam
Shazam (comics)
Shazam is a comic book character created by Bill Parker and C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. He is an ancient sorcerer who gives young Billy Batson the power to transform into the superhero Captain Marvel...
, who assigns the boy as his successor. By speaking Shazam's name, Billy is struck by a bolt of magic lightning and transformed into Captain Marvel, an adult superhero.
Black Adam
Black Adam is a fictional comic book character, created in 1945 by Otto Binder & C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. Originally created as a one-shot villain for Fawcett Comics' Marvel Family team of superheroes, Black Adam was revived as a recurring supervillain after DC Comics began publishing Captain...
.
Adam and Captain Marvel battle each other on the grounds of the Sivana-funded Fawcett World Fair, with Marvel winning the battle by snatching Adam's scarab from him. Marvel takes Adam to the Wizard, who takes Adam's voice and wipes his memory. Billy later learns that the stranger who led Billy to the Wizard was the spirit of his father, and that his sister Mary is still alive. Billy promises, as Captain Marvel, to fight injustice and evil, and also to find his missing sister. Meanwhile, Sivana has lost all of his money and possessions due to the destruction of his properties by Marvel and Adam, and swears revenge on the Captain.
The series
Ordway's graphic novel was a success, winning the Comics Buyer's GuideComics Buyer's Guide
Comics Buyer's Guide , established in 1971, is the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry...
Fan Award for Favorite Original Graphic Album of 1994, and led to the publication of an ongoing Power of Shazam! series. The series, which began publication in March 1995, reintroduced many of the characters from Fawcett Comics into current DC continuity, including Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel
Mary Marvel
Mary Marvel is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine, originally published by Fawcett Comics and now owned by DC Comics. Created by Otto Binder and Marc Swayze, she first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 in...
, Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel, Jr., Beautia Sivana, Mister Tawky Tawny, Bulletman, Minute-Man
Minute-Man
Minute-Man is a fictional comic book superhero.-Publication history:Named after the minutemen of the American Revolution and sporting an American flag-inspired costume, he was originally published by Fawcett Comics...
, Spy Smasher
Spy Smasher
Spy Smasher is the name of two fictional characters appearing in comics published by DC Comics. The first is a superhero that was formerly owned and published by Fawcett Comics...
, Ibis and Taia
Ibis the Invincible
Ibis the Invincible is a fictional character, a comic book superhero originally published by Fawcett Comics in the 1940s and then by DC Comics beginning in the 1970s. Like many magician superheroes introduced in the Golden Age of Comics, Ibis owes much to the popular comic strip character Mandrake...
, and even Hoppy the Marvel Bunny
Hoppy the Marvel Bunny
Hoppy the Marvel Bunny is a fictional comic book superhero and funny animal originally published by Fawcett Comics as a spin-off of Captain Marvel. He was created by Chad Grothkopf , and debuted in Fawcett's Funny Animals #1...
. Villains reincarnated in the series included Ibac
Ibac
Ibac is a fictional Fawcett Comics and DC Comics supervillain, and a foe of Captain Marvel. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist C.C. Beck, he first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventurs #8 .-Fictional character biography:...
, Mister Mind, Mister Atom
Mister Atom
Mister Atom is a fictional comic book supervillain, a radioactive robot who is regularly seen as an enemy of Captain Marvel. He first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #78 in November 1947.- Golden Age and pre-Crisis version :...
, Aunt Minerva, and Blaze and Satanus
Blaze and Satanus
Blaze and Satanus are fictional demonic siblings published by DC Comics. Blaze debuted in Action Comics #655 ; she was created by Roger Stern and Bob McLeod...
from the Superman titles, who were retconned as the wizard Shazam's illegitimate children.
Mary Marvel was introduced as an adult instead of in her traditional teenage form, and insisted upon sharing the name of "Captain Marvel" with her brother. Captain Marvel, Jr., resenting being called "Junior" all of the time and needing a name he could say without calling down the magic lightning (his magic word being "Captain Marvel"), renamed himself "CM3". Jerry Ordway wrote all of the stories for the series and one annual, and provided painted covers in the style of the graphic novel as well. Peter Krause
Peter Krause (artist)
Peter Krause is an American illustrator and comic book artist. He is best known for his work on various DC Comics titles, most notably the Superman-related titles and a three-year run on The Power of Shazam! with Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family....
, Mike Manley, Dick Giordano
Dick Giordano
Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano was an American comic book artist and editor best known for introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes, and serving as executive editor of then–industry leader DC Comics...
, and Ordway himself served as the series' main artists.
While the series received good reviews and featured guest artwork from comic book icons such as Curt Swan
Curt Swan
Douglas Curtis Swan was an American comic book artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s.-Early life and career:Curt Swan, whose Swedish...
and Gil Kane
Gil Kane
Eli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
, sales for the Golden-Age
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
inspired series slowed as it went on, as darker, more intense comics had become more popular by the 1990s than the Marvel Family's more light-hearted adventures. The book was cancelled with issue number 47 in March 1999 (Issue #1,000,000 was published in November 1998 as part of the DC One Million
DC One Million
"DC One Million" was a crossover storyline that ran through a self titled, weekly limited series and through special issues of almost all "DCU" titles published by DC Comics in November 1998...
event, giving the series a total of 48 issues published). One annual issue was published in 1996.
Blackest Night
In January 2010, Power of Shazam! had a single issue revival (issue #48), (continuing from the Vol. 2 numbering) tying into DC's Blackest Night event. It involved Black Adam's dead protege OsirisOsiris (DC Comics)
Osiris is the name of three fictional characters published by DC Comics. The first appeared in 1994 as a foil for the Justice League. The second appeared under the Vertigo Comics imprint in a spin-off of The Sandman in 2002. The third debuted in the pages of Teen Titans and 52 in 2006.-Publication...
being reanimated as a Black Lantern, and battling his killer, the Apokoliptian
Apokolips
In the DC Comics fictional shared Universe, Apokolips is the planet ruled by Darkseid, established in Jack Kirby's Fourth World series. It is also integral to many DC Comics stories. The planet is considered the opposite of New Genesis....
crocodile man Sobek. Billy and Mary Batson, powerless after the events of Justice Society of America
Justice Society of America
The Justice Society of America, or JSA, is a DC Comics superhero group, the first team of superheroes in comic book history. Conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox, the JSA first appeared in All Star Comics #3 ....
(vol. 3) #25, appear briefly in the issue.
Reprint collections
The Power of Shazam! #33 (Dec. 1997) was among the selected stories reprinted in the 2008 trade paperback Shazam! The Greatest Stories Ever Told (ISBN: 1401216749), highlighting some of the best Captain Marvel tales published.Issues #38-41 was collected in DC Comics Presents
DC Comics Presents
DC Comics Presents was a comic book published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 featuring team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters of the DC Universe...
: SHAZAM! #1 (Sept. 2011)
Issues #44-47 was collected in DC Comics Presents
DC Comics Presents
DC Comics Presents was a comic book published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 featuring team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters of the DC Universe...
: SHAZAM! #2 (Oct. 2011)
Awards
- The Power of Shazam! graphic novel won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Original Graphic Album of 1994.
- The 1,000,000 issue of The Power of Shazam! was a part of the DC One MillionDC One Million"DC One Million" was a crossover storyline that ran through a self titled, weekly limited series and through special issues of almost all "DCU" titles published by DC Comics in November 1998...
storyline, which was a top votegetter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Story for 1999.