Shazam: The World's Mightiest Mortal Vol. 1 by Dennis O'NeilMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Shazam: The World's Mightiest Mortal Vol. 1 collects Shazam! #1-18.
The original Captain Marvel, now referred to as Shazam due to copyright reasons we won't go into here, is one of those characters I've always wanted to read more of. After watching the Filmation Shazam series as a kid, I kept my eyes open for more Shazam. I've got maybe 15-20 comics featuring the Big Red Cheese in my collection. When I saw this was coming out, I pre-ordered it and devoured it in a couple evenings.
When DC acquired the rights to the original Captain Marvel in the early 1970s, they wasted no time grabbing the best artists who worked on his comics twenty years earlier, CC Beck and Kurt Schaffenberger. CC Beck hadn't lost a step in two decades. His work still looks as iconic as ever. I cannot stress how much I enjoyed CC Beck's art in this. He's right up there with Jack Cole for me, an artist whose influence is still felt decades after his prime. It's a shame he quit about a year into the run over creative differences. Schaffenberger and Bob Oksner follow his lead so Captain Marvel is on model in every story. Dave Cockrum channelled Mac Raboy and knocked out a great Captain Marvel Junior story. Dick Giordano, Pat Broderick, and Vince Colletta all chipped in as well.
Denny O'Neil, E. Nelson Bridwell, and Elliot S! Maggin do the writing chores. I said on Twitter that the book probably would have sold better if they had been doing 1970s stories instead of 1940s stories in the 1970s and I stand by that. The stories feel like they were meant for a more innocent time, like if Carl Barks had ever taken a stab at Superman. Captain Marvel and family beat up the bad guys and haul them off to jail.
The stories are all in the 8-10 page range and most of them use a six panel grid. They remind me more of Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge stories than super hero comics from the late silver age/early bronze age. In fact, Sunny Sparkle and Doctor Kilowatt feel like forgotten golden age characters rather than new ones created for this run. They feel natural alongside characters like Tawkey Tawny, the talking tiger who wears human clothes.
One aspect I really enjoyed is that Captain Marvel and Billy Batson, while linked, are two different beings. In modern depictions, Cap has Billy's mind, frequently so he can play second banana to Superman. I feel like in some ways, DC has never forgiven Captain Marvel for outselling Superman in the '40s.
I wonder if DC really had any ideas for the Marvel Family when they acquired them. The Marvel Family does best on its own earth. In a universe with Superman and related characters, they're a little redundant. The stories in this volume have a timeless quality but I don't think they're breaking much ground that the Fawcett series hadn't already trod upon. That's another point I want to make: while many of these issues contained reprints of 1940s Captain Marvel stories, none of those are reprinted here.
At the end of the day, I enjoyed this quite a bit. CC Beck's artwork is iconic and the writing hearkens back to a more innocent age. Let's hope DC reprints more. Four out of five stars.
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