I've Started A New Blog

I started this blog to write about Captain Marvel and his adventures in the golden age of comics in the 1940's and 50's.  Recently, I've started writing a few articles about Captain Marvel's bronze age comeback in the early '70s when DC started publishing him again.

After giving it some thought, I've decided to create a new blog dedicated to Captain Marvel's bronze age adventures (1970s).  The reason for that is I didn't want to start blurring the lines between Cap's adventures, friends, and timelines from the golden age and bronze age.  I started this blog to write about Cap in the golden age, so I'm going to stick with that purpose here!

I hope you take some time to check out my new blog, however, it will be my secondary focus and might not have as many posts as this one.

If you have a moment, please check out my new blog - Captain Marvel's Adventures!  As always, your comments and feedback are welcome.  Thank you for taking the time to read my blogs, I sincerely hope you find them interesting and entertaining!

Captain Marvel's Bronze Age Comeback

Captain Marvel exited comics with the last issue of Whiz Comics #155 (printed March 6, 1953) and Captain Marvel Adventures #150 (printed August 10, 1953).  For twenty years we didn't hear a peep from Billy Batson or the World's Mightiest Mortal.  Where did Captain Marvel go?  Why did he leave Fawcett City without notice!  That silence was broken on December 14, 1972 when DC published Shazam! #1!

In the pages of Shazam! #1 we discover what happened during those silent years.  Captain Marvel wasn't on vacation - he had been placed in suspended animation by none other than the world's wickedest scientist, Dr. Sivana!

You see, Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family (Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr.) were being honored by the Mayor of Fawcett City one day in 1953.  Many of the Marvel's close friends as well as most of the city were in attendance.  Suddenly, a strange ray captures the mighty Marvels along with some of their friends and draws them into deep space, taken captive by Dr. Sivana and his odious offspring, Georgia and Sivana, Jr.  

Dr. Sivana places the Marvels and friends into a globe of Suspendium, a compound crafted by Sivana that will keep the captives in suspended animation forever!  However, thanks to a mishap caused by his son, Sivana and family become trapped in Suspendium along with the Marvels.  (NOTE: If you've read Thunderworld then you've seen Suspendium in action!)

For twenty years they remain in deep space orbiting the sun while captive in Suspendium.  As they moved closer to the sun, the Suspendium began to melt away!  Captain Marvel is the first to awaken from suspended animation and immediately takes action to rescue everyone while the scheming Sivanas escape.

The Marvels get their friends safely back to Fawcett City, but after their time in suspended animation they are dazed and unaware that twenty years had passed while they were in deep space.  The friends the Marvels rescued were Uncle Dudley, Joan Jameson (Billy and Captain Marvel's secretary), Sterling Morris (WHIZ station owner), Cissie Sommerly (Billy's girl friend), Ma and Pa Potter (Billy rents an apartment from them), Professor Edgewise (lives in the same boardinghouse as Freddie Freeman), Beautia Sivana, and Tawky Tawny.  We will see more of these friends throughout the Bronze Age Captain Marvel comic series!

Shazam! #1 also retells the origin of Captain Marvel, staying true to the original story as told in the pages of Whiz Comics #2.  And who could tell it better than C. C. Beck himself??!!??

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this comic.  These were the Captain Marvel comics I grew up with and collected (and lost)! DC brought Captain Marvel back into print in a way that explained his twenty years of silence.  Captain Marvel would go on to have some great new adventures in the Bronze Age of comics!

Did You Know...

Did you know that according to E. Nelson Bridwell, the mystery messenger that brought Billy Batson to the wizard Shazam in Shazam! #1 was Mercury!

E. Nelslon Bridwell was the Associate Editor for the Bronze Age Shazam! comics.  In Shazam! #20 (June 24, 1975) in the Shazamail! section (where fans could write and have their letters printed and questions answered) a reader asked "who was the messenger of Shazam who brought Billy Batson to the Egyptian magician for the first time?"  Bridwell's response was, "...I have an answer.  Who was the MESSENGER of the gods?  None other than MERCURY - who just happens also to be one of the SHAZAM gods!"

So there you have it - according to the Bronze Age Captain Marvel comics editor, Mercury was the mystery messenger who led Billy Batson to his fateful meeting with the wizard Shazam.

Visiting the Bronze Age Captain Marvel

I just wanted to post a short article on a small shift I'm going to make for a little while!  My blog has focused on Captain Marvel as we know him from the "Golden Age" of comics (late 1930s to early 1950s).  Captain Marvel exited comics during the "Silver Age" (mid 1950s to 1970) and was not published due to the legal dispute with DC. (Please see the Shazamcast article for great information on this.)

Captain Marvel reappeared in comics during the "Bronze Age" (1970 to 1985) when DC published "Shazam!" #1 on December 14, 1972.  This 32 page comic retold the origin of Captain Marvel and brought us up to date on Cap's happenings while he was missing in action for the last 20 years.

I've been able to read some of these "Bronze Age" editions of Captain Marvel and I find that they tried to remain true to his "Golden Age" persona and whimsical story lines.  They attempted to keep the continuity preserved from the days of Whiz and Captain Marvel Adventures comics.  Holy Moley, they even had C. C. Beck as the main artist for a while!

While reading the "Bronze Age" comics and doing some research on them, I've found some things that I would like to share on this blog that I hope you'll find interesting.  I see these comics not as a "Captain Marvel New Beginning" but more of an attempt to bring Cap back into action from his 20 year hiatus - picking up where he was left off!  Because of this continuity, from time to time I'll sprinkle in some "Bronze Age" Captain Marvel articles but will continue with my primary focus on Captain Marvel's adventures during his golden days of the '40s and '50s.  I look forward to any feedback on these articles and - again - I hope you enjoy reading them!

(Please note that I'm going to tag these articles with the label 'Bronze Age.')

Note Cap's longer sideburns - pretty groovy!