The Modern Years

Alex Ross and Cap

The attitude of comics in the late 1980s and 1990s was one of darkness, violence and “realism,” which made a character like Captain Marvel an ill fit. For DC Comics, the challenge of using the character involved finding ways to integrate him into this world without losing what worked about the character.

Chip Kidd (author, Shazam!: The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal):

“I don’t think Captain Marvel has naturally evolved the way Superman and Batman have, and I don’t quite know how that evolution would be possible. There’s no point to me of doing a dark Captain Marvel.”

Jerry Ordway (writer/artist, The Power of Shazam, others):

“There’s this idea that super-heroes should exist in something closer to the ‘real world.’ Your realism is what you put in there. You can reflect the real world, but when you have a guy who flies, it’s not the real world anymore.

“Even Batman — you can say he’s down to earth, but he exists in the same world as Superman. I think people look for too much reality in situations. It’s one thing for Superman or Batman to question themselves internally, but I don’t think people look for too much realism.

“You have a whole subculture into violent video games like Medal of Honor or Grand Theft Auto — not slamming them, but that doesn’t necessarily have to bleed into a Captain Marvel story or a Superman story.”

Elliot Maggin (writer, 1970s Shazam series, Kingdom Come novelization):

“The origin is immaterial. It’s the relationship between the kid and the adult that makes it work.”

Chip Kidd:

“The creator who’s come the closest to doing a version of Captain Marvel that speaks to the original but takes it to the next level is Alex Ross. Even when Captain Marvel was brainwashed in Kingdom Come, he was true to the spirit of the character.”

Mike Kunkel (writer/artist, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam):

“Certainly a lot of stuff Alex Ross does is just authentic. There’s a definite authentic feel to how he captures Cap and Billy and that realm, and it’s always inspiring to see whatever Alex does.”

Ross emerged as a major force in comics in his collaboration Marvels with Kurt Busiek, but what few fans know is that his breakout work was almost a Captain Marvel series.

The lifelong Captain Marvel fan proposed a Marvel Family miniseries back in the early 1990s while Jerry Ordway was working on The Power of Shazam! graphic novel, but Ordway’s project was already underway and took precedent at DC. Luckily for Ross, Marvels was approved at Marvel Comics (we know this is starting to read like “Who’s On First”), and a career was born.

Ross’ miniseries would have retold a number of classic tales, while updating them for the present and tweaking the darker attitude of the times — in Ross’ vision, Captain Nazi would have looked like Alan Moore’s Marvelman/Miracleman.

Ross and writer Mark Waid gave Captain Marvel one of his most memorable modern-day appearances in the hit 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come (and based him visually on his agent, Sal Abbinanti).

Set in a future where the DC Heroes come out of retirement to battle back a new, violent generation of vigilantes, Captain Marvel had been gone for years, though Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. had married. Controlled by Sivana and Mr. Mind-esque worms, Captain Marvel brutally takes down Superman in the climax before being freed of the villains’ control and sacrificing himself to save Superman.

It was the most brutal fight ever depicted between the unofficial rivals, with Ross’ splash page of a strong, youthful Marvel standing over an aged, defeated Superman both chilling and iconic. Though Marvel is mind-controlled, he still saves the day — and serves as a reminder to that series’ Superman that humans and superhumans are not separate, but one and the same.

Alex Ross (Kingdom Come, Shazam: Power of Hope, Justice):

“In Kingdom Come, I wanted to do much the same as Jerry Ordway did at the time I started work on it (’94), to return the hero to his historic visual roots and hopefully elevate him to a higher visibility within the DC pantheon, if not also the overall pantheon of most important comic book characters.

“Positioning him at odds with Superman in battle in a final ‘Ragnarok’ for DC’s history seemed a powerful position for Captain Marvel and a poignant one. His being the force that Superman has to reckon with as the one person stronger than he is was a point I wanted to make in general about anyone: that there is always someone stronger, faster, better than you who you’ll be put up against, no matter who you are.

“Captain Marvel’s role there, though, was to serve Superman’s storyline as a humbling agent meant to put Superman to his ultimate test.”

After Kingdom Come, Ross collaborated with acclaimed writer Paul Dini on Shazam: Power of Hope (2000), one of a series of Christmas-themed treasury-sized specials where DC’s biggest heroes took on the evils of the real world.

Alex Ross:

“Power of Hope was a dream embrace of the original character’s joy and characterization from the forties. Paul Dini and I fashioned a fantasy about what actors, sports stars, and other celebrities have done to visit sick and injured children in hospitals. Having heard that some super-hero actors like Christopher Reeve had done this before inspired us to the obvious fit Captain Marvel would make, going to these places.

“As a very simply tale meant to be the complete contrast of all contemporary publishing, we wanted people to see the wonder of simple escapism as Captain Marvel embodied it. His physical sameness to my earlier depiction in Kingdom Come was meant to seem ironic, as I hoped to use the success of one project to lead into the other.”

Most recently, Ross included Captain Marvel — and his enemies — as part of his take on the Justice League of America, Justice (2005), with collaborators Jim Krueger and Doug Brathwaite. For Ross, it was the opportunity to tell the full-on Captain Marvel super-hero story he’d always wanted to do.

Alex Ross:

“In Justice, I completed a bit of a promise to myself in embracing and depicting almost all of the key players in the expanded “Marvel” universe. By finally taking on the Marvel Family, Black Adam, Sivana, and Mr. Mind, I felt somewhat fulfilled, even though it was couched inside of a Justice League tribute project.

“When one notices, a lot of Justice’s story shows an intersection with the mostly non-JLA-related Captain Marvel in fairly obsessive ways. Having him save Superman in his moment of greatest need (mirroring my splash shot of him doing the opposite in Kingdom Come) and both fighting and eventually trading places with Superman were all checklist items that served a certain agenda I was lacing throughout the series.

“If I wasn’t going to do a full series with Captain Marvel (which I did know wouldn’t happen at this time), then I would at least take my best shot to spotlight him within the confines of this larger epic.”

Captain Marvel Analogs

Throughout the 1990s and the past decade, many characters resembling Captain Marvel have passed through comics. Malibu’s “Ultraverse” had a hit in the 1990s with Prime, the tale of a teenager capable of growing goopy, over-muscled super-hero bodies around himself.

A more satirical take on Captain Marvel (and the look of most 1990s super-heroes), Prime enjoyed action figures, cartoons and even a very bad video game. Like Marvelman/Miracleman (and like Captain Marvel himself once was), he’s currently stuck in legal limbo.

Erik Larsen had “Mighty Man,” a take on Captain Marvel in his The Savage Dragon and Freak Force books, whose alter-ego was awkwardly passed on to a woman. And of course there have been many parodies/analogues of Captain Marvel over the years, such as the sacrilegious satire “Son O’God” from National Lampoon, Thunderbunny in the 1980s, “Jack from Jupiter” in Garth Ennis’ The Boys and most recently, Mark Millar’s Superior, where a disabled boy is turned into his favorite adult movie super-hero.

But some writers found that the best “Captain Marvel” stories were the ones that just tried to capture the original’s imaginative tone.

Elliot Maggin:

“A book that really captured that Otto Binder spirit was Supreme, when Alan Moore was doing it. A friend of mine who wrote some Superman stories kept calling it ‘The Atrocious Supreme.’ I actually kind of liked it! I tried writing a story with the character a few years ago, when Awesome had the rights to it, but they went under.”

Jeff Smith (writer/artist, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil):

“I tell you, I think the best Captain Marvel comic in recent years was Alan Moore’s Tom Strong — I know he’s not doing it anymore, but that is Captain Marvel i

n disguise, basically.

“It has the flavor and adventure and curiosity all the Captain Marvel comics had — and things like Terra Incognito are like the Rock of Eternity. There’s even ‘Warren Strong,’ after Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.”

The Rise of Black Adam

Back in the DC Universe, Captain Marvel underwent many changes. After spending some time in the Justice Society of America, Captain Marvel’s status quo was shaken up with the Day of Judgment crossover (1999), which saw the wizard Shazam’s spirit destroyed, Billy ascending to his role, and Freddy Freeman taking over as Captain Marvel — later officially named “Shazam!”

He also appeared in Cry for Justice, but no one wants to relive that.

Though Alex Ross was behind many of the most successful modern Captain Marvel stories, DC surprisingly failed to get back to him on a proposal for a new series, "Say My Name…Shazam!" in the aftermath of Day of Judgment. Ross would have done covers and art-directed the project, which would have been written by DC’s most popular writer, Geoff Johns.

The full story is in Alter Ego #75 (Jan. 2008) from TwoMorrows, but the tale would have involved a depowered Billy Batson reclaiming the scattered powers of the wizard Shazam from different individuals who had received them and were misusing them.

One of these, a black youth, would actually use his powers wisely, and Billy would allow him to keep his powers, turning him into Vulcan, the first black member of the Marvel Family — modeled after the Black Vulcan, a character from the Super Friends cartoon.

DC had their own ideas about what they wanted to do with the character, and Johns and Ross’ proposal was met not with rejection, but outright radio silence.

Jerry Ordway:

“I was really surprised DC didn’t take it, because who could you get that’s bigger than them? It just really goes to show how even with that level of talent, they basically said, ‘We don’t have any confidence that this could sell.’ I was amazed.”

Alex Ross:

“I was approached by DC a couple of times about my rejected pitch, in part because I got it in print, but also because I never stopped bellyaching about it.

“Sadly the problem of ever revisiting it feels like a moment in time for my own inspiration that was dismissed to never be fully recaptured. I was angry and hurt for too long about something that was not my professional and personal right to get to do, and I never could get over that.

“I may have handled it badly, but I’ve learned that you shouldn’t get quite as lost as I did over something you have no control over. Also, the very ideas of my storyline would cover ground that the Trials of Shazam series (2006) did to such a similar degree that it would be either redundant or force me to craft a completely different approach.”

In recent years, Captain Marvel has been somewhat adrift in the DC Universe. Mary Marvel played a major role in the Countdown (2007) and Final Crisis (2008) events, where she was possessed by evil magic and wore a black leather outfit that many found very, very creepy, perhaps not in the sense that the creators intended.

Elliot Maggin:

“Mary Marvel just does not appear in inappropriate dress. That is all there is to it [laughs]. Supergirl, maybe, but not Mary Marvel.”

Captain Marvel’s biggest foes all played a key role in the popular year-long weekly miniseries 52 (2007). Dr. Sivana and his family figured into the plotline about the DC Universe’s mad scientists being kidnapped to build a group of super-weapons, while Mr. Mind was revealed to be behind a time-travel conspiracy that helped rebirth the Multiverse.

Most prominent was Black Adam, who received his own plotline. Having become the benevolent dictator of the fictional country of Khandaq in JSA, Black Adam took in a refuge and her brother, empowering them to become Isis (an homage to the character who shared airtime with the Captain on the Shazam! TV series) and Osiris, his “Black Marvel Family.”

After they were killed, Adam went on a killing spree dubbed “World War III” before being depowered. He got his powers back pretty quickly, and set out to reunite his shattered family. Though 52 was one of DC’s best-selling and most acclaimed titles in recent years, it perhaps had the unintended side effect of making Captain Marvel’s archenemy more popular than him in the DC Universe.

Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, other Captain Marvel stories):

[groans] ... “I know, I know! The irony!”

Alex Ross:

“Given the bleakness of the times, it’s no surprise that Black Adam has slowly taken over the role of patriarch to the Marvel Family legacy in the DCU. I feel that this too is fleeting and won’t be what we always see. It has a lot to do with the unsure course that DC has taken for a lot of their iconic properties.”

Later, Jerry Ordway returned to the Marvel Family to collaborate with Geoff Johns on “Black Adam and Isis” in Justice Society of America which saw Mary cured, the wizard restored, Billy and Mary stripped of their powers and Black Adam and Isis turned into stone.

Now, Osiris is not-dead and trying to cure them. And Freddy-as-Shazam returned in the one-shot Shazam #1 (March 2011).

Elliot Maggin:

“People like to piss in corners in New York City. Everybody does that, except a few people. The trick is preserving the continuity. Anyone can piss in the corner. Every time someone tries to preserve the continuity like Alan (Moore) or Geoff (Johns), I sit here and cheer.

“These guys go out of their way to justify in contemporary terms all these eternally confusing, unjustifiable things. It’s a much better trick, just because nobody’s tried to do it with the Marvel Family.”

Jerry Ordway:

“The Marvel Family’s been busy in the DC Universe, but it’s been all over the place. Geoff Johns set up an intriguing story for Black Adam in JSA, and that was followed up on in 52 and other books, and Mary Marvel had these plots in these different titles, but it’s almost like strip-mining in a way, jumping around and taking bits and pieces rather than preserving the whole of the continuity.”

Dr. Sivana and Mr. Mind remain thorns in the side of many DC heroes, and Freddy Freeman’s still hanging around. There’s long been talk that Grant Morrison will tackle the character in his miniseries Multiversity.

But it’s been about five years, and many are wondering if Billy Batson will ever be the one to wield the lightning again. Of course, people once wondered that about Hal Jordan as Green Lantern…

Alex Ross:

“This may prove to be a curious time we look back upon, like when Superman had long hair.”

Jeff Smith's Monster Society of Evil

While Billy Batson might not be Captain Marvel in the current DC Universe, for many fans, there have been plenty of great tales with him over the last few years…just outside the DCU.

In his follow-up to his long-running creator-owned hit Bone, Jeff Smith told his own Captain Marvel story with 2007’s Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil. The long-gestating story retold Captain Marvel’s origin, pitting him against Sivana and Mr. Mind — with a few twists.

Captain Marvel and Billy were explicitly different people, with the Captain more of a magic entity who needs a human host. Mary Marvel remained tiny and child-sized next to the towering Captain, while Tawky Tawny was a magic spirit called an “ifrit.”

Most controversially, Dr. Sivana was Attorney General of the United States, prone to spewing phrases like “War is profitable.” Readers, even younger ones, picked up more than a little bit of allegory.

Jeff Smith (writer/artist, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil): “I got a message from Mike Carlin, who was the editor-in-Chief at DC at the time, which said something to the effect of, ‘I know Bone is coming to an end soon — would you like to do a superhero comic next?’ And before I could get back to him, 9/11 happened.

“And I started thinking — I went right back to Pearl Harbor, that feeling of ‘We’ve been attacked.’ Being asked to do a superhero comic right at that moment got me thinking of when the superheroes broke out in the 1940s. You know, when they took off, they were used almost in the war effort as propaganda, whether it was intentional or not — Captain America famously punched Hitler on his first cover.

“So I wanted to explore that idea a little bit, and they had already suggested to me that I use Captain Marvel. So I started thinking of Mr. Mind and the Monster Society of Evil as stand-ins for Al-Qaeda.

“A lot of people compared Dr. Sivana in my story to Dick Cheney, but actually, I only thought of him as a composite government bad guy. At the time Mike called me, Lex Luthor was the president in the DC Universe. So I had the idea that because they were both evil scientists, Lex must have hired his buddy Dr. Sivana to be the attorney general.

“It’s true I didn’t like our real attorney general at the time, but I didn’t mean to make Sivana actually look like the Vice President, that was just my subconscious at work [laughs].

“I’m afraid that resemblance might have spoiled the book for a few people, but the allegories were only a minor part of the story. For me, the most important thing was finding a tone, and building the right relationship between Billy Batson and Captain Marvel.

“It’s pretty clear to me reading the Golden Age Captain Marvel stories that Captain Marvel is an entity, a power like a genie or something, who is brought forth and called upon when Billy says ‘Shazam!’, and they change places. I’m not the only one who thinks that — C.C. Beck thought that as well. That was the same idea Marvel used with Captain Mar-Vell, and what Jack Kirby did with Infinity Man in The Forever People.

“However, it seems important to me that Captain Marvel does have that childish glee. He can get excited, and he can get embarrassed and chagrined. That’s what’s wonderful about the character, and is completely unique about Captain Marvel and no other hero.

“The idea is Billy’s in there ,and he’s having an effect on this hero, this god, and is making him more human. If I’d had more issues, I’d have explored that more, but you can see Captain Marvel is making more splashy, irresponsible, Billy Batson-esque decisions that are getting him in trouble by the end.”

Elliot Maggin (writer, 1970s Shazam series, Kingdom Come novelization):

“I was always careful to present the Captain and Billy as two different people. But really, the Captain was an adult with the sensibilities of an eight-year-old. My feeling was that in the Kingdom Come continuity, he was still like that, even with Billy an adult in civilian life.”

Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, other Captain Marvel stories):

“It’s important to remember that they’re two very different people, not exactly the same. The one bad thing that came out of Big, brilliant a movie as that was, was that every writer for the next 20 years said, “Well, that’s how you’ve got to write ‘Captain Marvel.’

“I’m not sure that’s the way it is. There might be some mileage you can get out of the kid and the adult being different people.”

Jeff Smith:

“I knew Tawky Tawny would be a hard sell to today’s readers, because in the 1940s, he was really just a cartoon funny animal. He was Tony the Tiger walking around with a suit and a hat and a cane. But that didn’t matter back then — the comic-buying public was very different, and people just enjoyed him, and he made trouble for Captain Marvel, which was good and made for fun stories.

“I love talking animals, and I love the idea of a talking animal working with Captain Marvel. He gets his powers from Greek gods and ancient heroes, all of whom go back to ancient myths and Aesop’s fables.

“As I was researching magic words like ‘Alakazam,’ I found ifrits, which are genies that can change from human to animal form and back, and I went, ‘There you go. I’ve got all my Captain Marvel mythology in order. Let’s go.’

“I made the kids younger, because I wanted a greater contrast between the hero and the secret identity. Billy’s a young boy, he’s helpless, and with the magic word, he is the opposite of that, he is powerful and in control and no one can hurt him. He was like that in the early issues of Whiz Comics, he was originally much younger.

“Mary didn’t get as much power as him. She was supposedly Billy’s twin, and yet he transformed to an older, powerful guy, while she stayed a little girl. In the original comics, she did not transform into an adult, so I did the same thing in my comic, but I had her start younger, so she stayed the same age she is. I thought the dynamic worked fine, but other people can do what they want [laughs].”

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam

Animator Mike Kunkel, author of the acclaimed all-ages book Herobear and the Kid, followed up Smith’s miniseries with Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam for DC’s out-of-continuity “Johnny DC” line.

Kunkel pitted Billy and Mary against the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man and Black Adam, who in this version was a kid like Billy that became a school bully determined to get the magic word out of his replacement. Though the title received excellent reviews, Kunkel’s schedule made it difficult to get the book out on a regular basis.

Jeff Smith:

“Mike Kunkel’s stuff was great, though he’s the only guy in comics slower than me [laughs]. I’m kidding, Mike! I loved his stuff, and the artist on the last six or eight issues, Mike Norton, was just fantastic. It was very cool, very fun. I loved that book.”

Mike Kunkel (writer/artist, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam):

“It was a very cool day to get a call from Dan DiDio and Jann Jones. We had a conversation about creating this all-ages line, and they were suggesting different characters, and asked what I wanted to do, and I said Cap was right at the top of my list. And they felt the same way.

“Everything I try to write about, the fun of childhood, the fun of youth, Cap represents that. We started having conversations, and I created a storyline bible, and places to go, and we kept developing from that.

“It was a purposeful thing to follow from Jeff’s series. They obviously recognized the success Jeff had from his series, and wanted to build from that, but also gave me the freedom to do what I wanted to do if I wanted to head in a different direction. However, I wanted to build on it, as opposed to creating a new world again.

“I liked the relationship between Billy and his sister — that’s an archetype I can relate to. And I liked that there was this reality-altering moment about taking down Mr. Mind’s monsters that left a tear in reality, and all these monsters could come through, and that was the a way to bring in Black Adam.

“For me, it seemed like a better fit to have Black Adam as a kid rather than an adult — to have someone Billy had to deal with as a kid as well as Captain Marvel, that bully you can’t run away from, that you have to face.

“It was a lot of work, and I give full credit to Jann for crediting it ‘Writing, art and heart.’ This was a true labor of love — I wrote, penciled, inked, colored, did the covers, because it meant that much to me. I gave it everything I had, and it was very hard doing it on top of having a family and working full-time, but I wanted to give something that had every part of me in it.

“I certainly regret the delays. You always want to give more, but you also recognize that the audience — and I am part of that audience — is a voracious machine that always needs the next book.

“And if you promise a monthly or bi-monthly book, you have to live up to that. At least with my run, I wanted to set something up for future storylines and possibly another creative team. I hope that I gave a good foundation to build on.”

After four issues, Kunkel left Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam. He was succeeded by writers Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, who continued the book until its cancelation with issue #21. Baltazar, Franco and Norton’s run enjoyed its own share of acclaim, and Kunkel has plenty of Captain Marvel stories he’d like to tell.

Jeff Smith:

“I like the team that’s doing it right now! Art Baltazar, Franco and Mike Norton are fantastic.”

Jerry Ordway (writer/artist, The Power of Shazam, others):

“Personally, when Mike Norton took over the art, I thought it really bridged the gap from something light-hearted to something closer to the Batman: The Animated Series look. He’s a great artist and a great guy.”

Mike Kunkel:

“I think what we set out in the beginning was that it would be on more of a quarterly or bi-monthly basis, but the vision for the line changed slightly, and that was hard to keep up with. I’m sorry about that, but I was very happy to be a part of it. And I loved what Art and Franco did with the book afterward.

“I had a ton of stories and characters planned after my arc. The next villain I wanted to bring in was Dr. Sivana, and dip into the mythology of that character, and build him up in his path as that mad scientist who counters Captain Marvel.

“And I wanted to look at Billy’s world, and bring in Tawky Tawny, and the mythology of the Rock of Eternity and the Wizard Shazam, once we’d established that world in the first arc. As I said, Art and Franco continued with that, and what they have done with Mike Norton is just awesome stuff. Mike Norton has a genuine gift for taking a story and really bringing a lot to the table as an artist/storyteller.

“It’ll probably be a little time before I’ll revisit it. I still love the character and he’ll always be one of my favorites, but I’d have to think about where I am now as opposed to a few years ago, and take a different approach.

“I would love to do more limited series or a graphic novel that would take Captain Marvel on a specific adventure. I like that self-contained path anyway. I also think that it is a great way to present the character in enjoyable bites for new readers with different storytellers.

“Forget about continuity and the regular DCU, just get a bunch of talented creators that love the character and let them each do a limited story on him. How cool would that be to see all these fun adventures coming out!”

Mark Waid:

“I thought the Kunkel stuff was brilliant. That was probably the best take on Captain Marvel I’d seen since the 1970s. I think the stuff on The Brave and the Bold TV show was a great take on the character.

“Some stuff doesn’t work as well…a lot hasn’t worked that well. Without naming names, any time you try to get away from the magic and whimsy of the character I think you’re making a horrible mistake, because the character is all about magic and whimsy.”

Michael Uslan (Executive Producer of all Batman movies):

“I’ve thought all the revivals of Captain Marvel were terrific, with maybe one exception. And the reason was these guys like Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway knew their history backwards and forwards, and they loved and had a passion for those characters.

“And Roy knew the creators, Binder and Beck, and editors like Will Lieberson, and the other artists at Fawcett — and the love for the creators came through. Each revival had a different vision, but those visions were respectful to the visions of the other creators as well.

“I really, truly appreciated that, and I’ve truly appreciated it whenever people try to gain some traction with the character.”

Next: Captain Marvel’s Future

Acknowledgments

• Mike Kunkel (www.theastonishfactory.com/) provided several pieces of behind-the-scenes art from Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, including the images of Billy, Mary and the Captain, himself with Dan DiDio, and the special decoder used for translating messages from Captain!