Believe it or not, with this installment of “The Chronicles of Shazam,” we have wrapped up every* post-“Crisis on Infinite Earths” Captain Marvel appearance, up to “Zero Hour.” You may notice an asterisk on ‘every,’ that’s because there is a large shift in Shazam stories that happens with the original graphic novel “The Power of Shazam.” This would be yet another continuity reboot for the Big Red Cheese, and would lead into an ongoing series of the same name. We are going to tackle that after “Zero Hour,” so that we can dive right into the multi-year arcs that happened in that book. So, until then, let’s look back at all the minor appearances – and for some, we really mean minor – that Captain Marvel had between 1987 and 1994.
Note: This list obviously doesn’t include the series we’ve already covered in prior installments. But, aside from reprints, this represents every single appearance through 1994.
Category one: The origins
Three of the first appearances involve re-tellings of his origin, both in very descriptive and very simple ways. The first appearance is in “History of the DC Universe” #2, which acted as a guidebook to DC history right around “Crisis.” Here, we get a one-page re-telling of the origin, replete with San Francisco instead of Fawcett City, and a couple of inclusions in group shots of both “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and of the newly formed Justice League.
The other two ‘origin’ tales come from “Who’s Who,” specifically the 1987 updates for both Black Adam and Captain Marvel. These don’t really tell you too much that wouldn’t have been gleaned from reading “Shazam: The New Beginning,” but there is one hilarious detail in Black Adam’s entry:
“Presumed single.” I guess the editors felt no one would want to put up with his hateful, zealot ways.
Category two: One-panel appearances
The vast majority of Captain Marvel appearances in this time were one-panel appearances, almost all as a member of the Justice League. We see him ion the background of events to remind us that he’s there, but rarely is he ever doing anything of note. Here’s the full list, after which I’ll point out a couple of specific instances. Deep breath:
“Wonder Woman” #8
“The Fury of Firestorm# #58-59, 63
“Action Comics” #600
“Adventures of Superman” #444
“Books of Magic” #4
“Adventures of Superman” #494
“Action Comics” #676
“Superman: The Man of Steel” #20
“Superman” #83
“Supergirl” #1
In “Wonder Woman” #8, Cap gets two whole panels, as well as a sentence about him, in an issue that is a hybrid comic/refresher on the state of superheroes in the first year of the new timeline. In “The Fury of Firestorm” #63 we see, perhaps, the worst illustration of Cap ever, looking like a near-death Fat Elvis. What did Shazam ever do to Joe Brozowski?
In “Books of Magic” #4, there is a prophecy foretold of the ‘final battle of magic,’ and we see Cap in there, mixing it up with various other magic-wielding heroes and villains. And, aside from that, there’s almost nothing else of value in these appearances.
Category three: Actual appearances
There are five comics that were not part of the ‘Panic in the Sky’ crossover (see Category four) where Cap had some somewhat significant moments. However, all of these have two things in common: 1) they are all Superman titles, and 2) they all need him to simply be a big, strong guy. He’s essentially a Superman proxy for all of these, either because Superman is dead (“Superman” #76), or possessed by Eclipso (“Action Comics” Annual #4), or because the Justice League wasn’t totally sure it was really Supes back from the dead (“Action Comics” #690 and 692). Only “Adventures of Superman” #442 really gives anything for Cap to do that isn’t just stand in for Superman, and even then, he’s the knock-off Superman fighting a knock-off Parasite villain.
Category four: ‘Panic in the Sky’
This 1992 crossover went through all four Superman books at the time (“Action Comics,” “Adventures of Superman,” “Superman,” and “Superman: The Man of Steel”), and featuring most of Earth’s heroes fighting both Brainiac and the inhabitants of War World. It is a pretty fun early 90s crossover, and has some nice moments. But it is here that we begin to see a calculated effort to bring Captain Marvel back to his roots, as it were.
Continued belowFirst of all, his costume is now much closer to his Fawcett origins, with a button over flap prominent on the front. In addition, he’s drawn with smaller eyes, another Fawcett touch, and generally looks a little out of time in these stories. I mean that all as complements!
There is one major tweak to his post-“Crisis” origin, however, which is that he is billed as, yet again, being from Fawcett City. This is after nearly a decade of San Francisco being his home. (In fact, in the New 52 and beyond, Philadelphia is now his hometown. I don’t know if any major hero has had three different hometowns before) This is also the first time in a dog’s age that he gets to banter a bit with his former Justice League teammates; Guy Gardner is back to calling him Captain Whitebread, and Blue Beetle calls him a brown-noser in the final issue. We also get a few hints at past Captain Marvel stories, like when he says he can handle “this monster society of evil.”
This comes not long after ‘War of the Gods,’ and this seems like an attempt to spin together all the various incarnations and traits of Captain Marvel over the years. Dan Jurgens, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern, and Jerry Ordway cherry pick the best elements of his past and put together a compelling version.
This is the last major appearance of Cap before “Zero Hour.” But before we talk about next week…
Category five: Abject weirdness
So, thanks to the wonderful and indispensable comicbookdb.com, I was able to find three Captain Marvel appearances from this era that were from publishers other than DC. None of them are canon, but all of them are weird.
Yep, that’s the Marvel family in banana hammocks. This was part of the “Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special” for 1992. This was an annual tradition for a few years that spoofed the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and slightly pre-dates the “Marvel Swimsuit Specials’ that debuted in 1991. This illustration is by Eric Shanower, and features Mr. Mind as well, though he’s always scantily clad, so it’s not as scandalous.
Tip of the hat to the fine folks over at the Legion of Super Bloggers who helped me track down this page
I remember buying “Spawn” #10 when it came out, though I had no idea who Cerebus or Dave Sim was, but I do remember the page above, showing various heroes and villains trapped in a prison of some sort. You can see Cap’s shirt/wrist sticking out of the cell. That counts, folks!
This is, by far, the weirdest appearance yet. For no real reason, the Marvel family show up in “Marvel Comics Presents” #50, though no one calls them Marvels. Wolverine calls bleached blonde Billy “Mr. Beck,” a reference to co-creator C.C. Beck, and there are some references to the Marvels being the ‘strongest mutants ever discovered.’ It’s fun, sure, but it’s also really weird.
So anyway, that does it for this installment. Next week: “Zero Hour!”
