BC: SHAZAM #12

I continued to make my way through the complete run of SHAZAM that i had borrowed from my grade school friend Donald Sims one week. While it’s taking us months to go over these books, I read them all in two, maybe three days when I first borrowed them. This next issue was a return to my favorite format, the 100-Page Super-Spectacular. The series would remain in this format for the next several issues, with new stories backed up by a fat package of classic reprints. As I tended to think that the reprinted material was way better than most of the new stories, this arrangement suited me perfectly.

The opening story in the issue was new, though, but it was written by E. Nelson Bridwell, who had a genuine affection for the Marvels and their style of material. The art was provided by Bob Oksner, who turns in a fine job that channels the spirit of the departed C. C. Beck while retaining the essence of his own individual style. it concerns a visitor from the future, Jarl-499-642-831, a reported from tomorrow whom Bridwell names after Jon jarl, the hero who starred in a series of text stories in the old Fawcett CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES issues. Jarl has come back to this particular day because history records it as a date on which Captain Marvel performed no feats–and certainly that can’t be right. So Jarl accompanies Billy Batson as he heads out to interview Dr Kilowatt. But Kilowatt has inadvertently developed a Midas Effect that transforms everything it touches into gold. Captain Marvel is fortunately immune, but there seems no way of getting rid of the ever-expanding effect, which will soon become airborne. Marvel finds a solution, though–he extracts the gold fillings from Dr. Kilowatt’s teeth and encases the compressed Midas Effect inside them, figuring that they can’t transform gold into gold. Marvel says he’s going to stash the incredibly dangerous thing somewhere, and this explains why history shows him doing nothing today–because Billy didn’t want to reveal the existence of the Midas Effect to the world.

Then came the first of the reprinted stories, a two-part adventure of Mary Marvel taken from her solo series. It was written by Otto Binder and illustrated by Jack Binder and his studio–the second half looks to my eye like it was drawn by a different artist than the first half, so both parts must have been in production simultaneously. The story concerns Mary’s attempts to defeat and capture the criminal Nightowl, who uses a darklight flashlight in committing his crimes. At the end of Part One, Mary is left in a deathtrap of the sort the Batman television series used to feature. She survives, of course, and finds Nightowl secretly living in her own mother’s boarding house as the bandaged Mr. Stubbs.

Next up was a Captain Marvel flight of fancy featuring both Uncle Marvel and the Captain’s recurring foe Aunt Minerva, the elderly crime boss. This was her first appearance, and as usual, Minerva is interested in landing a husband. She hires Uncle Dudley’s SHAZAM Inc. to carry out the job of finding her one. Of course, she swiftly decides that Uncle Marvel is the man for her after he displays his bravery, and it’s up to Cap to get Dudley out of this predicament. The story ends with Minerva’s affections having switched to the Big Red Cheese, which would be her status quo going forward. It was a fun yarn, written by Bill Woolfolk.

The next story was another all-new adventure, this one starring Captain Marvel Jr. and put together by writer Elliot S! Maggin and artist Dick Giordano. It’s about all of the trouble Freddy Freeman gets into as he attempts to return a misdelivered letter to its proper owner a block away. The letter is the target of some foreign spies, who use local dullard Gregory Gosharootie, the World’s Dullest Kid, to try and steal it back.Gregory has so little presence that people simply don’t notice him whenever he’s around, making him the perfect sneak-thief, even though he’s really a good-natured kid. But Junior is able to recover it and to put a stop to the spies. Freddy and Gregory wind up delivering it to Dr. Kassover, who is clearly a caricature of Henry Kissenger. Artist Giordano also swipes poses from golden age Junior artist Mac Raboy throughout this story, which is a bit strange.

The Shazamail letters page comes next, and it includes a note from future author Bob Rodi, who was a frequent contributor to editor Julie Schwartz’s letters pages.

The big main feature of this issue was wasted on me, as I’d already read it in the SHAZAM: FROM THE 40S TO THE 70S hardcover book. But it was nice to experience it here in full color. it was a book-length epic from an early issue of MARVEL FAMILY that was structured like a Justice Society adventure in ALL-STAR COMICS. Across five chapters, the Marvels contended with the extended Sivana family in the past, present and future, separating at the close of the first chapter to head off into solo adventures then reuniting for the conclusion. What was interesting about it was that the artists for Mary and Junior’s solo strips, Jack Binder and Bud Thompson, handled their chapters, giving them the flavor of their own series. Pete Costanza did the opening and closing and also handled Captain Marvel’s solo chapter. Otto Binder, of course, wrote the story, as he did for more than half of the Marvel Family canon. This was sadly the only Marvel Family story to follow that JSA format.

BHOC: SHAZAM! FROM THE ’40s TO THE ’70s

The final story in this issue was also new, and unfortunately a bit racist. It revolves around Jeremy Senshoo, the star of the television series Master of the Martial Arts, who is a bit of a hero to Billy Batson–and who is unfortunately colored a bright orange. Captain Marvel is confounded when Senshoo turns to crime, but it turns out to be the doing of the actor’s chef, who has been slipping mind-control drugs into his meals. And of course, even the greatest martial artist on the planet is no physical match for the World’s Mightiest Mortal. But Marvel is able to exonerate Senshoo and get his autograph for Billy, making sure that the chef pays for his crimes as well. This one is also illustrated by Oskner, but Vince Colletta’s weak inks mean that it’s a less polished effort than the opener.

And the issue closes with a second Shazamail letters page, this one including a communication from DC super-fan Rich Morrissey.