BC: SHAZAM #30

Ever since DC had acquired the rights to publish new adventures of the rival character they had once put out of business, they had been teasing readers with the prospect of a full-on mano-a-mano showdown between Superman and Captain Marvel to determine once and for all which one of them was the mightiest. There had already been a couple of stories that seemed to promise this event, only for it to not quite come off within the story proper–a common problem with a bunch of DC’s output in the 1960s and 1970s. And this issue of SHAZAM was no different, as we shall see. it was another issue in my read-through of the complete run of the title, which had been loaned to me by my grade school buddy Donald Sims.

Once you crack the cover of the book, of course, it becomes easy to see that the Man of Steel that the title refers to isn’t really Superman at all, but rather Joe Magarac, a figure of folklore in the manner of Paul Bunyan who was said to have worked steel with his bare hands in the steel mills of Pittsburgh. A good choice for writer E. Nelson Bridwell to reference in his continuing efforts to set the captain’s adventures in different cities across the country. As it turns out, a Superman stand-in did show up before the story’s end, so as to justify the cover image a little bit better. But the promise of that cover wasn’t going to be delivered this time out, and not for a few more years.

The story opens with Billy and Dudley/Mentor speeding to the headquarters of triangle News, a local distributor of periodicals where Dr. Sivana had been spotted after once again breaking out of prison. But it turns out that the only thing Sivana made off with was a copy of ACTION COMICS. But Sivana’s been inspired by his purloined comic magazine to create his own Man of Steel to combat his nemesis Captain Marvel, and so he creates a mixture that, when he dumps it into the molten steel at the Pittsburgh mills, causes a personification of Joe Magarac to form. But this Joe is under Sivana’s evil influence, for all that he isn’t especially bright. Bridwell uses his encyclopedic knowledge to make sure that readers understand that Magarac actually means Jackass in Croatian, which was potentially the legendary figure’s heritage. So he’s really Joe Jackass, a send-up of immigrant workers.

Sivana’s Joe Magarac has been programmed to destroy all of the steel mills in Pittsburgh. But he’s no match for Captain marvel, who punches his right out of the building. Joe is forced to return to Sivana’s hideout in shame, having failed in his mission. Sivana, though, tells Magarac about the Captain’s mortal identity of Billy Batson and suggests that they attack him when he’s in that form. So Magarac does so, gagging Billy with a steel gag. But Billy is clever enough to write down an insult about Magarac, causing the big man to punch him in the face than shatter his gag. Once captain Marvel had been summoned by the magic word, he similarly shatters Joe Magarac into a million pieces. Story’s over, right?

Wrong! Because he haven’t yet reflected the set-up of the live action television series enough! So as Captain Marvel pauses after having dispatched Magarac, he finds himself kicked in the behind by a literal steel jackass. It turns out that Sivana has been minting a menagerie of steel robotic creatures, sending them out from steel works all across the area to wreak havoc on the city of Pittsburgh. Unable to cope with all of this madness by himself, Cap uses the Eterni-Phone to consult with Atlas, who advises him to bring in help on this caper. Accordingly, Marvel races around the world, recruiting not just Captain Marvel Jr. and his sister Mary Marvel but also the seldom-seen Three Lieutenant Marvels from the 1940s. The Lieutenants were three other kids who were also named Billy Batson, and for whom the magic word also worked, though they considered themselves inferior to the Captain, worthy of only being his Lieutenants. They were described as Tall Billy, Fat Billy and Hill Billy, and you can imagine what each was like.

The involvement of all of these other Marvels in the story feels a bit like overkill, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Bridwell brought them all in solely so that he could reprise the Marvel Family fighting song that had been originally published in early issues of the MARVEL FAMILY comic book back in the 1940s. So here, the extended family of Marvels all joins in the chorus while they smash up every last one of Sivana’s evil steel robots. Well, not quite–there’s still one robot to be faces. And it’s in the image of Superman. It’s the toughest robot of all, and capable of withstanding Captain Marvel’s blows.

Left with little choice, Captain Marvel prepares to unleash his “Atomic Punch”, his mightiest blow. As the other Marvels look on, even the panel itself shakes from the vibrations as Marvel’s fist lands on his enemy. Thereafter, we cut to Sivana’s headquarters where the Superman robot strolls in. Sivana is delighted, but then the robot peels off its outer steel coating to reveal itself as Captain marvel himself, playing a bit of a final gag on his enemy before bringing him to justice. As in prior instances, Sivana once again swears to break out of jail and continue to bedevil Captain Marvel across the cities of the continent. But this turned out to be the final story in this sequence, so he never got to make good on his threat this time. I’d say that was a good move, because this formula was already growing tired, and it seems as though Nelson was just as bored with it as I was becoming.

This issue also contained another early edition of the daily Planet promotional page, this one headlining RETURN OF THE NEW GODS, the comeback of Jack Kirby’s fan favorite series, albeit in other creative hands. This was early enough on that neither the Answer Man column nor Fred Hembeck’s cartoon strip had started yet, but it was still a fun page promoting the books that would be on sale in a week’s time. It did use Superman supporting character Lola Barnett to headline a gossip column about impending DC releases that were a bit further off in the future, such as the MISTER MIRACLE revival.