BC: SHAZAM #34

Now this next issue of SHAZAM was something of a shock to the system, and one that was only slightly blunted by the fact that I’d seen this cover in contemporaneous house ads when it had come out. This was right towards the end of the complete run of SHAZAM that I had borrowed from my grade school friend Donald Sims. The art style is completely different, the golden age approach exemplified by C.C. Beck and more recently Kurt Schaffenberger has given way to a more contemporary realistic treatment. And not just that, but an almost aggressive one. Just look at Junior’s demented expression on this cover. It’s as though a regular issue of SHAZAM had taken some mind-altering hard drug.

The artist in question was Alan Weiss, an excellent craftsman whose greatest professional drawback was the fact that he was enough of a perfectionist that it took him forever to draw a story. My sense is that Weiss was intended to take over the series as its new regular penciler, but this would be the only issue he’d ever draw. (And, of course, there’d only be one additional issue after this, though the strip migrated over to the Dollar comic-sized WORLD’S FINEST COMICS thereafter.) It was a Hail Mary attempt on the part of editor Joe Orlando to save the book by bringing its style into the present, while also reflecting the live action look of the Saturday morning television series. It didn’t work, but from this point forward, Captain Marvel and his contemporaries were hereafter depicted in the same manner as any other DC feature.

Story-wise, writer E. Nelson Bridwell doesn’t change up his approach any, and I kind of suspect that he hadn’t been told about Orlando’s plan to switch up the art style prior to writing this story. It’s very much along the lines of what Nelson had been doing all along: an adventure in an new real-world city, the return of a classic Fawcett-era villain, and lots of history. The only thing missing is the Eterni-Phone and a consultation with the Elders from whom Captain Marvel’s powers are derived. Artist Weiss does keep one aspect of the earlier approach to the strip: he continues to depict Billy Batson as having dot eyes, which look positively disturbing in most panels, like he’s somehow a mannequin come to life or some such. This aspect did not work for me at all. Weiss’s characters also all tended to be large and muscular, like weightlifters, and so his Cap comes across as a bit muscle-bound somehow.

The story opens on the outskirts of Chicago, where Mentor and Billy’s RV runs into a mile field hidden on a local highway–how the Neo-Nazis responsible set it up there without anybody noticing is never addressed. Summoning Captain Marvel, the Big Red Cheese clears out the minefield. But the RV needs repairs, so Cap takes it and Uncle Dudley to a service station while Billy continues on to their destination at Amalgamated Broadcasting. There, Billy is told that a Neo-Nazi group is no doubt responsible for the minefield, and that the group has come under the sway of a secretive leader known only as the New Fuhrer. This turns out to be Captain Nazi, a golden age villain who was responsible for the series of events that empowered Freddy Freeman as Captain Marvel Jr.

Here from this very issue is the House Ad that promoted the change in SHAZAM, as well as the debut of the short-lived STEEL, THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN and the WONDER WOMAN Dollar Comic. all three of these were books that my local 7-11 didn’t receive, so I didn’t get to read any of them until years later.

Nelson puts forward an absolutely absurd story about how, having become aware that the Marvel Family and the Sivanas had been placed in suspended animation, rather than proceeding with his campaign to take over the world, captain Nazi put himself into suspended animation as well–“They must not return and catch me off-guard.” Anyway, that’s why Captain Nazi is still around in the present day. He’s also got a plan to seal off Chicago behind an impenetrable force-field–one that even the magic lightning can’t penetrate. But the field doesn’t stop a hard phone line, and so reluctantly, Billy calls Freddy Freeman to tell him what’s going on. Billy’s able to say SHAZAM and have the magic lightning conducted through the phone line to him, materializing Captain Marvel. But Freddy has a burning desire for revenge on Captain Nazi, so he heads towards Chicago as well ready to tear the villainous fascist to bits.

Captain Marvel tracks down Captain Nazi and attempts to clobber him, but the villain is able to remain one step ahead of the World’s Mightiest Mortal due to his flying gas, a genuine 1940s plot device. Nazi also has an electrified weapon which winds up causing Cap to transform back to Billy in midair. Fortunately, it’s at this point that Junior shows up, in time to rescue the falling Billy, who can’t change back because the force-field is still blocking the magic lightning. What’s more, Junior isn’t himself–he’s about ready to kill Captain Nazi despite Billy’s protestations. Junior is able to outmaneuver Captain Nazi’s electricity gun and clock the villain, driving him back to the ground. But in the clutch moment, motivated by nothing much more than his own innate moral goodness and humanity, Junior stops short of slaying his Nazi foe.

But as the story wraps up, it turns out that there was an unintended consequence of Captain Nazi’s force-field. Because one of the Shazam-bolts that was deflected by it returned to the Rock of Eternity and accidentally shattered the chains of the Beast-Man King Kull, who had been imprisoned there for decades. King Kull would be next issue’s problem, though, because at this point we’re To Be Continued. This is such a strange issue in that it’s something of an uncomfortable mix of Bridwell’s more light-hearted throwback strip and Weiss’s Neal Adams-influenced renderings. I can’t say that I really think it works, though the next artist who would approach the series would be able to strike a better balance. But we’ll see that when we cover SHAZAM ##5 in a few weeks.

The issue also included a publishorial from Jenette Kahn promoting the then-released SUPERMAN VS MUHAMMAD ALI Tabloid Edition. This is another book that I never saw a trace of back in the day, though I’ve since tracked down a copy. Kahn is effusive in her praise for the project and comes across as just a hair more believable than the manner of bombastic self-promotion pioneered by Stan Lee over at rival Marvel.