SHAZAM! Archives #1

• Includes ashcan of Flash Comics and cover for Thrill Comics.
• First appearance of Cave containing the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man (aka the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Greed, Hatred, Selfishness, Laziness and Injustice, replacing anger from the traditional list for some reason.)
• First appearance of Billy Batson
• First appearance of the wizard Shazam
• First appearance of Captain Marvel (Captain Thunder in Thril/Flash Comics)
• First appearance Sterling Morris, president of a radio broadcasting company
• First appearance of Sivana
• Sivana's first attempt to take over the United States.
• Billy Batson gets job as radio reporter for Sterling Morris

• Billy Batson is established as much more willing to take care of things himself than changing into Captain Marvel.
• Captain Marvel and Billy Batson are established as distinct people.
• First Appearance of Beautia, Empress of Venus, followed by several repeated appearances.
• First appearance of the Glompers, frog warriors from Venus.
• Sivana discovers that Billy transforms into Captain Marvel.
• Origin of Sivana, Beautia.
• First appearance of Magnificus Sivana.
• Captain Marvel first flies in Whiz Comics # 5.
• Captain Marvel first appears without the shoulder-button uniform in Whiz Comics #5.
• The second Whiz Comics #5 had a numbering adjustment so as to make the cover and indicia agree.
• Captain Marvel first fights someone other than Sivana in the second Whiz Comics #5.
• Amalgamated Broadcasting first identified by name in Whiz Comics #7.
• Billy first has the double "B" symbol on his shirt in Whiz Comics #7.
• Billy first flies a plane in Whiz Comics #8.
• Captain Marvel is first shown as a publicly known figure in Whiz Comics #11. A university is named "Marvel University" and the football team uniforms are similar to Cap's own.
• In these issues, the Wisdom of Solomon power is perhaps Captain Marvel's most important ability.

C. C. Beck
Pete Costanza
Bill Parker

 
Ashcan Flash Comics#1/cover Thrill Comics #1 -  Origin of Captain Thunder, Billy offers to save the country’s radio stations from blackmail by Sivana

Whiz Comics #2 - “Captain Marvel” (story titles taken from cover blurbs) -- Origin of Captain Marvel, Billy and Cap save the country’s radio stations from a plot by Sivana

Whiz Comics #3 - “Return of Sivana” - Billy and Cap save the United States from a direct armed takeover attempt by Sivana’s super army. (Before the World War II draft, the U.S. standing army was not very large. This story might have seemed more plausible in 1940.)

Whiz Comics #4 - “Make Way for Captain Marvel” - Billy travels to Venus with a disguised Sivana where he meets Beautia, Empress of Venus, and the Glompers. Sivana finds out that Billy can change into Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel returns to Earth after Sivana and Beautia leave back for Earth. Billy and Cap stop them from taking over the planet. Captain Marvel uses the wisdom of Solomon to build a space ship. (Solomon mostly used it to pick up girls.)

Whiz Comics #5 - “Captain Marvel Crashed Through” - Billy and Cap save the United States from an attempt by Sivana to take over the United States by running the lovely Beautia for President. Sivana’s super science can affect Captain Marvel. Cap send them back to Venus, but Sivana escapes. Beautia develops a crush on Capatain marvel. (Beautia is so beautiful that she affects men like a drug, but women hate her. One wonders whether Sivana looked at voting demographics before putting his plan into action.)

Whiz Comics #5 - “Captain Marvel Scores Again” - Cap and Billy stop Dr. Aloysius Lake who has brainwashed the nation’s youth into stealing for him.

Whiz Comics #6 - “Captain Marvel and the Circus of Death” - Sivana is running a circus with fantastic animals importd from Venus. When some of them become a threat, Cap and Billy stop them and ruin Sivana’s circus.

Whiz Comics #7 - “Captaim Marvel and the Squadron of Doom” -- Billy and Cap stop an army o prehistoric beast men led by a wealthy megalomanic from taking over the world.

Whiz Comics #8 - “Saved by Captain Marvel” -- Billy and Cap defeat a fraudulent psychi who is using a powerful ocean tool to abduct important people and then bilk their families out of money.

Whiz Comics #9 - “Captain Marvel on the Job” -- Billy and Cap defeat a scientist who has devloped a means of shrinking people. He then uses these tiny agents to steal from a foreign nation.

Whiz Comics #10 - “Captain Marvel battles the Winged Death” - Beautia is disguised as a female reporter. Billy goes undercover to find out what she’s doing. They witness a new navy weapon. Beautia snap photos, and Sivana builds more weapons to take on the U.S. Beautia has a change of heart and warns the navy. Cap stops Sivana, but must save Beautia from Sivana’s revenge so the evil scientist escapes yet again.

Whiz Comics #11 - “Hurray for Captain Marvel” -- Billy (with help from a partially summoned Cap) enrolls at Marvel University to stop a football game fixing scandal and save an endowment for the school. (In those days game fixing was a huge, huge deal. It was only twenty years since the Black Sox Scandal.)

Whiz Comics #12 - “Captain Marvel Rides the Engine of Doom” -- Billy and Cap save save a refugee ship from a Nazi threat.

Whiz Comics #13 - “Captain Marvel - World’s Most Powerful Man” -- Billy and Cap save the U.S. from a plot by Sivana (assisted once again by Beautia) to take over the U.S. This time Sivana has developed a serum which turns all the soldiers into infants. Cap gives the solution to elderly veterans who fight off Sivana’s attack, and after he gives the regular army the antidote, the armed forces have doubled in size.

Whiz Comics #14 - Captain Marvel Boomerangs the Torpedo -- Billy and Cap stop Sivana again. This time the evil genius has discovered how to pass through solid walls by calculatign the spin of his own electrons. Cap uses the wisdom of Solomon to duplicate the feat, but Sivana disipates into mist from repeating the process too often before Cap can capture him.

Whiz Comics #15 - “With the British Plane Streaking to a Fiery Doom Captain Marvel Dives tot he Rescue” Billy is given an award for journalism. He is then kidnapped to Central America by Sivana and Beautia after the evil scientist disables his ability to change to Captain Marvel. Beautia reveals that she is the daughter of Sivana. After Cap beat Magnificus Sivana in direct combat, Cap takes them all back to Venus and leaves then there.
 

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Note: This Contribution is copyrighted 2000 Michael A. Chary.