Friday Night Fights: "My! What a Lovely Costume!"

Of all the dunderheaded things DC Comics has pulled over the past several years, one of the worst has been their shabby treatment of the SHAZAM stable of characters...or "The Marvel Family" as they're more commonly referred to. 

Sure, some of the more tangential SHAZAM projects have been top notch, but the family's treatment in DC's in-continuity "universe" has, for the most part, been pretty pathetic. Ever since Crisis on Infinite Earths folded them into the mainstream DC Universe, the Marvel Family has been largely ignored or, when they do show up, are caricatured as whitebread, bubble-headed naifs. More recently, Captain Marvel himself has been completely sidelined as some kind of white-haired mentor figure, while Cap Jr. is now (somehow) the current Cap, and (worst of all) Mary Marvel has been made EEEEVIL!  How do we know? Why, because she's wearing a sleazy black version of her costume (complete with fishnet stockings). Like I said: pathetic.

So, instead of dwelling on the current Mary Marvel's fallen state, let's turn our attention back to her Golden Age beginnings when publisher Fawcett Comics was running the show. Making her debut in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (1942), a wealthy girl named Mary Bromfield was revealed to be Billy Batson's long-lost twin sister. After rescuing Mary from a kidnapping plot, Cap magically transformed back to Billy, who then confirmed their sibling connection. 

In a charming, authentically child-like panel, Mary wondered aloud if her new status as Billy's sister might also grant her access to his magic word...a theory Billy promptly shoots down. With boyish bravado, Billy simply can't imagine the old wizard Shazam sharing his mighty power with...(gulp)...a GIRL! 

However, Mary's musings would shortly be put to the test, as Billy and Freddy Freeman (Cap Jr.) were suddenly bound and gagged by the aforementioned kidnappers...leaving it up to her to recite the magic word! 

(click on the panels for a larger view)

I just adore that final panel.  A scene that today would receive a full page and paragraphs of dialogue was just a single, yet very powerful panel back then. 

So, just how strong and powerful was the new Mary Marvel? The band of hapless, cliche-spouting gangsters was about to find out...

 

Now that's a debut appearance...not to mention a worthy addition to Friday Night Fights: Ladies Night, courtesy of Fightin' Mad Bahlactus.

Comments

[greyman24]

Shilly-shallying?

Absolutely, 100% agree.

And what was the deal with turning Mr. Mind into a horrific monster?

[Mark Engblom]

"And what was the deal with turning Mr. Mind into a horrific monster?"

Or, worse yet, making him somehow responsible for re-creating the Multiverse back in 52. Just another example of DC's utterly clueless handling of the Marvel Family and their rogue's gallery. Not a single. Solitary. Clue.

[Geoff]

Heh. The other month I was in my LCS, with a copy of "Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam" in my hand, and some of the guys were talking about Mary going over to the "Dark Side"; Flipping through my comic, I offered that she looks fine to ME. They all started saying that they meant "In-continuity"..., I displayed the cover and said "Fellas, THIS is the correct continuity."

[Mark Engblom]

Attaboy, Geoff.

However, I noticed in the recent "Final Crisis: Superman Beyond", Superman teams up with several extra-dimensional heavy hitters, one of which is a Captain Marvel from another Earth entirely. DC's hinted at the existence of this alternate Marvel family before, so maybe there's another Mary Marvel out there who's not a child (as in Kunkel's book) or a sleezebag (like in the regular DCU).

[Arundel]

I enjoyed this, Mark. I wrote sort of a mini-essay elsewhere how I was so tired of unimaginitive reboots of classic characters as bad-ass killing machines, or vulgar sexpots like your top panel.
Ugh.
Which is why I like Alex Ross, I guess.. he tries to bring some of the innocent wonder of classic characters to life, with a certain expansiveness, optimism, and imagination.

There's some WW2 era cover, of Mary Marvel soaring above the clouds, with a certain innocent joy.. exhilaration, the cover shows.

Just saying, that sort of optimism and FUN that superheroes once represented looks very appealing to me, the older I get. Superheroes are a great American invention, pop ambassadors of our country throughout the world, in their heyday and still.

[Mark Engblom]

I'm 101% in your corner, Arundel. I couldn't agree more. I love the concept of superheroes as "pop ambassadors". I'd never really thought of them in quite that way before.

I think the urge to take once-innocent characters and drag them through the mud is a symptom of a deeper sickness in our society, a sickness I don't see a cure for in the near future, unfortunately. Happily, there are some alternate takes on Mary Marvel and the like that the more idealistic among us can still support (like the Mike Kunkel Billy Batson and the Magic of SHAZAM series)...but it's still upsetting to know there are some who see it as their "mission" to warp or even eradicate innocence wherever they find it.