Tuesday, September 11, 2018

It's A Good Thing They Had Dry Erase Markers!!

Uh-oh, Dr. Sivana is up to no good...

Now, you'd think that somewhere as important to the cosmos as the Rock Of Eternity might have, you know, a little security? A locked door? Need a password?

Nope.

See, I bet you didn't know that the "elders" who grant Billy Batson his SHAZAM powers are hanging around at the Rock Of Eternity, discussing "problems of the galactic universe."

Of course, we can't help but notice the similarities to Kid Eternity--Solomon, Hercules, et. al., just hanging around Eternity (or the Rock Of Eternity), just waiting for a child to say the magic word, so they can grant him their powers (or go down in person). I'd like to think that these similarities were behind DC's decision to retcon Kid Eternity onto Earth-S. We'll discuss this more in my Kid Eternity posts when we get to that point...

Anyway, Sivana waits until the wizard is asleep...

You know, if that's true, I'd seriously consider sleeping in my robe!

Still, that advice comes too late:

Geez, Sivana is pretty damn nasty!

He uses his hostage to force the elders to take their powers away from Captain Marvel...

And how does that process of depowering work? Actually, it's less complicated than you might think!


All you have to do is physically cross your name off a list?

Yup, as the Big Red Cheese finds out when trying to break a code!


D'oh!

And so the process continues, one name at a time, as Sivana toys with our hero like puling wings off a fly!

Next to go: strength!!



Ouch!

Next--stamina!


No!!

Next--power!!



That's just mean!

Next--courage!



Finally, speed!



Ah, but Sivana forgot something very important--the B!!

That is, the powers of Billy Batson!


Billy bonks Sivana...
...and gets Shazam's robe back!! So now it's time to get those powers back!

Wow, it's lucky Sivana didn't make them use permanent marker!!!

And so, with his powers fully restored...

...Sivana's plans are easily foiled.

So, it's as easy as crossing names off a chart, and then erasing those lines? Could someone write in new names on the chart, and grant him new powers? Time to start coming up with new acronyms!!

From Captain Marvel Adventres #144 (1953)
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3 comments:

  1. George ChambersSeptember 11, 2018 at 10:46 AM

    That's one amazing Captain Marvel story. It completely breaks the mold. I'm glad it was Billy who won through in the end, but an alternate (and kind of hilarious) ending might have been MARY Marvel turning up to smash Sivana (same acronym, different gods.) Or even have Mary's goddesses lend their power to Billy, since Sivana was being such a cheaty-pants!

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  2. TCSeptember 11, 2018 at 2:44 PM

    So, Captain Marvel's invulnerability came, not from Achilles, but from the Power of Zeus?

    Billy, Mary, and Freddy often showed great courage and (sometimes) ingenuity in their mortal identities, so they seemed to have those qualities without the Shazam powers.

    And Cap seemed to get duped and trapped more often than you would expect for a hero who supposedly had the wisdom of Solomon.

    And Mary's powers included the beauty of a goddess, but her appearance did not change when she gained the Shazam powers, so she already possessed whatever beauty she had.

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  3. snellSeptember 11, 2018 at 5:12 PM

    George--There were just so many Marvel Family stories, they almost had to regularly break the mold!

    TC--MAry's appearance must change, because nobody recognizes her when she changes!!

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