Classic EBI #11: Contrasting the Captains Marvel
Remember Peter David's Captain Marvel series? I do, and here's a column I wrote about it -- and the original Captain Marvel -- waaaaay back on May 21, 2003:
CONTRASTING THE CAPTAINS MARVEL
Part of what makes comic books so cool to me is the fact that many of the characters have a longevity and a continually-growing history that is virtually unparalleled in other media. Okay, so Mickey Mouse is older than Superman, but there have been new Superman comics nearly every month since April 1938. How many years was Mickey unemployed since his creation? Same goes for most TV shows and movie franchises - remember those 15 or so years between the first Star Trek TV show and the first movie where you had to make do with a goofy cartoon and a few sub-par Gold Key comics that few people remember and never gets invoked in current continuity? (You’ll notice, however, that in both of these cases, large gaps in their careers were filled by starring in comic books.)
Of course, not every comic book character is a keeper. (Who’s got this month’s new issue of Little Dot? Anyone?) What makes a character last is an interesting formula of originality, creativity, talent of the creators and how the character is treated once passed down to other writers and artists. That’s why this week we’re going to look at the current treatment of two characters with one name - one of comicdom’s longest-lived heroes and another relatively young buck trying to fit into a legacy of sorts. Yep. This week we’re going to talk about those who go by the name Captain Marvel.
I loved the Shazam! series Jerry Ordway did a few years back, but I can tell you exactly why it failed. Ordway relied too heavily on the character’s past, which was a heck of a lot of fun if you’re into that (I am), but was also one of the corniest comic mythologies ever conjured up. Sure, those of us who loved the character got a kick out of seeing anthropomorphic tigers and siblings who shared superpowers via a magic word, but it wasn’t the sort of thing that really draws in the crowds. Thank God Ordway never risked bringing in the Lieutenant Marvels… (“Hill Billy?” Even I know that was cheesy…)
As much as I loved the work of the Ordster, Billy Batson is currently getting some of the best treatment of his entire career in JSA (which, as of last week’s #48, is now officially longer-lasting than Ordway’s Power of Shazam! title). David Goyer and Geoff Johns have found a balance between the sheer “gee whiz,” good-natured innocence of the character and the modern sensibility that makes what’s probably the best superhero title on the stands. (I’ll be spoiling parts of JSA #48 in a few sentences, so if you haven’t read it yet, skip the next four paragraphs.)
The trick with this Captain Marvel is to create both a convincing teenager in Billy Batson and a convincing purehearted hero in his adult identity. Goyer and Johns have done it in such an obvious way that I can’t believe it’s never been done before (unless it was done in the golden or silver ages - I’ve only read the first two volumes of the Shazam! Archives and a handful of other stories): they gave him a crush. What’s more, they gave him a crush on a girl his own age instead of one of those adult women that have been known to throw themselves at Cap (Beautia Sivana, anyone?). Even better - they gave him a crush on a teammate, the Star-Spangled Kid. When you read this in the comic, it makes perfect sense - if you’re a healthy, All-American 16-year-old boy that frequently hangs out with a cute blonde your own age that runs around in patriotic spandex, your heart is bound to melt. (Sure, you’ll spend some energy admiring the strategically-placed window in Power Girl’s costume, but when the time comes to ask someone to the Prom, it’s no contest.)
They mixed it up further last week by dropping Cap and the Kid, alone together, in the Shadowlands, where he’s cut off from his power and, not coincidentally, she learns his secret. And her reaction? Not disgust. Not fright. Not anger. Just that it must be really cool to be him, and that this Billy seems like a pretty good guy.
I really hope they run with this character story once the action arc wraps up in issue #50 - I can see so many story possibilities in this. Just off the top of my head - imagine some sleazy paparazzi snapping a photograph of the clearly underage Kid giving the clearly adult Cap a smooch on the roof of the JSA Brownstone one night. Scandals galore, even though neither of them has really done anything wrong. We’re mixing up Cap’s squeaky-clean nature with perfectly natural hormones and the potential to appear like something he’s not, all while staying perfectly faithful to the spirit of the character. I’ve never seen Billy Batson treated better.
And now, on to that other Captain Marvel, the one written by Peter David, the one who (due to some legal hanky-panky I don’t even want try to recap) is the one who actually gets to star in a self-titled comic book, and who is at least the third Cap in Marvel continuity. How’s he being treated these days? Well, a while back he opened up his funky cosmic awareness a bit too much, absorbed pretty much all of the knowledge in the universe and basically went insane.
This has, admittedly, made for some great stories along the way. But, darn it all, it’s not something I think is going to make the character an icon the way DC’s Cap is, even if the man on the street thinks his name is “Shazam.” (Ironically, I think Peter David himself gave the best treatment of her career to Billy’s sister, Mary Marvel, in the penultimate story arc of the unjustly cancelled Supergirl series.)
I really dug David’s treatment of Genis Mar-Vell in the previous incarnation of the series, before the U-Decide stunt (which David handily, and deservedly, won). It was a funnier book at the time, and admittedly, it focused more on Rick Jones, to whom Genis is bonded, than on Cap himself. Some people even complained that Cap was often a supporting character in the book that bore his name. This is true, but I would counter that it worked when Shakespeare did it to Julius Caeser.
Not to say the direction the title has gone since U-Decide is bad - David has taken a real chance and he’s telling very different, very unique stories.
But “different” and “unique,” ultimately, isn’t going to become iconic by itself.
The concept of Rick trying to reign in a lunatic with godlike powers was really, really interesting. In the first six-issue story arc. Then came the second story arc, guest-starring Thor, and it dawned on me that this wasn’t a change to Genis just for the duration of a storyline. This is a change with no end in sight. Possibly even a change with no end intended.
Sometimes a permanent change to a character can work really well (when Barbara Gordon became Oracle, for instance, she was suddenly a far more interesting character than when she was Batgirl). Sometimes, a change can get old. Fast. (COUGH*Supermanredsupermanblue*COUGH.) Frankly, I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be interested in reading the adventures of a cosmic-powered psychopath. The farther Genis walks down the path of madness, the less I seem to care about him. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad book, far from it. It’s just becoming less and less a book for me.
I’m still a fan of Peter David. I miss Supergirl every month. I can’t wait for Fallen Angel. But 50 years from now, I just don’t foresee people recalling of a list of the all-time great superheroes that includes Batman, Captain America and “Genis after he became a nutjob.”
Ah well. At least I can read a great version of Captain Marvel over in JSA.
Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the novel-in-progress ”Summer Love” at Evertime Realms. He’s also the co-host, with the inimitable Chase Bouzigard, of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcast. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms.
CONTRASTING THE CAPTAINS MARVEL
Part of what makes comic books so cool to me is the fact that many of the characters have a longevity and a continually-growing history that is virtually unparalleled in other media. Okay, so Mickey Mouse is older than Superman, but there have been new Superman comics nearly every month since April 1938. How many years was Mickey unemployed since his creation? Same goes for most TV shows and movie franchises - remember those 15 or so years between the first Star Trek TV show and the first movie where you had to make do with a goofy cartoon and a few sub-par Gold Key comics that few people remember and never gets invoked in current continuity? (You’ll notice, however, that in both of these cases, large gaps in their careers were filled by starring in comic books.)
Of course, not every comic book character is a keeper. (Who’s got this month’s new issue of Little Dot? Anyone?) What makes a character last is an interesting formula of originality, creativity, talent of the creators and how the character is treated once passed down to other writers and artists. That’s why this week we’re going to look at the current treatment of two characters with one name - one of comicdom’s longest-lived heroes and another relatively young buck trying to fit into a legacy of sorts. Yep. This week we’re going to talk about those who go by the name Captain Marvel.
I loved the Shazam! series Jerry Ordway did a few years back, but I can tell you exactly why it failed. Ordway relied too heavily on the character’s past, which was a heck of a lot of fun if you’re into that (I am), but was also one of the corniest comic mythologies ever conjured up. Sure, those of us who loved the character got a kick out of seeing anthropomorphic tigers and siblings who shared superpowers via a magic word, but it wasn’t the sort of thing that really draws in the crowds. Thank God Ordway never risked bringing in the Lieutenant Marvels… (“Hill Billy?” Even I know that was cheesy…)
As much as I loved the work of the Ordster, Billy Batson is currently getting some of the best treatment of his entire career in JSA (which, as of last week’s #48, is now officially longer-lasting than Ordway’s Power of Shazam! title). David Goyer and Geoff Johns have found a balance between the sheer “gee whiz,” good-natured innocence of the character and the modern sensibility that makes what’s probably the best superhero title on the stands. (I’ll be spoiling parts of JSA #48 in a few sentences, so if you haven’t read it yet, skip the next four paragraphs.)
The trick with this Captain Marvel is to create both a convincing teenager in Billy Batson and a convincing purehearted hero in his adult identity. Goyer and Johns have done it in such an obvious way that I can’t believe it’s never been done before (unless it was done in the golden or silver ages - I’ve only read the first two volumes of the Shazam! Archives and a handful of other stories): they gave him a crush. What’s more, they gave him a crush on a girl his own age instead of one of those adult women that have been known to throw themselves at Cap (Beautia Sivana, anyone?). Even better - they gave him a crush on a teammate, the Star-Spangled Kid. When you read this in the comic, it makes perfect sense - if you’re a healthy, All-American 16-year-old boy that frequently hangs out with a cute blonde your own age that runs around in patriotic spandex, your heart is bound to melt. (Sure, you’ll spend some energy admiring the strategically-placed window in Power Girl’s costume, but when the time comes to ask someone to the Prom, it’s no contest.)
They mixed it up further last week by dropping Cap and the Kid, alone together, in the Shadowlands, where he’s cut off from his power and, not coincidentally, she learns his secret. And her reaction? Not disgust. Not fright. Not anger. Just that it must be really cool to be him, and that this Billy seems like a pretty good guy.
I really hope they run with this character story once the action arc wraps up in issue #50 - I can see so many story possibilities in this. Just off the top of my head - imagine some sleazy paparazzi snapping a photograph of the clearly underage Kid giving the clearly adult Cap a smooch on the roof of the JSA Brownstone one night. Scandals galore, even though neither of them has really done anything wrong. We’re mixing up Cap’s squeaky-clean nature with perfectly natural hormones and the potential to appear like something he’s not, all while staying perfectly faithful to the spirit of the character. I’ve never seen Billy Batson treated better.
And now, on to that other Captain Marvel, the one written by Peter David, the one who (due to some legal hanky-panky I don’t even want try to recap) is the one who actually gets to star in a self-titled comic book, and who is at least the third Cap in Marvel continuity. How’s he being treated these days? Well, a while back he opened up his funky cosmic awareness a bit too much, absorbed pretty much all of the knowledge in the universe and basically went insane.
This has, admittedly, made for some great stories along the way. But, darn it all, it’s not something I think is going to make the character an icon the way DC’s Cap is, even if the man on the street thinks his name is “Shazam.” (Ironically, I think Peter David himself gave the best treatment of her career to Billy’s sister, Mary Marvel, in the penultimate story arc of the unjustly cancelled Supergirl series.)
I really dug David’s treatment of Genis Mar-Vell in the previous incarnation of the series, before the U-Decide stunt (which David handily, and deservedly, won). It was a funnier book at the time, and admittedly, it focused more on Rick Jones, to whom Genis is bonded, than on Cap himself. Some people even complained that Cap was often a supporting character in the book that bore his name. This is true, but I would counter that it worked when Shakespeare did it to Julius Caeser.
Not to say the direction the title has gone since U-Decide is bad - David has taken a real chance and he’s telling very different, very unique stories.
But “different” and “unique,” ultimately, isn’t going to become iconic by itself.
The concept of Rick trying to reign in a lunatic with godlike powers was really, really interesting. In the first six-issue story arc. Then came the second story arc, guest-starring Thor, and it dawned on me that this wasn’t a change to Genis just for the duration of a storyline. This is a change with no end in sight. Possibly even a change with no end intended.
Sometimes a permanent change to a character can work really well (when Barbara Gordon became Oracle, for instance, she was suddenly a far more interesting character than when she was Batgirl). Sometimes, a change can get old. Fast. (COUGH*Supermanredsupermanblue*COUGH.) Frankly, I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be interested in reading the adventures of a cosmic-powered psychopath. The farther Genis walks down the path of madness, the less I seem to care about him. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad book, far from it. It’s just becoming less and less a book for me.
I’m still a fan of Peter David. I miss Supergirl every month. I can’t wait for Fallen Angel. But 50 years from now, I just don’t foresee people recalling of a list of the all-time great superheroes that includes Batman, Captain America and “Genis after he became a nutjob.”
Ah well. At least I can read a great version of Captain Marvel over in JSA.
Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the novel-in-progress ”Summer Love” at Evertime Realms. He’s also the co-host, with the inimitable Chase Bouzigard, of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcast. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms.