Comic of the Week - Shazam! #8

The Shazam! Comic of the Week is Shazam! #8 which was published on September 11, 1973  and had a cover date of December 1973.  

This issue was a 100 page Super Spectacular!  All the stories are from various Captain Marvel comics from the 1940s, there were no new stories at all.  

The first story, "A Twice Told Tale", was originally printed in Captain Marvel Adventures #80 (October 29, 1947).  

The second story, "Captain Marvel Introduces Mary Marvel", which was originally printed in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (November 3, 1942).

The third story, "The Mighty Marvels Join Forces" was originally published in Marvel Family Comics #1 (November 21, 1945) and introduced us to Black Adam!

The fourth story, "The Vest Pocket Levitator" is a Captain Marvel Jr tale that came from the pages of Captain Marvel Jr #14 (November 19, 1943).

The fifth story is a Mary Marvel adventure, "The Dog Nappers" which was originally published in Mary Marvel #17 (August 8, 1947).

Our sixth story is "The Adventure in Time" which came from Captain Marvel Adventures #71 (January 31, 1947) and featured the Lieutenant Marvels.  

The final two stories are "The Talking Tiger" and "The Return of Mr. Tawny" which are both stories about Captain Marvel's friend, Tawky Tawny the talking tiger!  These stories were originally published in Captain Marvel Adventures #79 (September 26, 1947) and Captain Marvel Adventures #82 (December 31, 1947).  

The final feature of the comic is the Super Spectacle letter page which featured letters from readers with the editor's response.

This was a good collection of stories and followed DCs strategy of reprinting stories to give the comic readers of the '70s some insights into the characters and adventures from Captain Marvels golden age.

Comic of the Week - Shazam! #6

The Shazam! comic of the week is Shazam! #6 which published on July 19, 1973 and had a cover date of October 1973.

This comic featured two new Captain Marvel stories and one golden-age adventure featuring the Marvel Family.  What's special to me about this issue is this was my very first Captain Marvel comic I ever purchased - it's the comic that introduced me to the World's Mightiest Mortal!  The pictures in this article are from my copy that I've fortunately held on to all these years.  It has a rolled spine and some staining, but to me it's a treasure I will not part with!

The first story pits Captain Marvel against his long-time nemesis - Dr. Sivana - in the story, "Better Late Than Never!"  The world's maddest scientist goes toe to toe with the World's Mightiest Mortal!

The second story is "Dexter Knox and his Electric Grandmother."  Please note that Dexter Knox, the boy scientist, also appeared in Cap's golden-age comics.  For example, he appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #135 in the story, "Captain Marvel and the Mystery of the Space Switch!" (June 4, 1952)

The third story is a reprint from Marvel Family #53 (September 22, 1950) entitled, "The Man Who Changed the World."  This story wasn't complete in this issue and readers were advised it would be concluded in the next!

Another feature of this comic is the "Shazamail" section.  There were a few letters written by Cap's golden age fans that seem to be enjoying Cap's new adventures.  One very interesting letter concerns Black Adam!  I was totally surprised that even though he was only in one golden age comic, fans remembered him and wondered if he'd be back in the 1970's editions!

My favorite story from this issue is "Better Late Than Never!"  It's always good to see Cap and Sivana battle - and have Sivana lose again!

The Source of Black Adam's Powers

Black Adam makes his return in Shazam! #28.  Within these pages we learn that while Shazam gave Black Adam his powers, they came from different sources than Captain Marvel's!

The wizard Shazam reveals that Black Adam received his powers from Egyptian gods.  Here are the gods and what powers they gave to Black Adam:

• Shu (god of air and supporter of sky) - Stamina
• Hershef (the Egyptian Hercules) - Strength
• Amon (king of the gods) - Power
• Zehuti (god of wisdom) - Wisdom
• Anpu (conductor of the dead) - Speed
• Menthu (god of war) - Courage

Notice they still spell out Shazam and they are the same powers (stamina, strength, power, wisdom, speed, courage) given to Captain Marvel.

Black Adam was given the same powers as Captain Marvel, but from different sources.  And, as we learned in Marvel Family #1, he let these powers corrupt him and that ultimately led to his banishment by Shazam.  (You can read about it here!)