The Summer 2021 Box of Comics

If there's one great thing about ebooks and electric comics is that you can carry potentially your entire library on vacation. 

But that wasn't always the case back in the days before Kindles and iPads. No, back then, you'd have to be judicious with what you wanted to read while on vacation because you'd have to carry everything. In my adulthood, I would spend almost as much time deciding on what books and magazine to bring on a vacation as I did on my entire vacation's wardrobe. I know I'm not alone here. I mean, as much as I enjoyed the 800-page, hard cover history book was I reading, there was no way it found it's way into my backpack for reading on a plane. 

Before adulthood, however, there was another factor that determined what we might bring on a vacation: our parents. I remember my youth in the 70s when we'd go on vacation, my parents would not let me take EVERY comic I owned. Even as an only child, it was just not feasible to bring them all. A friend of mine were talking this week and he mentioned his mom told him he could only bring ten comics on their annual trips. He always prioritized the 100-page giants and the like so he could maximize his reading experience. I did something similar. 

Most of the time, those issues would have a then-current story backed with multiple reprints ranging from the 1940s to the 1960s. In an era where back issues were few and far between, these issues rocked. Well, unless is some crappy story feature Prince Valiant or some Viking nonsense. Didn’t like it then. Still don’t. 

Summer 2021

One of my summer projects is to catalog all my comics. I’m almost done. A nice side effect was seeing all these old issues. Some of them have distinct memories associated with them. Others—many others—do not. In fact, I started culling many issues. “Why the heck did I buy that one?” I asked myself more than once.

Seeing all these issues made me want to read them again. Sure, I could keep all my long boxes in the front room all summer, but I think we know how that would go over with the rest of the family. So I made my own Summer 2021 comic box. I’ll probably go back and pull a few other issues, but mainly, the titles I want to read are in this box.

Those thicks ones are those awesome black-and-white reprints where you get 500 pages of comics in a single volume, the modern equivalent to those old 100-page giants.

I’ve been reading through the Master of Kung Fu collection for a little while, but I’ve sped up knowing the movie is on its way. The others are just hankering I’ve been having: 70s-era Marvel books I never read back in the day.

Marvel also published eight magazine-sized Doc Savage issues, all black-and-white. I have them all, but I’ve only read the first one.

This is one where I remember buying it but have zero memory of it. I like the 70s and 80s when comics artists and writers would just try anything, like apparently making a quarterback into a super hero. Sure.

I have a ton of Superman tiles, second only to Batman. But this Time and Time Again series is something that looks interesting.

Then there are titles like this. Have to read it for the historical value.

I discovered a few X-Files comics which are in the box, but that also led to re-discover this entry where the Dark Knight is abducted. 

This issue of Detective is one of the earliest I ever had. Can’t remember the story, but I will this summer. You can see the frayed edges of a well-loved book.

I’ve got a few novels lined up to read, but I think the Summer of 2021 will be comic heavy.

So, did your parents limit the number of novels and comics for your trips? Did you get to buy some on the road? And what specific comics can you remember reading during the summers?

Searching for the Yellow Paper and Finding a Gold Mine

I wanted it to be like it used to be, back in the day.

If you read this blog, I wax nostalgic about a lot of things. Ever since last year's 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, I've been in a forty-years-ago vibe. Not sure why. It's likely because 1980 was one of the big transition years: graduated elementary school and started middle school. Sure, getting to high school's a big deal, but for me, this was a huge one. It was the first time I went to a new school (I attended Chambers Elementary in Alief all six years), I started learning to play the saxophone, and it was a new decade.

Part of that forty-years-ago vibe is comics, and recently, I picked up my copies of The New Teen Titans. I am enjoying them and aim to keep re-reading them, now with my adult outlook on life.

As Inauguration Day 2021 occurred this past Wednesday, another image came to mind: Inauguration Day 1981. The teachers wheeled the TV into the classroom for us all to watch the swearing in of Ronald Reagan. By the way, for those old enough, was there ever a better thing to see when you entered a classroom than a TV or a film projector? You know the answer.

It was one of the first split screens I had ever witnessed. The American hostages, imprisoned for 444 days, were released on 20 January 1981, after Reagan was sworn in. I have no memory of what I thought on that day, but everything just seemed brighter. Throw in the space shuttle Columbia's inaugural launch in April and the spring of 1981 was a pretty good season for a sixth grader.

By 1981, I had already discovered the two comic book stores here in Houston: Roy's Memory Shop and Third Planet. My family didn't go out shopping during the week too often, so Saturdays were the days that included Shipley's Do-Nuts, Saturday morning cartoons, and trips to the comic store to pick up a few issues using my allowance. Great times.

Cut to this past Saturday. After I consumed some Shipley's do-nuts and watched Saturday morning cartoons on MeTV (and Wandavision), my son and I planned on going to Half Price Books. It had been awhile and we were both looking for some new-to-us music. But I also made a little promise to myself. I would look through the comic book section and buy an old comic. It didn't matter what it was or if there was only one. It didn't matter that I could easily download old comics on my iPad. It didn't matter that I could order a collection via Amazon and have it delivered.

I wanted to buy a comic, just like the old days.

How would I know what comic to buy? Easy. Just look for the yellowed paper.

Half Price gets comics of all shapes and sizes. Some are bagged and most are modern comics, so it's pretty easy to spot the older ones. Plus, those thick annuals are even more of a treasured find. A 64-page comic for a dollar? In fact, it was one of those that first caught my eye. A Bloodlines annual from 1993. Holy cow. When did a 1990s-era comic become old enough to be yellowed?

But a few comics away in that very same row was a group of comics, all with yellowing paper. My fingers walked to that stack and revealed the title: Atari Force #2. My fingers kept walking. There was issue three, four, five. I started counting until I got to issue twenty, advertised on the cover as the final issue. I quickly went back to two and flipped the comic in front of it. Special #1.

Holy cow. This was the entire run of a comic title I remember from the 1980s but never read. Here I was awash in nostalgia for the early 80s and wanting to buy an old comic. Why not twenty?

Sold.

As it turned out, Special #1 was not, in fact, the first issue. It was an issue released a year after the run ended. But my son--not a comic book collector at all--had actually picked up a few Atari Force comics at a Free Comic Book Day a year or two ago. Viola! He had issue #1.

Serendipity. 

Atari Force was originally a 5-issue series created by Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, and Jose Garcia Lopez to accompany sales of Atari video game cartridges in 1982. This run started in October 1983 (cover date January 1984) and ran for twenty issues.

Just like the old day, I laid on the floor and read issues one and two and am already digging it. Where the letters column would have been was a short essay by editor Andy Helfer, bringing readers up-to-speed on what Atari Force was and is. Issue two has an origin story of the series penned by Conway along with Fact Files that focuses on the main characters, including major events in their lives. Fun to see some of those dates is still in our future here in 2021 while others are already in our past.

I'll write about the series when I finish, but one thing literally jumped off the page: Lopez's layouts. They are not always your standard number of squares on a page with white borders. He clearly had fun playing with borders and colors and styles and it's a joy to read.

What's also fun are the ads. From spaceship models based on Return of the Jedi and action figures based on DC properties like Warlord and Sgt. Rock (sold at Kmart) to Superman peanut butter and the NBC Saturday morning cartoon lineup (The Flintstone Funnies with Fred and Barney dressed as cops?), I enjoyed remembering those old days, even if for only a few minutes.

Year 5 of an Indie Writer: Week 6 AKA Gregg Hurwitz Week

Who knew this week would turn out to be Gregg Hurwitz Week for me?

The week started with Hurwitz's author event here in Houston. He showed up at Murder by the Book to promote his latest novel--and latest Orphan X thriller--INTO THE FIRE. Much of the author talk was typical--here's my full post--but I really appreciated the answer to one of my questions.

Since Hurwitz is new to me, I asked him how he scored his gig writing Batman comics early in the 2010s. His answer proved instructive to any creative, myself included.

After a brief stint at Marvel, DC Comics wooed Hurwitz with a tantalizing offer: you can write anything you want. Thinking of how THE KILLING JOKE is often referred to as the definitive Joker story, he wanted to write the definitive Penguin story. He got his chance, and, in 2011, PAIN AND PREJUDICE was released. The mini-series got such good press and fan reaction that DC offered Hurwitz a writing gig for one of the monthly Batman books. By opting for a true passion project, new opportunities opened up.

I told this story to my book club group on Tuesday, and one of my friends made an excellent point: you never know when a break might arrive, so you'd better have something in the hopper you can trot out when that break happens.

A day after my post, I put up my full review of ORPHAN X, the debut of Evan Smoak. I enjoyed it for being a different of thriller. Some of the best scenes in the book are the ones not to include action sequences. They are the ones in which Evan merely talks to people who live in his building, his daily life in his apartment, and fixing a drink. Weird, I know, but that's what makes ORPHAN X different, and makes me look forward to diving into the second book, THE NOWHERE MAN.

I closed out the week by reading the Penguin mini-series, PAIN AND PREJUDICE. I wanted to see what a definitive Penguin story looked like and did Hurwitz achieve what he set out to do. In short: yeah. The long version: my review.

A Positive Message About Being a Writer

I've mentioned how every Thursday, Kristine Kathryn Rusch publishes a post on the business aspects of the book business. This week was something different. Entitled "Business Musings: Optimism And The Writer," Rusch extols the virtues of having a positive attitude in this business, both behind the keyboard as you write, and in public as you talk about your stuff. Read the whole thing, but here's a portion of it.

The most optimistic among us do play and make things up for the rest of our lives.
The realistic optimists, that is. The ones who know that being the best at our job requires us to keep learning, keep trying, and keep striving. Who know that the best is just around the corner.
We believe this even when our luck is bad. When events have gone poorly for us. When life conspires against us. When we get that awful diagnosis that reminds us that our time on this earth is finite.
When we can see the end.
We still keep moving forward, and trying to be the best we can be.
Because writers—professional writers—are optimists. Realistic optimists, fighting against the odds, knowing that someone gets to succeed—and if someone does, it might as well be me. At least I’m trying.

And to tie it back to Hurwitz (you know Gregg Hurwitz Week) is this quote from Wayne Gretzky via Rusch:  “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Rusch continues:

The core of any unusual profession—from writer to hockey player—is embodied in that quote. The math is pretty simple: You can’t succeed if you don’t try.
But what gets you to try? Optimism. That tiny thread of hope that this time, it’ll work. This time, the stars will align, the final bit of craft will come together, the last bit of effort will pay off.
And if it doesn’t—we’ll try again.
And again.
Until the end of (our) time.

Easily written. Sometimes difficult to believe and internalize.

Late in the week, I ran across an interview with Scott Snyder about writing comics. He said this:

"You can only write the story today that you’d like to pick up and read the most. It doesn’t have to be the smartest, it doesn’t have to be the most action-packed, but whatever it is that would change your life today that you would pick up and be like, “I love this story,” that’s the one you have to go write."

See how it all ties together? Write the best thing you can possibly write at any given time--the one thing you'd like to read--and have fun with it. Repeat.

Music of the Week: Texas Sun by Leon Bridges and Khruangbin 

Yesterday, a four-song EP dropped featuring this new soul singer out of Ft. Worth, Texas, and this three-piece band from Houston. They toured together last year and ended up making some music. Lots and lots of influences you can hear, from early 1070s Miles Davis and Marvin Gaye to dreamy psychedelic pop. Been hearing the title track for a month now. Five dollars at Amazon gets you the digital tunes, $4 if you like what you hear and want to purchase direct from Khruangbin. https://khruangbin.bandcamp.com/album/texas-sun

Here's the title track.

Is Pain and Prejudice the Definitive Penguin Story?

At a recent author event promoting his latest novel INTO THE FIRE, Gregg Hurwitz was asked how he became one of the writers on a monthly Batman comic book. His answer was simple: I wanted to write the definitive Penguin story.

Can You Name a Penguin Comic Story?

He made an interesting couple of points in discussing his Penguin mini-series, Pain and Prejudice. One was The Killing Joke. For nearly every comic reader, that 1989 one-shot by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland is the definitive story on the Joker and his backstory. To Hurwitz's mind, Oswald Cobblepot, AKA The Penguin, didn't have one. I've been reading comics for forty-five years, and the only Penguin thing that comes to mind is the cover of Batman #228 that I owned (and still own) as a child...yet I can't think of the story at all.

Granted, I can easily remember numerous Penguin episodes from the Adam West Batman TV series from the 1960s. Who doesn't think of Burgess Meredith when you hear about Batman's rogue, The Penguin?

In fact, the more I thought of it, the only other Penguin story that comes to mind is Batman Returns, the 1992 Tim Burton film. I can't even narrow down a Penguin-centric episode from The Animated Series. Yes, the Penguin was a central figure from the TV show Gotham, but I only watched the first season, but I enjoyed what I saw of Robin Lord Taylor's performance.

But when it comes to the comics, I honestly can't think of a Penguin story.

Hurwitz was onto something.

Is The Penguin Sane?

The other, and more interesting point, was Hurwitz's comment that the Penguin was the only sane Batman villain. That one gave me pause. Clearly the Joker is bonkers. Ra's al Ghul is insane only insofar as what he wants to accomplish. The Riddler had a makeover a decade or so ago into a hyper-intelligent adversary to Batman, but insane? Not sure. Two-Face? Probably. 

The only argument I could make for a sane villain is Mr. Freeze, the version created by Paul Dini. He was driven to find a cure to save his wife, making him commit crimes to fund his research. Oh, and Catwoman. Almost every version, she's just on the edge of criminality.

But the point is well taken: Penguin is unique among the rogues gallery. So how does Pain and Prejudice hold up?

Pain and Prejudice: The Mini-Series

With art by Szymon Kudranski, Hurwitz delivers a five-part mini-series published in 2011, soon after the huge New 52 event (when DC Comics restarted its universe). Oswald Cobblepot is a crime boss, no a crime lord. In dark-hued panels, we get to see how Cobblepot rules his empire: through fear and whispers. What Cobblepot wants, Cobblepot gets.

Interspersed through the main story, Hurwitz gives us flashbacks to Oswald's upbringing and childhood. We learn the events that made him the formidable crime lord he is, and what he did to get there. The color palette for the present-day story is very dark and black. The flashbacks, however, are sepia tone. Nice touch.

What's compelling is the fear that runs through the story. You see how people stumble over themselves to stay in the Penguin's good graces. You also see how he deals with those who cross him, even if the cross is merely a mis-stated word. The Penguin doesn't do anything to you. He just does things to your family.

What changes the story is when Batman shows up. Now, everyone can see what Cobblepot himself truly fears. Not only that, his stature is diminished by Batman. Now, Cobblepot's hatred grows.

A side story is his own yearning to look good and be accepted. He's still the craggy nosed guy you see in the Animated Series and other comics (and a little of Danny DeVito's version minus the flipper hands) He has no love life until he meets Cassandra, a blind woman who views herself as something less than perfect (as do others who make fun of her). Definitely playing up the 'prejudice' aspect of the title.

Hurwitz gives us good dialogue between Cassandra and Oswald and the budding relationship. But Oswald won't let her touch his face in order for her to "see" him. He prefers she keep her image of him as perfect as possible. The panel Kudranski draws when Cobblepot realizes this is almost heartbreaking. Almost. We are talking a ruthless criminal here.

Naturally, Cobblepot's machinations afoul of Batman and there is a confrontation. Along the way, however, we see the genesis of the monocle, the umbrellas, and why he loves birds and penguins so much. He's got a knack for gadgets so there are things Batman must fight. Throughout this sequence--and, indeed, the entire run--the art is fantastic. I especially loved the onomatopoeia of the sound effects.

The Verdict

So, is Pain and Prejudice the definitive story of Oswald Cobblepot, AKA The Penguin? Yeah, it is. Hurwitz and Kudranski give us not just a story of a hero and villain, but of two antagonists, filled with depth and pathos (well, at least from Cobblepot's point of view). We know Batman's story, and I like how he's used here. He is The Other, the shadowed one, the more perfect man opposite Cobblepot's shorter, imperfect specimen.

I enjoyed Pain and Prejudice. Now I want to read the other Batman titles Hurwitz wrote to see how he handled The Dark Knight himself as well as other members of the Bat-Family.

Gregg Hurwitz in Houston

Sometimes an author can deliver a sales pitch so good, you can't wait to see what he's talking about.

Gregg Hurwitz may be a new-to-me author, but I wasn't sure what to expect when he showed up at Houston's Murder by the Book on the first Monday in February. He was the author of twenty-one books--a fact on which he corrected me when I asked him  a pair of questions--so clearly many are reading.

Turned out the answer was a capacity crowd. By the time I walked in the door at 6:15 pm, there were no more seats. Didn't bother me. I have a standing desk at the day job, so I was perfectly fine with standing. I was even more excited to find stacks of the second Orphan X novel, THE NOWHERE MAN. You see, I'm new to Hurwitz's fiction and, as discussed in a prior post, was having the devil of a time securing a copy of the second book in the series. Leave it to Houston's best mystery bookstore to have my back.

The folks at Murder by the Book are nothing if not prompt, so a tad after 6:30, Hurwitz, dressed in black jeans, black shoes, and a black pullover took to the microphone. It's a never-ending trait of author events when you finally see these men and women in person, you realize they're just regular folks. You may be an engineer, a stay-at-home parent, a marketing writer, or an electrician, but these authors are just doing a job. Granted, their job is to make up stories for a living, but it still requires the nuts-and-bolts aspect of sitting down and hammering on a keyboard until they get to a 'the end.'

Hurwitz was the rare author who actually brought notes with him. It told me he was prepared for the evening and knew what he wanted to say. A professional, in short. Have to admire that.

His spiel centered on INTO THE FIRE, his newest novel and the fifth Orphan X novel to feature the character of Evan Smoak. He talked about where Evan finds himself at the novel opens, and the setup for the person who makes the fateful call to the Nowhere Man. Hurwitz discussed some of the returning characters, some I recognized having just read the first book in the series--ORPHAN X (my review)--and others I hadn't met yet.

I've only read the first book and it resonated with me. I knew why, but it was a phrase Hurwitz used that crystallized it: "We never see James Bond go home. We never see Jason Bourne have an awkward conversation." In short, we never see our famous professional killers in an everyday environment. It was that very aspect of ORPHAN X I loved the most. Sure, Evan was going to take out every bad guy he encounters no matter the personal cost, but his conversations with the old lady who lives in the apartment above him or the single mom a few floors below were some of my favorite parts.

After a short reading, Hurwitz took questions. It was cool to see a fellow Houstonian be recognized by the author by name. She was clearly a long-time fan. As an author myself, those are the best. She asked about the character Max (I think that's what she said) who is the one who calls on Evan for help in INTO THE FIRE. The new novel was released last Tuesday and clearly she'd already flown through it. She wasn't the only one. Hurwitz's answer focused on the difference between stories featuring a hero vs. a villain and a tale with a protagonist and an antagonist. There is a distinction. Remember: the best villains are the ones in which they think they're the hero of their own tale. There is room for nuance and character building. Conflict naturally comes from the clash of two protagonists who naturally become antagonists.

Late in the Q&A session, I got in two. The first was how he came to dream up and write ORPHAN X. At the time (2016), he had been writing professionally for over fifteen years. Did he always want to create a franchise character that would appeal to a broad audience? He answered by saying he dreamed up the concept of Evan Smoak years before the book was written and published, but he specifically wrote three other books in between. He needed Smoak to percolate in his mind. By the time he came to write the first book in the series, he and his talents were ready. The success of the series is proof that marinating with an idea can yield spectacular results.

Although I am new to Hurwitz's novels, it wasn't until I had finished ORPHAN X and did a little research that it finally clicked where I knew his name: he wrote Batman comics. I asked him how he got the Batman gig. His answer proved instructive to any creative, myself included.

After a brief stint at Marvel, DC Comics wooed Hurwitz with a tantalizing offer: you can write anything you want. Thinking of how THE KILLING JOKE is often referred to as the definitive Joker story, he wanted to write the definitive Penguin story. He got his chance, and, in 2011, PAIN AND PREJUDICE was released. The mini-series got good press and fan reaction that DC offered Hurwitz a writing gig for one of the monthly Batman books. By opting for a true passion project, new opportunities opened up.

I stayed in line, talking with some of the folks. A couple thanked me for asking the question about the comic books. They had no idea. Maybe they'll head to Bedrock City or Third Planet and track down Hurwitz's comics. One lady learned I was a writer as we discussed Hurwitz's material and I gave her my website address. Who knows? Maybe I gained a reader.

Hurtwitz certainly did. I've enjoyed witnessing my wife's reading habits. When she discovers and author with an extensive back catalog, she plows through them all. Now I've found one myself. Twenty more books to go.

I got Hurwitz's signature in THE NOWHERE MAN and am eager to read it. I really enjoy Evan Smoak as a character and Hurwitz's writing style. Then there's that one intriguing little thing Hurwitz mentioned about the end of INTO THE DARK that hooked me even more: "The last three words change everything."

How's that for a sales pitch?

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 30

Prolific writer Dean Wesley Smith calls summer the Time of the Great Forgetting. It’s that part of the year in which all those New Year’s Resolutions authors made to write more content slowly fades away. Come Labor Day, they’ll wake up, realize they blew a 97-day time to progress on their work, and likely feel depressed. Smith has a cure for that here.

For me, it’s not so much a great forgetting as a dividing of focus. There’s a project I’m working on—the same one I mentioned last week, the one about a filmmaker’s work—that’ll go live the first full week of August. It’s grown more than a bit, but it’s a blast to do. Looking forward, the bulk of the work on this project will be done by mid August, and from then on, it’ll just be rolling out on a weekly basis.

And there might be a video component. Stay tuned.

But said filmmaker’s body of work has also inspired to write a novel that is completely different than anything I’ve ever written. I’m making slow but steady progress on it, with an aim for publication this fall. I’m not forgetting.  Are you?

One Name to Rule Them All

Back in 2015 when I started publishing my mystery novels, I used my full name. When I came around and started publishing Westerns, I kept full name. Over time, as I listened and learned how other writers conducted their businesses, I decided to segment my books with a separate pen name for the Westerns, S. D. Parker. The idea was Also-Boughts and the algorithms churning underneath the facades of all the various online bookstores. Made sense at the time.

But over time, my thinking has evolved. When I ask veteran writers the question about pen names, almost all of them suggest using a single name, no matter then genre. As long as the covers are genre-specific with genre-specific SEO and blurbs, it’ll ultimately be better to have a single name and put everything under it.

I was leaning that direction, but over the summer, I have decided to bring the Westerns under the Scott Dennis Parker name. It’s not a big deal, really. All it means is that I’ll have to de-list the S. D. Parker books, slightly change the covers and internal front matter, and then republish.

If someone finds my work via Westerns and they like mysteries, they’ll have an easy transition. The reverse is also true.

More importantly, however, is the idea that a business can change as trends and new ideas emerge. Nothing wrong with that.

Having everything under one name will make all grunt work of file management much more streamlined.  I’m even contemplating bringing all my stories under the Draft2Digital universe. I’ve got most of them there now and they truly make it a no-brainer. just this week, I’ve been sending them questions about the procedures for changing my author name. They get back to me with personalized answers within a day. Customer service goes a long way.

Anyone else use Draft2Digital? If not, I certainly recommend them.

Interview of the Week: Paul Levitz

Dan Greenfield, over at the wonderful 13th Dimension website, re-posted his 2015 interviews with Levitz in honor of the longtime editor/writer’s induction into the Eisner Hall of Fame at Comicon this year.

They talk about his tenure as the sole Batman editor starting in 1978. Great behind-the-scenes stuff.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Batman '89 Comic Adaptation

In those pre-Internet days, you had two choices if you wanted to experience a film: see it over and over (I did) or purchase the novelization (I also did). But what if you wanted to see the movie when you were at home? Well, that's where comic book adaptations come into play.

Finding My Copies

I have all my comics in comic boxes. The large majority of them, especially the ones I purchased prior to 2000, are all bagged. My younger self also arranged them in order, with Batman titles filling at least half the boxes. But over the years of me wanting to read this or that, I would scour the boxes, looking for whatever. As a result, the boxes are not always in the same order. Naturally, when it came time for me to search through my boxes looking for both versions of the comic adaptation (Baxter format and regular paper), they were in the last box.

The Big Guns

To adapt Batman '89, DC Comics brought in some of the biggest names in the business. Writer Dennis O'Neil was, along with artist Neal Adams, responsible for bringing the darkness back to the Batman comics in the early 70s. The Adam West TV show had made Batman a bright, sunny character and that take moved into the comic books. Not after O'Neil and Adams took control. Who better to write the movie version doing the same thing?

Jerry Ordway was the artist working on Superman at the time (and future Shazam writer/artist) with a  distinctive style easily seen in a panel or two. What he brought to the Batman movie special was photo-realistic pencils sketches of the actual actors and gorgeous layouts.

Nipping and Tucking

With only 64 pages, O'Neil and Ordway needed to trim the 126-minute film down. But they also had to showcase--ahead of the actual movie premier and audience reactions--what they thought would be good scenes. Thus the big fight scene between Batman and Joker's goons after the museum escape is completely gone. Gone, too, is Michael Keaton's iconic declaration "I'm Batman" in the opening.

Cool Additions

Yet O'Neil and Ordway add things that were likely in the script but which didn't make it on screen. In the moment where Joker takes over the TV airwaves, in the movie and comic, you see a guy tied to a chair with the words "Not an Actor" flashing on screen. Well, in the comic, Joker spoons Smilex liquid into the man's mouth...and kills him. Pretty dark stuff for a movie, but one with a visceral impact.

In the finale, when Joker is throwing out his guaranteed "free money," a character (who resembles the way Ordway drew Clark Kent) looks at the cash. It was Joker's face...on a one dollar bill. That would have been a nice addition to the film.

The most interesting addition is at the end just after Commissioner Gordon finds Joker's dead body, they also find Batman's cape and cowl. When they lift it, reporter Alex Knox is under it. He quips, "Can I still make the late addition?" as we see a mask-less Bruce Wayne sneaking away. Perhaps the novelization covers this, but does that mean Knox is in on the secret? Pretty much implies it.


I know I read the comic a few times before I put it away in its bag decades ago. I saw the movie enough times and read the novelization to get large chunks of the story memorized (still thirty years later), but I always enjoyed the comic. O'Neil and Ordway were fantastic, and they made a book that can stand alongside the blockbuster movie.

Free Comic Book Day 2019: The Haul

I spent the bulk of my selections of free comic books selecting things I'd never heard of except for the DC comics ones. But the two stores I went to in Houston--The Pop Culture Company and Bedrock City-- also yielded some interesting finds.

Probably the most fun comic was a Shazam 100-page giant. What great timing considering I just had a Shazam-themed month of posts.

I've heard good things about Denny O'Neil's run of The Question, and I picked up volume 1.

I love Hard Case Crime but have never read one of their comics. Now I have one.

Finally, a pair of books devoted to pulp fiction. One is Don Hutchison's book about pulp heroes while the second is a book called THE PULPS, published in 1970. Here, author Tony Goodstone actually read hundreds of pulps magazine and selected some representative samples. Looking forward to seeing what a guy in 1970 thought was a good sample.

So, what issues did you buy yesterday?

Superman the Movie: A Forty-Year Appreciation

[With the recent success of Shazam, I thought I'd revisit the first major superhero film.]

“You’ve got me! Who’s got you?”

Is this the best line in a superhero movie? Forty years on, when I think of SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, this is the first thing that comes to mind. And the helicopter rescue sequence associated with it. I waited in rapt attention for this scene because it is likely the quintessential Superman moment. It did not disappoint last night. In fact, as the goosebumps rippled over my arms, I got a tad emotional.

This was Superman.

The tagline of the movie was “You’ll believe a man could fly.” Here’s the thing with Christopher Reeve’s performance: You’ll believe he really is Superman. Maybe it was my ten-year-old self seeing this hero on the big screen for the first time, but of all the actors who have played Superman, Reeve is the one who made me believe it was actually a man from another planet. Who was also from Kansas. And it did it all with acting. No CGI. No special effects. Just Reeve, in costume, changing his voice and posture, making you believe Clark Kent and Superman were different people.

Speaking of Clark, Reeve sells himself as the bumbling country boy from Kansas to a T. I really loved his sly winks *to himself* when he, say, catches the bullet or when he shows up, as Clark, in Lois’s apartment after flying over the city with her as Superman. There’s a reason Reeve’s version of Clark is also probably the best out there…although Henry Cavill, if given a chance, could have done it well. But, again, he would be channeling Reeve, too.

He and Margot Kidder exudes chemistry. I really appreciate how she, in 1978, portrayed Lois Lane as a modern woman, smoker, working in a newsroom which had been a mostly males club for so long, but one who still needs a little help when she’s hanging out of a helicopter. She’s always out for the hustle, making sure she’s on the front lines. The rooftop interview scene is so good. You even get Superman basically falling in love with Lois on screen. Heck, both of them. And he’s not saving her from some giant robot. They are just talking and acting. Let’s be honest: in this day and age, when you have lots of side projects on TV, how cool would it have been to have had a Lois Lane TV show with Kidder?

I’m not sure who made the call—actor or director or scriptwriter—but, for my money, having Lex Luthor be humorous is genius. Yes, it’s likely a product of the times, but Gene Hackman’s portrayal of Luthor is probably the best. The only other one I truly enjoy is Clancy Brown’s sinister version in Superman: The Animated Series. But Hackman’s Luthor is sinister in his own way. When he delivers the line “By causing the deaths of innocent people,” you honestly believe it. I enjoyed seeing him make deductions and use his intelligence to figure out Superman’s weakness. Lastly, In an age when every aspect of a franchise has its own backstory, I don’t always need a backstory. But I would enjoy at least learning how Luthor and Otis got together.

Oh, is Ned Beatty’s Otis the only henchman in superhero movies who has his own theme song? It reminded me of the theme for Jabba the Hutt which would arrive five years later.

The music. John Williams was at the height of his powers in 1978. Star Wars and Close Encounters and Jaws were already under his belt. So were three Oscars. I haven’t heard the entire score is so long that it came out of the speakers fresh and new. Look, I know his Star Wars theme, his Raiders of the Lost Ark theme, and the ET flying theme are all good and light and positive, but is it possible to hear the Superman March without a grin on your face? I don’t think so. The Krypton music is eerie and otherworldly. The love theme is lush and romantic. And in sitting through the credits listening to the music, I found myself awash in greatness. I know there are folks who think Superman is the best soundtrack of Williams’s career. While I still hold Empire Strikes Back as my personal favorite (with Star Wars and Raiders close behind), I can certainly see their point.

On the subject of Krypton, I was again reminded of the very 70s-ness of it all. I have a great fondness of 70s SF films pre-Star Wars. The Krypton sequence fits perfectly in that pocket. Ditto for the flying sequence as Kal-El rockets off to earth. Oh, and the training montage.

As the opening credits rolled, I leaned over to my friend and said Superman: The Movie hit the jackpot with casting. Marlon Brando, of course, but Terrence Stamp, Glenn Ford, Jackie Cooper, Hackman, Beatty, Valerie Perrine, and Susannah York. To say nothing about then newcomers Reeve and Kidder. I can’t think of a single character who needed to be recast.

The first hour of the show is near perfection. We see Krypton, the trial and banishment of Zod, Ursa, and Nan (and the setting up of Superman II), and then the destruction of the planet. Now, forty years later, as a parent, the longing and desperation of Jor-El and Lara sending baby Kal into the void with only the hope that he would be safe is poignant. But the Smallville scenes? Holy cow. Those hit me. And those shots of Clark and Jonathan, his death, the funeral, and then Clark and Martha out in the field? You honestly forget you’re watching a superhero movie. Brilliant stuff.

Alas, the movie is not without its flaws. With an additional forty years of consuming stories—including writing my own—much of the latter half of the film is disjointed. It would have been so much better if there were words on screen like “Three week later…” or some such. As it is, the film comes off as almost happening in the same day. Which it doesn’t, but it feels that way.

But all that is nitpicking, especially when you get the best of both worlds: you get to see Superman doing super things—helping the bus on the bridge; making sure the railroad doesn’t derail; making a new dam—but then he turns back time and it’s all good. And with Luthor’s intelligence, you ever wonder if he figured out Superman changed time? Or would he merely realize his plans were foiled? Ditto for the other characters, too.

But that’s neither here nor there. They’re just fun things to ponder.

Forty years. Hard to believe and, yet, not. I was ten when I saw it in 1978. I’m nearly fifty now. Lots of life, lots of events, lots of other Superman stories, both in print and on screen. But this film remains a gold standard in superhero films and Superman films in particular. I’m keen on finding and watching the Donner cut of Superman II. I’ve never seen it, but always enjoyed Superman II. Superman The Movie is that perfectly placed film and story that straddles two eras: the Golden and Silver Age (and a little Bronze) of comics before the current era we’re in. It’s like a love letter to all that came before. From the vantage point of forty more years, it’s stature grows even more. Heck, as the credits rolled last night in the theater, applause erupted from the gathered few—young and old alike.

We now live in a golden age of superhero films. There’s nothing filmmakers cannot do when you couple their imagination with computer technology. Make no mistake: it’s awesome when we get to see Cavill’s version of Superman fly or punch Zod or slam into Doomsday. And I really enjoy The CW’s Superman as played by Tyler Hoechlin. And I watched Lois and Clark loving it…mostly. Didn’t watch Smallville.

But I think we can all agree that when you think of a live action Superman, one name comes to mind: Christopher Reeve. He was and is and will forever be Superman. He made me believe a man could fly in 1978. Forty years later, he still made me believe he’s the best Superman. And, despite its flaws, Superman The Movie is the best version of Superman on film.

[This was originally posted on 26 November 2018 over on my author site.]

When Cutting Up a Comic Book Was Charming

Recently I was reading through a comic published in 1976 and I was struck by something: DC Comics actively encouraged kids to destroy their comics.

Bicentennial Mania

To help celebrate the American Bicentennial summer, DC Comics published a total of 23 issues in June, July, and August 1976 with a special banner across the top that read “DC Comics Salutes the Bicentennial” in red, white, and blue. In the upper right corner was a number. Nice, huh?

Well, inside there’s a house ad. Here it is.

If you take a read, you’ll see that kids back then could get a free Superman belt buckle *if they cut out and sent in at least 25 cover headings*!

Yes, you would actually have to cut up the covers to 25 brand-new comics.

I did this sort of thing for Star Wars figures when I cut out and sent proofs of purchases to get my Boba Fett action figure. But those were cardboard boxes.

This situation was comic book covers. I’d like to think that, even then, I wouldn’t have done that. And even then, the comic book collector market was in full swing. Did they just not think comics from 1976 would be worth anything?

The Charm Factor

But here’s what I like about it now. I like the charm factor of it all. Over the decades, companies always had drives like this. “Eat 5 boxes of [insert cereal] and send in the box tops for [insert cool toy].” Yes, campaigns like this promoted binge buying, but it was actually kind of fun, no?

Do companies even do that anymore, or has our culture just moved on to kids simply asking parents to buy them whatever they want? Not sure, but at least by buying 25 DC Comics in the summer of ’76 or however many box tops of cereal, you felt like you were actually working for your prize.

The Power of Shazam by Jerry Ordway

Movie review? Check.
Treasury comic? Check.
Movie serial? Check.
TV show? Check.
All that's left are the comics. And what better place to start than 1994's graphic novel by Jerry Ordway?

Yet Another Revision to the Origin

The original of Captain Marvel was pretty solid for a large chunk of the character's history up to the early 1950s when Fawcett Comics stopped publication. After DC Comics brought Shazam into the DC universe in 1973, the origin was unchanged. Roy Thomas revamped the origin a bit in 1987, but Jerry Ordway updated the origin again in 1994.

Here's the funny thing: In our modern world of comic book movies trying to live and breathe in the real world, Ordway manages to straddle both the expectations of contemporary 1990s comic readers without jettisoning the sense of wonder from the 1940s. That is to say, he gives some cool backstory to some of the Marvel tropes we know and love while presenting said tropes in a fresh, new way.

Billy Batson's Parents Are Alive...

The story opens with archaeologists C.C. Batson and his wife, Marilyn, are exploring a heretofore hidden Egyptian temple. With them is Theo Adam. What's fascinating is C.C. looks like the future Captain Marvel so much that I had to double back and re-read the opening pages to verify it wasn't the actual Shazam outside his costume. Nope, it was Billy's dad. Already new stuff.

As you can imagine, when the trio uncover the secret tomb of Shazam, Adam gets a tad greedy. He steals a scarab from the crypt, kills C.C., then turns around and hunts down the wife. She's gone, too. Lastly, he kidnaps Billy's sister, Mary.

...And Now He's an Orphan

Billy's living on the streets of Fawcett City, a town that seems to draw its retro-future vibe from Batman: The Animated Series. You've got art deco buildings and cars seemingly from the 40s yet there's also a car with similar markings of a Ford Mustang. Either way, the city looks great in a timeless sort of way.

Hearkening back to the character's earliest days, Billy's earning meager wages selling papers. A stranger beckons him to follow him into the subway system. This, at least, is a consistent thread through all permutations of the Billy's origins. Surprisingly, the stranger, clad in trench coat and fedora pulled low on the forehead, looks an awfully lot like the deceased C. C.

In the magical caverns, Billy meets the aged wizard Shazam. We get a little backstory, filling in the  gap between his parents deaths and Billy's present living situation. Still, despite everything, Billy says the magic word and boom!

Captain Marvel's Still a Kid Inside

Like the current movie, when young Billy becomes the adult Captain Marvel, he's still got his kid brain inside. And he's really confused. He starts wrecking Shazam's cavern, attacking the old man as the wizard tries desperately to explain everything. He finally gets through, and we move onto the next act.

Sivanna as a Businessman

To jump to a different hero's story for a moment, when John Byrne revamped Superman's story and made Lex Luthor a businessman, it made perfect sense. Perhaps Ordway saw how well that worked for Superman and did the same for Sivanna. He's still the small, scrawny type, but he's like an evil Disney, wanting to use his money to put on a World's Fair. Naturally, we learn Theo Adam is on his bankroll, and, well, things don't go well from there.

A Smart Villain in Black Adam

When Shazam finally makes his appearance, Theo Adam recognizes him as C. C. Batson. And he puts two and two together, especially when he sees the big yellow lightening bolt on the uniform's chest. He returns to his lair and, wearing the scarab amulet stolen from Egypt, actually becomes Black Adam.

This is what I'm talking about when I say Ordway brings a modern sensibility to this story. In an actual 1940s comic, the villain would just be a villain. Here, Adam, an adult, figures things out. He's not just a bad guy trying to do bad guy things.

The Big Fight Feels Familiar

If you've seen the new movie, you realize the villain, Mark Strong's Sivanna, figures out Captain Marvel is really a child inside. He wants the power. Same here. But in 1994, Jerry Ordway did it first. And it's during this fight Billy finally realizes his true potential.

A Great Re-Introduction of Shazam to the DC Universe

In The Power of Shazam, Jerry Ordway gives a modern take on the origin of the first Captain Marvel. He brings modern sensibilities to the  storytelling while laying the groundwork for future stories. His art is, as always, instantly recognizable and gorgeous. He has a way of capturing the true emotions behind the characters at certain times. It can be sadness or, like this panel, remind you Billy is nothing more than a ten-year old kid.

Plus, like the new movie, this story makes you feel like a kid again, with all the whiz-bang verve of a classic comic. As a historian, I also really dug all the nods to the original time period, including the movie serial. Captain Marvel is basically a pulp character come to glorious life in the pages of comic books. Look again at the cover. It's a pulp magazine painting. The interior title page also just rings with a 1940s vibe. It looks like it could have been the title card for the movie serial.

With Houston's Comicpalooza arriving in a month, I'll be on the lookout for issues of The Power of Shazam. My guess is I won't be the only one.

Jerry Ordway Interviewed

Not coincidentally (considering the big movie debuted), Jerry Ordway sat down with Ralph Garman on Garman's The Ralph Report this week. Garman and Ordway chatted not only about The Power of Shazam, but other milestones in comic book history in which Ordway played a role. Great peek behind the curtain with a legendary creator.

The Ralph Report is a subscription-based podcast about which I'll write a full-review in the near future. I listen every day on my commute home. It is a funny, acerbic view of entertainment news, complete with recurring bits. It's not your standard podcast. It's a show, with high production values, and constant interactions between the hosts and the listeners. The podcast is definitely adult in tone, but Ralph and Vice Host, Eddie Pence, deliver every episode with humor and heart.

Shazam! TV Show - The Joy Riders

No Shazam-themed week would be complete without a glance at the 1970s TV show. Between the 1941 movie serial and the 2019 big-budget movie sat the small-screen exploits of Captain Marvel

The Introduction for Many a Kid

For most kids of my Gen-X Generation, the Shazam TV show was the first time we figured out who Captain Marvel was. Coming just a year or so after DC Comics started publishing the Shazam comic, the TV show starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson and Les Tremayne as Mentor. They travel the country (at least California) in an RV righting wrongs and helping kids make good decisions. I had a little Tonka-brand RV in the same color scheme and I imagined it was Batson's RV. But it didn't have that cool Shazam lightening bolt on the front.

In season 1, Jackson Bostwick starred as Captain Marvel and he's the one I remember. Heck, I even had the treasury-sized edition of Shazam with Bostwick standing on that rock. Yeah, I made that pose more than once, thank you very much.

I loved this show, and while I can't say I was there from day one, I certainly remember many a Saturday morning anchored in place to watch the Mightiest Mortal do his thing.

Filmation produced Shazam, the company that brought many a smile to kids' faces. You'd recognize a Filmation program by the spinning circle with the names of Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott going round and round.

Plus there was the same Saturday morning music cues, something I picked up on when I watched episode 1, "The Joy Riders."

The Premise of the Episodes

With each episode, the intro features a voice-over with "The Saturday Morning Cartoon Guy" (you'd recognize the voice if you're of a certain age) giving you the premise of the story, who Billy is, and who Captain Marvel is. Boom, you're good to go. Speaking of boom, when Michael Gray says the magic name, there's a huge lightening bolt that looks not too dissimilar from the bolt that you see in the "Gilligan's Island" intro. When you get the flash, the music changes and there, in front of your eyes, in color, is Shazam himself. Marvelous

The Joy Riders

I actually chuckled to myself when four young teenaged boys meet up at hamburger shack and talk about "borrowing" a car in which to ride around. Just imagine: in September 1974, that was one of the worst things you could do, or at least show on TV. It came across as quaint, in a kind of old-fashioned sitcom-y way, until I remembered I was the target audience at the time. Gulp.

One of the four boys, a red-headed kid named Chuck, isn't too keen on joining in on the stealing. He says what it is, but the other three laugh at him, call him chicken, before they careen away in the stolen car.

Moment before, Billy gets a message from The Elders. He's signaled via...the light ball? There, he hears about his task: he'll meet someone who will have trouble standing up to others, including his friends. The Elders are all animated, with only their mouths moving. How cool it was to hear Adam West's voice coming from one of them!

As you can imagine, Billy and Mentor try to help Chuck with the latter's feelings of inadequacy and fear of being labeled an outsider and his trio of friends turning their backs on him. Chuck's bike is even stolen, giving all four boys a tangible reminder of what they did with the first stolen car.

When the  boys boost another car and force Chuck in with them, it's time for Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel on Screen

Look, I've only seen two episodes of the 1941 movie serial and this episode of the 1975 TV show, but if I'm being honest, the flying sequences in the old serial are better. Granted, the TV show has to operate on a TV budget, but you'd think there'd be some improvement.

Bostwick gets around some of the quirks of editing by having Shazam land feet first. He is shown in the air actually changing his trajectory, so that when you next see the hero on the ground, he's already standing. One fantastic thing they did was film many of his close-ups outside, so you get to see the sunshine on Shazam's face, hair, and cape while the wind machine is cranked up.

The boys take refuge in an old van in a junk yard, and dang if there wasn't a giant claw crane angling to pick up the van. It does, and the boys yell. The Captain hears it and, with his super strength, pulls the van back down, allowing the boys to escape.

Now, it's lecture time.

The Moral of the Story

Look, I was the target audience. I was supposed to know right from wrong. I had great parents, but what about those kids that didn't. Well, the episode ends in two ways. One, Shazam singles out Chuck for his courage in saying no. Even the other three admit that. When the lead troublemaker asks if they're going to jail, Shazam doesn't have an answer. It's up to the juvenile authorities. Have to admit: love that. There's no getting out of jail free card here.

After the commercial break, Shazam is there and Bostwick gives the moral of the story: it's really hard to do the right thing, especially if other people--or your friends--start calling you names. The producers knew their audience and, perhaps encouraged by law, made sure to drive home the message. Cheesy? Perhaps, but not necessarily bad. Cartoons and kids' programming is one way to teach young people about life, and if they listen to Captain Marvel instead of their parents and stay out of trouble, then we're all good.

Conclusion

I have good memories of this show, including the time when it was paired with Isis for a full hour of live-action superhero goodness. Come to think of it, CBS also aired the Tarzan cartoon and, later, the Adventure Hour with Zorro and the Lone Ranger. The network had a good amount of action cartoons. Makes me wonder if I was primarily a Channel 11 guy (the Houston affiliate) on Saturday mornings.

I thoroughly enjoyed re-watching this episode and going back to that simpler time. As I mentioned when I reviewed the movie serial, I hold degrees in history, so I'm always fascinated to research something, especially something I experienced and see it from a difference perspective. I'll certainly watch more episodes of the Shazam TV show.

Shazam: Serial Part 1 and 2

I am a comic book reader and a degreed historian, and being in a Shazam mood (both the new movie and a favorite comic), I thought I'd take a look at the 1941 Shazam serial, The Adventures of Captain Marvel. It's a 12-part serial, all available on YouTube (here's the first episode). From what you can read on the internet, this serial by Republic Pictures was the high-water mark of the form and serves as the first live-action depiction of a super-hero.

Far-Off Mysteries in a Smaller World

The story starts in the Valley of the Tombs in Siam. An expedition by white men (and one woman, Betty) is posed to open the ancient tomb. The natives do not want this to happen and attack. The expedition fends off the attack with the agreement to leave the area at once. Naturally, they don't.

They strike into the tomb and uncover the Golden Scorpion inside a sealed crypt. Young Billy Batson (twenty-five year old Frank Coghlan, Jr.) heeds the warning and leaves. That act of propriety earns Billy a visit from the Shazam wizard. Like he does in every incarnation of the character, the wizard imparts his powers to Billy as long as the lad can say the magic name: Shazam. But the old man has a warning: Billy must only use the power to help people.

Coghlan portrays young Billy with a lot of gee golly gosh youthful enthusiasm you'd later see in Jimmy Olsen in the Adventures of Superman TV show. But he's still a man of the times. He carries a gun and returns fire when the natives, led by Rahman Bar, again attack the expedition.

Captain Marvel comes to the rescue.

The 1941 Special Effects

Here in 2019, we are used to our super-heroes looking like real people even when they are CGI. Gollem was the first CGI character who was so good, you often forgot he wasn't really there. We've come a long way, just in my lifetime. Heck, just in the last eighteen years.

The movie makers in 1941 had none of that, but dang if they didn't work with what they had and make a pretty darn good convincing super-hero.

When Shazam (Tom Tyler) flies, the actor jumps, often diving into a bush or behind a rock. With a quick cut, you see what is in reality a paper mache mock-up of Shazam, ramrod straight, with the costume and flapping cape. The figure is attached to wires, allowing Captain Marvel to fly in the daytime. Then, with another quick edit, you see the actor again landing or smashing into fleeing bad guys. It was pretty good, at least giving the viewer the verisimilitude of watching a super-hero in action. Frankly, it's better than the 1950s TV Superman.

Similarly, when the bad guys shoot at Shazam, the bullets ping off the costume, leaving little pock marks that are, naturally, gone in the next scene.

When Billy and Captain Marvel say the magic word to transform back and forth, there is enough flash powder to mask what's really going on behind the smoke.

The Cliffhanger

This is a movie serial and it's designed to bring viewers back week after week. As such, when the bad guys dynamite the wooden bridge with one of the two cars containing members of the expedition fleeing, you want to know what happens. As soon as the car begins to fall, there's a title swipe and the admonition to come back next week for Chapter 2.

Knowing what I've seen in other serials, I expected to get a new scene of Shazam actually having flown up to the car, snatched out his two friends, and fly off to safety. Nope. The car crashes into the river below...and only then does Shazam save the day.

Later, after everyone has come back to America, the plot of the serial takes shape. A masked man, complete with a dark hood and robes with the scorpion symbol stitched on his clothes, is in command. He's the Scorpion. He directs standard-issue suited gangsters to start capturing the members of the expedition. You see, inside that crypt was a golden metal scorpion. In the legs of each were crystals that, if you line them up in a certain way, can turn stone to gold or create a weapon. The members of the Malcolm Expedition divvy up the crystals, dividing them so that only all of them in agreement can use the power of the scorpion.

Naturally, the Scorpion wants to collect the missing crystals. Boom! You've got your plot.

In Episode 2, the guillotine is introduced. It's a conveyor belt (natch) that electrically stuns a person who is then carried along to the guillotine. They introduced it early in the episode with a wooden chair being the victim as a threatening means to get one of the expedition members to cough up the location of his crystal. You know Captain Marvel's going to find himself on that belt.

He does. Right before the title swipe to remind viewers to come back next week for Chapter 3, "Time Bomb."

And I will. Might be a two-episodes per week thing, but I'm in, both for the historical nature of the serial, but the story is pretty good. It also easy to see how the 1966 Batman series--with its two-part episodes, the first ending with the Dynamic Duo in some elaborate trap--is indebted to the movie serials of the 1940s. Who knows? I'll likely watch the Batman serials this year, too.

Shazam: Power of Hope

Naturally, after I watched the new Shazam movie, I reviewed it. Then, I scoured some of my comic boxes for some Captain Marvel material to re-read. I didn't deep dive into the boxes, but came away with a handful of World's Finest from the late 70s and early 80s and this wonderful treasury sized one-shot.

Oversized Issues for Big Stories

From 1999 to 2001, artist Alex Ross and writer Paul Dini teamed up for a series of one-shots featuring Superman, Batman, Shazam, and Wonder Woman. Unlike your typical comic book with word balloons, Dini's words were presented purely as text in the panels, paving the way for the beauty of Ross's painted images to come alive on a larger canvas. I think we all know Ross's art and can recognize it instantly. I showed my wife this issue and even she was impressed by the majesty of the art. Ross's comic book art makes you almost believe these heroes are real.

But the art is only half the story. Dini's tale digs deep into what makes Shazam special: his youthful spirit. What's missing on these pages are battles with super-villains.Yes, they're there, but all told in flashbacks. The Captain's focus here are kids in the hospital with ailments even his great power cannot overcome. It grounds him, making him even a more powerful hero because he knows where the real battle is.

A Template for Grounding Stories

Most movie goers and comic book fans appreciated the early movies from DC's movie universe. I'm thinking of the Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series. I, for one, loved it. These films came to be the template for all subsequent films, with the governing philosophy of this is how these super-heroes interact in a "real world."

But there are other ways of doing it, and Power of Hope is a different template. You can still have super-heroics with a story that's grounded in reality but not be so grimdark. This comic shows the way and, frankly, the new big-budget movie does as well. There can be a sense of wonder with smiles while still fighting the bad guys.

Let's hope DC picks up on what it stumbled upon and keeps going. Because the answer to how you make a real-world super-hero movie was staring them in the face with this gorgeous tale by Paul Dini and Alex Ross.

Movie Review: Shazam! Has Its Own Superpower

At one point in Shazam!, Jack Dylan Grazer's Freddie Freeman asks his new foster brother, Billy Batson (Asher Angel) what superpower he would choose if given the opportunity. Freddie mentions most people select flight or invisibility. The movie itself, showcases another superpower altogether.

The Long Road Back to the Big Screen

For many of the heroes who show up on the big screen in this century do so for the first time. Others, like Batman, Superman, and Shazam, it is a return. For Captain Marvel--the character's real and original name--it has been 78 years since Shazam was a movie serial. Many critics and film historians consider that 1941 Republic serial to be a high-water mark of the genre, and I'll admit, I'm curious.

But now, we're in 2019 and the big-budget, color glorious film starring Zachary Levi as the Big Red Cheese is on the silver screen. And it is so good.

A New Story for a New Century

Most of us long-time fans know Billy Batson's origins from the 1940s when he was a radio reporter. In the last decade, Geoff Johns revamped the story for a modern audience, and it is this version we see on screen.

Billy, a sullen teenager, constantly searches for his mother, who lost him at a carnival when he was a toddler. He's street-wise, able to take care of himself, but still longs to find his mother and reform his family.

His latest failure lands him in a foster home with five other foster children. One of which is Freddie, a nerdy kid in love with the DCEU superheroes, but must use a crutch to get around. After Billy stands up for Freddie against a couple of bullies, he escapes in a subway train to a magical place where the aged wizard, Shazam, seeks to pass on his powers to young Billy. All the boy has to do is say the the wizard's name and he's transformed into an adult superhero.

Instant Chemistry Between Grazer and Levi

If the first part of the film set the foundation of all the characters, it's the interplay between Zachary Levi and Jack Dylan Grazer that really shine. Grazer, who I first noticed in the short-lived show "Me, Myself, and I" and the movie, "It, Chapter One," plays Freddie as the motor-mouthed nerd who know all things superhero related, excels in this role. He brings the manic excitement of a teenager thrilled his foster brother is an adult superhero, but then can swing the other way, giving Freddie the pathos and sadness of his life's predicament. Levi is a wonderful choice for Shazam. His enthusiasm at finding his newfound grown-up self is off-set by Levi's ability to make you believe he really is still a teenager. They make a great pair, and the humor and camaraderie between them had everyone in the theater rolling with laughter. They did what just about every teenaged boys would do: figure out the powers of the new hero, buy beer, and film most of it for YouTube.

Enter the Super-villain

When it comes to Shazam's rogue's gallery, he's got a few from which to choose. With Black Adam--basically the reverse Shazam--off the table (Dawayne Johnson is playing that character in his own movie), that left the other main villain: Dr. Sivana. In the comics, Sivana is a short mad scientist. In the film, he's portrayed by tall, menacing Mark Strong. Like everything else in this movie, a good choice. Strong brings a haughty disdain to the reality Billy is a mere boy. When he was a boy, Sivana was offered the power. He was seduced and chose poorly. He's now spent a lifetime tracking down the portal back to Shazam and his power.

But Shazam is completely out of his element. Billy has no idea how to fight Sivana.

But his family does.

The Foster Family Unites

In a movie with an underlying story about the power of family, it is inevitable the rest of Billy's foster siblings comes to help. There's little they can do against the magic of Sivana--he's powered by the seven deadly sins--but they try. They divert, the flee, they think on their feet, and they distract. But by showing Billy they have his back, they also show him the power of family.

Now, there's a few spoilers I simply must write about, but if you don't want to know until you've seen the movie--and believe me, you need to experience this movie fresh--just know this:

There is so much happiness, charm, and heart in SHAZAM! Hilariously funny with a real whiz-bang vibe about it. But there is one moment that brought me—and others in the audience who applauded—so much joy it actually got me emotional. Didn’t think I’d ever see it it. And I did. SHAZAM knocks it out of the park!

The Movie's Real Superpower

Oh, and that superpower the movie delivers in spades? The power to feel young! This show did that and despite how good Wonder Woman and Aquaman were, this is the first DC movie to do so.

Now...onto the Spoilers...

Okay, so I didn't think I'd ever see a live-action Shazam film. And I didn't think it would be so good.

But I never, in my wildest dreams, would have imagined I'd ever see the Entire Marvel Family in a movie!

So, late in the film, Sivana compels Shazam to grasp the wizard's staff in order to pass the power into the bad guy. But Shazam turns the tables. His family instead runs up and grips the staff. They say "Shazam" in unison.

And there, on screen, are the entire Marvel family. The audience actually applauded. I joined in, and, truth be told, my eyes welled up with tears of joy. Goosebumps, too. I was overjoyed with what was on screen. And the adult actors, like Levi, channel their inner teenager and bring the joy to being a super hero.

It was so unexpected and so wonderful!

The Next Bad Guy

You know what else was great about this film? Director David F. Sandberg and writer Henry Gayden both realized Shazam's third-most famous villain...is a worm. Granted, Mister Mind is an alien worm, a telepathic worm, but still a worm.

I knew Sandberg and Gayden were on the right track with the fun of Shazam when I notice Mister Mind off to the side of an early scene. That he shows up in the mid-credits sequence, communicating with the imprisoned Dr. Sivana means that a worm might be the main villain in Shazam 2.

I'm a DC fan first and Marvel second. I barely knew the Guardians of the Galaxy when the show dropped in 2014, but I was stunned there was a talking raccoon and a talking tree in the movie. As a DC fan, I dreamed of them realizing they have eighty years of characters they can use and develop. And if Marvel could make you feel sorry for a CGI raccoon, then DC could certainly do something with their most esoteric characters.

With Mister Mind, perhaps we now have the first step.

Please, DC, take that step. And keep going.