Reign of the Supermen #319: Cape-Man

Source: Shazam! #11 (1974)

Type: Alternate Earth/SpoofYou thought the Earth-S Superman was Captain Marvel? You thought wrong!



He is mild-mannered mailman Herschel Dockles, a man afraid of the mean streets of Fawcett City he had to service. I didn't even know Earth-S had anything like that. He orders a costume that will give him courage. After all, no one would molest a guy dressed like a hero, right? What may be closer to the truth is spoken by a woman on the subway: "Quiet Alvin... if you stare at him, he may get violent!"



And where there are costumes and capes, violence must surely ensue. Cape-Man comes across jewel thieves who think he's on their trail, and they attempt to kill him. Captain Marvel shows up to assist, buying Dockles' hero shtick hook, line and green ski mask. The bad guys throw a gas grenade at them, but Cape-Man's mailman fortitude allows him to navigate fog as easily as rain, sleet or snow. In the end, believing Cape-Man can fly, Cap drops him on the criminals, and the heroes win the day.

And that would be the last appearance of Cape-Man as Dockles unmasks and retires, now knowing that there's really nothing to be afraid of in his cartoon world. Also, Marvel's mailman to the superheroes, Willie Lumpkin called and threatened him with another lawsuit, so...

Reign of the Supermen #193: Distant Fires Superman

Source: Superman: Distant Fires GN (1998)
Type: ElseworldsSo we finally blew ourselves up. But in the DCU, all that radiation has to have a comic book effect, and so the animals that survived became gigantic, normal humans mutated into cavemen, and superhumans lost their powers. It's up to them to rebuild, but is that something to ask from characters whose bread and butter is fighting among themselves?!

That's the premise of Howard Chaykin's Distant Fires, brought to life by the legendary Gil Kane with gorgeous inks by Kevin Nowlan (not the one from SNL). Superman's lost everyone he loves in the firestorm, and for a while there, it looks like he's gonna lose his mind too.
He eventually finds his way to a paradisical patch of overgrown nature on the back of his giant riding cat Kryptonite, and there he finds Wonder Woman and a whole town of supers with J'Onn J'Onzz as the mayor and Billy Batson as the town crank. Well, if you've read any Elseworld that stars both Superman and Captain Marvel, you know where this is gonna lead. Batson used to have a relationship with Wonder Woman (creepy!) and now she's falling for Clark. As DC's premiere couple get married and have a baby, Batson spends his nights shouting SHAZAM in the woods, getting his powers back for ever longer amounts of time, but causing the Earth's ecosystem to churn. Eventually, his manipulations cause many people's powers to come back and lines are drawn in the sand. Superman's peaceniks stay in Champion (AKA the Town that Mister Miracle built) and ally with a mutated Aquaman's Atlantean forces, those who want to subjugate the world leave for Marvel City, which is soon allied with Metallo and his mutant army. Soon, Captain Marvel is sharing his power with his kids from three different wives (creepy!) and they kill Wonder Woman.
Superman goes blind with rage, and war is joined.
It ends with Marvel getting zapped by an unfortunate bolt of lightning and dying, as the Earth starts cracking around the survivors.
The cycle is about to be complete. Superman uses a discovered Green Lantern ring to create a rocket for his son Bruce and he sends the boy out into space to forge his own legend.
In Superman jammies no less.

Reign of the Supermen #53: Superman as Captain Marvel

Source: Superman/Batman #5 (2004)
Type: The real dealIt had to happen some day, and it did in the first Superman/Batman story. Clark dresses up as Captain Marvel to fool his enemies. Lightning, phone booths, it's all the same right?

Nope.

Why don't I consider Captain Marvel to be a Superman analog? There's no question that Captain Marvel né Thunder is an early rip-off of Superman. Both are strongmen with a colorful costume who fight crime with similar powers. And in both cases, their secret identities are journalists - Clark Kent the traditionalist at his newspaper job, and Billy Batson looking towards the future at WHIZ radio. The similarities end there however. Though Captain Thunder was obviously created in response to Superman's popularity and thus LOOKS the same, the details are very different. Captain Marvel isn't a stranger from another world, and though that in itself is not enough of a change to strike him off the list of analogs, the fact that his own premise is iconic enough to have spawned its OWN analogs is what informs my opinion.

Captain Marvel's central concept is one of wish fulfillment. A young boy calls out a magic word and becomes a super-powered adult able to face all his fears. Since his creation, there have been many heroes who substitute their presence for a young mortal, from Marvel's own Captain Marvel and the UK's Marvelman to the likes of Ninjak and more recently, Thunderstrike (isn't Thor's in fact closer to Captain Marvel than is Superman?). Throw in a wizard, Harry Potter's magic train, and the deadly sins standing guard, and you have a fairy tale origin that completely deviates from Superman's science fiction roots.

Eventually, it was Superman who was copying off someone else's book - true flight, a Junior version (Captain Marvel Jr./Superboy) and a young girl sidekick (Mary Marvel/Supergirl). To be kind, let's call it all cross-pollination.

So Superman can dress up as the Big Red Cheese, but there can only be one true heir to Shazam's magic lightning bolt (well, actually there are lots of heirs, but you know what I mean).

Great Easter Liveblog Challenge: Jesus vs. a Magical Rabbit... FIGHT!!!

My money's on Jesus in this one, by the way.

Starting late on account of reading and reviewing a Star Trek book this morning, and of course, it's Easter, with all that entails, so if I manage 20 comics today, I'll be happy. I've gone through 60% of the pile though, so it's actually doable!! Ok, let's start the day skulking in all guilty for having Battle for the Cowl comics...

Battle for the Cowl: Commissioner Gordon #1: I like it when Commissioner Gordon can handle himself, and he's got a great fight with Mr. Freeze in this one-shot. However, I do wonder if this crossover event will end up proving that Batman wasn't really needed. I mean, if you show that every other competent hero in Gotham (including the police) is enough to stem the tide of crime and violence in Gotham... But for now:
Battle for the Cowl: Man-Bat #1: Can you really blow out Metamorpho's ear drums? Man, I couldn't care less about the Outsiders right now. Man-Bat gets a slightly different status quo (he can change at will), and I'm always happy to catch sight of Dr. Phosphorus, but otherwise, a big fat meh.

Azrael: Death's Dark Knight #1: There's a new Azrael in town and he's one of the substitute Batmen from R.I.P., a cop who lost it. This isn't the same Order as the previous Azrael though, it's the Order of Purity, with a cursed armor and lots of christian myth thrown in. Nicieza does a good job of building interest with his staccato rhythms. Wow, I just enjoyed an Azrael comic.

DOCTOR WHO EASTER SPECIAL BREAK!!!

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2: Man, I hate Jason Todd. And it's not a case of loving hating him either. No, I truly despise the character. I hate the very idea of bringing back this character from the dead (pointless!), and I hate how he's suddenly a psychotic killer (mischaracterized!), and I hate that he's a Batman that uses guns (boring!). It's just dull nonsense to me. Tony Daniel's art is better than under Morrison's scripts, but he still has trouble drawing age-appropriate body types. Everything with a BftC banner has been better than this.

Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead? #1: The only strand I found interesting is Vicki Vale's.

Air #7: A really interesting way to tell an origin story... Blythe is a passenger inside Zain's head from the time he was 10 years old to now, until she can't tell she's herself. Trippy without being obtuse, and I still have no idea where Air is heading. Love this understated plane shot though:
Unknown Soldier #6: Well-documented as ever, but I think it shines by showing us Uganda, making us understand it visually, whether war-torn or not. The U.N. tarps, for example, is a great detail. The series is creepy without really invoking anything supernatural. More and more, I'm comparing it to the Phantom.

Vigilante #4: Tie-in with the Titans, huh? Is this where Vigilante and I part ways? Well, I really don't want to pick up Titans #12, especially if it's not going to end with Jericho's death. But surely, Wolfman wouldn't participate in that?

Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam #3: Another beautifully drawn, charming issue. I especially love how the "Evils" are cursed with their own sin.
Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam #4: That's the creepiest lobotomy I've ever seen in an all-ages comic!

Solomon Grundy #2: I know Didio thinks Solomon Grundy is the non-Vertigo DC's answer to Swamp Thing, but he's really just its answer to the Hulk. Disjointed, relentlessly violent, and here includes a tonally incongruous fight with Bizarro. Ok, NOW I remember why I wasn't supposed to pick this up anymore.

The Mighty #2: Alpha-One speaks, but he's no less creepy. And the way Captain Shaw's murderers get killed, I'm still not letting him off the hook.
The focus remains on interim Captain Cole, the real heart of the series, which I think will be a lot more about how real people would react to a superhero in their midst. We haven't had a good one of those in a while, I don't think. "Realistic" superheroes in recent years have still focused on the superhero (Manhunter, what's left of Astro City, etc.).

The Mighty #3: So now I trust him more, but his fancy HQ puts the lie to his not so secret origin told in issue 1. So I'm back to not trusting him. Tomasi and Champagne do a good job of making him intense, which is how I imagine a superhero would seem to us normal folk.

House of Mystery #11: My pal Bauble told me he tried the new House and didn't like it. Not enough like the old one. I get that, but I still don't think an anthology would work so well these days. The longer story about people trapped in an in-between place, owing something to Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (or if you like, Sandman's Inn at World's End) is one that's keeping my interest at least (plenty of mysteries, ha!). And sometimes the "guest story" actually has something to do with the larger tale.

House of Mystery #12: The House just has the best drinks!
Lovely story about loving a person's multi-dimensional doubles! And an Animal Man-like exit from the house for Peter. I gotta say, the plot thickens. I hope other Vertigo heads are grooving on it too.

Mysterius the Unfathomable #3: Fun as ever. Was Dr. Seuss a Satanist? No, but he could have been!

Captain America Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1: James Robinson would have you believe Steve Rogers earned his super-soldier serum and that while he didn't have the physical power, he still had the resources to beat/elude a gang of 5th columnists. Well, he's got me almost convinced. Nice little tale. It comes with a Golden Age story in which Cap and Bucky play baseball. After that cover, not enough interior Hitler punching though. It's also a comic that makes me wonder if Steve is coming back. Its moral is that what made Cap special was Steve Rogers, who is NOT in the role right now. And Marvel keeps coming out with ways to use Steve Rogers anyway - a bunch of specials and Avengers/Invaders). So does that ad with Captain America's star mean he's back in July? Cuz his movie's not scheduled until 2011.

Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #1: Brought back fond memories of Assistant Editor Month back when I started reading Marvel Comics! The framing story is very funny, and you can just tell Eliopoulos is gently taking the piss out of the ass. eds. Three stories here: D-Man in Iraq, very original; a badass American Eagle story, yes, American Eagle, you heard me; and a funny Mini-Marvels spectacular starring Hawkeye and Dr. Strange.
I'll be back for the second half, guaranteed.

Thor #12: The recent Matt Fraction special have reawakened in me an interest in Thor, but Straczynski's comics work never appealed. Still, with #600 coming up, I thought I'd catch up a little and see. (Didn't expect 600 to be a 100-page monster however... and the God-Sized Special is also in my pile.) Anyway, it's a magical time travel story that takes us back to Loki's roots. As such, it's mythical like the Fraction Specials, so I enjoyed it.

Bloodpool - Suicide Kings #1: I'm kinda new to Bloodpool, though I guess I'd personally describe him as Deathstroke meets Ambush Bug. His two voices and spazzed out visions are certainly entertaining. The plot mildly less so. Didn't this guy used to know he was in a comic? I wish there was a little more of that Reality Check power in here.

Captain Marvel Fights TV

Billy Batson is a radio guy, and like all radio guys, he's got no love of this newfangled contraption they call the television."You'll wind up behind prison bars... or DEAD!"

"Did I really say that?" he inquires in Secret Origins #3.

Oh yes, Billy, you certainly did.
Whiz Comics #1 says you did. Now stop acting all cute and funny and go kill somebody. If your sister can do it, why can't you?

Bahlactus in his terrifying majesty has come and sent out the call. Siskoid merely answers to protect his world from the buffet table.