Shazam!: A Celebration of 75 Years

I really didn’t know what to expect with this book given the paucity of product description. It is purportedly a celebration of the 75th anniversary of Capt. Marvel and I was hoping it was more than just reprints of stories. Now don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t asking for new comic material and I love reading old Capt. Marvel stories which rarely get reprinted. It’s just that with 400 pages I was hoping for maybe 30 or 40 new pages of text celebrating The World’s Mightiest Mortal but alas. It is all old reprinted material. Even the rather short section introductions are reprinted. In the case of the first introduction it was taken from Volume 1 of the Shazam Archives.Now I love Capt. Marvel and this is a fine selection of stories but as a celebration it’s somewhat lacking. If you’re a fan of the character or love comics this is a terrific price for 400 pages of material but the price may be low because there is nothing new here.So here is exactly what you get…"Introducing Captain Marvel" - Whiz Comics #2 (1940)Origin Story"The Vengeful Four" - Whiz Comics #21 (1941)First Appearance of Marvel Lieutenants"Captain Marvel Introduces Mary Marvel" - Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (1942)First Appearance of Mary Marvel"Baffin Land" - Captain Marvel Jr. #12 (1943)Appearance of Capt. Nazi"Mr. Mind's Movie Madness/Peril Behind the Camera" - Captain Marvel Adventures #38-39 (1944)Although just two chapters in the 25 chapter long Monster Society of Evil storyline the chapters are self contained enough for the reader to enjoy."The Mighty Marvels Join Forces!" - Marvel Family #1 (1945)First Appearance of Black Adam"Phantom of the Forest" - Hoppy the Marvel Bunny (1946)"King Kull and the Seven Sins" - Captain Marvel Adventures #137 (1952)"Captain Marvel Battles the World"- Captain Marvel Adventures #148 (1953)"Make Way for Captain Thunder" - Superman #276 (1974)"In the Beginning/The World's Wickedest Plan" - Shazam #1 (1973)The true introduction of Capt. Marvel to DC comics. Art by C.C. Beck"Ibac Meets Aunt Minerva" - Shazam #29 (1977)"The Snatching of Billy Batson" - World's Finest #275 (1982)"Superman and Shazam" - DC Comics Presents #49 (1982)Superman and Captain Marvel battle Black Adam"Where Dreams End" - L.E.G.I.O.N. #31 (1991)Captain Marvel battles Lobo"Things Change/The Arson Fiend" - The Power of Shazam #1-2 (1995)"Yeah - This is a Face Only a Mother Could Love" - The Power of Shazam #33 (1997)An odd choice for inclusion. Billy/Capt. Marvel attempt to restore the horribly scared face of a young burn victim (a result of The Arson Fiend's actions) but the whole story comes off as tremendously tone deaf to people with facial disfigurements. The title of the story pretty much says it all."Oh Captain, My Captain" - Action Comics #768 (2000)Very weird story with some dodgy art. If it's representational of the era this was not a good time for Capt. Marvel."Enlightenment" - JSA #48 (2003)Story doesn't even include an appearance by Capt. Marvel but it's still good.""NXIB GZPVH GSV XZVP" - Shazam, The Monster Society of Evil #2 (2007)This is just one issue from a four issue limited series by Jeff Smith"Shazam!" - Justice League #21 (2013)This is the last part of a continuing story line where Captain Marvel (I refuse to call him Shazam) battles against Black Adam

This was a fantastic read! I've been a fan of Captain Marvel for a while now, but I haven't really had the chance to read some of his older comics. While I still tend to prefer his modern incarnation, the selections in this book really gave a great feel of a lot of the Fawcett publications, and it represented many of the fun qualities of Captain Marvel's early days. There's plenty of goofy do-gooding to be had! And as the collection goes through the years, it really shows how the Captain has grown and changed from a Golden-Age style figure to a more modern (and a little more serious) hero. There's plenty of old comics in this collection, and there's plenty of DC's newer stuff too (because who wouldn't want more Captain Marvel?). Probably the only thing in this book that I wasn't crazy about is the Hoppy the Marvel Bunny story, because that's not my kinda comic (Hoppy in general seems out-of-place, both as a concept and as a story in this book). Also, the book itself comes in hardcover (which makes it feel like a proper Shazam textbook) and the pages are bright and study. I definitely recommend this collection to anyone looking to expand their Captain Marvel knowledge!

As a Captain Marvel fan, it's hard not to be excited by any new collection of stories. And this collection is presented beautifully, on glossy paper with vibrant colors, looking better than they did when first published. Like they say about pizza-- when it's good, it's great, and even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.The disappointment in this book is that it could have been so much more. There is virtually no new content (the forward is a reprint, no interviews, commentary on the stories, etc). In their goal to show the full 75 years of Captain Marvel's existence, the editors have included a LOT of post-1970's content, which suffers in comparison to the 1940's and 1950's stuff, which there isn't enough of. And while curiosities like "Make Way for Captain Thunder!" are fun, it doesn't really belong in this book.Still, there's a lot to like in this book. The Lieutenant Marvels origin story remains a favorite, and the Jerry Ordway and Jeff Smith content is pretty good stuff. And the price is reasonable for a glossy package like this.

Captain Marvel was the answer to Superman (who was wildly popular). Like most kids I identified more closely with the Captain then I did with Superman. A kid who, by saying a magic word, can transform into "the World's Mightiest Mortal" was every kid's dream. Who wouldn't want to fly, lift huge objects and beat the crap out of bad guys? And, unlike the "S" man there were no females to clutter things up and what boy likes girls at that age? This is a great collection of some of the comics I spent my meager allowance on and read until they fell apart. A real trip down memory lane for us old timers.

I grew up reading the old Fawcett comic books. 52 big pages for a dime. And sure, there were too many of them featuring the Marvel family. But they never took themselves seriously. How could they what with a talking tiger and a villainous worm and a hero who looked like Fred MacMurray. The first 40% or so of this anthology reprints some of these stories but the rest of the book attempts to resurrect Captain Marvel, now known for trademark reasons as Shazam and it just doesn't work. The innocence is gone and attempts to insert real drama just plain don't work. So, read the old stuff and skip the rest.

SHAZAM! : A CELEBRATION OF 75 YEARS is a fabulous collection of stories, from Captain Marvel's first appearance in Whiz Comics # 2 in 1940, all the way to his new design in DC Comics' THE NEW 52 in 2011. It also features all of the Captain Marvel Family, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, Uncle Marvel & even Hoppy the Marvel Bunny! Great price too for 397 pages of material! Highly recommended for fan's of SHAZAM!, DC Comics, Comic Books in general, or all three! A+

This is another outstanding collection that spans the entire range of Captain Marvel (Yup, I'm calling him that) stories from the beginning till its revival and continuation later.I am a bigger fan of the original Fawcett stories and they have a very quirky, sometimes bordering on surreal style that make them one of the great accomplishments of the Golden Age. A few stories in you'll understand why it consistently outsold Superman in the 40s. The newer stories are good but lack the charm and fun of the Parker and Beck originals. If you like good, old fashioned comic book fun you really cannot do any better than this. Go for it!

I picked this up used, but it near perfect condition at a very deep discounted price.So it was well worth it to me. Even as a big Captain marvel/Shazam fan and having most of the character series and appearances from the last 20-25 years there was still over 1/2 of this collection that was brand new to me.High points were getting a couple of chapters of the 1940s serial of the Monster society of Evil , I would love to read that entire series.The Superman #276 - "Make Way for Captain Thunder!" was a story I read last maybe 30 years ago and it was fun to see it again.I don`t see the point in putting in parts of stories like L.E.G.I.O.N. #31 - "Where Dreams End" it just seems like a waste of space which could have been used for another golden age story.But in all a very well done package for the fans that may not have seen a lot of this characters history.

Good collection of stories. Not sure about "Hoppy the Marvel Bunny"-- I could live without that, although I suppose that the character does embody some of that innocent goofiness that I've always enjoyed in the Marvel family stories. I personally would have liked to see more from Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel. However, I bought the book at a great price and got free shipping from Amazon Prime, so I really cannot complain.

Livro essencial sobre a personagem Shazam... Principalmente para os novos leitores. Aconselho. Grande qualidade de papel e capa.

Aventuras que marcaram a tragetória do herói. Publicação excelente.