Shazam's Animated Tie-In

A couple months ago, when I did my Flashback Friday on Isis, I talked briefly about how the 70s Shazam! comic was suddenly marketed as a DC TV comic even though it "isn't connected to the Shazam! animated series at all".

I was wrong.

Turns out, once the book became a DC TV comic, it was actually very strongly tied to the show. I'll explain.

See, when DC decided to launch a new Captain Marvel series in December 1972, they made it a continuation of his original series...which hadn't been published in 20 years. There are ways of doing that and having it work, but sales suggest whatever they did didn't work.

Luckily, a Shazam! tv series debuted in 1974 and it was a huge hit. Like many shows in the 70s, it involved Billy Batson travelling to a new town each episode and dealing with whatever trouble was there. Since he was still a minor, he was accompanied by an original character called Mentor, and they travelled together in a Captain Marvel-branded RV.

In Shazam! #25 (August 1976), Dr. Sivana threatens to attack a bunch of American cities. Billy doesn't know how he can protect all those cities since he has a job in New York, but luckily, his boss gets the idea to send Billy on a cross-country trip.

In Shazam! #26 (October 1976), several things of note happen. First, it's pointed out that Uncle Dudley grew a mustache and Billy's hair is getting longer, making them both look more like the leads in the show:

Second, the wizard Shazam tasks them with travelling across the country, and Shazam says Dudley needs to be like Mentor, the mythological character. (I find it interesting that Billy's boss had the idea to send him across the country but Shazam is carrying it out. Is Shazam secretly the manager of WHIZ?!)

Third, Shazam gives Billy a device called the Eterni-Phone to summon one of the people that make up the SHAZAM acronym (Solomon, Hercules, Achilles, Zeus, Atlas, and Mercury). This is based on a device in the show that performs the same function.

Finally, WHIZ-TV gives Billy an RV that strangely has the Captain Marvel lightning bolt on the front. (I'm telling you: Sterling Morris and Shazam are the same person.)

Interestingly, in the very same issue that moves the book to tie so closely to the tv show, there's also a reference to a recent team-up Captain Marvel had with the Justice League and Justice Society with a footnote to the relevant issues. More evidence to support my stance that DC TV comics are in continuity despite the title.

Flashback Friday: Nora Fries

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: Nora Fries!

Nora Fries first appeared in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Heart of Ice" (1992) as a part of Mr. Freeze's new origin.

Her first comics appearance was Batman: Mr. Freeze (1997), part of a series of prestige format comics that focused on the characters being featured in the Batman & Robin movie - Mr. Freeze, Bane, Batgirl, and Poison Ivy. Despite clearly existing to feed off the movie, they don't have anything to do with the movie. Mr. Freeze's issue takes the opportunity to bring the events of "Heart of Ice" into comics canon.

As part of an agreement, Nyssa al-Ghul allowed Mr. Freeze to put Nora Fries in a Lazarus Pit; however, her body was do damaged from cryogenesis that it turned her into Lazara (first appearance: Batgirl (vol. 2) #70 (January 2006)), a villain that can generate flame and revive the dead.

Nora did survive the New 52, but not unscathed. We get Mr. Freeze's origin in Batman Annual #1 (May 2012), and it's largely the same...until we learn that Nora is actually Nora Fields, a woman who was put into cryostasis in 1943 and Victor only deludedly believes she's his wife. I have no idea what the point of this change is. It adds nothing, and makes Mr. Freeze into simply another crazy Batman villain. But that's the New 52 for you: change for the sake of change, with little thought put into it.

As Mr. Freeze's new origin was so popular, a version of it tends to be used in any adaptation he appears. That means Nora usually appears also. That means she's appeared in a variety of movies, tv shows, and video games, including Batman and Robin (1997), Gotham (2007), the Arkham video game series (2011-2015), and Elseworlds (the 2018 CW crossover). She's also mentioned in The Batman (2004). In all these adaptations, she's presented as her classic self.

Character Spotlight: Howard the Duck on Film (a 2-for-1!)

In SHIELD #10 (September 2015), guest star Howard the Duck has to deal with a cosmic entity called The Liverer, whose goal is to eat a cosmic pate made from the livers of one million Howard the Ducks. His torso has a portal through which you can see alternate worlds, and Howard the Duck enters it, causing him to see alternate Howard the Ducks.

Among the many versions of himself he sees, including Howard the Human, Spider-Howard, and Indiana Howard, he sees the two film versions of himself!

The scruffy-looking one is the MCU version of Howard. He first appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and then later, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 (2017) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

The one with the guitar is the Howard that starred in Howard the Duck (1986), Marvel's first theatrical film.

I admit these aren't true examples because they are still presented as alternate realities, but if Spider-Verse counts, so do these!

Flashback Friday: John Malcolm

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: John Malcolm!

John Malcolm is an archaeologist and the leader of the Malcolm Expedition in The Adventures of Captain Marvel serial (March 1941). The goal of the Malcolm Expedition was to find the Scorpion Machine and keep it out of the hands of the villain, the Scorpion.

His first appearance in print was Captain Marvel Adventures #2 (Summer 1941). It doesn't really count, but I'll mention it anyway. For one thing, he was called JAMES Malcolm. Normally that's not a deal breaker, but the more important reason it doesn't count is that it's simply a text adaptation of the first chapter of the serial - and specifically mentions the serial, so they're not even pretending this story is about the comics version of Captain Marvel.

His first actual comics appearance was as John Malcolm in Whiz Comics #22 (July 1941), which was something of a sequel to the serial. In the story, "Capt. Marvel and the Temple of Itzalotahui", Malcolm gets captured on an expedition to South America, so Whitey Murphy enlists the help of Billy Batson/Captain Marvel to rescue him.

To my knowledge, that's the only time he's appeared. But it's not the only time he's been mentioned. In Power of Shazam! #24 (January 1997), Spy Smasher tells Billy and Mary Batson a story about the Scorpion Machine, and Billy mentions that it was recovered by the Malcolm Expedition.

What I find most interesting about this is that most serials didn't have any sort of real impact on their comics. There are a few one-off examples here and there, but nothing major. Captain America never became a lawyer, for instance. But for whatever reason, The Adventures of Captain Marvel did, in several respects. I can't speak to why that is, but I find it fascinating.

Nebula's Relationship with Gamora

One of the things the movie Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and its sequel did really well was take a lot of disparate cosmic Marvel characters and form them into a cohesive whole. Credit where credit's due, the process was started by the 2006 event Annihilation, which the movies take a lot of inspiration from, but the movies really ran with it. One example of this is the relationship between Gamora and Nebula.

Gamora, aka The Deadliest Woman in the Whole Galaxy, first appeared in Strange Tales #180 (April 1975) as a bounty hunter looking for Adam Warlock. Only a few months later in Warlock #10 (October 1975), we learn that she was rescued by Thanos as a little girl and raised as his daughter to kill an evil version of Adam Warlock called The Magus.

Meanwhile, Nebula is introduced in Avengers #257 (May 1985) as a pirate who has taken over Thano's ship, the Sanctuary II. We learn there's more to the story in #260 (August 1985), however, when she reveals that she's Thanos's granddaughter.

In Infinity Gauntlet #1 (May 1991), Thanos calls the legitimacy of this claim into question, but accepts her as his granddaughter anyway.

For the next two decades, Gamora and Nebula only appear in a handful of issues together. In fact, they don't interact until Annihilation: Ronan #2 (May 2006), and don't show any sign of familiarity. In Annihilation: Ronan #4 (July 2006), Nebula has joined Gamora's team, the Graces, but they still don't seem to have any level of relationship beyond that.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) changes this drastically. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gamora and Nebula are both Children of Thanos, and they have an intense rivalry as he constantly pits them against each other in combat. The reason Nebula is a cyborg in this universe is that, every time Nebula lost a fight against Gamora, Thanos would upgrade her to make her better. By this point, she's mostly machine. However, once they each turn on Thanos for their own reasons, they grow closer together and treat each other like sisters.

In Thanos Annual #1 (May 2014), Nebula is referred to as a daughter of Thanos for the first time. As it came out a few months before Guardians of the Galaxy was released, I don't know if it was planned to be roughly in time with the movie, or if it's just a coincidence. Either way, the Nebula discussed in this issue is from an alternate reality, so it doesn't really count one way or the other.

Guardians Team-Up #2 (March 2015) complicates things. Nebula and Gamora interact more than ever before, and it seems like they have personal history. Nebula in particular says she has many things she could blame Gamora for. That being said, the person who has hired Nebula to capture Gamora doesn't like Gamora because she's the daughter of Thanos, which implies Nebula is NOT a daughter of Thanos.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Best Story Ever #1 (April 2015) doesn't clear up anything. On one page, it re-affirms that Nebula is a granddaughter of Thanos, yet later Gamora refers to Nebula as her "sister" (quotes hers). Either way, there's clearly an animosity between them.

I thought Gamora #1 (December 2016) settled the issue. In it, Gamora and Nebula consider each other sisters and act as if they were raised together. But I don't actually know if it's continuity. The writer says it's set in the MCU, but nothing in the comic itself claims that (not to mention that Gamora and Thanos use their comics designs, not their movie ones). To make it worse, the genocide of Gamora's people, as depicted, doesn't match the movies OR the comics. So we'll just disregard the whole thing.

Unfortunately, that means this entry won't end with the smoking gun I thought it would. But I feel that the two Guardians stories from 2015, and the recent Asgardians of the Galaxy #3 (November 2018) that shows Nebula has a clear rivalry with Gamora, add up to make essentially the same point.

Flashback Friday: Wonder Woman's Spinning Costume Change

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: Wonder Woman's Spinning Costume Change!

For her first several decades of existence, Wonder Woman changed into her superhero costume like a normal person. Sometimes she would do it very quickly, but it was still essentially the old-fashioned way. Wonder Woman #212 (April 1974) changed it so she transforms via spinning lasso. Julius Schwartz was the new editor on the series and disliked spending time on heroes changing into their outfits, so he asked Len Wein to come up with a way to make it instantaneous.

In the Wonder Woman tv show (1975-1979), Wonder Woman changed into her costume by spinning really fast. In the pilot, it seemed to imply just changing her clothes really quickly...

...but in the show proper, it became more of a magical effect. Note that the choice for changing this way came from Lynda Carter and the previous lasso transformation seems to have had no bearing on the decision.

The earliest instance of the change making its way to the comics seems to be Wonder Woman #229 (January 1977), and this make sense, because the issue before sets up the new status quo of Wonder Woman being on Earth-2 during World War II, to better match the tv show.

However, it wasn't standard at this point, since the very next issue shows her simply darting into the ladies' room.

But then Wonder Woman #231 (March 1977) shows a spin with accompanying flash of light.

It's hard to track because the story won't always show the transformation on-panel or will show it in a way that could be considered either shorthand or a different depiction of changing altogether, depending on how you wanted to look at it. But it showed up again in #235 (July 1977), and I'm willing to consider that as a show that this was now the standard transformation...for this era.

By no means did this become her standard transformation for good. In fact, she was back to transforming with her lasso by 1978. But it never disappeared completely, and I'll show a couple of examples throughout the years.

Two takes on it from 1982 by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez for DC Licensing:

Super Friends, "The Darkseid Deception" (1985):

Wonder Woman #177 (December 2001), which is based on Garcia-Lopez's art above:

Justice League, "To Another Shore" (2005):

Wonder Woman #4 (December 2006):

Wonder Woman #600 (June 2010):

She also spins to transform in Reign of the Supermen (2019). So, like with most things in the Wonder Woman franchise, it's very inconsistent. But it's tied to Wonder Woman in the public consciousness, so it keeps coming back.

Nebula's Appearance

Sometimes, in comic book adaptations, a detail can be based on something that's already extant in the comics, but changed ever so slightly for the new medium. When it comes to designs, this usually means making the design more intricate. Of course, because canon immigration is essentially inescapable, then the more intricate design finds its way into the comics. This is what happened with Nebula.

Sometimes when this happens, it takes me a while to learn it happened. This is also what happened with Nebula.

When Nebula first appeared in The Avengers #257 (May 1985), she was a pirate who had seized control of Thanos's ship, the Sanctuary II, in a period when he was presumed dead. She claimed to be his granddaughter, and she looked like this:

In Silver Surfer #69 (June 1992), she's catatonic, so one of the people looking after her takes her to Dr. Mandibus to get her back to normal. In Silver Surfer #72 (July 1992), we see that Dr. Mandibus was able to restore her mental capacity, but turned her into a cyborg to do so.

She shows up again in Silver Surfer #110 (September 1995), and she mostly looks the same except she's grown her hair out again.

In Nova #1 (March 1999), however, she's back to her original look.

But in her next appearance, Annihilation: Ronan #1 (April 2006), she's back to being a bald cyborg. She continues to look this way through the rest of the Annihilation event.

The modern Guardians of the Galaxy spun out of the Annihilation event, so it's no surprise that, when Guardians of the Galaxy was released in 2014, Nebula's look was based on how she appeared in Annihilation. Overall it's simply a more detailed version of the look above. The most major change is the stripe down the middle of her face, which I believe is meant to mimic the stripe down her chest that's present in most of the images above.

Guardians of the Galaxy was a huge hit, so it's no surprise that, when she appeared in Guardians Team-Up #1 (March 2015) - itself a book that wouldn't exist without the movie - she appeared as she does in the movie. Notably, she's flanked by Chitauri, another case of appearance canon immigration.

And she's appeared that way ever since!

That's not the only change to Nebula the movie made, but we'll get to that next week.

Flashback Friday: Professor Gorilla

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: Professor Gorilla!

In 1966, at the height of Bat-Mania thanks to the hit tv show starring Adam West, DC released a Batman manga in Japan called バットマン (Battoman), and colloquially known as Batmanga in the West. It only ran for a year and featured a mixture of original material and material based on Batman comics of the time. Professor Gorilla is a bit of both.

Detective Comics #339 (March 1965) tells the story of a scientist who invented a machine that could transfer the abilities of one animal to another - he essentially invented a scientific version of Vixen's animal totem. However, the experiment didn't quite go according to plan, so he and his test subject actually switched abilities instead. He got the strength and speed of a gorilla and the gorilla, Karmak, got his intelligence. So Karmak started using the scientist to rob banks. You know, like gorillas do.

Issues 10-12 of the Batman manga (July 1966) loosely adapts this story. Although the first issue is a pretty faithful adaptation of the backstory, it then veers off into its own story for the next two chapters. Karmak dons a costume, starts going by "Professor Gorilla", and attacks people for mistreating animals. The story ends when the effects of the machine wear off and Karmak goes back to being a normal gorilla.

In 2010, Grant Morrison launched a new series called Batman, Incorporated. For about three years at this point, Morrison was telling an epic Batman story over several series that tried to make every Batman story canon in one way or another. "Batman, Incorporated" was an expansion of the Club of Heroes/Batman of All Nations idea that he brought back in 2007, and saw Bruce Wayne traveling around the world to find heroes to be their country's Batman and be funded by the Wayne Corporation. In issue 2 (December 2010), he travels to Japan, which allows Morrison to bring in some details from the Batman manga. Most of the issue concerns itself with the Japanese hero Mr. Unknown fighting Lord Death Man, but after he "dies" and is reborn as Batman Japan, we get a splash page of him fighting Professor Gorilla.