Shazam, or Captain Marvel or the Captain or whatever you want to call him, is a character that I have grown to love over the year. Some friends of mine force me to read Shazam comics when I got back into comics and the character was always a join to read. Shazam’s adventures are always full of fun times and plenty of magic. This is turned on it’s head for Stan Lee’s version of Shazam, which feels closer to a smart Hulk story than a Shazam story.
We start off the story with a quick prequel story involving Morgan Le Fey and Merlin. The two are foes, and Morgan attempts to kill Merlin. Merlin wins the battle by locking her inside a tree and creating a power for someone to use to defeat her in the future. We later see Morgan at the side of Reverend Darkk, but she does not directly interfere with the events of this story. We then meet our heroes in the present time Robert and Carla. The two work for Interpol and have been tasked with taking down the evil villain Gunga Kahn. As they look for him in a middle eastern town they see and old man, which we are made to believe is Merlin, doing magic tricks on the street. He is attacked by some of Kahn’s people and Robert and Carla step in to save him but are too late. Robert is then given the powers of Shazam without him knowing. Later the two are getting ready for fancy dinner when they are attacked again by Kahn’s people. Robert is thrown into a lake chained up while Carla is kept as a prisoner. It is at the bottom of the lake that Robert discovers his powers and becomes the monster Shazam. After pages of him learning how to use this new power Shazam goes to save Carla and the United States, as Kahn has a plan to shrink all the people of the USA and take over. After rescuing Carla Shazam then takes on Kahn and destroys his shrinking machine. We then see Robert and Carla on a train talking about keeping Shazam a secret from Interpol and the world to use it as a secret weapon.
While the story for this issue was fun it was basically a Hulk story. A man gets a strange power that turns him into a giant monster with super strength. The only difference from Stan Lee’s original Hulk is that he is in control the entire time. So this version of Shazam is a huge departure from the original version. That said it has been this way throughout the Just Imagine series, but for some reason with this character it effected my feelings a bit more. Still really enjoyed the issue and continue to look forward to more.
Next week we will tackle Just Imagine Stan Lee Created Aquaman, another of my favorite DC characters. If you are enjoying this series please comment down below and like the post. If you want more from Chris’s Comics Corner check out the other posts I have done including my Crowdfunding Spotlight series, and my reviews or subscribe down below. Thank for reading and see you here agian soon!
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Retro Re-Read: Just Imagine Stan Lee Created Shazam
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Writer-Stan Lee
Artist-Gary Frank
Inker-Sandra Hope
Letterer-Bill Oakley
Colorist-Chris Chuckry
Shazam, or Captain Marvel or the Captain or whatever you want to call him, is a character that I have grown to love over the year. Some friends of mine force me to read Shazam comics when I got back into comics and the character was always a join to read. Shazam’s adventures are always full of fun times and plenty of magic. This is turned on it’s head for Stan Lee’s version of Shazam, which feels closer to a smart Hulk story than a Shazam story.
We start off the story with a quick prequel story involving Morgan Le Fey and Merlin. The two are foes, and Morgan attempts to kill Merlin. Merlin wins the battle by locking her inside a tree and creating a power for someone to use to defeat her in the future. We later see Morgan at the side of Reverend Darkk, but she does not directly interfere with the events of this story. We then meet our heroes in the present time Robert and Carla. The two work for Interpol and have been tasked with taking down the evil villain Gunga Kahn. As they look for him in a middle eastern town they see and old man, which we are made to believe is Merlin, doing magic tricks on the street. He is attacked by some of Kahn’s people and Robert and Carla step in to save him but are too late. Robert is then given the powers of Shazam without him knowing. Later the two are getting ready for fancy dinner when they are attacked again by Kahn’s people. Robert is thrown into a lake chained up while Carla is kept as a prisoner. It is at the bottom of the lake that Robert discovers his powers and becomes the monster Shazam. After pages of him learning how to use this new power Shazam goes to save Carla and the United States, as Kahn has a plan to shrink all the people of the USA and take over. After rescuing Carla Shazam then takes on Kahn and destroys his shrinking machine. We then see Robert and Carla on a train talking about keeping Shazam a secret from Interpol and the world to use it as a secret weapon.
While the story for this issue was fun it was basically a Hulk story. A man gets a strange power that turns him into a giant monster with super strength. The only difference from Stan Lee’s original Hulk is that he is in control the entire time. So this version of Shazam is a huge departure from the original version. That said it has been this way throughout the Just Imagine series, but for some reason with this character it effected my feelings a bit more. Still really enjoyed the issue and continue to look forward to more.
Next week we will tackle Just Imagine Stan Lee Created Aquaman, another of my favorite DC characters. If you are enjoying this series please comment down below and like the post. If you want more from Chris’s Comics Corner check out the other posts I have done including my Crowdfunding Spotlight series, and my reviews or subscribe down below. Thank for reading and see you here agian soon!
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