Shazam! It's December

Holy Moley!  

It can't already be December, can it?  

It sneaks up on you and attacks, just like Dr. Sivana did to Captain Marvel at the Acropolis in Greece, with his toys, in his entry from the 1977 Super DC Calendar for December, by Kurt Schaffenberger.

But how did Uncle Dudley and Shazam Winnebago get across the ocean to Greece?  (Rhetoric...likely a feat by young Billy Batson's alter ego!).

December is doubly important for Captain Marvel, as he first said Shazam! in the first Whiz Comics #2 (February, 1940) on which came out on December 1st, 1939, and he and his family moved over to DC with Shazam! #1 (February, 1973) on sale on December 14th, 1972, where the Big Red Cheese was ready to take on Superman (eventually)!

Secret Origins Of Super Villains 1

Looking back at all those Secret Origins, they all seemed to be heroes, though the title did promise there would be a few villains along the way.


Villains, having such big egos and working their own schedule (not willing to give up too many origins in Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Villains), instead appeared in an oversized treasury edition, that of Limited Collectors' Edition C-39 of October-November, 1975, under this fighting cover by Dick Giordano, featuring Luthor, Joker, Captain Cold, Sivana (and a few more), facing their foes of Superman, Batman, Flash and Captain Marvel!

Joker

The Joker was first up, in Detective Comics #168 (February, 1951) by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz and George Roussos, with "The Man Behind the Red Hood!", with Batman battling the Joker again, as well as a mysterious figure behind a red hood in a tuxedo.

Batman had to due some detective work to find out who was underneath the Red Hood, with a little help from Robin and some students, which led back to one of Batman's earliest cases where he faced this dastardly criminal before at a chemical plant near the Monarch Playing Card Company where his foe escaped by diving into a pit of chemicals.  This all lead up to a modern confrontation at State University with the Red Hood, and learning a little about how the Joker became the Joker, with the part Batman played in the clown prince of crime's origin. 

Luthor

Adventure Comics #271 (April, 1960) by Jerry Siegel and Al Plastino explains "How Luthor Met Superboy!", as it seemed Superman and Lex Luthor's feud went all the way back to Smallville.

When Superboy first met Lex Luthor, Lex had a full head of brown hair, and was a fan of the Boy of Steel, saving him from a Kryptonite meteor.  To return the favor, Superboy builds Lex a laboratory!  Lex invents a formula to make Superboy immune to Kryptonite, as well as a living protoplasm....yet, gets absent-minded, setting the lab on fire.  Superboy comes in and blows out the fire with his Super-breath, which ruins the protoplasm, and causes young Luthor's hair to fall out.  Luthor then vows to avenge his misfortune on Superboy, inventing items to help the residents of Smallville, to take the spotlight away from Superboy (but his quick plans only make menaces, that Superboy fixes them, infuriating Luthor more).  Luthor tries to kill Superboy with Kryptonite, but fails, leaving Superboy to only hope they can be friends again.  (Spoiler, their battles continue on and on....and even include Batman and the Joker).

Captain Cold

"The Coldest Man On Earth!" premiered in Showcase #8 (May-June, 1957) by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Frank Giacoia, that man being Captain Cold (though Cold gave Flash, and readers the finger, by not being on the cover!).

Leonard Snart was a small time thief, who accidentally creates a cold gun to take out the Flash, using this weapon to rob a bank, which causes the Flash to show up to stop him.  Snart stops Barry Allen by freezing the street below his feet, then escapes to make more plans against the Flash as Captain Cold.  Using Helium, Captain Cold finds he can create cold illusions, then faces off against the Flash at a lake nearby Central City.  The Flash was too quick to be fooled by these tricks, and captures Captain Cold!

Sivana

Though he premiered with Captain Marvel, Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana had his origin told in Whiz Comics #15 (March, 1941) by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck.

Captain Marvel fought some villains, trying to escape them with Beautia Sivana leads him to say "Shazam!" and change back to Billy Batson, who then gets captured by Sivana and fights Gloppos, (Venusian Frog-Men) who lived on Venus, and Sivana's daugther, Beautia, explained how her father tried to invent items to help people on Earth, but was ridiculed, so built a spaceship to take her and her brother, Magnificus, to Venus, conquering its jungles.  Sivana returned to Earth to face Captain Marvel, many times, but this time Dr. Sivana has Billy trapped unable to turn into Captain Marvel using a device, that Billy eventually breaks, and faces Magnificus Sivana in a battle, injuring the scientist, whom Beautia wants to take back to Venus, where he will be no harm (though Beautia means well, that doesn't stay true, though at least Magnificus and Beautia remain Cap's friends, but Sivana's other kids, Junior and Georgia, join him to fight the whole Marvel Family).  

Terra-Man

Outlaw cowboy Jess Manning was training his son, Toby, to be just like him, at least until the pair came across an alien being and his spacecraft in "The Origin Of Terra-Man", the second story of Superman #249 (March, 1972) by Cary Bates, Dick Dillin and Neal Adams.

The spaceman killed Toby's father, but the alien took the young cowboy into space, adapting him to be a space cowboy, training him to be a thief, giving him devices that have an old west feel, and even Nova, a flying horse.  Toby settles up with the alien, figuring out a message his dying father left him, that the alien killed Jess.  After killing the alien, Toby, taking on the name, Terra-Man, returned to the modern Earth to take on the planet's top lawman in the modern age, who happened to be Superman.

The two then faced off many times....and more!

There was also an incredible center spread of some of DC's nastiest villains by Dick Giordano, including foes of Captain Marvel like Mr. Atom, Mr. Mind, King Kull, Aunt Minerva, Black Adam, Ibac and Sivana; Batman villains Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Blockbuster, Catwoman, Joker, Riddler, Penguin, R'as Al Ghul and Talia; Superman foes Luthor, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and Toyman; and Flash Rogues including Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Pied Piper, Heat Wave, the Top, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, Trickster, Mr. Element, Grodd, Reverse-Flash and Abra Kadabra...

...and, a text page summarizing the battles between Wonder Woman and Cheetah, Green Lantern and Sinestro, Hawkman and Shadow-Thief, and Atom and Chronos.  Some of these villains combine, in groups like the the Monster Society of Evil, the Injustice Gang of the World, the Flash's Rogue's Gallery, and later in groups like the Secret Society of Super-Villains and the Suicide Squad.

If you love DC's bad guys, this treasury is the one for you!

Shazam The New Beginning 1987

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, many DC heroes found themselves lacking in history, and even with Darkseid threatening their Legends in the 1986/1987 mini-series, these heroes still struggled to find themselves.  None more so than Captain Marvel, who was a brand new hero to start off the Legends mini-series, and had a 4 part limited series called Shazam: The New Beginning, whose first issue came out at the time of the last issue of Legends....yet was set before that series.

A New Beginning

Shazam: The New Beginning #1 (April, 1987) by Roy and Danette Thomas and Tom Mandrake told the story of young Billy Batson, orphaned in a car crash, and involved in a legal battle between Dudley Batson and Thaddeus B. Sivana, ends up with Sivana, who is using the boy for his inheritance to fund his experiments (which eventually bring Black Adam, an evil Marvel, back to Earth).

Billy discovers this experiment and flees, ending up in a subway tunnel, where he meets the old wizard, Shazam, and gives the boy the power to turn into Captain Marvel when Billy says the old wizard's name (even Shazam feels this is familiar....and recalls the original Marvel Family, before trying to forget; but this issue is technically the first appearance of the post-Crisis Sivana and Black Adam, as well as Dudley Batson).

'S' Is For Wisdom...'H' Is For Strength

Shazam: The New Beginning #2 (May, 1987) by Roy and Danette Thomas and Tom Mandrake sees this story continue...

...with Black Adam and Captain Marvel having their first fight (though cut short), as well as Billy reuniting with Dudley to go to fight Sivana for Billy's money (and Billy getting a little help from Sivana's daughter, Beautia, who also hints at the idea that the evil scientist might have caused the death of Billy's parents!).

Beautia is also a post-Crisis version of her old self (and premiered in the previous issue), and had been famous for her charms, and affection for Captain Marvel, in spite of who her father was.

'A' Is For Stamina...'Z' Is For Power

Shazam: The New Beginning #3 (June, 1987) by Roy and Danette Thomas and Tom Mandrake sees Billy and Dudley return to their home in San Francisco, with Billy going to the TV station, K-WHZ, to report his encounter with Black Adam.  The station manager doesn't believe the boy, and calls Sivana to take the boy to his home, which Billy avoids by turning into Captain Marvel and heading to the subway tunnel.

At the subway tunnel, Captain Marvel finds Shazam's ghost, who explains how the wizard had exiled his former protege to another dimension, which Sivana brought the evil being back from.
 
Captain Marvel heads to Sivana's home to confront the evil scientist, but Black Adam interrupts.  The two Shazam-powered beings are evenly matched, yet Sivana takes out the Captain with a weapon he had planned to use on Black Adam.

'A' Is For Courage...'M' Is For Speed

Shazam: The New Beginning #4 (July, 1987) by Roy and Danette Thomas and Tom Mandrake sees Sivana planning to send Captain Marvel into the dimensional exile that held Black Adam for thousands of years, but Dudley stops Sivana (during which Sivana learns that Billy and Cap are one).

Captain Marvel finds Black Adam, and the two battle, coming back to Sivana's lab, with Cap changing back to Billy, and tricking Black Adam into activating the machine, which sends the evil one back into exile (though he eventually returns in DC's War of the Gods).

Captain Marvel frees hostages taken by Black Adam, gives Billy the credit for his finding them, which leads to Billy getting a job at the television station (just in time to see G. Gordon Godfrey begin his tirade against super-heroes that kicks off Legends....where we see Billy interviewing Godfrey on air).

Action Comics Weekly

This Captain Marvel had a small run in 4 issues of Action Comics Weekly (#623 to #626) in 1988, by Roy and Danette Thomas, Rick Stasi and Rick Magyar, that had Billy dealing with a new Captain Nazi (but he was totally a modern day villain...thus he could have been called Captain Neo Nazi in the post-Crisis world....), set after Captain Marvel's brief run as a member of the Justice League.

Cap didn't even rate a cover appearance in this series, and Roy's version of Captain Marvel was mostly forgotten, even when Cap and Black Adam came back for Wonder Woman's War of the Gods...

...and then Cap and all his family got their origins tweaked again (still accounting for Captain Marvel's brief Justice League membership right after Legends, as well as few appearances in Superman titles like Action Comics Annual #4 and in the War of the Gods), with the whole Marvel Family coming back starting with the Power of Shazam! Graphic Novel by Jerry Ordway, and then the 48 issue series that brought Cap back a little towards his Fawcett roots (mostly notably by placing Billy Batson in his own fictional city...Fawcett City, as well as reviving a few old villains like Captain Nazi, Mr. Mind, Mr. Atom, Ibac and more!).