cultshock

What the fuck is that monstrosity?

I like the Mike Ploog Frankenstein cover though.

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ytrez

Shazam - The New Beginning was the beginning of the end of Captain Marvel. My father was given a box of old comics in the early 70s that included a bunch of golden age issues of Whiz, Marvel Family, & Captain Marvel Adventures so I was hooked on the character from the get-go. DC's Shazam series in '73 was a decent attempt at a revival but DC writers just couldn't capture the magic. I LOVED the Cap stories by E. Nelson Bridwell and Don Newton that appeared in World's Finest & Adventure Comics but all good things...

The New Beginning was DC's post-Crisis answer to integrating Captain Marvel into the DC Universe, a retcon that Roy Thomas probably thought was a modern take that intertwined Cap's history and characters into an intertwined storyline. But it just didn't work for me. In this story, Sivana becomes Billy's step-uncle, who adopts him after his parents' death. Uncle Dudley becomes a blood relative and a stage magician and Hoppy (The Marvel Bunny) is the rabbit Dudley uses in his act. Turns out Sivana caused Billy's parents' car accident to collect the life insurance! Anyway, it wasn't for me. Power of Shazam had its moments but ultimately I found it disappointing. They've since given up calling him Captain Marvel and I haven't read any of the comics that came out since the Power of series, hopefully they're doing right by him these days.

Anyway, here's my contribution, a painted cover from the glory days:

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^Love that painted cover.

I was always a Captain Marvel fan just from the Saturday morning TV series I devoured as a kid. I loved that goofy show, and it is still a fun watch today.

I didn't have a lot of Captain Marvel comics and only really got to see him when he would jump into a JLA or Superman book occasionally during the 80's. I was in my 100% collecting everything stage during the DC "Legends" time and had the whole mini-series that I post above but I remember it not really exciting me. We must have not been the only ones because I don't recall much of anything Captain Marvel/Shazam coming out right after that mini-series.

Anyway...I always loved C.C. Beck's art on Captain Marvel. He had a fantastic style! But just remember...every third Friday! Seems like a strange schedule to keep up with as a kid.

fujishig

I think it's hard for DC to give Shazam a place because he's in the same universe as Superman and they will always give preferential treatment to Superman (I realize how different they are). I think Power Of came the closest to just kind of carving out a separate place for the family and honoring their history but I also think when you bring them back over to the "modern" DC universe you basically lose something. I kind of hated John's take of Billy being a more "typical" teenager though I understand where he was going with it.

To me some of the best modern takes are in cartoons where he's allowed to be more campy, like Young Justice or JLAction.

cultshock

I watched that every Saturday morning, and treasured my Mego Shazam action figure. The whole Captain Marvel/Shazam/lawsuit thing always confused me as a kid, especially when Mar-Vell was thrown in the mix, I didn't know what was going on.

I love Mac Raboy's Marvel Family covers from the 1940s.

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PhantomStranger

Raboy is my favorite Golden Age artist. His Captain Marvel Jr is awesome.

As a kid who loved Captain Marvel, I think DC was better off relegating the Marvel family to their own Earth-S, the pre-Crisis status quo. I don't think any DC writer was given real creative freedom to do whatever they wanted with those characters until Johns, so they got stuck in a weird Golden Age sensibility for decades.

The property as most of its older fans understand it probably works better for younger audiences.

The name changes crushed me and some of Johns' changes are hopefully retconned away at some point.

Inhumans99

I really like the colors on that Dr. Strange #3 cover. Also, the 2099 Unlimited Cover with that hulk like monstrosity is so bonkers that I just had to give it a like.

Thank you to the regulars who are keeping this thread constantly updated with new covers. This is one of my favorite DVD Talk threads.

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Don't hesitate to throw your own covers in here, Inhumans99. Some of the ones I post have a story behind them for me. Some are just ones I find interesting that I somehow stumble across. Like this one below.

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Bronkster

An early Spider-Man cover. I always liked this for its contrast to the "action-packed" super-hero covers. Very simple and direct.

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Since you like that cover, here is a copy of a print I had framed and hanging on my wall. Bought it way back in 2011 from the HERO Initiative and it looks like they never sold out of it, though mine was part of a special push to help the artist Josh Medors' medical bills as he was dying from spinal cord cancer at the time. This one was a special release because it had Stan Lee also signature on it but it appears they are still selling the ones signed by Josh. Sadly, he passed away soon after in 2012.

Also check out the HERO Initiative website. They have a lot of cool things they sell, and it contributes to them helping old and young comic book workers in need.

Artist Josh Medors Passes Away (cbr.com)

Spider-Man print autographed by Josh Medors ⋆ HERO INITIATIVE

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Bronkster

Was curious after seeing Ditko's signature, and checked the Price Guide. This was Ditko's first published cover.

PhantomStranger

I didn't even recognize that art as Ditko's.

Bronkster

I wouldn't have either without the sig. But once I knew it was Ditko, I saw tell-tale signs: The blonde girl's eyes, and the witch's eyes are very Ditko-y.

Josh-da-man

It does have a lot of Ditko quirks, like the eyes and facial expressions.