The Curse of Shazam - most appropriate title ever?

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@Li3n

@Li3n

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/gary-frank-curse-of-shazam-111017.html

Wow, you'd think by now they'd understand that making the Big Red Cheese "mature" doesn't work... but i guess not:

"I absolutely love Mark's take on the character, even though we really only see the true Billy Batson for a second or two before he dies," Frank said. "But on every page you can feel him and his history. It's all there in the way he is perceived. I love the fact that there is an unease among the other heroes to be in the presence of that much power.
"There are superheroes," the artist said, "and then there are Billy and Clark [Kent]."
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And they're once again trying to change his name to Shazam... just because they can't put Cpt. Marvel on the cover... just do it like Action and Detective, give him a Something Comics (Adventure sounds good, and DC already has the trademark, and it's free since the reboot, right) and be done with it...

SHAZAM! is a good catchphrase, but an awful superhero name....
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

Actually i was going more for this part: "even though we really only see the true Billy Batson for a second or two before he dies,""

Not that the Kingdom Come thing is very encouraging... i mean DKR was great by itself, but it was one oif the things that caused the 90's...
 
Covar

Covar

...

That's from Kingdom Come. Which is completely different from Dark Knight Returns, and is really Mark Waid and Alex Ross's big F-you to the "grim and gritty" 90s comics that were influenced by DKR.
 
Norris

Norris

Covar said:
...

That's from Kingdom Come. Which is completely different from Dark Knight Returns, and is really Mark Waid and Alex Ross's big F-you to the "grim and gritty" 90s comics that were influenced by DKR.
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Yeah, the quote quoted in the OP is referring to the events of Kingdom Come. And the only event that the quote could be referring to is when Billy shakes off Luthor's mind control and takes Superman's place in stopping the nuclear weapon just dropped on the warring meta-humans (literally outflying Supes, yanking him to a stop IIRC, and intercepting the bomb himself) in an attempt to save as many lives as he can. It can be argued that Billy Batson's sacrifice is the only reason anyone other than Superman survives that event (in story).

So yeah. That's actually a somewhat heartening quote, I think.

EDIT: And wanting to change his name probably relates more to cross-media branding. They could certainly give Captain Marvel his own "Adjective Comics" title, but the character's name couldn't be on the cover (at least not regularly). If they decided to make a movie or a cartoon based on the character (and the New 52 has, in my opinion, been a rather transparent attempt to create a more film franchise friendly DCU), what do they call that? Besides that, the effect of the trademark issue being in place for so many years that more people outside of comic readers likely remember "Shazam" than "Captain Marvel". I'm more surprised that they didn't try changing right after Crisis on Infinite Earths, frankly.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

This is like the 3rd or 4th time they've tried to do it. The long time fans always complain and they always change it back.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

Covar said:
...

That's from Kingdom Come. Which is completely different from Dark Knight Returns, and is really Mark Waid and Alex Ross's big F-you to the "grim and gritty" 90s comics that were influenced by DKR.
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Yeah i know, the point i was trying to make is that just because KC intended to say one thing doesn't mean it can't lead to bad imitations...

Norris said:
Yeah, the quote quoted in the OP is referring to the events of Kingdom Come. And the only event that the quote could be referring to is when Billy shakes off Luthor's mind
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Oh crap, you're right... i guess i was just used to him only being referred to as Billy while he's in his kid/human form... while as i recall he's in Marvel form in that situation...


That i guess the only thing to fear is yet another attempt at changing his name to Shazam... that name only works for wizards, genies and wish granting fairies dammit...
Added at: 08:01
AshburnerX said:
This is like the 3rd or 4th time they've tried to do it. The long time fans always complain and they always change it back.
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And that's only in the last decade...
 
Norris

Norris

@Li3n said:
Nothing...

But they never used it, so maybe they can't because someone else took the trademark before they got the rights to Captain Marvel.
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...Other than "whiz" being associated with "urine", you mean. There's a reason Marvel doesn't use The Whizzer that often these days, y'know.
 
DarkAudit

DarkAudit

Norris said:
...Other than "whiz" being associated with "urine", you mean. There's a reason Marvel doesn't use The Whizzer that often these days, y'know.
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I thought of that, figuring there wouldn't be a WHIZ radio or TV, but there is in Zanesville, OH.
 
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