The Power of Shazam! Annual #1 (1996)
by Jerry Ordway & Mike Manley
cover by Jerry Ordway
Last of the “Legends of the dead Earth” annuals that I have to cover, although its significance for the Legion won’t be felt for a while.
We begin in the 90th century on planet Binderaan (I assume I don’t have to highlight where the name comes from), where a family witnesses a crime.
I had to read the initial sequence like four times before I realized what actually happens here: the criminals… or maybe I should call them rebels… are attacking the robot with a magic bazooka (!!!) that teleports half of the robot AND the girl away.
Considering her ENTIRE story hinges on this moment, I wish they made the sequence more clear.
This is a 38 page story where most of what happens has little impact on the focus of the Legion retrospective, so I will necessarily have to skip A LOT.
What is important is that the government of Bilderaan is fanatically obsessed with science, and all use of magic is strictly forbidden.
Meanwhile the girl has been teleported to some wasteland.
But at least the place has a convenient hidden portal that leads straight to the Rock of Eternity.
She finds a guy who is so still she figures he’s long dead…
…but who is very much alive.
As for the other annuals, this is a future where Earth has been destroyed ages ago.
The wizard uses the Rock Of Eternity’s “Historama” (a classic Captain Marvel magic device) to show what happened in Bilderaan’s past, although the girl provides commentary.
Basically, the native population was devastated by natural disasters and then humans took over the place.
The vision is interrupted when the wizard notices the authorities are attacking, and this is where we learn the girl’s full name.
It seems to be spelled “Cecebeck” as a single word here, but later it’s clarified to be CeCe Beck.
A not exactly subtle homage to Captain Marvel’s creator C.C.Beck.
As you definitely already figured out, the wizard is actually a future version of the 20th century Captain Marvel. And when CeCe says his name, she gains his powers.
She will later use the name Thunder, and for convenience I’ll refer to her as such for the rest of the review.
Continuing the grand old tradition of one of Captain Marvel’s sidekicks not being able to say his name without transforming. Classic.
The artwork has a definite old-fashioned quality to it. Thunder in particular is rarely drawn with much detail.
Captain Marvel does his best to bridge the gap between the government of Bilderaan and the displaced aliens native to the planet.
This is where Thunder learns that her parents are *choke* dead now.
I never thought I would ever see a 1996 comic book use the old “choke” bit and playing it completely straight instead of doing a parody!!!
The man truly responsible for the murders, however, is not here.
You would expect this tragedy to be used for angst, given Thunder’s reaction… but no, this comic is so aggressively retro that we won’t have any of that.
When she gets back home, several days have passed (time works differently in the Rock Of Eternity), and she learns that she’s considered dead.
She’s confronted again by the same inspector that investigated the rebels before.
Yes, he is seriously called Inspector Javert.
Turns out he’s not such a bad guy after all.
The real villain is Dash Noir, a rebel who was empowered by some demons which I would probably recognize if I was more of a Captain Marvel fan.
This turns into, what else, a big dumb magic fight.
Nobody likes this guy, not even the matriarch in charge of the oppressed minority.
Normally the beauty of Captain Marvel stories is how deceptively simple they are… but man is this the most bare-bones story I’ve seen in a while.
Since Dash Noir has the power to become intangible, she defeats him by tricking him into phasing through the Rock Of Eternity while she zaps him with her lightning.
And she solves the refugee crisis by having some of the survivors teach the rebels how to grow food. I think? Honestly I got so bored that my eyes glazed over most of the story.
And we finally end the story with CeCe being adopted by Inspector Javert.
Legion significance: 1/10
Thunder will barely be significant to the Legion’s history. The specifics of her origin, other than she’s from another timeline and has Captain Marvel powers, is completely uninfluential.
Silver Age-ness: *choke*/10
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
Oh my Shazam was this boring. There’s nothing egregiously bad about this, and the basic plot is fine… but that’s the operating word here: BASIC.
It completely lacks the oddball charm of the best Captain Marvel stories, and it can’t decide whether it wants to be a throwback to simpler stories or if it wants to do social commentary.
Thunder is almost a blank slate here. Nothing seems to faze her, and she’s incredibly bland.
I guess she has a good design? I really can’t think of too many positives for her.