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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Saturday Memories of Shazam!: AKA Captain Marvel

Chosen from among all others by the Immortal Elders - Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury - Billy Batson and his mentor travel the highways and byways of the land on a never-ending mission: to right wrongs, to develop understanding, and to seek justice for all!"

In time of dire need, young Billy has been granted the power by the Immortals to summon awesome forces at the utterance of a single word:

SHAZAM!

...a word that transforms him in a flash into the mightiest of mortal beings - Captain Marvel!

I loved watching Shazam on CBS back in the 70's. It's fun to watch now, but damn it was cheesy. I don't know what was up the that lightening bolt on the front of that RV, but were they trying to blow their cover?



The show was on for 3 seasons on CBS and later had a cartoon version in 1981 on NBC. The Cartoon version was a more accurate to the comics and had the whole Marvel family: Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Uncle Marvel.

The cartoon had the same producers and the intro was somewhat similar to the live version and the show used a lot of the same soundtrack.



Here is a look at my boxed Shazam from Mego's World's Greatest Super Heroes Collection.















Mego definitely pushed this character in the line when the show debuted and even plugged the TV series in their toy commercial. I have to laugh at the telephone cord representing a lightening bolt (at least I think it is supposed to be a lightening bolt). Shazam was a last minute entry in the 2 nd wave of figures. Spiderman, Captain America, and Tarzan were planned from the beginning with Captain Marvel a last minute add.


Also, on a side note I didn't know Mr. Fantastic had the powers of invisibility. It kind of looks more like the power of teleportation than invisibility for him and the Invisible Girl.

I wonder why Mego didn't give hime the proper white cape? Anybody know what's up with the Shazam movie starring The Rock as Black Adam?

For more Saturday morning memories and Super Hero toys check us out.

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