:00_shazam: :00_shazam: Let's Talk About The New Champion of Shazam! :00_shazam: :00_shazam:

You might think that in over 30 years of DC fandom, I would have keyed-in on Hoppy as I read #1.

But…nope! I completely and totally forgot about him. :joy:

All I thought was “Hey, cute bunny! Why does he look familiar, though?” as I read on.

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Hey, I missed the Darwyn Cooke reference with the Son of John Henry. It can be tough to remember everything from 1938 on…

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I bought a digital copy.

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Digital is a-okay!

pulls out a legal pad affixed with Shazam! stickers and a pen, then sits up in his chair

So, what’d we think of the book?

clicks his pen with his right hand as he presses his Freud-style glue-on beard back onto his face with his left hand

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#2 is out today! :partying_face:

A cover, by Evan Shaner.

B cover, by Dan Hipp.

C cover, by Marguerite Sauvage (1:25).

What’s your cover pick? More importantly, what’d you think of the new ish?

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Okay! So, issue #2 was the motherload of retro-references.

Let’s start with the first page and the panel about W.H.I.Z. Radio. WHIZ radio was the name of the station that Billy Batson worked as a broadcaster for in the Golden Age and beyond. In the panel, there are some posters of note. One shows the image and the name of Zazzo. Zazzo was a Bronze Age Captain Marvel villain who was a 5th dimensional imp who specialized in stealing Shazam’s powers. There’s also a poster for the Monster Society of Evil. The Monster Society was an early example of a supervillain team and they featured in an epic, serialized, Golden Age saga in Captain Marvel Adventures #22-46.

Then I got to the pages with the missing posters and I realized I would have my work cut out for me. It turns out that it’s not only Mary’s foster parents, Rosa and Victor Vasquez, who are missing. It’s, also, many of the greatest Fawcett Comics heroes who are missing. The following characters are named on the missing posters:

Roger Parsons aka Golden Arrow
Nyoka Meredith aka Nyoka the Jungle Girl
Susan Kent aka Bulletgirl
Jack Weston aka Minute-Man
Chase Yale aka Commando Yank
Brian Butler aka Mr. Scarlet
Alan Armstrong aka Spy Smasher

There are two more I’m less sure I’m correct about as the panel art cuts out major parts of their names, but they are:

James Barr aka Bulletman (I feel pretty good about this one since Bulletgirl is represented and Bulletman was a major Fawcett character.)

Christopher “Kit” Kendall who was a support character for Kara the Jungle Princess (I’m much less sure about this one as he’s technically a Nedor character and Fawcett didn’t purchase Nedor until late in their run.)

I also have the feeling that the flying gator and the triplicate villain are retro-references, but can’t figure out to what. Though, the gator did kind of remind me of Sobek who was the Black Adam Family mascot in 52.

Otherwise, I really felt for Mary. She had to leave her dream school and enroll in Community College while she works this mystery out. That’s a bit depressing and hit me in a real kind of way. I think her Bio teacher is cool, though!

Edit: I wanted to jump back in to highlight this article by Calamity Jon about Hoppy, the Marvel Bunny.

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No idea about
the triplicate villain, but as for the gator…


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I enjoyed the issue, especially the complicated family dynamic.

I do hope we see Mary interact more with Freddy. I liked their team ups in the past, so I’d like to see some of that reflected here.

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:smiley: What issue is that from???

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Holy Moly, am I glad I read this post before I read the book!

Now I know all manner of Easter eggs to hunt for.

Thanks, TCM! :superman_hv_4:

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Np! I live for the Easter Eggs…

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Likewise for most other franchises.

However, I’ve read next to nothing of the GA Captain Marvel stuff, so if it wasn’t for your Easter egg call-outs, most of them would go over my head and not be noticed.

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So, here’s a Q for my fellow Shazam fans:

How do you spell “moly” in “holy moly”?

I’ve seen “moly” (my preferred spelling) and “moley”.

What’s your :index_pointing_at_the_viewer: take?

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Well, there were only two important factors for me when it comes to this issue:

  1. How did they spell it in the Golden Age? Which could be a tricky question since I’ve seen alternate spellings for many different words in the Golden Age (including alternate spellings for words that do not have alternate spellings). Every time I came across this in the Golden Age stories, though, it was always “Holy moley!”

Holy Moley CM Adv 18
From Captain Marvel Adventures #18

Holy Moley CM Adv 27
From Captain Marvel Adventures #27

Again, there’s a chance that I will see it spelled the alternate way since… Golden Age spelling is chaotic (and I will let you know if I do come across it spelled that way in the retro tales). But, every time I came across it in the older books, it was “Holy moley!”

  1. How does Grant Morrison spell it? Because… you know me… And the answer to that from Final Crisis: Superman Beyond:

Holy Moley Supes Beyond

Holy Moley Harp

So… ultimately… it’s “Holy Moley” for me.

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See, the Grammar/Spelling Geek™ in me has a hard time with that spelling, since Billy isn’t talking about moles. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Plus, “moly” is more akin to “holy”, both in spelling and letter count.

I think its one of those things where fans can go with which version they like best, and for me, that’s “moly”.

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Eh, not a hill I care to die on. I’m just saying, from the comic evidence I’ve come across, it’s “holy moley.” For me, this would be an issue where the rules of comic book tradition would outweigh any grammar/spelling issues (which are debatable since even Google searching the phrase will give you both spellings from different dictionaries). So, if I wrote a Shazam story tomorrow, I would write: “Holy moley!”

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I’m all-for tradition of course, but I’m also all-in on correct grammar and spelling. :nerd_face:

…and no, English wasn’t one of my favorite classes in school. :wink:

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The funny thing is, I studied English in college. However, I am not a grammar hardliner. Generally speaking, most of the spelling and grammar rules within the English language are a bit arbitrary. They were created by many people from many different language backgrounds over a long period of time and whenever there was a disagreement it usually came down to “the dude with the most clout in the room wins” rather than for any logical reason. That’s what makes English a difficult language to learn. Grammar and spelling rules also, generally, look down on slang idioms like “holy mol(e)y” which is why there can be spelling disagreements like the one we’re discussing. All of which leads me to say that if there is a grammar/spelling issue with “holy moley” (which is, again, debatable), it’s not worth sweating over.

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Exactly. Fans can go their own way on that one.

Now, “Ra’s” and whether its “Raysh” or “Rahs”, there’s only one answer for that…

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Mary returns! :partying_face:

The New Champion of Shazam! #3 is in stores this week, while issues 1 and 2 are available on DCUI to Ultra members.

Have you been reading this series (especially because of other recent Shazam-related content cough Black Adam cough)?

Channel the powers of the gods below with your thoughts on The New Champion of Shazam!

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