:Characters_of_DC: The Big Red Cheese :Characters_of_DC:

[JasonTodd428]

Hi all and welcome to our August session. This month we will be taking a look a family of characters from the magical side of the DCU. I am, of course, talking about the Marvel Family: Billy, Mary, Freddie.

Let’s get to it!

Remember to join is @CharactersOfDC just smash the link below.

Character Stats

Creators:

• Captain Marvel: Bill Parker & C.C. Beck

• Mary Marvel: Otto Binder & Marc Swayze

• Captain Marvel, Jr: Ed Heron, C.C. Beck & Marc Raboy

First Appearance:

Captain Marvel: Whiz Comics #2

Mary Marvel: Captain Marvel Adventures #18

Captain Marvel Jr: Whiz Comics #25

Character Wikis

• Marvel Family
• Captain Marvel
• Mary Marvel
• Captain Marvel, Jr.

Suggested Reading

• Whiz Comics #2

• Shazam: A Celebration of 75 years (For those with DCUI Ultra Sub.)

• Shazam: The World’s Mightest Mortal (For those with DCUI Ultra Sub.)

• Captain Marvel Adventures

• Shazam (1973)

• The Power of Shazam

Discussion Starters

• What was your first encounter with anyone from the Marvel Family?

• What is you favorite Captain Marvel story?

• What do you consider the best story to feature Captain Marvel and/or the Marvel Family?

Interesting Bit of Information

• One of Captain Marvel’s villains, Dr. Silvana, was the one who coined the term “Big Red Cheese” as a nickname for Captain Marvel.

In the Wings

• For September: New Gods

• For October: Monster Mash: Waylon Jones: Killer Croc

• For November: Human Target

[RyanTLippert]

• I feel like I was pretty well familiar with the character before the 2019 movie, but I can’t think from where. I’ve definitely dived deep into the character’s history since then, though, and he’s now one of my all time favorite heroes!
• A personal favorite is “The Minneapolis Mystery”. It’s part of a series of stories they ran in Captain Marvel Adventures in the '40s where he would visit major cities in every state, and this is the first one where he visits my home state of Minnesota. The story even centers around a local landmark, Foshay Tower, which I’ve visited.
  
  
• As for the BEST story? Of what I’ve read, Shazam! The New Beginning by Danette Thomas and Tom Mandrake is probably the best, but I have high hopes for The Power of Hope, which I have yet to go buy a copy of.

[CaptainMarvelology]

@JasonTodd428

Interesting Bit of Information

• One of Captain Marvel’s villains, Dr. Silvana, was the one who coined the term “Big Red Cheese” as a nickname for Captain Marvel.

More or less.

Before Fawcett settled on “Big Red Cheese” as Dr. Sivana’s derogatory nickname for Captain Marvel, there was a small evolution of the term.

As shown by the panel you’ve provided, Dr. Sivana first called him, “That Big Red Cheese Cake.”

Then… believe it or not, it was Billy Batson (after being exposed to Dr. Sivana’s hate ball) who first derogatorily referred to Captain Marvel as “Big Piece of Red Cheese,” moving the term closer to what it would end up being. (Captain Marvel Adventures #17)

From that point on, it would be shortened to Dr. Sivana’s preferred usage of the term. (Captain Marvel Adventures #100)

Of course, it was not exclusive to Dr. Sivana. Like so (Captain Marvel Adventures #80):