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Hi Brian–

Actually, I think he can say his name. In one of the early issues of the series, it was revealed that he can both say or think his name and change — but only if he intends to. Kinda sucks some of the magic out of the whole thing, IMHO.

Walt

My thought was that it was a terribly anticlimactic ending for a 12-issue series that took 20 months to come out.

They can call him “Captain Marvel” in the comic, just not on the cover.

During the previous Shazam comic, they let the character have the name, and just gave it a different cover. (Power of Shazam, maybe?). Then it’s not stupid.

Why, oh why, didn’t they just have it so Captain Marvel, Jr. could just say Shazam before? I get the comic book logic, but really..

Actually, I think he can say his name. In one of the early issues of the series, it was revealed that he can both say or think his name and change — but only if he intends to. Kinda sucks some of the magic out of the whole thing, IMHO.

Now that you mention it, Walt, I think you are spot on. Thanks!

So sorry for misleading you folks!

It’s still funny that his name is Shazam, though (and yes, Walt, I do agree that it takes some of the fun out of the concept)!

My thought was that it was a terribly anticlimactic ending for a 12-issue series that took 20 months to come out.

It really struck me when I was thinking – “Wait, didn’t this come out at the same time as 52? And Countdown is almost over…wow.”

And yes, the whole “Zeus just decides to give it to Freddy” part was a bit lacking on the whole “having a point” scale.

They can call him “Captain Marvel” in the comic, just not on the cover.

Right, that’s what I meant, thanks for the specification!

Sigh… Guess I’m just going to keep on waiting for when the pendulum swings back toward a concept of Captain Marvel that has some respect for the past… thanks Dan DiDio and Judd Winnick.

He calls himself “Shazam”. There are no f***ing words anymore.

Maybe we’ll get lucky and this all took place on earth #27 or something

I’ll just be quietly waiting for this take on Captain Marvel/Shazam to go the way of Electric Blue Superman, and Booster Gold’s NFL Superpro Armor.

That is incredibly ridiculous. Poor Marvel family. Seems like they have been nothing but mishandled since Infinite Crisis (or maybe 52, they were handled well in that).

I believe Freddy’s word would still be Captain Marvel, since Billy’s the one “in charge” now.

I’ve never understood the desire to “pass the torch” to Freddy. Isn’t Freddy older than Billy? If not, they’re in the same age group. Yet, for some reason, rather than try to explore Billy a little as a character, we gut stuck with this weird little “Marvel Family” that ignores one of their own (see Black Mary) and doesn’t really do much. I don’t see how this is supposed to revive the Marvel Family. I really don’t.

I just hope that a couple years from now they get Jeff SMith to do another real Captain Marvel series.

Wait…

What?

I read this post twice, and I’m lost.

My real problem is Im not sure what this accomplished besides getting Freddy as the lead. …theres a wizard (Billy) who gives a mortal super powers (Freddy). How is this any diferent from a story telling perspective than pre-trials of shazam. It seems the only thing they’ve done really is take Billy off the playing board.
Please note I like Billy…my confusion isnt over why people are upset, but why this series happend in the first place

I get the feeling that it was done to make the Marvel Family darker and edgier… you know, exactly what the Marvel Family, of all characters, should NOT be.

“I’ll just be quietly waiting for this take on Captain Marvel/Shazam to go the way of Electric Blue Superman, and Booster Gold’s NFL Superpro Armor.”

I totally agree. Hopefully, it will all be regarded as an Elseworlds; and before you know it, it’ll be July and Kunkel’s Billy Batson series will be out!

“I believe Freddy’s word would still be Captain Marvel, since Billy’s the one “in charge” now.”

I thought so, too!

I mean, when I heard Dan Didio insist that Freddy’s name (in the new JLA book) would be Shazam; I thought well… maybe that’s because they want his magic word to still be “Captain Marvel”.

It makes some sense. I mean, that’s how it should be! Logically speaking. But it isn’t!!! His magic word is Shazam throughout the whole series ( including issue 12!) and now he starts calling himself Shazam, too?

So what’s Billy’s code name suppossed to be now? Billy the Wonderful Wizard? Captain Whiz?

Jesús! It’s like they get stoned before they think these things!

WHAT A BUNCH OF IDIOTS!!! Don’t they realize that they haven’t changed anything. That they just played “musical chairs” for no apparent reason!

God, I hope James Robinson fixes this!

I mean, I don’t want to bash the whole thing. The series was okay. The art was cool and the stories were entertaining even if Winick “appears” to have borrowed from Wagner’s “Mage” and Gaiman’s “American Gods”; but the whole point to having a secret magic word is to keep it a secret! I thought Freddy learned this in issue #2 when he almost got Zareb killed!

Whatever, man. Whatever.

It’s like… Judd can write; but he always f*ck$ the details. For instance… Freddy’s age. He went from being a teenager and barely being old enough to drive (as seen in Teen Titans and Power of Shazam); to being a Course shy of Graduating College! COLLEGE!!! That’s like 6 to 7 years from the kid’s last known age!!!
Does that mean that Nightwing is now 42 and Batman is still, what? …35 years old? (What the hell, man?!? What the hell!!!)

Like I said, I hope Robinson cleans this mess up. Until then… Chocolate Egg Cream!

The problem is less about the using the name as the comic book title, than about merchandising. Any toy they choose to sell has to be called Shazam on the packaging. This has lead a great many of the non-comic reading public to believe this is the character’s name. If/when they make a movie, they won’t be able to use the name Captain Marvel in any trailers or print ads since those are advertising.

As much as I like the characters, the first thing that pops into my head whenever I hear or read the word Shazam is…’Pyle!’