BLACK ADAM RETURNS Part 1

Though Black Adam died at the end of his lone Golden Age appearance as shown HERE...

...as they say on Monty Python's Flying Circus; "He got better!"

Note: this story was created during the run of the 1970s SHAZAM! TV series, and the comic adapted elements of the show, inserting Billy Batson's already-existing Uncle Dudley into the safari-jacketed and mustachioed Mentor role, and utilizing the "Eterni-phone" (which usually connected directly to the gods whose initials made up "Shazam") to contact the old wizard!

To be concluded

TOMORROW!

Writer (and associate editor) E Nelson Bridwell was a serious "continuity cop" as this explanation of how the Egyptian gods (with a bit of logic-stretching) filled out the "SHAZAM" anagram shows!

Plus, artist Kurt Schaffenberger hard worked on the original Fawcett run of the "Marvel Family" when he entered the comics business back in the 1950s!

But this story from DC's SHAZAM! #28 (1976) shows him at his artistic peak two decades later!

Please Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Black Adam
Box Set
(Featuring the current version of the character, not the original incarnation we're showing!)

BLACK ADAM "Who He WAS, and How He Came to Be..." Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...Black Adam, the first person the old wizard Shazam granted powers to, has returned after 5,000 years to continue his attempt to conquer the Earth!

But a duo of new Shazam-created champions, Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr, stand in his way.
But all three combatants discover their magical powers are equal, and neither side can gain an advantage!
As Black Adam retreats to rethink his strategy against these new enemies, the Marvels head to the Rock of Eternity to consult Shazam as to how to defeat a foe exactly like themselves...

This tale, written by Otto Binder, penciled by C C Beck, and inked by Pete Costanza from Fawcett's Marvel Family #1 (1945), was Black Adam's sole Golden Age appearance!

(Amazing, considering how often villains considered deceased managed to reappear in comics!)
After Shazam and his champions were revived by DC in the Bronze Age, Black Adam was left in literary limbo...

...until he was literally resurrected!

But that's a story you'll have to return tomorrow to read!

Please Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Black Adam

Box Set

(Featuring the current version of the character, not the original incarnation we're showing!)

BLACK ADAM "Who He WAS, and How He Came to Be..." Part 1

Before you see the new movie starring Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam...

...perhaps you should see who (and what), the nominal "hero" was!

Let's begin at the beginning...during the Golden Age of Comics...

...a story old Shazam will relate...
TOMORROW!

Please Support Hero Histories
Visit Amazon and Buy...

Black Adam
Box Set
(Featuring the current version of the character, not the original incarnation we're showing!)

He's Coming...

...to theaters this Friday!

But, before that, we're doing a special four-day presentation of his origin (and only Golden Age appearance)...and his Bronze Age revival!
Be Here Tomorrow!!!
(because you really don't want to piss him off!)

Russkie-Smashers YOUNG MEN COMICS "Captain America: Back from the Dead!"

Wonder why Simon & Kirby created Fighting American?

Because Atlas (Once Timely, later Marvel) didn't ask them to handle this revival of the character they created, so they decided to show how it should be done!
Now., let's look at what inspired them to do a new patriotic superhero...

Written by Don Rico and illustrated by John Romita Sr (with a splash panel by Mort Lawrence), this story from Atlas' Young Men #24 (1953) ostensibly continued the adventures of Captain America, Bucky, and The Red Skull from the 1940s.
When Cap was revived in 1964, this (and other 1950s Atlas superhero tales) were considered apocryphal, since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby postulated the Star-Spangled Avenger had been frozen since the end of World War II until he was defrosted in Marvel's The Avengers V1N4 (1964).

But, in 1968, writer Stan Lee, pencilers Larry Lieber and John Romita Sr and inker "Mickey Demeo" (actually Mike Esposito), revealed the 1950s Red Skull was a Russkie imposter who killed CIA agents Richard and Mary Parker (Peter Parker/Spider-Man's parents) in Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 (1968)

Then, in 1972, writer Steve Englehart and penciler Sal Buscema revived the 1950s Cap and Bucky, showing them to be government-approved replacements for the original Cap and Bucky in Marvel's Captain America and the Falcon #153-156 (1972...

...thereby bringing their 1950s tales (and, presumably the Sub-Mariner's and Human Torch's 1950s stories) into official continuity!
It also created the concept that others filled-in for Cap and Bucky during that era.
In fact, the "1950s Cap" is actually now considered the fourth official "Captain America", after already-existing patriot-themed heroes The Patriot and Spirit of 76 filled-in in the 1940s after Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were believed to be KIA (Killed in Action)!

Please Support Hero Histories!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Marvel MasterWorks
Atlas-Era Heroes
Volume 1

(which features this tale)