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Shazam!: Monster Society of Evil
From 1942-1944, Captain Marvel battled one evildoer after another, all of whom struck at the behest of the mysterious Mr. Mind. Captain Marvel fought his way through this legion of adversaries, gathering clues along the way to the true identity of Mr. Mind -- who, it turned out, was a super-intelligent, talking, two-inch long worm. This fanastic tale kept young readers on the edge of their seats as their hero made his way closer to his ultimate foe, with cliffhangers every step of the way in the tradition of movie serials.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Otto Binder
400 books15 followersOtto Oscar Binder. Used these alternate names: Eando Binder (together with his brother Earl Binder -E and O Binder-), John Coleridge, Gordon A. Giles, Will Garth, Ian Francis Turek, Ione Frances Turek and Otto O. Binder.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 30, 2021
An evil mastermind named Mr. Mind is bent on world domination. Who or what is Mr. Mind and can Captain Marvel stop him before he takes over the world?
I bought this a few months before my son was born. I tried reading it once but couldn't get into it. Since I'm trying to chew through as much of my to-read pile before Christmas hits as possible, I gave it another shot.
This is published by Gwandanaland and is composed of scans of actual pages from Captain Marvel Adventures 22-46. As such, you get what you get. Some pages look decayed, others are just muddy as hell from poor printing. Still, until DC grows a pair and prints it, this is the easiest way to read the original Monster Society of Evil saga. Offensive racial caricatures abound, as was the style at the time. Still, if you can get past the racism and the dirty reproductions, it's honestly not that bad.
Monster Society of Evil is one of the first stories of its kind, a sweeping tale lasting for 25 issues in 8-12 page installments. The stories aren't great as standalones. Pretty much all of them feature Captain Marvel battling a new monster or villain and end on a cliffhanger. The artists are largely uncredited. The covers had the cleaned reproductions in the book and I think they were done by CC Beck.
As a whole, though, it's pretty good. Captain Marvel beats the shit out of a lot of bad guys and wrecks a lot of shit, Bill Batson gets bound and gagged more times than you can keep track of and somehow escapes, and Mr. Mind and his goons are eventually defeated. How often do you get to see Captain Marvel tells some Scots they can shoot as many Nazis as they want?
The Original Monster Society of Evil is a worth a read to any fan interested in the formative years of comics. I'm giving it a 3.5 but I'd probably bump it up to a 3.5-4 with cleaner reproductions and less racism.
I bought this a few months before my son was born. I tried reading it once but couldn't get into it. Since I'm trying to chew through as much of my to-read pile before Christmas hits as possible, I gave it another shot.
This is published by Gwandanaland and is composed of scans of actual pages from Captain Marvel Adventures 22-46. As such, you get what you get. Some pages look decayed, others are just muddy as hell from poor printing. Still, until DC grows a pair and prints it, this is the easiest way to read the original Monster Society of Evil saga. Offensive racial caricatures abound, as was the style at the time. Still, if you can get past the racism and the dirty reproductions, it's honestly not that bad.
Monster Society of Evil is one of the first stories of its kind, a sweeping tale lasting for 25 issues in 8-12 page installments. The stories aren't great as standalones. Pretty much all of them feature Captain Marvel battling a new monster or villain and end on a cliffhanger. The artists are largely uncredited. The covers had the cleaned reproductions in the book and I think they were done by CC Beck.
As a whole, though, it's pretty good. Captain Marvel beats the shit out of a lot of bad guys and wrecks a lot of shit, Bill Batson gets bound and gagged more times than you can keep track of and somehow escapes, and Mr. Mind and his goons are eventually defeated. How often do you get to see Captain Marvel tells some Scots they can shoot as many Nazis as they want?
The Original Monster Society of Evil is a worth a read to any fan interested in the formative years of comics. I'm giving it a 3.5 but I'd probably bump it up to a 3.5-4 with cleaner reproductions and less racism.
March 19, 2023
Otto Binder's and C.C. Beck's stint on Captain Marvel is nothing short of legendary, but the apex must be the time they serialized a long running story across 25 issues of Captain Marvel Adventures. Collected as "The Monster Society of Evil", we see Billy Batson A.K.A. Captain Marvel taking on Mr. Mind and his various ploys to destroy the world during the height of the Second World War. The stories are campy and light-hearted as suited for the intended young audience, though there is an easily recognizable formula Binder and Beck fall back on repeatedly. There are a lot of unfortunate racial caricatures as well which were the norm for the time, though this series does lean into it much heavier due to the nationalistic fervor associated with making a wartime American comic book.
Each issue of "The Monster Society of Evil" story begins with a new plot devised by Mr. Mind and Captain Marvel must respond accordingly. However, the stakes clearly become diminished by the fact that Captain Marvel is basically invincible, requiring an ingenious counterplan by Mr. Mind. It usually involves gagging young Billy before he gets to shout his catchphrase "Shazam!", and in turn Billy stumbles his way into removing the gag to free himself of his predicaments. It's formulaic for sure, but it holds a certain charm that I'm sure worked for the time.
But really what makes this a worthwhile read is C.C. Beck's imaginative artwork. The panels are rich with detail and action, and Beck finds ways to keep the rather formulaic storytelling fresh with interesting new setpieces and character designs. There's a lot of similarities to contemporaries like Fletcher Hanks or Basil Wolverton, but compared to the other superhero monthlies of the time, Beck's Captain Marvel comics remain signficantly more fresh.
Each issue of "The Monster Society of Evil" story begins with a new plot devised by Mr. Mind and Captain Marvel must respond accordingly. However, the stakes clearly become diminished by the fact that Captain Marvel is basically invincible, requiring an ingenious counterplan by Mr. Mind. It usually involves gagging young Billy before he gets to shout his catchphrase "Shazam!", and in turn Billy stumbles his way into removing the gag to free himself of his predicaments. It's formulaic for sure, but it holds a certain charm that I'm sure worked for the time.
But really what makes this a worthwhile read is C.C. Beck's imaginative artwork. The panels are rich with detail and action, and Beck finds ways to keep the rather formulaic storytelling fresh with interesting new setpieces and character designs. There's a lot of similarities to contemporaries like Fletcher Hanks or Basil Wolverton, but compared to the other superhero monthlies of the time, Beck's Captain Marvel comics remain signficantly more fresh.
April 15, 2019
Monster Society of Evil এর ফার্স্ট প্রত্যাবর্তন এটাই।
April 15, 2024
A classic of Golden Age comics that deserves to be one despite some deeply racist material typical of the period throughout.
April 21, 2015
Most Golden Age superhero comics only work if you really like the characters since the stories are pretty simple and repetitive. They probably worked much better read month to month than all in a row. That said, the idea here is pretty innovative. Captain Marvel fights a new villain every month, all leading up to the final battle with Mr. Mind. Each issue is self contained, but, as far as I'm aware, it's the first time a superhero comic had an overarching plot run for this long.
August 4, 2012
Dash and I enjoyed this thoroughly. I had to censor some of the racist bits (pretty simple since he can't read, I just changed the offensive names and references and the 'sambo' dialect to standard enlish) but otherwise it was a hoot and kept Dash enthralled for about a month's worth of evening reading.
November 4, 2007
read this via interlibrary loan a few years back. the original 22/23 issue serial (from 1943-1945) which inspired Jeff Smith's take on Captain Marvel. Much more sprawling and strange in that golden age way.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews