The Shazam! Archives, Vol. 2

The Shazam! Archives #2

by Bill Parker, C.C. Beck (Illustrator), Joe Simon

The World's Mightiest Mortal returns in this second collection of tales from the Golden Age of comics Captain Marvel flies into action against his greatest foe, the mad Dr. Sivana, and teams up with his fellow hero Spy Smasher in these spirited stories.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

232 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

William H. "Bill" Parker, Jr. was an American comic book writer and editor. He is best known for creating Fawcett Comics' most popular character, Captain Marvel, in 1940, along with artist C. C. Beck.

Reviews

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a privilege to finally read the legendary Captain Marvel vs. Spy Smasher sequence reprinted in the later part of this book. The hype in the legend suggests the stories are better than they actually are which is more interesting than good, but finally those of us who have read about their mighty confrontation can read it for ourselves. Early Captain Marvel stories are mostly better than early Superman stories, so even the worst reprinted here are enjoyable, and with this volume you can see CM evolve from a fairly serious action hero to the lighthearted classic the strip became. There is still some evolving to do after the last story reprinted in this book, but CM is closer to his classic self. Glad I read this collection.

[Valerie R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good as far as becoming familiar with the character and the marketing of the day (for kids). Otherwise, dull as dishwater.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

CM always works best when C.C Beck is the artist, and there's a lot of non-Beck work in this volume, including a couple of subpar Jack Kirby stories.

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still early in the career of the "Big Red Cheese" and pretty rough. The real point of interest is the stories by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby done previous to their Captain America debut.