Readers had been arguing whether Superman could beat Captain Marvel at least since 1940, when the good captain first appeared.
Legally, that question was answered in 1953, when Superman finally sued his most popular imitator out of existence.
But references to the Big Red Cheese kept popping up in popular culture. Even DC couldn’t resist teasing a Superman-Captain Marvel battle.
In a three-part story beginning in Action Comics 351 (June 1967), Superman faced a bearded bruiser called — in an obvious play on Captain Marvel’s magic word — “Zha-Vam!”
This epic adventure was drawn by the classic Superman artist Wayne Boring and written, ironically, by Otto Binder, who’d penned 986 of Fawcett’s original Captain Marvel-related stories.
Working with the United Crime Syndicate, the mysterious Zha-Vam engages Superman in an earthshaking fight.
Like Captain Marvel, Zha-Vam’s powers involve an acronym that cites various gods. In addition, he wears a belt bearing lettered buttons that activate various “reserve powers” — the ability to grow to titanic size, for example.
Hard-pressed to handle this bombastic baddie, Superman is temporarily turned to stone by Zha-Vam’s G-for-Gorgon power.
By blacking out the planet with his P-for-Pluto power, Zha-Vam blackmails Superman into super-shouting: “Zha-Vam is the greatest of all superheroes! I, Superman, am nothing compared to him!”
The former Captain Marvel scribe must have been amused to finally put those words into Superman’s mouth.
After Zha-Vam exiles Superman from Earth using Orion’s impenetrable shield, the Man of Tomorrow realizes he can visit yesterday to solve his dilemma.
Time-traveling to ancient Greece, Superman learns that the Oracle at Delphi has revealed his own future existence to the jealous Zeus, who forms Zha-Vam out of clay specifically to outdo the Man of Steel.
Obtaining his own divine reserve power belt from Neptune, Superman is able to overcome Zha-Vam and dump him back on ancient Mount Olympus, where he is returned to lifeless clay.
Outshone by Superman, the forgotten gods finally fade into limbo. Superman sheds no tears.
Bob Doncaster wrote:
ReplyDeleteI wonder how long Captain Marvel would have run if not for the lawsuit. Would he he have fell to the wayside like the other GA heroes?
Bill Scott wrote:
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the story at the time and the thing is being only 11 I was completely unaware of Captain Marvel's existence and so that aspect of the story passed me by.
Bill Scott wrote:
ReplyDeleteAgree - good stories stand up in their own right - the Easter Eggs just improve them for those in the know. Grew up to become a real comics fan and love the hidden in plain sight references to the Big Red Cheese now. Just a year or two later I was shown a 1950s comic starring Marvelman - Mick Anglo's ersatz British copy of Captain Marvel which woke me up to the fact that there were superheroes outside the DC and Marvel Universes.
Mark Engblom wrote:
ReplyDeleteIn this era, Superman encountered precious few villains who could go toe-to-toe with him in the raw power department, and ZHA-VAM is my favorite of that rare breed. Not only were his powers mythic in origin, but the whole *feel* of the story was mythic in its scope and execution, with the only sour note being the inclusion of the gangster angle (an annoying perma-theme of this era's Superman comics). As great as this story was, I'd love to see a throwdown between ZHA-VAM and the Big Red Cheese himself: Captain Marvel!
Michael Fraley wrote:
ReplyDeleteDear Otto. He probably wrote this story, like the Captain Marvel stories, in his beloved bathrobe.
Paul Zuckerman wrote:
ReplyDeleteDan, you have been busy!!!!
I can't recall if I realized that Zha-Vam was a take-off of Capt. Marvel. Sometimes I was dense then. 🙂 But, I really didn't know much about the good captain because Jules Feiffer was only allowed to publish two pages of Cap's origin in his book because it would otherwise "unsettle the settlement".
I wasn't excited by the story. It went on for three issues, if I recall, and Boring, upon his return to Superman comics, seemed to be old-fashioned in his work for the time--I wanted Curt Swan to draw everything! I liked Boring's earlier work, but found his mid 60s work wanting. I think I would have a better appreciation of it now!