Mary is the new Captain Marvel. Kill off the other ones.

What would you do?

Remove their ties to the DCU completely and bring on the entire supporting cast from the golden age. Tell stories that are akin to the Superman/Batman animated style comic books, which can be enjoyed by all ages. Accept and embrace all the charm inherent in the classic Captain Marvel universe.

I do love the large Marvel Family...but, yeah, in their own separate universe, free to grind the spirit of all humanity under their magical jackboots....

I'd just start over. Billy Batson, a boy who somehow gets to hang around with adults all day, says Shazam and becomes Captain Marvel. C.C. Beck era stories - gone, Jackson Bostwick era stories - gone. Jerry Ordway stories - gone. Winnick stories - gone. And therefore, all the other ones - gone. Not killed, just gone. [For continuity analists, Superboy belched, okay?]

The trick will be to get him independent of parents but not stuck with foster parents or anything else.

I'll skull on it and come up with something.

Hmmmm.... Shazam.

I might modify my in-my-head Wonder Woman pitch by introducing a wacky assortment of new gods (an idea I stole from Gaiman's American Gods). The notion that these randy gods would be chaste for centuries and not create a whole gaggle of off-spring just seems a bit unbelievable in any mythology I know That way, you can have all these strange beings pop up with the open explanation that they're gods or half-gods or descended from gods.

I'm not sure if I'd divorce it from the DCU, but I'd limit its contact to the very odd guest-star. This would be Captain Marvel's world and if Batman accidentally stumbled into it, he should feel completely out of place and couldn't wait to get out of town... lurking in the shadows on to have a wacky talking tiger (with great night vision) just walk up to him and start chatting. Wacky characters like the talking tiger, introduce them in flashback, keeping the origin fairly close to the original, but add a bit of spin on it like they might just be fucking with whoever they're telling it to. The evil worm guy... look, he was the bad guy in a fondly remembered serialized story, but stop trying to make this one of Shazam's arch-enemies.. it was just an unexpected surprise twist at the culmination of a major story. The story's been told, it's done. Either re-tell it with a new spin or leave it alone.

Billy Batson would be a web-cam reporter (stealing that from Warren Ellis' Two-Step). The notion being that he has to remove himself from the story to change into Captain Marvel, so he would be trying his darnedest to keep Cap out of it. Not sure how to work the switch, but I'd imagine he could have some fake signal device or something and have the floating cameras follow Cap. Web-cams... not rooted in any sort of reality. It's pure plot device and you amp up the sci-fi just like they did back in the day with the portable radio transmitter he used to carry about.

And for fun, you could do stories where Billy attempts to use the Captain Marvel identity to do grow-up things, like drink and meet girls. Only he's not really ready for this sort of thing, so just gets himself into trouble every time he tries it. Really sort of an 10 year old notion of how adults act, which he just can't fake for more than a few minutes. But you really want to show Billy just being a stupid kid and trying to use the identity in ways a good-natured kid might try to get up to a bit of trouble if he had such a tool at his disposal... only it *never* works out for him. He never consumes an alcoholic beverage, he never gets to kiss the girl, he always ends up being chased out in some weird misunderstanding.

All stories told in one. Maybe even two-in-one, with a 16 page main feature and an 6-page back-up featuring stories that may not include super-heroic action, like Captain Marvel trying to chat up girls while wearing civilian clothing.

Billy would be the only one with the SHAZAM power get rid of every single other occurance including Mr. Tawny and every other silly character.... Use the Don Newton and Alan Weiss versions of the character as a model sheet ..remove the cartoony goofy version and do the character straight..... Doc Savage meets the Golden Age Superman....

After Crisis of infinite earths I would have had Captain Marvel appear on that pocket dimension earth that JB had created(To save it,and so that the Marvel Family could be the only real Superheroes)
Now,I guess I would like to see All Star Superman type stories for CM. I would like to see the goofy stuff,BUT done straight.
(by the way Eric.... I don't think I've ever read Don Newton and Alan Weiss versions of the character....I guess I should check it out)

I want it done by Steve Rude! Billy meets Shazam the wizard. Before he meets Adam or his sister or Freddy, he meets Fat, Hill and Tall Billies. Sivana is his bad guy, but so is Joey and Dan.

I thought Ordway handled this well- Billy had been placed in Uncle Ebenezer's care after his parents were killed, Eben kicked him out but kept receiving the checks. Billy was a paperboy living on the streets when he met Shazam, then lived on his own with the money he made at Radio WHIZ-AM, and would turn into Captain Marvel with a beard and street clothes, and call himself Ebenezer Batson when Billy needed a guardian to go to a parent-teacher-conference or whatever.

If I ran the zoo...

Billy would currently be 16 with three years of Captain Marvel experience under his belt. Billy would be living on his own as an emancipated minor and working at the local TV/Radio station, mostly as a commentator to give the "Youth Perspective". He boards at "Uncle" Dudley's and takes journalism classes at the local community college. His dream is to grow up and be "The male Lois Lane."

Some of the stories would be updates of C.C. Beck's - like the Lt Marvels being first brought together because the station was doing a Billy Batson promotion.

Because of another idea I have, Mary is currently without a guardian (the Bromfelds have met with some form of tragedy). She attends a posh girl's boarding school in town and feels insecure and lonely most of the time.

Freddy helps his dad run a news stand, his leg is still all messed up from a childhood accident. It can't really be repaired by surgery and they don't have the money (or the desire) to amputate and have him wear a prosthetic.

I would play up some of the differences between Freddy, Mary, and Billy's power's, too. Billy is short and not very strong, so as Captain Marvel he is the powerhouse who can lift anything. Freddy is lame in one leg, so as Junior he's fast and nimble. Mary's always been called "The pretty one" and doesn't consider herself to be very smart, so as Mary Marvel she's the thinker and planner.



I also have some ideas how to reboot the franchise after Winick is done bastardizing it.

Fixed.

I got a place for your tampon, buddy.

You know, that did not come out right.

That wasn't phrased particularly well either.

How about next time I fix you?

I agree. I enjoyed the entire series, and was always looking forward to it coming out that month. It was usually my first read of the week so I could get in that reading mood.

I would bring back Captain Marvel, but I have to explain what that means.

I like Alex Ross's idea that Captain Marvel is the adult version of Billy Batson. To take it further, Captain Marvel is the superhero that Billy was meant to grow up to be. I would separate the personalities of the Captain and Billy, so that one is definitely the kid and one is definitely the adult.

In the reality that had been, Captain Marvel was the sole superhero. William, not billy, Batson had the whole secret identity / unknowing girlfriend thing going. He had gained his powers over time, thru numerous trials. He also had villains to test him, some we've met in other guises, some we've never met, one in particular who is responsible for Captain Marvel being in the state he's in today. Defeating him took the ultimate sacrifice, one that erased Captain Marvel and his history from existence. It was only thru the skill of the wizard Shazam that a portal to that existence opened up for a Billy Batson, who was born in the DC universe 20 years later than William Batson, Captain Marvel had been in his.

So in a new series, somehow that villain escapes from his non existence. He is powerful and dangerous and he threatens Billy, not realizing the boy does not know the adult version of himself. Billy fights as Captain Marvel but lacking the experience of The previous Captain Marvel, he is beaten. The villain fires up a MacGuffan to destroy Captain Marvel and at first it looks like it is successful, but then The Captain Marvel returns, the one DC readers have never met.

And what is great, reader do not need to know about any of this backstory right away. They have a new villain, one who makes Shazam afraid, who Billy is warned against fighting. They you have the battle, defeat and then "I'm Back" and THEN you explain what's going on.

What this would do would establish a mentor/student relationship between Captain Marvel and Billy Batson, with the Captain being able to look at situations with a Wisdom that escapes Billy. Even though Billy doesn't grow up, there are references to "when Billy grows up..." The biggest of them being that one day he will say Shazam for the last time and he will be Captain Marvel he growing up into the person he was meant to be.

from what I've seen so far, that Bone guy's version has me interested in a Shazam series maybe for the first time ever. He may have a handle on it....we'll see...

I would call it "Whiz Comics."

That seems somehow important to the spirit of it, to me.

I would buy that in a second!

Wow. I'd read that.

I've been thinking about the post from above since I wrote it. Here's a CM sketch I've been working on the last day or so. I've come up with the idea for the villian as well. (gotta find the sketch)