People sometimes wonder why I have so much love for the Marvel Family. I can understand this, especially when the current regime at DC just don’t seem to “get” the appeal either, resulting in substandard or outright terrible stories. That’s one reason when I present the Marvels in these columns, I always refer to the original Fawcett Comics stories. I’ll be honest, I have only read a handful of Fawcett-era Marvel stories, but what I have read is enough to make them some of my favorite characters, ever. Today’s subject is pretty interesting due to the fact that he was only ever in one Fawcett-era story. He was memorable enough to be resurrected (figuratively and literally) in the DC-era. In recent years, he’s even eclipsed Captain Marvel himself in popularity. Alternatively known as Teth, Theo, and Mighty Adam, it’s the secret origin of Black Adam!
The framing sequence for this story shows the old wizard, Shazam narrating. This isn’t terribly important, but he refers to past events a lot, which I have already covered in previous columns, so expect links rather than relating said recaps. Shazam’s narrative begins with a bunch of exposition, but eventually drops in on good ‘ol Billy Batson at station WHIZ with his boss, Sterling Morris. It turns out that there is some unidentified object approaching Earth at blinding speed. Mr. Morris decides to get a good look at it from the massive telescope which happens to be in his office (just go with it). Unfortunately, he puts himself and Billy in deadly danger, as he casually mentions that said telescope needs repairs as he ascends the massive wooden staircase leading to it. As you might expect, mayhem ensues…
"Luckily, Captain Marvel always seems to show up when I do insanely stupid things!"
Of course, since Billy is Captain Marvel the day is saved handily. At this point, Shazam’s narration takes the time to recap Billy’s origin. This is great for new readers, but since I already recounted it, you can just check it out here. When we return to the present, Billy decides to go visit his pal, Freddy Freeman, the lame newsstand owner! Seriously, Freddy is lame (of leg). Freddy and Billy discuss the meteor or whatever it is. As it turns out, the phenomenon is now visible to the naked eye. Because of this, everyone’s an amateur rubbernecker and Billy is nearly hit by a car. It’s a good thing Freddy has a magic word of his own!
Freaking jaywalker.
As you may have guessed, the Wizard takes this opportunity to relate Jr.’s origin. We’ll skip that part, because now the unidentified space debris has made landfall and it turns out to be a deranged elf in a dark version of Captain Marvel’s costume! And in case the outfit fooled you as to the gentleman’s intent, he erases all doubt as to his nefarious intention in the space of three simple panels.
"I will break your back, like so, with my knee!"
Like I said, he makes his intentions pretty clear. If there was any further doubt, he declares that even though the world is different from what he knows of it, he’ll go ahead and rule it anyway. You have to admire his confidence, at any rate. Before Adam can get his aspirations of a new kingdom off the ground, the policeman’s cry for help is heard by Cap Jr. Junior is flying directly at Black Adam, which causes the pointy-eared fiend to declare the amazing-ness of such an act. Captain Marvel Jr. follows up with what is probably the best line of smack talk I’ve ever read in a comic, Golden Age or otherwise.
Cap Jr. ain't messing around, folks.
Sadly, Jr.’s mighty blow doesn’t affect Adam in the least. Likewise, when Adam retaliates, Jr. isn’t fazed, either. At this point, Billy has recovered from his near-death experience and has joined the fray as Captain Marvel! Even with the advantage in numbers, the Captains Marvel make no headway against their adversary. Black Adam realizes the stalemate as well and decides to disappear into the conveniently placed crowd, to plan to achieve victory. While the Marvels are in hot pursuit, Adam somehow manages to escape.
Seriously? Guys, he was RIGHT THERE!
With Black Adam’s “escape” Cap and Cap Jr. ponder the villain’s origin in the hopes of finding some leverage with which to defeat him. They say their respective magic words, and decide to visit Shazam. They figure his wizened form will have the lowdown (little do they know…). As it turns out, Black Adam is still close by (surprise!) and he sees the Captains change into their human forms and puts two and two together and comes up with a plan for revenge! You see, Adam also has the powers of Shazam as we’re about to discover. He follows Billy and Freddy via the subway entrance to the Rock of Eternity. Sadly, we don’t get to see the cool art deco subway train this time. Anyway, as the kids get to Shazam’s throne, they light the brazier to summon his spirit and they explain their predicament. Shazam proceeds to tell them the whole sordid tale. 5,000 years ago, Shazam wanted to bestow his powers onto a mortal champion, much like Captain Marvel. He chose a man called Teth-Adam, and at first it seemed he made a wise choice.
After this fiasco, Shazam insisted on a background check for all potential applicants.
In future tellings of this story, Mighty Adam was indeed a good and just champion for a while, but in this original tale, Adam immediately decides to use his great power to acquire even more! Mighty Adam sets his sights on the throne of the Pharaoh. Being the self-proclaimed “Mightiest Being on Earth” means he meets with little resistance, and he eventually makes his way to the palace. With no one to intervene (Shazam must have been on sabbatical or something), Mighty Adam ruthlessly takes the throne.
Adam certainly has a penchant for breaking bones, I'll give him that.
Back from his smoke break, or whatever it was, Shazam is about to lay the smack down on Adam. You’d think that old Shazam would just remove Adam’s powers outright, but instead, he rechristens his charge Black Adam, due to his evilness (and probably his taste in clothing). Black Adam scoffs at this, taunting Shazam that not even the wizard himself can harm him. It seems Shazzy made Adam so invincible that he truly can’t be harmed. The Wizard is crafty, if a bit short-sighted and pulls another trick out of his billowy sleeve.
Little known fact: In Ancient Egypt, all the seas and oceans were red.
As the origin tale ends, Shazam realizes that Black Adam’s hatred is so great that he has spent the last 5k years just flying through the cosmos with revenge on his mind. While that’s quite determined of Adam, how did Shazam not foresee that? Sometimes I wonder about this guy’s severe lack of judgement. Shazam’s spirit tells Billy and Freddy that they must track Adam down and find some way to defeat him. Shazam then makes his exit, and the two are about to say the magic words and clean up the wizard’s mess. Before they can do anything though, Adam strikes! He binds and gags the youths and declares his intent to kill them as revenge against Shazam! All seems lost, but as the story would have it, Mary Batson and Uncle Dudley have wondered where Billy and Freddy have been. The guys aren’t in any of their usual haunts, so Dudley and Mary also make their way to the subway to see if they’re at the Rock of Eternity. They arrive just as Adam is about to exact his revenge. They say their magic words, and Shazam’s narration take hold again as we’re regaled with Mary’s origin. He also sums up Uncle Marvel in one succinct panel…
I'd point out how vaguely creepy that is, but the old codger IS about to save the day, so I won't.
The two new arrivals try to take Adam head on, but they fare no better than Billy or Freddy. In fact, having no real powers, Uncle Marvel is casually pushed aside. While Mary keeps Adam distracted, Uncle Marvel frees the captive Freddy and Billy. Surely now with Adam facing the combined might of four (well, 3 and a half, I guess) Marvels he’ll fall, right? Um, not quite…
Not even the might of Uncle Marvel's chili breath can stop him now!
The massive stalemate continues unabated. Uncle Marvel however is relegated to the sidelines. Because of this, he gets the bright idea to light the brazier to get Shazam to intervene. I’m sure it’ll work too, since Shazam’s anti-Adam tactics have been so effective in the past. In immaterial form, the wizard can’t do much but spout advice. Thankfully, it is a bit of useful advice (for once). If the Marvels can somehow trick Adam to say the wizard’s name, he’ll revert to the non-powered form of Teth-Adam! Adam isn’t Mr. Mxyzptlk though. It could be a bit of a chore to get his to say “Shazam!”. Dudley is up to the task though, and plays a clever ruse on the villain.
Uncle Marvel, bumbling his way to victory since 1945!
Adam, to his credit, immediately realizes his mistake and tries to transform back, but is distracted by Captain Marvel’s fist introducing itself to his cranium. The 5,000 year old villain is easily laid out by Marvel’s haymaker, and is unconscious. Before the Marvels can decide to do with Adam’s prone form, he ages the equivalent of 5 millenniums in an instant and becomes a desiccated corpse. Problem solved!
"Thanks for being unwitting accessories to murder, Marvels!"
And there you have it. The one and only appearance of the original Black Adam. I’ll admit, he is a character that begs to be used again, so I can’t fault contemporary writers for wanting to use him. Since his re-imagining, Adam has become more of an anti-hero, doing whatever it takes to protect his homeland (and rule it, go figure) and his own Black Marvel Family. With the DC re-launch looming, Black Adam and in fact all of the Marvel’s fates are unknown, but you can’t keep a good concept down, so I’m certain they’ll all be back in some form shortly. Until then, there’s always back issues!
This story originally appeared in The Marvel Family #1 December, 1945. It has been reprinted in the Shazam Family Annual #1
