The graphic novel After a previous
retcon by
Roy Thomas and Tom Mandrake in 1987 with the
Shazam!: The New Beginning miniseries, Captain Marvel was again given a revised origin in the 1994 graphic novel
The Power of Shazam!. Captain Marvel's origin would also be retold in
Jeff Smith's
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil limited series in 2007, though this origin takes place outside of DC continuity. As
The Power of Shazam! graphic novel opens, ten-year-old Billy Batson's parents, both archeologists, are working in Egypt, excavating the tomb of
Ramses II with their associate Theo Adam. Murdering the elder Batsons, Adam also kidnaps their young daughter Mary and steals a
scarab necklace once attached to one of the sarcophagi in the tomb. Billy had been left behind at home in
Fawcett City because of poor school grades. As in the Fawcett Comics origin story from
Whiz Comics #2 (1940), Billy is abandoned by his cruel uncle Ebenezer, and becomes a
paperboy to earn a living. One night, Billy meets a dark-clothed stranger outside of a subway tunnel, and follows the stranger onto a magic subway car. The subway car leads Billy to the realm of the Wizard
Shazam, who assigns the boy as his successor. By speaking Shazam's name, Billy is struck by a bolt of magic lightning and transformed into Captain Marvel, an adult superhero. . As Captain Marvel, Billy thwarts a plan by Theo Adam and his employer, the rich tycoon
Doctor Sivana, to destroy the WHIZ radio building and silence a witness to Adam's murders. Adam's encounters with Marvel, who is the "spitting image of C.C. Batson", along with the clues from the expedition, lead him to realize he is the reincarnation of Teth-Adam, the original heir to the power of Shazam. Upon crossing the Wizard, Teth-Adam was killed and his powers drawn into a scarab, the very same scarab that Adam stole from the tomb after killing the Batsons. Taking the scarab from Sivana's trophy room, Adam says the Wizard's name and is struck by magic lightning, becoming
Black Adam. Adam and Captain Marvel battle each other on the grounds of the Sivana-funded Fawcett World Fair, with Marvel winning the battle by snatching Adam's scarab from him. Marvel takes Adam to the Wizard, who takes Adam's voice and wipes his memory. Billy later learns that the stranger who led Billy to the Wizard was the spirit of his father, and that his sister Mary is still alive. Billy promises, as Captain Marvel, to fight injustice and evil, and also to find his missing sister. Meanwhile, Sivana has lost all of his money and possessions due to the destruction of his properties by Marvel and Adam, and swears revenge on the Captain.
The series Ordway's graphic novel was a success, winning the
Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Original Graphic Album of 1994, and led to the publication of an ongoing
Power of Shazam! series, set four years after the graphic novel. The series, which began publication in March 1995, reintroduced many of the characters from Fawcett Comics into current DC continuity, including Mary Bromfield/
Mary Marvel, Freddy Freeman/
Captain Marvel, Jr., Beautia Sivana, Mister
Tawky Tawny,
Bulletman,
Minute-Man, the
Spy Smasher,
Ibis and Taia, and even
Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. Villains reincarnated in the series included
Ibac,
Mister Mind,
Mister Atom, Aunt Minerva, and
Blaze and Satanus from the
Superman titles, who were retconned as the wizard Shazam's illegitimate children with a demoness (name unknown). Mary Marvel was introduced as an adult instead of in her traditional teenage form, and insisted upon sharing the name of "Captain Marvel" with her brother. Captain Marvel, Jr., resenting being called "Junior" all of the time and needing a name he could say without calling down the magic lightning (his magic word being "Captain Marvel"), renamed himself "CM3". Jerry Ordway wrote all of the stories for the series and the one
Annual, and provided painted covers in the style of the graphic novel as well.
Peter Krause,
Mike Manley,
Dick Giordano, and Ordway himself served as the series' main artists. The book was cancelled with issue #47 in March 1999 (issue #1,000,000 was published in November 1998 as part of the
DC One Million event, giving the main series a total of 48 issues published). One
Annual was also published in 1996, bringing the total number of issues to 49.
Blackest Night In January 2010,
The Power of Shazam! had a single issue revival (#48, continuing from the (vol. 2) numbering) tying into DC's
Blackest Night event. It involved Black Adam's dead protégé
Osiris being reanimated as a
Black Lantern, and battling his killer, the
Apokoliptian crocodile man
Sobek. Billy and Mary Batson, powerless after the events of
Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #25, appear briefly in the issue.
Reprint collections The Power of Shazam! #33 (Dec. 1997) was among the selected stories reprinted in the 2008
trade paperback Shazam! The Greatest Stories Ever Told (), highlighting some of the best Captain Marvel tales published. Issues #35-36 were collected in the
Starman: To Reach the Stars trade paperback and in
Starman Omnibus Volume 4. Issues #38-41 were collected in
DC Comics Presents: Shazam! #1 (Sept. 2011) and #44-47 were collected in
DC Comics Presents: Shazam! #2 (Oct. 2011). Issues #1-2 and 33 were among the stories reprinted in
Shazam!: A Celebration of 75 Years hardcover collection (2015). () In August 2020, the ongoing series was properly collected for the first time in the hardcover
The Power of Shazam! Book One: In The Beginning, which collects the
Power of Shazam! graphic novel, issues #1-12 of the ongoing series, plus a story from
Superman & Batman Magazine #4; plus bonus material (). A second volume,
The Power of Shazam! Book Two: The Worm Turns, was published in trade paperback in May 2023, collecting issues #13-23 of the ongoing series, as well as the Annual, "Playing with Fire" from
Showcase '96,
Superboy Plus #1,
Supergirl Plus #1, and
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #4 (). A hardcover edition, due for release in December 2021, was never published. ==Reception==