Thoughts on DC's Shazam! from the 70's?

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I thought it was alright when Beck was drawing it, and decent but not as special after that.
I'd really like to know more about why Beck quit. Apparently he didn't like the writing. I know Beck had an ego problem but he also wrote some very insightful editorials about the differences between Captain Marvel and Superman for fan zines.

I've only read a couple of odd issues; I thought it was okay.

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>>85789000
Simply put, DC wanted a modernized Captain Marvel, and Beck lobbied to keep it a 40's styled strip. Beck had already left comics for a few decades by then after fawcett died, working in other commercial art fields. DC sought him out.

The thing is, Beck already had some bad blood with DC. Otto Binder, who was a prominent CM writer who went on to work for DC and helped create a bunch of Superman characters like Supergirl and Braniac. Beck described Binder's treatment from DC and Mort weisinger in general as being treated like a dog. In general he had left comics behind.

The final punch came when the young Don Newton, sadly short lived, brilliant comic artist, who was friends with beck, went to work at DC drawing captain Marvel. Newton was a huge Captain Marvel fan, and even assisted Beck in some things like an unofficial Nation Lampoon Captain Marvel parody. He was also one of the people Beck consulted with when he was trying to submit ideas and scripts to DC in order to run the Captain Marvel book himself, sinc eBeck didn't like the writers the series had. When Newton went to work at DC, he drew Captain Marvel in a contemporary style, realistic and detailed. Beck saw this as an implicit insult, and when interviewing Newton a few years later loaded some questions as if to imply that Newton(and DC in general)drawing CaptainMarvel differently meant they thought Beck was a mediocre artist incapable of drawing like that. Any mention of DC to beck would draw stonefaced silence or downright anger.

>>85790893
The art from Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures is timeless and I'm glad that they kept it intact. Master Comics, Captain Marvel Jr., Wow Comics, and Mary Marvel had better fat better "stylized" art, but it felt worlds away from the main two books. It's obvious that the output of artists like Neal Adams and Mike Grell were a heavy influence on the outcome of DC's decision, as Industral style art had become the standard for the time

If it wasn't for things like Marvel's Invaders, I'd say that comic books weren't quite ready for a retro throwback

>>85791449
>artists like Neal Adams and Mike Grell were a heavy influence on the outcome of DC's decision, as Industral style art had become the standard for the time


Yeah the other big example of this was all the flack Kirby got from other people at Marvel in the 70's. That he was doing old and outdated comics

Also Mac Raboy's Captain Marvel Jr work is great

>>85788216
Not a fan of how edgy and angsty they made Billy.

>>85791761
>Yeah the other big example of this was all the flack Kirby got from other people at Marvel in the 70's. That he was doing old and outdated comics

To be fair though, Kirby's artwork was kind of starting to deteriate around that time (see Omac and The Demon) and was getting progressively more garish and geometric with every year. It took me getting older to appreciate his work from that time, because as a kid I utterly hated it

Buscema seemed like a good mix of both Kirby and Adams though

>>85791928
>was kind of starting to deteriate around that time (see Omac and The Demon)

I think it's his strongest period I love his blocky style from his time at DC up to Captain Victory. Fantastic Four is really the only Silver Age comic he did I enjoy, though there is some good stuff in Nick Fury and Thor

>>85791986
>I think it's his strongest period I love his blocky style from his time at DC up to Captain Victory

I think creatively speaking, Kirby's 70's work was probably his strongest from just the concepts and ideas that he put forward alone. I'm still on the fence about his artwork because of how chunky and off-putting it looks in OMAC, but I'm starting to think that it was intentional given the nature of the comic's premise

>>85791928
Buscema and Romita Sr. are the best artists ever

>>85792144
I actually prefer the son to the father

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>>85791928
>>85791986
>>85792101

Kirby's style just changed to become more abstract as the years went by. I'd say his 70's years at DC and then back at Marvel are his peak where he shed his "disposable" art tendencies from the Golden Age that he brought into Silver Age Marvel. Fans were fucking MERCILESS towards him though. I have the Eternals run in floppies and the letters are just vicious. No question that it was the age of Adams.

>>85788216

Look at the fucking sideburns on Superman. What a fucking hippy.

>>85792250
>the letters are just vicious
God that's a shame, but apparently when he went to work in animation he got a much more positive response from the people working with him. I hope Marvel collects that now that I own Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur

I've read one issue of 2001 and it was amazing

>>85795231
This

>>85791928
70s kirby is the best kirby

>>85792144
buscema literally copied kirby's layouts when he started working for marvel
pretty sure romita did too, although he was a mixture of milton caniff and steve ditko early on
they are both very polished and easy to love
gorgeous women too
but kirby drew on a whole different level
plus buscema and romita were just draftsmen
kirby was a true creator, warts and all
he lived comics