This scene doesn't happen in this comic, because even Captain Marvel doesn't speak frog! Literal frog. That wasn't a jab at the French or anything. From 1975, Shazam! #18, "The Celebrated Talking Frog of Blackstone Forest!" Written by Elliot S! Maggin, art by Bob Oksner.
On a camping trip with Billy Batson and some friends, Mr. Tawny is excited to find a talking frog!...that won't talk in front of anyone else. I feel like I've heard this one before...
OK, so the frog is a prince that was cursed by a witch--first with immortality, then turned into a frog for spurning her--and only animals can understand him. Luckily for Tawny, he knows about 300 wacky inventors in the Fawcett City area, and he and Billy visit Dr. Kilowatt to measure the frog's intelligence, which is enough to blow up the machine! (Apparently 'chimpanzee' was the highest setting.) The frog is then frog-napped by "Raskolnikov, the foreign agent!" Billy announces his name like he's shown up before, but I couldn't confirm that. Tawny hangs onto a helicopter to save the frog, which, as Captain Marvel explains after saving them, should be a selfless deed to release the prince from the curse. It takes a minute, but it works! He might not be the prettiest prince out there, but hey, it beats eating flies. Maybe.
Somehow Raskolnikov is merely deported, instead of a trip to Gitmo or something. In the next story, "The Coin-Operated Caper!" it's Captain Marvel Jr. vs. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana Jr. (Written by E.Nelson Bridwell, art by Kurt Schaffenberger.) Testing a mind-control device on a banker, Thaddeus then uses it on Freddie Freeman, compelling him to never say his magic words, "Captain Marvel" again! How will he get out of that one...really, really simply.
Probably just me, but I find all this material so far just...silly. Too silly, even though it's a kid's book. I can definitely see why he's so hard to translate into modern times while retaining all of his iconic story elements & attributes. Jerry Ordway probably did the best during his 90's series, and I suspect just based off HIS plans for Captain Marvel & Co, that an Alex Ross Shazam series would've been pretty damn entertaining.
But yeah, too silly, and that's with the complete acknowledgement of the entire Silver Age for multiple publishers.
Probably just me, but I find all this material so far just...silly. Too silly, even though it's a kid's book. I can definitely see why he's so hard to translate into modern times while retaining all of his iconic story elements & attributes. Jerry Ordway probably did the best during his 90's series, and I suspect just based off HIS plans for Captain Marvel & Co, that an Alex Ross Shazam series would've been pretty damn entertaining.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, too silly, and that's with the complete acknowledgement of the entire Silver Age for multiple publishers.