Holy Moley (Wholly, albeit Holey)
For the next couple weeks, a panel a day of Captain Marvel. Together they’ll form an abbreviated version of the story of how he defeated Dr. Sivana’s plot to overthrow the universe.
“Shazam” is little Billy Batson’s magic word — it turns him into Captain Marvel. The word is the name of Billy’s Egyptian magician mentor. It also serves as a handy mnemonic for some of Marvel’s attributes:
SOLOMON- WISDOM
HERCULES - STRENGTH
ATLAS - STAMINA
ZEUS - POWER
ACHILLES - COURAGE
MERCURY - SPEED
This reminds one of the genesis of Serpentor, whose DNA, according to some website or other, was custom-designed to give him “the military genius of Napoleon, the ruthlessness of Julius Caesar, the daring of Hannibal and the fiscal acumen of Atilla the Hun”. Perhaps a snippet or two of snake DNA made it into the pot as well?
I at first remembered Serpentor as having been created by Cobra Commander, but now I seem to recollect that he had to do with some sort of rift in the Cobra organization. I am thinking Destro may well have had something to do with it.
But regardless. If there’s one thing I know about golems it’s that they cause unintended trouble. Serpentor, with his cold lust for power, his disdain for all other living beings, and his terrifying and merciless strength and cunning, was no exception to this rule.
April 25th, 2004 at 11:21 pm
Wasn’t Cobra Commander actually #2 to some other imperious figurehead? Like, wasn’t he the Darth Vader to some Emperor?
I think Serpentor (though I never would have remembered the name) was the result of something like a coup d’etat between the #2 and the #1, whoever they were.
But deeng, that’s going back a ways.