#but reading it now im like

[yellowocaballero]

SHAZAM SHAZAM SHAZAM pls tell us about billy batson. ive only ever seen the movies o great comic knower

Very very very VERY far from comic expert (that's brawltogethernow) but I have read a lot of Shazam. His history is actually really, really fascinating and involves more than one lawsuit that really defined very early comics. I'll focus on one thing, though.

There are two Captain Marvels: One from the 1940s to around 2013, and one from 2013 til now. The Captain Marvel you're familiar with (who is named Shazam) is from 2013. He's a more realistic, grounded character. He was created to be pretty much the polar opposite of his original version. The best summary is to say that the Wizard chose Billy Batman 1940 because he had the purest heart, and the Wizard chose Billy Batson ~2013 because he was there. My personal 'best' Shazam story is the "Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil" graphic novel by the guy who made Bone. It's good because it's for elementary schoolers yet acknowledges this small child as homeless. Which, don't get me wrong, you shouldn't always do. My personal favorite is the 1970s ones.

As some background: Otto Binder was the creator/main writer of the very early Captain Marvel comics. He was by far and away the best writer of the early Superman Silver Age comics, because all of his comics were batshit insane. Shazam has a complicated and legal history with Superman, so the 1970 run was a super fun high camp tongue in cheek reinvention of the best Silver Age stories.

So the 1970 Captain Marvel comics are insane.

I can't even summarize them without sounding crazy. Basically the conceit is that Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, and Mary Marvel (Billy, Freddy, and Mary) are having 1940s Golden Age Adventures when they get somehow in suspended animation and are basically time travelled to the 1970s. This don't bother them too much. Why would it bother them. Nothing bothers these people. Nothing. I don't think anybody experiences a negative emotion in these comics. Not bc they were twee. Bc they were insane.

Many of the comics basically had three shorter comics inside it: one Billy story, one Mary story, one Freddy story. Interestingly, they all had different art styles, artists, types of story, genre, etc. Billy's stories had a cartoony art style with very over-the-top and silly plotlines that involved supervillain bad dudes. Freddy's art was slightly more realistic and was slighty more grounded, but still had some classic Marvel indescribable scifi that can best be summarized as that one meme panel people have seen where Sivana recites a science equation that lets him walk through walls. Mary's stories were much more realistically drawn and featured the most banal shit, like her starting a club with her friends. Somehow Mary Marvel gets involved in those.

Sometimes they worked together and did superhero things and fought bad guys. The average fight looked like this:

Billy was a twelve year old who lived by himself, in his own apartment, had his own radio show, a full-ass job, a whole thing as Captain Marvel. He paid fucking taxes. Everybody knew this and nobody cared. He's the most affable, good natured kid on the face of the planet. Nothing bothers him. Nothing. Nothing bothers any of these people. Sivana shows up and he's BIG MAD so he's creating another death ray and Captain Marvel shows up like "Oh you rascal! Time to punch this and go back to helping my friend eat his infinite Jello."

He has a friend named Talky Tawny, who is a talking tiger wearing a suit. He also has a friend named Sunny Smiles, a person of indeterminate gender who everybody falls in love with, for unexplained and unknown reasons. Not to be confused with Freddy's friend Gregory Gosharootie, the "World's Dullest Mortal", who is so boring that nobody notices him and he keeps accidentally comitting crime. There is also an old guy named Uncle Marvel who pretends he has superpowers, which they all find funny so they just roll with it. Freddy is a disabled orphan who has to sell papers on the street corner to make a living. Mary lives in a middle class suburban home with loving foster parents. It never once seems to occur to Mary's parents to adopt Billy, for Freddy to live with Billy. Everybody is happiest this way.

I do think this is partly why a good Shazam comic has to be aimed at the 6-12yo demographics. They have to be for small children, because Billy is living a complete and utter power fantasy that only a ten year old would think is a good idea. He's a kid, and he doesn't have drag parents or a lame family, but he can turn into Superman, and he can also do magic, and everybody loves him and thinks he's the nicest person, and his supervillains are Dr. Doofenschmirtz and a worm, and his supporting cast is like okay my sister if she HAS to be involved, but also my best friend who is a paperboy! but cool because he's disabled, and….

Look, you could engage with that seriously. You could go "holy shit this is a homeless child". That's fine. That's what they do these days, and that's what they did in the movies. Nothing wrong with that. Take the story more seriously.

But also they don't give a worm the electric chair in those stories, so.

To actually give some commentary on these comics: these comics really love people. I've never seen comics that were so entrenched in their community. The kids just know everybody they meet on the street. Freddy delivers paper up and down every block, so an average story for him is just talking to a butcher or baker or old man or grumpy housewife and helping them out with some batshit problem. Mary's a sweet girl who's always starting clubs with her friends and taking on neighborhood projects. Many Billy stories involve one of his many friends falling into some trouble and Captain Marvel helping them out - or just exploring some fun with Billy hanging out with Sunny Smiles, who is a person of indeterminate gender who for some reason has magic love brainwashing powers -

This isn't the biggest #Shazam take, but I think a good Shazam story stays grounded in that. These are poor street kids who love Fawcett City so damn much. They love fighting their supervillains, but they love helping out the random guy off the street with their problems even more. Way more so than Spider-Man or a lot of other guys, I think of the Marvel family as the friendly neighborhood superheroes. They're both larger than life and street level. They're Superman level powers but they just use the powers for wrapping up their hijinks. Isn't that nice? Aren't you tired of going apeshit? Don't you just want to be nice?

#captain marvel #shazam #mary marvel #freddy freeman #billy batson #captain marvel jr #mary batson #i pulled open the old comics to review to write this #and as a kid I was like. #“hah! silly old silver age comics! they don't know how dumb they are!” #but reading it now im like #“holy shit i think they're doing it on purpose. holy shit. i think this is the most sarcastic comic ive ever read.” #“I don't think this is the funniest thing ever on accident. I think these were jokes. This comedy is sublime.” #genuinely they hold up SO well. they're fucking delightful. #high camp. #my writing #my asks

[gibbearish]

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

#yes i want things to be free like ??? that is not a weird desire #'but but it costs money to keep up' ok and? how is that my problem #the government has plenty of murder dollars they could reallocate a few to make internet services universal if they wanted #also these companies were perfectly capable of supporting themselves before the internet got drowned with ads so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #edit: muting notifs on this post bc new additions have kind of petered out #so no one feel bad about adding something someone else has said‚ it is not bothering me im just trying to keep my #notifs page cleanish lol #also since i saw some people are being redirected to read my tags: firstly hiiiiii this is a special secret message for you:3 #secondly i have learned since making this that the reason they were able to support themselves previously was because #of investors bankrolling everything #and theyre now finally realizing that theyre never going to actually make a profit and arent as willing to invest #however thats just a minor correction and doesnt change my overall point #once again. so many murder dollars #so thats why im just adding it here in the tags rather than making an actual correction #anyways . love yall 💕 #origibberish #bigger gibbers

[atmothart]

Jon he's really trying here cut him a break

(tumblr crunched the resolution of this comic a lot rip)

#dracula daily #hello im back from the void with shitty dracula doodles #i actually drew this last year but never posted it #here it is now though #count dracula #jonathan harker #Drac reading the english bradshaw guide is still one of the funniest moments in Dracula to me #i know it is supposed to show how he's planning to infiltrate england and appear local #but it really does just come across like he picked it up in a panic and pretended to be reading it when Jonathan came back into the room #and being the weird guy he is thought reading train schedules was really normal behaviour #bram stoker's dracula is a romcom #re: dracula

[blondie-drawings]

working on some silly tlt memes for my friend's bday and I liked how this one came out 🥲

#i havent read the third book im waiting for the paperback to be released ToT #i dont care if it's kinda ooc for harrow i think she has the capacity to be a tiny feral creature #also i think gideon is short but harrow is shorter. like it's important to me that they're both RUNTS #anyway uhhhhh this is your problem now #the locked tomb #tlt #gideon nav #harrowhark nonagesimus #griddlehark #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth

[spooksier]

me when the emotionally repressed character is revealed to have had something happen in their childhood that was completely out of their control but changed them in a way they can never come back from

#text! #did post this on twt but this belongs on the crying about characters website #and yeah this is about jarchivist and also marc spector in the mk show #idk it hit me yesterday that they were EIGHT AND NINE!!!!!!! when their respective thing happened and that ruined me #like it wasn't their fault but they think it is!!! GOD!!!!!!!!!! #holds those autistic bi men close to my chest #should've never smoked that shit* (*took my brother to a cave/read that book) #now im irrevocably changed* (*tied to the shittest god possible/destined to be the antichrist) #edit: this is getting a bit of traction so pls know that blorbo tagging and oc tagging is SOOO encouraged #thank you to the person who added the flaming text miles edgeworth thats so funny

[inknose]

happy valentines day!! they're really like this.

#tgcf #hualian #my art #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #hey uh hi #hope you've all been well #read tgcf. lost my mind. now im bout to start posting like its 2012 #you know how it is

[obsob]

bedtime story with my love !!

#mine #cats #oooooooooogh im so cold....bath time bath time :3 ! #i hope everyone is hvaing a good week i am now DONE with work !!!!! hehe !!!!!!!!!! #i might not do any drawing for a little while . maybe just felt tips #also. cannnot for the life of me decide what 2 read...am like 30% way thro assassins fate but Um its . a little intense so im taking a brea #idk what im in the mood for....something....fun... but isnt bad #i feel like all 'light' books r bad. maybe i will just reread the goblin emperor. as i always do when all else fails #also. am going ice skating tomorrow i am SO excited . i hvent been in so so long its so exciting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #mwah. hve good evening :3

[pigdemonart]

Oops 😬

Just some thoughts after watching the movie heheh. Nothing here is a spoiler though! Its mostly just Bowser’s demeanor HAHA

Like my art? Please consider tipping!

#mareach #bowser #mario #princess peach #smb #super mario bros #things that give my life joy: when peach asked mario to marry her he probably said some shit like okie-dokie #also bowser not knowing how to impress a girl all the way to adulthood #my art #comic #also im reading bowser with jack blacks voice now and it — kills me (positive)

[noodles-and-tea]

WE ARE SO BACK WE ARE SO BACK

#literally shaking #idk you live every day thinking that they’ll make a sequel #but then it happens and like #i dunno I didn’t think ITD ACTUALLT HAPPEN!!? #WHAT DO I DO WITH MYSELF NOW???? #my art #rwrb #firstprince #red white and royal blue #alex claremont diaz #Henry fox #prince Henry #AHHHH #IM LITERLALT SHAKING #this paired w John Watson reading fanfiction bro #it’s been a DAY

[smallsafespace]

5 more stars! :0)

#im prolly gonna set up an online account to sell these some day #slow and steady #ive been reading the tags and they make me so happy #i love that people are like me in some way and find joy from a simple star #enjoy the adventure #byebye 4 now #agere #age regression #sfw agere #kidcore #mine #transparent #transparent image #transparent png

[souredfigs]

I swear to fucking God every Ao3 author lives in fucking Gotham or something

#NO BECUASE THEY HAVE THE WILDEST REASONS FOR NOT UPDATING #ALWAYS #like once i read an update that went like “hey guys sorry for not uploading my dad turned out to be involved in a criminal gang ” #and another one that read “sorry for not uploading i was in prison for five years but im back now!🥰” #ITS INSANE #ao3 #archive of our own #but nonetheless #slay anyway

[cringefail-clown]

post-canon/epilogues au, in which kankri, through paradox space shenanigans, gets revived and comes into his ultimate self, gathering knowledge from all of his past and future iterations - including the signless. now hes on a one-man mission to stop ult dirks plan to start another session of sburb in the bud

#homestuck #homestuck au #homestuck beyond canon #kankri vantas #dirk strider #ultimate dirk strider #dont ask me how did he get revived or why does he want to stop ult dirk i am as clueless as you are #but feel free to speculate!! i just liked the concept of ult kankri and how would it change him #since now he also has memories of signless #the ask about dirkkri gave me brainrot #i also did not fully read the epilogues or hs:bc im going in blind lmfao #dirkri #dirkkri

[alternis]

reading comics really gives you an understanding of how many panels floating around have Very Different meanings in context

#i keep forgetting i can read comics now and im always like wow. comics! #and then i go back to my other browser window and forget road to no mans land exists

[kagoutiss]

pelican town, ‘72

#stardew valley #stardew valley spoilers #sdv #sdv spoilers #grandpa #mister qi #mr. qi #idk how dates work in stardew universe im just bullshittin #i love qi’s huge fucking eyebrows you dont notice them at first but theyre there #(gives our collective grandpa a ponytail) i think he had one. whatever #’why isnt mister qi blue’ my hc is he is blue from long-term iridium supplementation #and was originally just a regular person #but also it’s nice to see ur fav be like a normal human color #if u read tag essays tho consider this: #qi discovers secret to immortality (consuming iridium in a specific manner) #wants to share discovery with his farmer (player’s grandpa) and in that way. they will have all the time in the world to build #a perfect farming/business empire whose legacy will last forever and ever and theyll be 2gether forever #but it turns out. like a lot of normal people would. his farmer does not want to live forever #and obv he doesn’t #in an attempt to try not to ever lose the thing that means more to him than anything else in the world. qi inadvertantly ensures he will #because his farmer is dead. and he’s going to live forever #but. it’s kind of ok. because he has infinite money and was able to figure out how to talk to his dead bf #and now YOU help them fulfill their joint goal of making the farm’s legacy last forever #smile. heart #sobbing

[collophora]

Do yourself a favor and go read the entire fanfic work of @fanfoolishness

(In order: Under sun and shade, Blind Side, and Breathless (patching up is one of my fav too, I just had no cool sketch idea for it)

#star wars #star wars the bad batch #the bad batch fanart #tbb fanart #tbb fanfiction #dumping my “fanfic_doodles.clip” file here literally #sorry the style is messy #now I see them all Im like “ok it's all over the place zero/100 aesthetically pleasuring post” #hhhh its the thought that counts? #And tbh the point is just to convince you to read theses #because I'm like OBSSEEESSED with theses since you appeared in my notes #Every fic is gold #Me baiting my followers with pretty enough pictures to read fanfics #this being said I should really take the time to color properly my stuff #but I don't liiiiiiiiike it #there is tons of more talented artists if people want colored beautiful amazing art #me I can't really make my “”“spontaneous”“” “”“doodles”“” pretty without trying hard and at the end it's meh #They're so flat too #yesterday I was like “oh my scenes are becoming less flat I improved maybe” #Then I scrolled on my storyboard insta and was like #yeah sure no #I'm still faaaaaar away from the industry standards #I studied like at three arts school and I'm still bad at drawing TAT #why is my brain not working v_v #look brain I'm showing you nice pictures learn from them #brain: no Im gonna overfixate on this left hand here and only this #anyway

[rubikor]

would you hold my face softly and tell me it will be alright?

#genshin impact #scaramouche #wanderer #furina #in my head they are already domesticated #very much in a romantic sense #i don’t see why people need to comment besties/siblings so badly #rant time #like you don’t need to ship them but this is my art and i very much ship it #so if you don’t see them that way you can interpret my art that way and go on your merry way #at this point it’s just annoying bc i could never imagine someone commenting siblings on my yantao art #i don’t mind if you see them as best friends i can also see them like that #but you don’t need to announce it #as if your integrity is in danger #im sad i can’t tag the ship bc it’s a rarepair and i’m not sure what the name even is #welp if anyone read this you can totally forget about it now i'm over it #sad scararina hours letsgoo