The KISS reference is pretty lame, huh?
Well then, on to the matter at hand: Black Adam.
Does anybody other than Geoff Johns actually like the guy?
The Keeper realizes that moral ambiguity and dismemberment is all the rage, but Teth-Adam is nothing more these days than a second-rate Sub-Mariner.
(Namor originated the whole “violent yet noble anti-hero puts needs of own kingdom over all else, thereby antagonizing the spandex community” routine. Heck, Black Adam even has pointy ears!)
Now the Golden-Age Black Adam … that guy had style. Simply put, he was Captain Marvel’s evil (Yeah, that’s right. Evil!) counterpart. He kicked @$$ without mourning dead family members or debating the meaning of “justice.”
The Golden-Age Adam only cared about himself, and was so powerful and ruthless that he conquered ancient Egypt in a single panel! Take that decompression!!
After Shazam banished the villain to the farthest star, Black Adam simply flew back to Earth. Who cares if it took 5,000 years?
The original Black Adam never ripped people apart with his bare hands. Why bloody up your cool black long johns when it is so much easier to “snap people like a twig?”
It also turns out that Zehuti is a far better avatar of wisdom than Solomon, who probably benefited from a superior PR machine.
After all, you’d think the Marvels would know better than to use their magic words in public …
… or try to punch out a guy who’s invulnerable.
Unfortunately for Adam, the wisdom of Zehuti doesn’t amount to much against a balding, overweight con man.
Oh, well. That’s the way the corpse crumbles.
Guess the Golden Age Marvels didn’t go for that “I’m sorry” @#$%!
BONUS MEME!
Dissatisfied with the magic word Cap forced upon Black Adam? Thanks to the fine folks at Jimmy Olsen’s Blues, you can now create your own! Visit the blog and have some fun!!
Woo-hoo, that’s pretty cool. I’m going to have to check to see if I can get ahold of some golden-age Shazam action at the library.
All I gotta sayt is that, after reading Countdown 47, if Captain Marvel changed Adam’s magic word to “Shazam” and thought he wouldn’t guess it, well then, Cap, you’re a moron.
I think Cap changed the magic word to “I’m Sorry.”
That said, I don’t know why Shazam works again.
Teth-Adam is nothing more these days than a second-rate Sub-Mariner.
That particular image of Adam is awfully reminiscent of an image of Namor Jim Lee did during his run on Fantastic Four. Not in a J.G.-Jones-ripped-Jim-Lee off way, but in a very-similar-expression-of-character way.
And thanks for playing along with our little meme! We didn’t know anyone was even reading the site yet.
“Thingamabob” is hysterically funny. I’m losing it. Right now.
Well, I am biased as it appears, but I’ll say this: I think Johns did all right with the revamp of Adam, it was better than the typical Bizzaro / Professor Zoom evil counterpart b/s.
But after 52 and WW3 with Black Adam killing a whole country and multiple teen titans, I am very disappointed, they made this anti-hero basically the Joker with Superman’s powers.
Pathetic. Well, I hope to write the character one day, maybe there can be redemption.