Young readers had been arguing whether Superman could beat Captain Marvel at least since 1940, when the good captain first appeared.
Legally, that question was answered in 1953, when Superman finally, effectively sued his most popular imitator out of existence.
TOO popular, for DC’s taste. the Big Red Cheese had sold more comics in the 1940s than Superman. He had also beaten Superman to the live-action screen in one of the best movie serials ever made.
Captain Marvel was, in fact, so very popular that he just couldn’t stay entirely dead. Little references to him kept popping up in popular culture.
British publisher L. Miller had immediately replaced Captain Marvel with the very similar Marvelman (who later became “Miracleman”).
On The Andy Griffith Show, Jim Nabors was given to exclaiming “Shazam!” Elvis Presley designed costumes as an homage to his childhood hero, Captain Marvel Jr.
Hanna-Barbera Productions got in on the action with Shazzan!, a gigantic genie who assisted young Chuck and Nancy on Saturday mornings beginning Sept. 9, 1967.
Marvel Comics’ Thor was originally inspired by Captain Marvel, and Marvel grabbed up the name “Captain Marvel” in 1967. Alex Ross counted up 64 Captain Marvel-derived characters, from Captain Marvel Jr. through Captain Black Bunny, the Jaguar, Jughead’s Captain Hero, Marvelman, the White Tiger and — our topic here — “Zha-Vam.”
Even DC, which had put the original Captain Marvel out of business, couldn’t resist teasing a Superman-Captain Marvel slugfest.
In a three-part story beginning in Action Comics 351 (June 1967), Superman faced a bearded bruiser called — in an obvious play on Captain Marvel’s magic word — Zha-Vam!
“Say his name and even Superman shakes!” boasted the splash page copy.
Like Captain Marvel, Zha-Vam’s powers involved an acronym that cited various gods— the thunderbolts of Zeus, the strength of Hercules, the invulnerability of Achilles, the flame powers of Vulcan, the archery skills of Apollo (?) and the speed of Mercury.
This epic adventure was drawn by the classic Superman artist Wayne Boring and written, ironically, by Otto Binder, who’d written 986 of Fawcett’s original Captain Marvel-related stories.
“Dear Otto,” wrote comics historian Michael Fraley. “He probably wrote this story, like the Captain Marvel stories, in his beloved bathrobe.”
Working with the United Crime Syndicate, the mysterious Zha-Vam engages Superman in an earthshaking battle. In the process, he demonstrates a belt bearing lettered buttons that activate his “reserve powers” — the ability to grow to titanic size, for example.
Hard-pressed to handle the bombastic baddie, Superman is temporarily turned to stone by Zha-Vam’s G-for-Gorgon power.
“It’ll be a pleasure to give you a good beating,” the frustrated Man of Steel tells Zha-Vam. Instead, he’s put to sleep by the M-for-Morpheus reserve power.
After Zha-Vam blacks out the planet with his P-for-Pluto power, he blackmails Superman into super-shouting: “Zha-Vam is the greatest of all superheroes! I, Superman, am nothing compared to him!”
The former Captain Marvel scribe must have been amused to finally put those words in Superman’s mouth.
After Zha-Vam exiles Superman from Earth using Orion’s impenetrable shield, the Man of Tomorrow realizes he can visit yesterday to solve his dilemma.
Time-traveling the ancient Greece, Superman learns that the Oracle at Delphi has revealed his own future existence to the jealous Zeus, who forms Zha-Vam out of clay specifically to outdo him.
Obtaining his own divine reserve power belt from Neptune, Superman is able to overcome Zha-Vam and dump him back on ancient Mount Olympus, where he is returned to lifeless clay.
In consequence, the forgotten gods fade into limbo, but Superman sheds no tears.
“I really enjoyed the story at the time and the thing is, being only 11, I was completely unaware of Captain Marvel’s existence and so that aspect of the story passed me by,” reader Bill Scott recalled. “Good stories stand up in their own right — the Easter Eggs just improve them for those in the know. I grew up to become a real comics fan and love the hidden-in-plain sight references to the Big Red Cheese now.
“Just a year or two later I was shown a 1950s comic starring Marvelman, Mick Anglo’s ersatz British copy of Captain Marvel which woke me up to the fact that there were superheroes outside the DC and Marvel universes.”
“In this era, Superman encountered precious few villains who could go toe-to-toe with him in the raw power department, and Zha-Vam is my favorite of that rare breed,” comics historian Mark Engblom wrote.
“Not only were his powers mythic in origin, but the whole feel of the story was mythic in its scope and execution, with the only sour note being the inclusion of the gangster angle (an annoying perma-theme of this era’s Superman comics). As great as this story was, I’d love to see a throwdown between Zha-Vam and the Big Red Cheese himself: Captain Marvel!”
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