Captain Marvel Recommended Reading

Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam, is a character in the DC Universe who's been around since the Golden Age. Originally conceived as Fawcett Comics' answer to Superman, he is now owned by DC Comics and the character's mythos has grown strongly in its own right. Billy Batson is a young man who is given incredible powers by the wizard Shazam and only has to speak the name to transform into his alter ego Captain Marvel. Later on this position would go to his successor Freddy Freeman. Most of his comics are named after some variation on "Shazam" because of legal issues with Marvel Comics. 
==New readers==
* Shazam!: Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's reboot as part of the New 52, retelling his origin to include the larger Shazam Family. It served as the basis for the hit 2019 movie Shazam!.
* Shazam!: The New Beginning is Roy Thomas' original introduction of the Captain Marvel mythos into the DC Universe, retelling his origin story in a four-issue miniseries. 
* The Power of Shazam! is Jerry Ordway's reboot of the Shazam mythology, a graphic novel updating the character and his supporting cast before his new ongoing series. 
* Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil is Jeff Smith's beautiful and brilliant version of the Captain Marvel legend, a story that brings out the essential elements of the character and reminds us why we fell in love with him in the first place.
* Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder: a reinvention of the first meeting between Captain Marvel and Shazam by Judd Winick and Joshua Middleton, exploring their similarities and differences, and forming their friendship.
* The Trials of Shazam! is the story of Freddy Freeman becoming the second Captain Marvel after Billy Batson. To prove his worth he must complete challenges held by the Gods themselves and defeat an ancient evil organization in his mortal form. 
==Further reading==
* The Power of Shazam!
** - The first arc of The Power of Shazam! tells an epic saga involving wizards, monsters, betrayals, family drama, local politics and the Third Reich all in one arc. Ordway's landmark run features a slightly more mature Billy whose been seasoned by his job as both a hero and reporter while still retaining his childlike wonder, often having to balance heroics, work and school. This story also reimagines the Marvel Family, the Bromfields, other Fawcett characters and Billy's rogues gallery in a way that both modernizes them while keeping the core aspects of what made these characters so enduring.
** -, A brief interlude between two large scale arcs that focuses on Captain Marvel, Jr, and reintroduces Chain Lightning into the Post-Crisis world.
*** A follow-up to the Freddy arc, focusing on his relationship with Chain Lightning, his new girlfriend and concluding his battle with Captain Nazi.
** - The second major arc of the run, and the first that features Mr. Mind as the main villain. Ordway's version of Mind is perhaps more brutal and less silly than most other interpretations, being driven by a desire to take over Earth partly because of his own tyrannical nature and partly because of Captain Marvel accidently killing the rest of his 'brothers' adds an extra layer to their already age-old conflict. On-going subplots featured in this arc is The Wizard having adventures on Earth as "Jedidiah O'Keenan", briefly acting as Billy's surrogate father and Mary acting more of a hero in her own right rather than just a sidekick. 
** - Primarily taking place in an alternate timeline where the Batson parents survived and were given the powers of Shazam instead of their children, this story gives us a glimpse into what Billy and Mary's life may have been like if they were not orphaned; portraying the two siblings in happy, carefree, idyllic settings they never truly got to experience elsewhere. This story arc also lead to Mary donning her white costume and calling herself Captain Marvel, building off her development in previous arcs and shifted the status quo to having Billy moving in with the Bromfields in Fairfield, moving away from Fawcett City. 
* The New Champion of Shazam! With beautiful writing and a loose, almost slice-of-life script, The New Champion of Shazam is a short and very sweet story about Mary rediscovering what it means to be a hero and shows off just how much she loves her new family and how much they love her.
Category:Captain Marvel