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in: Dick Giordano/Executive Editor, Tom Mandrake/Cover Artist, Roy Thomas/Writer,
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Shazam!: The New Beginning Vol 1 1

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"Shazam!: The New Beginning": Billy Batson was being watched over by his great-uncle Dudley Batson when the elderly man received a telephone call that Billy's parents have died in an automobile accident. Billy was so upset that he wanted to return home, but Dudley kept him from doing so, telling

Shazam!: The New Beginning #1 is an issue of the series Shazam!: The New Beginning (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1987.

Synopsis for "Shazam!: The New Beginning"

Billy Batson was being watched over by his great-uncle Dudley Batson when the elderly man received a telephone call that Billy's parents have died in an automobile accident. Billy was so upset that he wanted to return home, but Dudley kept him from doing so, telling the lad that there would be nobody home.

Billy and Dudley were attending the funeral of the Batsons when Billy met his estranged uncle Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, who revealed that he and Billy's mother had a falling out years ago with each other. Sometime after the funeral, both Dudley and Sivana were in court together, deciding on who would be awarded custody of Billy. It was during the court case when Billy met his cousins, Sivana's children Beautia and Magnificus. Realizing that he could have a real family with Sivana's children, Billy decided that he would rather live with Sivana than with Dudley, despite Dudley having a longer relationship with the boy than Sivana.

Billy went home with the Sivanas, only to find out that Sivana had used his two children to lure Billy into choosing to live with Sivana, and also that Sivana himself was rather abusive not only to his two children but also to Billy, having him attend a high school where the students were rather rough on him. But the bigger surprise came when Billy discovered that Sivana had engineered the death of Billy's parents so he could inherit their life insurance which was set aside for the boy after their deaths so he could fund his scientific research.

When Sivana found out that Billy was spying on him, Billy ran away, only to find himself outside an abandoned subway station in San Francisco where a mysterious figure led him into a hidden chamber where an old man in a robe sat on a chair with a big block of granite hanging over his head, threatening to crush him. The old man introduced himself as Shazam and commanded the boy to say his name. Billy did, and with a flash of lightning, he was transformed into a man in red clothing with a white cape. Shazam told Billy that he was now Captain Marvel and that he was given the power to do good and to fight against his evil counterpart Black Adam. Before the boy-turned-man could ask anymore questions, Shazam had the boy say his name again, and just as the name was said, the big block fell upon Shazam, crushing him and sending Billy back outside the subway station, making him believe that the whole thing was a dream. But when Billy said Shazam's name again, he was turned back into Captain Marvel, and so flew down the passageway of the subway station to find the hidden chamber, only that now it was blocked off by a brick wall. Captain Marvel then transformed back into Billy Batson so that he could have time to think about what had happened.

Meanwhile, Sivana had completed his invention, and thus had opened a door into another dimension, through which a black-clad Egyptian had emerged. It was Black Adam.

Appearing in "Shazam!: The New Beginning"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Dudley Batson (First appearance)
  • Shazam (First appearance; dies)

Antagonists:

  • Dr. Sivana (First appearance)
  • Black Adam (First appearance)

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:



Notes

Trivia

  • Shazam demonstrates knowledge about the Pre-Crisis Earth-S. "Once there was a whole family of beings such as You. Once... but no! That never happened! That is, it did... But now, it did not. I must push such memories forever from my mind... because that way means madness!"
  • This series was the first one to establish that the modern Captain Marvel is Billy Batson transformed into the superhero with the boy's personality as opposed to being vaguely a separate individual from the boy.


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References
Superboy Vol 4 69
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