Captain Marvel: time traveler extraordinaire

Harry Potter isn't the first youthful hero with super powers who has captured the hearts and minds of children. Back in the 1940s, Billy Batson, a, homeless boy who eked out a living by selling newspapers, could turn into Captain Marvel, an adult superhero, simply by saying the word, "Shazam!" Captain Marvel first appeared in a comic book published by Fawcett Comics in 1939. In the original episode, Billy Batson is selling papers one rainy night when a stranger in dark clothes suddenly appears and asks the youth to follow him down into the subway station near Batson's news stand. There, an apparently driverless subway train takes Billy and the stranger to the secret hideaway of the wizard Shazam, who discloses that he has chosen Billy to be his champion to fight for good as the "strongest and mightiest man in the world." Shazam tells Billy to speak the wizard's name. As soon as Billy says "Shazam!" he is struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into Captain Marvel. When he says "Shazam" a second time, he changes back into Billy. We soon learn that each letter in the word "Shazam" stands for a legendary figure who has agreed to grant his signature attribute to a willing subject. "S" is for the wisdom of Solomon; "H" is for the strength of Hercules; "A" is for the stamina of Atlas; "Z" is for the power of Zeus; "A" is for the courage of Achilles; and "M" is for the speed of Mercury. Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero character of the 1940s, the Golden age of comic books. Captain Marvel comic books outsold all others, including Superman comic books. In 1944, Captain Marvel Adventures sold 14 million copies, and at one point it was being published weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies every week. One of the most intrieguing and contuinuting aspects of Captain Marvel's appeal is his ability to travel back in time. He didn't need any complicated machines or gagets. Aided by the power of Zeus, which gave him the power for intereimensional travel, and the speed of Mercury, which enabled him to fly faster than the speed of light, Captain Marvel could simply fly out into space until he had flown past the light eminating from a particular time and place, and then turn around, fly back and stop at that time and place. Some feat for a homeless boy! Interested in this subject? Try this link for more of the same.