Shazam!

"Captain Marvel was, in his prime, Superman's worst nightmare. Published by Fawcett comics during the "Golden Age" of the forties, Marvel often out sold the Man of Steel. It would take slumping sales and DC's lawyers to eventually put the Big Red Cheese into retirement in the 1950's.

In the early Seventies, the same DC that shut him down decided to prop the Captain back up and give him his own title. With his newly dubbed "Shazam!" comic and later filmation TV series the Captain experienced a revival in popularity.

This made him a logical choice for Mego in fact, Shazam! was the only male hero added to the 1974 Mego Catalog. Mego would later add a figure of his Filmation TV Co-Star Isis.

The figure itself is one of the greats of the WGSH, while his facial sculpt is not completely comics accurate, it does make the Captain look like a real person. We can forgive the off model yellow cape, a white cape would have gotten dirty before we got home from the store.

Above are photos of the loose figure in Type 1 and Type 2 formats, note the subtle differences. Shazam can also be found with a vinyl cape, although it is uncommon.(courtesy of Tom)

Packaging

The Captain Marvel box features art that looks to be taken from the great CC Beck.

1976 Carded Shazam, notice that he was one of the characters that appeared on the front of the card. Shazam was released on a Kresge card, it remains the most difficult to find specimen ever.

1977 Carded Shazam courtesy of Tom

1979 Carded Shazam is rarely seen, he features a cloth emblem and the all too common "Zombie" head that happends with many late produced Mego figures.

Mego Shazam as produced by Mexico's Lili Ledy, a very hard to find figure and impossible to find in the box. Pic courtesy of Foreign Mego.

Just a few of the different items Mego produced for Shazam

Shazam also appeared in the Mego Bend N Flex and Comic Action Heroes lines.