FW Team-Up: Batman and the Marvel Family

Who says it's all gotta be comics? In the last episode of the summer, Siskoid and Chris Franklin tackle an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, specifically, his team-up with the Marvel Family in the Season 2 finale, "The Malicious Mr. Mind!" All together now: "SHAZAM!!!" (or alternatively, "CAPTAINNNN MARVELLL!!!).

Listen to the Team-Up below, or subscribe to FW Team-Up on iTunes!

Relevant images and further credits at: FW Team-Up Supplemental

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34 responses to “FW Team-Up: Batman and the Marvel Family

  1. I apologize for the lack of mention for the legendary Captain Marvel movie serial in my Marvel Family history. A huge oversight on my part. Needless to say it is considered one of the greatest movie serials of all time, and definitely the best of the comic adaptations. Plus, the Captain beat Superman into live action by YEARS!

    Chris

    1. Just don’t let it happen again. ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Seriously, you were already dealing with a major undertaking, with a TON of different pieces, each one legitimately important for different reasons. I see no reason to dwell on this, as historically important as the serial ways.

  2. Great episode guys! Like Chris, B:BATB was appointment viewing for me, in many ways it was my favorite Batman cartoon ever done. (Even more than BTAS, please forgive me)

    I don’t necessarily think creators across the board have had a tough time capturing the right tone for Shazam!, I just think the audiences it gets pitched to (overgrown fanboys like myself) aren’t interested. I thought Jeff Smith’s Shazam! mini was phenomenal, but it obviously didn’t sell that well because they never continued with it. Now that Marvel is back in the digest business, I think a Shazam! digest series–sold in the same mass market locations–would be a real winner, because you’d get younger kids to see it. Maybe when they get closer to the movie…

    BTW, don’t attempt a “Shazam! SFX” drinking game with this episode, lest you risk alcohol poisoning.

  3. Great episode! You could do a whole podcast devoted to this great show, which was definitely the best Batman TV show ever, and the second best DC show (after Young Justice).

    The best Captain Marvel / Shazam! family comics in recent years was the two issue Convergence tie-in, and I echo Rob’s comments about the Jeff Smith series.

        1. I already felt like Debra Winger in Terms of Endearment when she’s desperately trying to eliminate items at the grocery check-out counter, and her kid asks for a candy bar.

  4. Long time F&W listener/lurker – first time poster. I really enjoyed this episode as the Marvel Family are my favourite superheroes! I enjoyed the publication history of the Marvel Family but cringe at the way DC Comics has treated them lately. I won’t go on a rant (copyrights aside, If you now call yourself after your magic word, how are you supposed to introduce yourself?) but instead point people to two relatively new stories that had the Marvel Family in them that I enjoyed. That would be the one-off event comics Convergence:Shazam! and The Multiversity:Thunderworld. To me, those two titles (specially the Convergence title) captured the tone and spirit of the characters perfectly. I also thought Evan “Doc” Shaner’s artwork on Convergence:Shazam! was excellent as a modern take on C.C. Beck’s style.

    Anyways, keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see who will be next on the Team-Up list. Perhaps the time Supergirl and Comet the Super Horse “teamed up” in Action Comics #311? Or is that more for the Lonely Hearts podcast?

  5. This turned out to be a real family episode… my three boys sat in and listened to this one too.
    I reckon the DC movies would have been supreme if they’d been actual Brave and the Bold episodes!

      1. Angst…
        Heh, anathema to REAL superheroes.
        Like Lego Batman.
        How many times in the golden age did Supes foil Lois’ schemes to get him to propose and then laugh it off as a near-run-thing? Real man!

        My Brother subscribed to “X-Men Classic” in the eighties and I couldn’t believe IT! it was a soap opera but with spectacular bad-guy bashing*.
        I mean, lots of soap, lots of opera.
        Opera’s even below Country and Western on my preference list.
        Ugh! Angst!

        * (one day there’ll be a Bad-guy/gal/etc Emotional Awareness movement and our days of superfiend bashing will be over. They all need to be loved.)

  6. Loved this episode! I’d love to listen to a Brave & the Bold cartoon podcast. My nephew and niece were little when this series first aired and it did a great job of exposing them to the DCU.

    As for the Marvels, I hope the upcoming movie will spark some interest in an animated series. Capt. Marvel has had some nice appearances on Justice League Action (Sean Astin as Captain Marvel & Carl Reiner as the Wizard), but I want to see more of the whole family.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9dIIJdSLA

    I really liked the Superman vs. Shazam DVD too, which featured James Garner (in one of his final roles) as the WIzard.

  7. Here’s the thing about the Wisdom of Solomon… he was a primitive from 3,000 years ago who betrayed the religion that empowered him in favor of foreign gods, and his kingdom was carved to pieces shortly after his death. In fact, perhaps in the same way people like to interpret the Power of Zeus as a sort of catch-all for his gifts, Wisdom of Solomon is just an indication of their origins? His alma mater? There’s a clear parallel between Solomon’s polytheism and Shazam’s, and I guess his home-spun “cleave the child in two” bits could be likened to Billy’s naive but heartfelt truths. Where in King Solomon’s CV is there a strong indication of technical skills or other modern employments of a brilliant mind? It’s more like a philosophy major. Really, you could even look at it as Captain Marvel’s weakness. “Sure, he can lift a bridge, but he’s tragically fuzzy on bridges as a concept. Holy Moley– magnets? How do they work?”

    I haven’t seen a lot of B:TB&TB, but what I have seen is what I want to see from WB Animation.

    1. All of this is true about Solomon (except possibly the primitive bit… there’s a school of thought that man has always had the same ability to think we have now) but he DID have complete peace in his time and built architectural marvels. Cap claims neither thing, nor does he have hundreds of wives, let alone porcupines.
      (Who rode in the aeroplane in the flight from Egypt with Pontius the Pilot).
      AND of course, he laid the way for Alan Quartermain.
      But Sol “the man” is supposed to be a SYMBOL of wisdom, even if the actual evidence of it leaves us scratching our noggins at times.
      Having said THAT, what’s his score in the Mayfair DC Heroes game compared to Bats? Or the super-hyper intelligence of Supes? The ability to squeeze centuries of thought into a Nanosecond that Barry Allen posessed back in the day?

      I KNOW for sure that Clark Kent is a better detective than Batman cos I’ve HEARD the evidence recorded in the 40’s Superman Radio serials. No wait… wiretap recordings don’t stand in court.
      As a guest Batman was thick as 6.5 planks in those serials, while Clark seemed to work everything out.
      In fact he only became Superman when a bit of strong-arm intimidation was required….

    2. Solomon is a weird choice to stand next to Olympian Gods, to be sure. So I mostly thought of this as a high D&D WIS score. What does it mean, especially contrasted to INT? Well, while Intelligence is intellectual, scientific, logical, Wisdom is streetsmarts, intuitive, empathetic, social. One is the Magician, the other the High Priestess from the Tarot. Antiquatedly called the male and female principles, light/dark, reason/mystery.

      How that plays in the Shazam myth is probably an essay for some blogger-podcaster or other.

  8. There are some Greek and Roman mythological figures that could represent the abilities for the S in SHAZAM!…

    The intoxication of Sabazius…
    The special effects artistry of Salmoneus…
    The healing power of Serapis… (actually that is not bad… though it would likely come with a bushy beard…)

  9. The amalgamation at the end was the best one yet! I look forward to the next “mini-series” of this Team-Up podcast. I am eager to find this episode on U-tube, I hope it is available. This show was on when my daughter was 4-5-6, and we tried to watch it every Friday night, but we never saw this one. To jump into the “wisdom” debate above; Brainic 5 is intelligent, but rarely showed wisdom. You gotta be wicked smart to build a Computo, but it’s not really wise to do so.
    Last Captain Marvel comment; the stories in World’s Finest by E. Nelson Bridwell and Don Newton respect the character’s lineage and history and look gorgeous! I expect they are not available anywhere except the original issues. Well worth getting!

  10. Making the jump from comics to cartoons in the same podcast? Excellent! Team-Ups have *no* boundaries. Well done, guys!

    WB should hand over the Marvel family to their animation team once and for all. B:TBATB and Young Justice showed how well they can handle the Marvels, The Captain was even a long-term cast member in YJ, not just a one-off, and it seemed they had plenty of ideas for using him. Just call the new show “SHAZAM!” (boom-crackle!) and make us fans happy. That’s all that really counts right? “Our” happiness? … Hello? … Bueller?

    Oh I’m loving this Solomon discussion. Referring to 1 Kings 3, Solomon actually prays to God *for* wisdom, rather than wealth or military might, and he’s granted it for showing … the WISDOM to ask for such a gift! An interesting double whammy. He’s known as wise for recognizing how important wisdom is.

    But! While having said wisdom, he doesn’t use it as much as he should. That’s part and parcel of the entire history of Israel in the Old Testament, especially its Kings. I won’t get all biblical about it, but that’s the cyclical stories you see throughout the OT, Solomon is not unique in that aspect. His accomplishments (building the temple and Israel as a nation) are an equally important part of his fame. Still, he has wisdom, and sometimes chooses not to follow it.

    Now, doesn’t that sound like what happens to the Marvels a lot? When they think to use the wisdom of Solomon, they get great inspirations and think their way out of problems. But most times, they don’t *think* (choose) to use it! Maybe that’s the dual edge of having Solomon as a archetype.

    Of course, I could be overthinking it. I choose to do that a lot. ๐Ÿ˜€

    Thanks again!

    1. …and before Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” there was the book of Ecclesiastes!
      Solly WAS a rock star in his time, a bit of a Bruce Wayne without the batsuit.

      The book of Proverbs provokes a heckuva lot of thought (and was a foundation for the life we enjoy in the west).

      One thought I often come back to though, is how a short pithy statement can be so inspiring yet only covers ONE side of the D20. (Not that a lifetime only covers 20 sides, but I remember the times I’ve run into life with a catchphrase on my lips but forgotten to wear a raincoat.)

    2. You’re on to something there, Tim. Wisdom is an active, not passive, virtue. Captain Marvel has the speed of Mercury, but he doesn’t always move that fast. Likewise, he has the wisdom of Solomon, but it seems that he has to actively use it. It isn’t always “on.”

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