Paramores and Patrons

[stubbleupdate]

In the fallout of Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods (issue 4 came out today), some new relationships were forged and some advances were spurned.


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Boom. Shot down.



Mary and Billy both have the power of Shazam...but a different Shazam. Billy's comes from the Wizard, Mary's comes from Hippolyta.

Comments

[shakalooloo]

Alternate SHAZAM acronym is really neat.

[beyondthefringe]

And convenient. Think they had to scrounge around to make sure they had everyone they needed to make it work? "Oh shit, we still need a Z..."

[bewareofgeek]

It should probably be mentioned that this acronym dates back to the Golden Age.

[beyondthefringe]

Yup. And even then, Mary was getting a roster of female benefactors... although then, as even now, Zephyrus is traditionally a male Greek god, but apparently they decided to manifest as female for these purposes? Or something.

Fun fact, apparently at some point in the Golden Age, the wizard's magic word was VLAREM, invoking a bunch of Caanite deities. And obviously that can be rearranged as... MARVEL.

IBAC, SABBAC, SHAZAM... gotta love the theme. Imagine the writers... "Okay, we need another villain for Captain Marvel. What should our next anagram be?"

[agent8]

same acronym , but with 1 different goddess (Ariadne, who actually wasn't a Goddess, she was the Cretan princess who helped Theseus escape the Minotaur). And the skill imparted by the Goddesses were much different.
Selena - Grace
Hippolyta - Strength
Ariadne - Skill
Zephyrus - Fleetness
Aurora - Beauty
Minerva - Wisdom

Not sure how Beauty, Skill and Grace were considered adequate substitutes for the Stamina, Power, and Courage that Billy got from his patrons, but it was the 1940s after all. Women had to be feminine.

[xammax]

If you have a good acronym you have a good acronym; everything else can be made to fit.

[morallyambiguousscience]

Its not shown here but I found it very weird that after all that happened the Wizard just kinda said "Whoops, my bad, maybe I should have talked to Billy instead of instantly assuming he betrayed me." and all was forgiven.

kinda funny thougg

[super_fly]

Oh hey, literal Girl Power.

[numeronone]

Ah, so not SHAHAM then.

[beyondthefringe]

Be glad no one ever did SHEZAM.

[icon_uk]

Well, we did get Shezow!

[superfangirl1]

The explanation for why he did what he did, and that Mary has her own source of powers now, as well. It was a very unexpected twist, and thought it was very interesting.

[deh_tommy]

Why who did what who did?

[superfangirl1]

The Wizard Shazam actions of why he went against Billy and Mary.

[blues32]

So does this make Mary "Amazsh"? "Zsamah"? "Samazh"? I mean, the H is at the end, clearly.

You can't tell me that Hippolyta's strength is on par with Hercacles. That's the literal god of strength against Queen of the Amazons. Or that Aurora has the same level of invulnerability as Achillies. Achillies was literally impossible to damage, save for one tiny spot on his heel. Which, really, should have been better armored. "A big fuck-off block of concrete! For starters!" All in all, this seems like a bit of a downgrade.

[shakalooloo]

In Marvel, sure, Hercules is stronger than Hippolyta. In DC, no, Hippolyta is stronger than Heracles. In comics, strength is directly proportional to popularity! :P

[agent8]

think of it symbolically. What can harm the dawn? What can stop or interfere with the rising of the sun?

As for Hippolyta's strength, she's at least on par with Superman isn't she? She was the Wonder Woman of the 1940s (if that's still canon) and she's subbed for Diana in the modern age,

I'm more confused by the "agility of Selene". I mean the moon moves in a fixed orbit, it doesn't deviate from its path. That's pretty much the opposite of agile.

[mastermahan]

As I understand it, Wonder Woman generally has less physical power than Superman, but she more than makes up for it by being a Captain America-level fighter with no Kryptonite factors.

[blues32]

Anything capable of halting the orbit of Earth, I suppose. I'm sure Lex has something in his garage that could prevent the rising of the sun.

The Wonder Woman of the 1940s was...less than impressive compared to her modern counterpart. What with her always getting tied up and all.

[cainofdreaming]

What can stop or interfere with the rising of the sun?

The winter in Lappland?

[cainofdreaming]

Ultimate Peter knows your pain, Billy.