I’ve never made a secret of the fact that my favorite superhero of all time is the original Captain Marvel, now sadly known as “Shazam” in the debacle that is DC Comics’ new universe. But we still have the original comics, and there’s more. Many folks fondly recall the campy, low-budget, but fun 1970s live-action Saturday Morning SHAZAM TV show, but not so many folks are aware that just a few years later, an animated cartoon was aired that was much more true to the comics, including the entire Marvel Family and characters like Dr. Sivana, Tawky Tawny the talking tiger and, in the segment seen above, Black Adam.
These cartoons were buried in an hour-long show with other non-related segments, and hardly anybody watched these hidden gems, some of which were the early work of Paul Dini, who went on to revolutionize comic book-based TV cartoons with Batman: The Animated Series, Superman and Justice League Unlimited. The animation is not the best in the world, but it’s still cool to see the real Marvels in action.
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