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CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Captain Marvel

9 votes

Cerebus

6 votes

Edgy MD Nov 24 2014 07:11 PM

In our last matchup of #1 and #8 seeds, we go to the Indies - Occult, Fantasy Bracket of the DC/Indie Conference, where two legends of the third path meet up, Captain Marvel of Fawecet Comics meets Cerebus of Aardvark-Vanaheim Comics [fimg=350]http://www.mdcu-comics.fr/upload/news/news_illustre_1364419271_756.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=350]http://bolhafner.com/stevesreads/cerebus-100.gif[/fimg] Name: Captain Marvel Name: Cerebus AKA: Billy Batson, Shazam, Captain Thunder AKA: Cerebus the Aardvark Creator(s): C.C. Beck, Bill Parker Creator(s): Dave Sim Origin: New York City, NY Origin: Barbarian Country Base of Operations: Fawcett City Base of Operations: High Society, The Vatican, Palnu Teams: Justice League Teams: Associations, but no formal teams that I could find. Signature Lines: "Shazam!" Signature Lines: "Babies all look like Winston Churchill to Cerebus." Arch-Enemy: Doctor Sivana Arch-Enemy: Adam Weisshaupt Powers: A creature of magic dubbed "The World's Mightiest Mortal," Captain Marvel, upon lightning fueled transformation, is granted superhuman strength, speed, stamiina, courage, and invulnerability to physical and magical attacts. He can fly, is brilliant, can shoot lightning. Powers: An anthropomorphic bipedal Aardvark, C. is highly skilled at forehoof-to-whatever combat. He's an expert planner and has a resistance to magic. His main power is a weird one, described as a "magnifier" power. Things just seem to fall into place in his presence and fall apart in his absence. Also, he/she is a hermaphrodite, which I guess is a power. Weaknesses: His alter-ego is not-particuarly healthy young man. You mainly want to attack him while he's Billy Batson and prevent him from speaking. He's actually such a straight arrow that, after he joined the DC stable, once caused Superman to utter, "I thought I was a boy scout." Weaknesses: S/he's a relative mortal, and a-moral. S/he's an illeist, which people, I find, tend to hate.

Vic Sage Nov 24 2014 07:42 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Deadpool vs. Bishop

edge you've got to correct the title of this poll

Edgy MD Nov 24 2014 07:51 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Damn, thanks. Copying and swapping things in and out while on the phone. Bad news.

Vic Sage Nov 24 2014 08:16 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Nov 24 2014 08:26 PM

I remember the live-action Shazam saturday morning TV series... man, that was awful. Didn't he drive around in a minivan with an old guy? What was up with THAT? While i think he was a seminal superhero, i never cared for the big red cheese. But i bought everyone of those phonebook size CEREBUS compendiums and read them straight through. Those 300 issues written and drawn by Dave Sim (with background art by Gerhard) are one of the greatest single artistic accomplishments of the late 20th century... a single narrative by one man, over 6000 pages broken down into ten "novels", self-published over a 27-year period. Cerebus began as a funny, misanthropic spoof of Conan that evolved into a pop cultural satire, but it grew into a titanic treatise on philosophy, politics, art, and religion. The 2nd thru 5th volumes (including High Society, Church & State I and II, and Jaka's Story) are the pinnacle of the work, which then descended into LSD-influenced religious nuttery (some would call its later anti-feminist rants increasingly misogynistic), but even as it started to take itself way too seriously, it never stopped being a fascinatingly experimental work, both in style and content. And Sim, even as he became a controversial pariah, was an unfailing supporter of free expression and the independent comics movement, giving most of his money and property to various related causes. So, yeah. Cerebus.

Nymr83 Nov 24 2014 08:20 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

never heard of either one so i'm voting against 'captain marvel' so as to avoid confusion with Carol Danvers.

Vic Sage Nov 24 2014 08:31 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

i understand not having heard of Cerebus, but Captain Marvel? Really? Captain Marvel became a major character in our popular culture totally independent of his comic book roots and his later incorporation into the DC universe. He outsold Superman in the 1940s, but you don't have to ever have read a comic book to have heard of "Shazam!". Between the movie serials, radio program, comic strips, cartoons, iive action TV shows, video games and merchandising (he was even the subject of a major copyright suit that dragged on for decades), his name and his catch phrase "Shazam!" have made him a pop cultural reference for the last 70+ years.

RealityChuck Nov 24 2014 08:47 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

The Big Red Cheese, of course. C.C. Beck and writer Otto Binder* created one of the most charming superheroes in comics. The Captain was never a "serious" superhero, and was part superhero, part children's strip. How could you not like something with a talking tiger, a villainous genius worm (Mr. Mind), and Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, the world's maddest mad scientist. Not to mention Uncle Marvel, whose Shazambago had a bad habit of acting up whenever he was called on to do anything heroic. The key was that Billy Batson was 12, so the Captain always was an overgrown 12-year-old. I knew the dark knight trope had played out its course when they gave the Captain a gritty backstory, which is like giving it to Bugs Bunny. *Binder was an important early science fiction author: his Adam Link stories (written with his brother Andrew under the pen name Eando Binder) was instrumental in creating the idea of arobot with feelings. The first one, "I, Robot" (the title predates Asimob's use), was made into an Outer Limits episode with Leonard Nimoy.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Nov 24 2014 09:12 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

I've always found the 12-year-old-who-becomes-a-superhero dynamic fascinating (and fascinatingly simple). And some of the villains/trappings are fascinatingly weird (see: Mr. Mind). It's charming, and can be easy to fall for, I suppose. But if you're of the right sort of mind, and you crack Sims' books at all, you fall into Cerebus for, like, weeks at a time. As a kid who used to huddle with High Society and Church and State in a corner niche of the (really cool, in retrospect) town library, my vote's in. #CerebusForPrimeMinister

MFS62 Nov 24 2014 09:30 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

i understand not having heard of Cerebus, but Captain Marvel? Really? Captain Marvel became a major character in our popular culture totally independent of his comic book roots and his later incorporation into the DC universe. He outsold Superman in the 1940s, but you don't have to ever have read a comic book to have heard of "Shazam!". Between the movie serials, radio program, comic strips, cartoons, iive action TV shows, video games and merchandising (he was even the subject of a major copyright suit that dragged on for decades), his name and his catch phrase "Shazam!" have made him a pop cultural reference for the last 70+ years. The word Shazam, which 12 year old crippled newspaper boy Billy Batson had to say to transform into Captain Marvel, was an acronym. It stood for the six legendary figures who agreed to grant aspects of themselves to a willing subject: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. The key for me was the wisdom. It is the most important strength anyone can have. And Captain Marvel was the only superhero I followed to have it. And to me, that makes him the most powerful superhero of them all. Later

Edgy MD Nov 25 2014 06:21 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Vic Sage wrote: I remember the live-action Shazam saturday morning TV series... man, that was awful. Didn't he drive around in a minivan with an old guy? What was up with THAT? I liked them. Very seventies. Even the gay innuendo you describe was kind of seventies. I went for Captain Marvel. Like Frankenstein's monster, the public confuses his name with that of his creator, but like Frankenstein's monster, he's so iconic that the very confusion has become an icon in itself.

Benjamin Grimm Nov 25 2014 07:27 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

I'm going to abstain from this one too. I've heard of Cerberus, but know nothing about him. I never cared for Captain Fawcett, or Captain DC, or whatever. Most of what I know about him comes from that old Saturday morning TV series, so he has to lose points for being associated with ISIS.

MFS62 Nov 25 2014 07:40 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Most of what I know about him comes from that old Saturday morning TV series, so he has to lose points for being associated with ISIS. A Joanna Cameron reference. I was a fan, too. Later

Mets – Willets Point Nov 25 2014 08:39 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

I've never heard of either, but Cerebus seems so delightfully bizarre. I think I may have to track down those comics to read.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Nov 25 2014 10:03 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Mets – Willets Point wrote: I've never heard of either, but Cerebus seems so delightfully bizarre. I think I may have to track down those comics to read. I really think you'd like 'em. (At least the first several, and especially the middle ones.)

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 25 2014 10:09 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Bothered me that Billy Batson turned into another guy completely with the whole SHAZAM! utterance. They had a totally different actor playing the role!

Edgy MD Nov 25 2014 10:11 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Technically, they had two totally different guys, switching Captains a few episodes into Season 2. Highly controversial stuff in Filmation circles.

Mets – Willets Point Nov 25 2014 11:12 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Mets – Willets Point wrote: I've never heard of either, but Cerebus seems so delightfully bizarre. I think I may have to track down those comics to read. I really think you'd like 'em. (At least the first several, and especially the middle ones.) Hold request submitted to the library.

Vic Sage Nov 25 2014 11:35 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

you need to read the first 2 volumes: CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY. The first isn't that great; Sim is just sort of finding his voice. But you need it to read the second volume, where the series really starts to take off, particularly with Gerhard's backgrounds (which don't start until Vol.2). If you like HIGH SOCIETY, then you'll like the next 3 (CHURCH AND STATE I, II and JAKA'S STORY) just as much. Be warned, however, that if you go on beyond there, you will find yourself tested to your limits. I accepted the challenge and feel the better for it. But the later volumes are not for the faint of heart. Anyone who finishes the series should get an "I Survived Cerebus" t-shirt. or a sticker, at least.

Mets – Willets Point Nov 25 2014 11:47 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Wait, I think I heard about a comic series that was notorious for having hundreds of pages of just dialogue boxes in its latter volumes. Is this that one?

Vic Sage Nov 25 2014 11:55 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

YUP

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Nov 25 2014 12:04 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Yeah, I couldn't quite eat the whole thing-- quit somewhere in the middle of Rick's Story, and never got back to it.

Edgy MD Dec 09 2014 05:56 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Thin turnout, but Batson beats the Aardvark. I guess this is the only matchup where we were, in fact, voting for pope.

Vic Sage Dec 10 2014 02:28 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Cerebus's girlfriend not happy:

Benjamin Grimm Dec 10 2014 02:36 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Aardvarks get all the hot chicks.

Edgy MD Dec 10 2014 02:40 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Captain Marvel vs. Cerebus

Looks to me like she's pickin' her butt.