Secret Origins Of the Super DC Heroes
In the introduction to Captain Marvel's origin they mention that Fawcett shut down their comic line in 1953, but neglects to mention DC's part in that. Namely the Copyright Infringement suit they filed (& won) against Captain Marvel.

Origin from Whiz Comics #1 (1940) reprinted in Secret Origins Of The Super DC Heroes (1973)
Homeless Billy Batson, selling papers in front of the subway is approached by a strange man who tells him to follow and Billy does.
Oh... my... god! Billy is a male prostitute!!! 8-0 Captain Marvel: The Untold Story. ;-)

Captain Marvel captures the crooks & smashes the radio silencer. When the crooks ask who he is he says, "Captain Marvel." Then he changes to Billy, calls Mr. Morris and tells him he smashed the radio silencer. The final caption comments that Billy almost gave away his secret identity. I think he already has. The crooks will most likely tell the cops that Captain Marvel caught them, not some kid. (Then again we don't see the crooks after the magic lightning bolt turns Marvel into Billy... You don't think they were zapped into ashes or something?)

The Origin Of Sivana Original publication not given. Reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition #C-39
That's the title in the table of contents, but the story itself doesn't appear to have any title.
Also when Sivana first appears in the story he's disguised so giving it a title that mentions Sivana's name tends to spoil the surprise.
Additionally the origin is at the very end of the story, almost as an afterthought.

Billy is being attacked by 4 people when he changes to Captain Marvel. Not exactly the smartest move.
Also I suppose Roco's lucky that he wasn't fried by that magic lightning bolt.

Captain Marvel & Beautia are out on a date when Roco recognizes Marvel (who was wearing a tux, not the red suit) & sends some people over to make trouble. For some reason, Marvel figures the best way to deal with this is to say Shazam & have the magic lightning short out the lights.
Now I don't have the wisdom of Solomon, but I would have used that old speed of Mercury to zip Beautia to another restaurant.
(I read a comment that the Captain Marvel writers didn't really care for the Big Red Cheese, but they loved writing Billy Batson. I wonder if that played a part in the decision to get Marvel 'offstage' & give Billy more 'screen time'?)

Beautia wonders where Marvel went & where Billy came from. Hmmm... just that stupid or does she care more for preserving Billy's other identity than Billy seems to?

The next part of this story is either incredibly bad luck or incredible cunning on the part of Sivana. Billy & Beautia walk right into Sivana's lair & Sivana just happens to have an ultra-frequency oscillator that drowns out the word Shazam.
Who chose the restaurant? If Captain Marvel, bad luck. If Beautia... as we find out she is Sivana's daughter...
If Captain Marvel had not changed back to Billy before taking Beautia out of the restaurant Sivana's oscillator would be worthless, so definite bad luck there.
If Billy & Beautia had gone a different direction they might have missed Sivana's place altogether.

Sivana fastens the oscillator around Billy's neck. Wouldn't that just make it easier for Billy to smash?

This nit should probably go in the first story to feature Beautia (since she was the Empress of Venus), but I don't have that one, so...
Venus is covered with hot, steaming jungles with giant froglike creatures named Glompers.
Well, we know now that that's not true.

Beautia's brother Magnificus is almost as strong & tough as Captain Marvel. Presumably because of some kind of treatment by dear old dad, but doesn't Venus have a slightly lower gravity than Earth? Shouldn't the people who spent a long time on Venus (like the Sivanas) & the creatures who grew up there be weaker on Earth?

Beautia is certainly tight-lipped about her family. She doesn't mention that Sivana is her father until near the end of the story. Marvel deduces that Magnificus is her brother & her telling of how Sivana became bitter on Earth then packing up & leaving for Venus with his children omits her other 2 siblings, Sivana, Jr. & Georgia Sivana.

The Origin of Sivana was originally published in Whiz Comics #15.

I'm using the titles the Table of Contents of the Archive Edition used which was usually what was on the cover as the stories were untitled.

Make Way For Captain Marvel Whiz Comics #3 Reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Volume 1
Okay, so Billy thought Sivana had died the previous issue, but still the only disguise Sivana is wearing is a bushy beard. Scientist, bald, wears glasses, shouldn't that have rung a bell, Billy?

This is the issue where the nit about Venus being an inhabitable place with a jungle motif first pops up.

NNAN. Beautia is a lot vampier then she seemed in the later story. Also she has the ability to make men obey her.

Captain Marvel Crashes Through Whiz Comics #4 Reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Volume 1
The cover has Captain Marvel saving Beautia from a tentacle monster. No such scene occurs in the comic.

NANJAO. The scene of Billy in the chair in front of the memory mangler reminded me of the scene of Kirk in the chair in Dagger Of The Mind.

Caption reads, "the world's mightiest man clears the river in one tremendous dive".
I believe a dive is when you go from a high spot to a low spot, what he did was leap.

Okay, earlier Beautia was running for president & Sivana planned to rule from behind the scenes. After Captain Marvel stops the plan and blasts Sivana & Beautia back to Venus a newspaper headline reads, "Beautia Exposed, Election Is Off".
First off, not that kind of exposed! Pervs! ;-)
Second, why cancel the election? Aren't other people running for president?

Advertisement
Four months and already Captain Marvel has sold out. ;-) His name is on the Captain Marvel Power Siren. Did makers of this whistle just guess Captain Marvel was going to be popular, or was he such a runaway success that companies wanted to be sure they had something with his name on it?

Captain Marvel And The Squadron Of Doom Whiz Comics #7 Reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Volume 1
This bit of dialogue just amused me.
Billy's boss, Mr. Morris says, "The killers approached Greenland by sea in a motor landing from the freighter Red Star. Maybe they wiped out Stark's expedition first. You're going up there to find out!"
Good thing this was before Child Labor Laws put restrictions on sending children to face killers. ;-)

Billy flies a plane. How old is he?

The 'survivor' of the attack puts a bomb on Billy's plane. It explodes and throws Billy out.
Yeah, right, sure...

The Pleistocene Men call Billy a white boy, but they are the same color. (I wonder if they were colored darker, or were meant to be, in the original printing?)

The colorist cannot seem to decide what color these planes are supposed to be. When first seen they are mostly green planes with an orange plane & a red one. Then they come in a rainbow of colors. Then we see red ones being built and red ones taking off. In the air Captain Marvel fights all green planes, but as it falls to the ground Stark's plane turns yellow.

Saved By Captain Marvel Whiz Comics #8 Reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Volume 1
This story reveals that Billy has his own monoplane. Okaaaaaaay...

Man Billy is really careless in this story. He keeps changing to Captain Marvel IN FRONT of people. Surprisingly the people are all so stupid that they can't put 2 & 2 together. Yeah he does this in earlier stories but it's at its worst here. You'd think he would have learned after turning to Captain Marvel in front of Sivana in issue 3.

When Captain Marvel first appeared he wore a uniform that had button up flap on the chest & a sash around his waist.
The flap disappeared in issue 5, except for the 'logo' of Captain Marvel standing next to a poster explaining what the letters of Shazam stand for that appeared in most issues. That was finally changed in issue 8.
When the sash was replaced with a belt is a lot harder to pin down as some issues have what could be the sash or a belt. It's drawn with the wrinkles of the sash, but without the dangling part, but other times it's drawn without wrinkles.

Captain Marvel Battles The Winged Death Whiz Comics #10 Reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Volume 1
Dot Darling America's only newsreel camerawoman is secretly Beautia. Okay, how secret can this be? She ran for President 6 months ago! Surprisingly only Billy recognizes her.

An admiral shows 'Dot' & Billy a new aerial torpedo, but tells them not to even mention it to anyone. Yeahhhhhhhhhh... somebody brief the admiral on security protocols, okay.

I love how they refer to Beautia's 'mysterious' leader like no one could figure it out. Yeesh!

Beautia secretly filmed the aerial torpedo & Sivana is able to make copies of it.
Uh, yeah, sure...
Okay, granted Sivana is a genius, but come on. The film only shows the exterior of the torpedo. It's not like the admiral showed her the inner workings.

Billy is captured by Sivana & it's said that a week passes as Sivana builds his copies of the torpedo, then we see Billy try to say Shazam, but Sivana stops him. A week?!? Geeze kid, what took you so long?

Molten iron is shown as orange, except for one white hot drop that burns off Billy's gag.

Hurray For Captain Marvel Whiz Comics #11 Reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Volume 1
Mr. Morris assigns Billy to go to Marvel College.
Uh, yeah, sure...
How old is Billy? The first story showed Billy to be a kid living on the streets selling papers. I somehow doubt that he also went to school during this time, so it's unlikely that Billy is a High School graduate, & yet we're expected to believe that all Billy has to do is pass one test & the college will let him in.
Also it's mentioned that Fall Term is almost over which I think makes it even more unlikely.

In The Golden Age Of Comic Books: 1937-1945 they reproduce a cover of Whiz Comics #22 showing Captain Marvel & Billy Batson side by side & they mention that CC Beck fought against this cover because Captain Marvel & Billy should not be able to be seen at the same time. Oddly enough this story shows the two of them together.
Billy whispers the magic word & a ghostly figure of Captain Marvel appears and helps Billy pass the test using the Wisdom of Solomon. (Since Billy was alone in the room they should have just had Marvel appear, take the test, then change back.)

For some reason Captain Marvel's cape is missing.

NANJAO. Marvel College's football team has uniforms that look like Captain Marvel's, minus the cape & with numbers on the back.

The plot of this story involves a crooked coach sabotaging the game. I guess the referees must be in on it since some very fishy things go on.
During a play the lights go out and the refs allow State University's advance during the dark to stand.
All the Marvel College players are taken out for various reasons, so Captain Marvel comes in and offers to play as the Marvel College team & despite being one man it's allowed.
Marvel wins the game. Surprisingly no one questioned who this one guy was & if he really was a student or not.

Captain Marvel Rides The Engine Of Doom! Whiz Comics #12 Reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Volume 1
The villains of this story are the Gnatzis, from the country of Gnatzi. Okayyyyyyyyy...

Captain Marvel's cape still missing.

Billy is on a plane. He says Shazam & then next panel shows him flying in the air. Now later Billy is seen reentering the plane through a door, but shouldn't there have been an explosive decompression when he opened the door the first time?
Also the door opens out.

The Gnatzis want to kill a group of refugees. Their agent is pretending to help the refugees. One effort involves putting the refugees in a building with a flag on top of the building saying "Refugee Headqtrs". Of course a Gnatzi plane flies overhead to bomb it. Oddly enough the bomb is attached to a parachute which floats down to it. Aren't parachutes subject to being easily blown around?

The bomb is an incendiary device which sets the building on fire. When Marvel puts out the fire a deadly gas is unleashed, but Captain Marvel blows the gas outside into the street. I hope none of the other people in the city have returned from the air raid shelters yet.

NANJAO. Captain Marvel says, "Those Ratzis - I mean Gnatzis". A wink wink nudge nudge at the fact they used a fake name or just making sure the reader could figure it out?

Captain Marvel -- The World's Most Powerful Man! Whiz Comics #13 Reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Volume 1
Cap's cape is back in this story.

A hockey player disappears, Billy hands the Mike to an assistant to finish broadcasting the game, while Billy changes to Captain Marvel and fills in for the missing player.
Is that legal?

Earlier when someone drank Sivana's fountain of youth water they were instantly turned into a baby, but Sivana mentions that he thought to put the chemical into police water coolers around the city and as the police arrive at Sivana's they turn into babies.

Sivana mentions that his fountain of youth water can de-age a person by up to 30 years. I wonder why Sivana didn't try it himself?

Okayyyy, in issue 10 Beautia has a change of heart about helping Sivana & warns the navy, Sivana then tries to blow her up. Here Beautia is once again working for Sivana. Huh?

The caption says that Beautia is Sivana's "unwilling assistant". Ummm, she's not chained, there's no one holding a gun to force her to work, she seems to not have much of a problem being there.
Doesn't look very unwilling to me.

Baby Billy still has his intelligence so he goes looking for a cure. he finds a bottle of Super Vitamin B4 & assumes this is a cure for the water & drinks it. Fortunately he's right.

Captain Marvel Boomerangs The Torpedo Whiz Comics #14 Reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Volume 1
The cover of this issue is a variation of a scene in issue 12.

Convicted of his various crimes Sivana is given 77 consecutive prison terms equaling 9000 years. (I wonder if prison officials would be giving him the fountain of youth water to be sure he spends every year?)
Offhand I'm wondering just what crimes he's been convicted of for that kind of sentence.
{Whiz Comics} #1 He demands money from radio stations or he'll use his radio silencer. Blackmail, possibly interfering with the public airwaves.
{Whiz Comics} #2 He declares war on the United States. Treason definitely.
{Whiz Comics} #3 Attempts to use a paralyzing gas on people.
{Whiz Comics} #4 He backs Beautia in a run for the presidency.
{Whiz Comics} #6 He has dangerous Venusian animals brought to Earth.
{Whiz Comics} #10 Attacks the Navy.
{Whiz Comics} #13 Robbery & attacking the Army.
I guess some of the crimes he was convicted of happened outside of the comics.

The US Treasury Building in Fort Gnox. Okayyyyyyy...

Sivana kidnapped the president but none of his prisoners looks like Roosevelt.

Captain Marvel waits until all the people leave Mount Stony then changes back to Billy & hitches a ride back home. Way to use that Wisdom of Solomon. I would flown back home then changed back.

Okayyyyy, at the end of the story it's finally explained how Sivana & Captain Marvel managed to walk through walls. Can we get the Amazing Quantum Man here to look at this explanation?
Billy says that Sivana timed the orbits of the electrons around the atoms in the solid wall, & then timed his own atoms to pass through leaving a little bit of himself behind as he did so (which is why he faded away to nothing).
How the heck did Sivana know the timing of the obits of the electrons of the thousands to millions (or more) of atoms in each wall he passed through.
Isn't it amazing that all the electrons happened to sync right up to pull this stunt off.
At least when the Flash does it it's said that he has complete control over his atoms.
At least the leaving a little bit of himself behind each time does explain why he doesn't use this trick more frequently, although I'd be surprised if he never used it again.

The preview for next issue says it'll explain the relationship of Beautia & Sivana. Okayyyyyyyy, you make it look like Sivana is gone for good, then you give away the fact that he'll probably be back next issue??? Yeesh!

Whiz Comics #15
Sivana never does explain how he reincorporated himself after fading away to nothingness last issue.

The revelation that Beautia is Sivana's daughter really calls into question his attempting to blow her up with an aerial torpedo in issue 10. I can understand being upset & cranky that your offspring has betrayed you, but attempting to kill your own flesh & blood usually puts a damper on family reunions.

Billy is on a plane. He says Shazam & then next panel shows him flying in the air. Now later Billy is seen reentering the plane through a door, but shouldn't there have been an explosive decompression when he opened the door the first time?
Also the door opens out.

These are not nits. Planes (with the possible exception of experimental jets) in the 40's and early 50's did have doors that opened out and they were not pressurized. They did not fly fast enough or high enough to require it

Okay.

BTW I believe this also eliminates a nit I had on the Superboy board.

Then There Were None The Marvel Family #89 Reprinted in Super-Team Family #6
Billy changes into Captain Marvel in front of a doctor. Way to keep that identity secret Billy.

The cover to The Marvel Family #89 is reproduced in this issue. The cover shows a kid looking at white spaces where Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr., & Mary Marvel should be and he says, "Holy Moley! What happened to the Marvel Family!" & a blurb on the lower cover says, "Read And Then There Were None!"
A caption explains that this was the last Fawcett comic book. (How appropriate.)
Oddly enough the editor chooses not to mention that Fawcett ceased publishing comics because of the Copyright Infringement suit brought by DC against Captain Marvel.

DC briefly revived the title as The Power Of Shazam back in the mid-'90s.One of the major differences from the original was the fact that whenever two or more of the Marvel family powered up at the same time they had a lost of total power.This made them more vulnerable.Also there was a storyline in which Billy is put into a wish fulfilled world where his parents never died.Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family also appeared in Crisis On Infinite Earths back int the
'80s.

Well, it seems DC did buy the rights to the Fawcett characters in the late '80s/early '90s so I've moved this out of Licensed Properties & put it in the DC section.