Captain Marvel
J. Quinn Brisben
Dear son, I once read comic books like you
But more, I drank them deep, caressed them till
They fell apart, believed them, loved them, too,
The superheroes most of all; I'd fill my play
With flight and painless conquest. Still,
I sensed my game was air. The hero best
Embodying dreams was Captain Marvel. Will
No yellow thunderbolt stitched on your chest.
He's out of print, collector's item, laid to rest.
The death of Captain Marvel is a shock
To true believers in a legend's right
To immortality, defying clock
And calendar, some heroes live to fight
Outlandish evil. See them, floating light
As smoke in your new comic books, still clean
Flat-bellied stern steel-muscled. They're a sight
To urge a boy toward manhood. Death is mean.
So how could Captain Marvel ever split our scene.
The Captain Marvel they draw now is not
The one they had when I read lovely junk
Like this. The old one dressed in red and fought
Sivana or Mr. Mind the worm with spunk.
Young Billy Batson yelled SHAZAM! And plunk,
Became a superhero, flying with cape
Unfurled, immune to failure, ready to clunk
All criminals and Nazi creeps and shape
A post-war world from which we'd never need escape.
We left him, laughed at him, moved on to things
More suited to a graying world, more keyed
To second chances. Failing interest brings
The death of profits. Publishers decreed
His end. A phantom hero spreads no seed.
Poor Captain Marvel, shadow of a wish
Grown staler with each number. Heroes need
Support of fans to make great deeds their dish,
To hold as firm as carrot on gefilte fish.
But I should not be joking, heroes die
With startling frequency in times like these.
No super powers allow a myth to lie
Untouched by changing times. The urge to please
A fallen age by killing gods will seize
Us all at times. No super gift is all
We'd hoped. Some super problem comes to tease
You to defeat. It does no good to call
SHAZAM! For lightning. Life dooms heroes to a fall.
