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The Mighty Isis
Many post seventies DC fans are probably asking, "Who the hell is 'The Mighty Isis'?" For the answer to that we have to backtrack. Back in the mid seventies DC bought the rights to Fawcett's old characters "The Marvel Family" (somewhat ironic as their copyright infringement suits had helped put Fawcett out of business in the fifties). Since Marvel Comics had created their own Captain Marvel during the sixties the original now had to be published under the title Shazam Anyway DC successfully licensed Captain Marvel for a live action show but the producers wanted to do another show with a female lead. Someone distinct from Cap so Mary Marvel was out. Thus DC hurriedly came up Isis and placed her on Earth S along with all the other Fawcett characters and licensed Isis to TV. The show didn't last very long but neither did the character. For that matter Captain Marvel/Shazam didn't endure too long but the Marvel Family remained, appearing in backup stories and teamup books. After a post-Crisis refit the Shazam comic was relaunched and the Marvel Family reappeared in the DC universe. Isis wasn't so lucky, she hasn't been seen since her comic was cancelled but this page is going to change that. Besides a unique costume Isis had a few differences from Mary Marvel, to begin with a new origin. Isis was really Andrea Thomas, a professor at an American college that must have had one hell of an Egyptology Department. On a fieldtrip to Egypt she found an ancient tiara that she felt compelled to wear. Saying the magic words "Mighty Isis" changed her into a new identity, supposedly the reincarnation of the goddess Isis (more on this on the next page). As Isis she could work elemental magic by chanting (sort of) rhyming spells. Like Mary Marvel (and every character whose powers/transformation depended on speech) Andrea had a tendency towards winding up gagged. Case in point ... In her first issue (Oct-Nov 1976) Isis took on an ancient Egyptian Magician named Scarab who had revived after his minature pyramid was moved from Egypt to the USA. As he didn't seem to have any idea who Isis was he must have predated her. Anyway Isis confronted Scarab when he started wreaking havoc (Script by Denny O'Neil, Art by Ric Estrada and Wally Wood). Quickly realizing he was outmatched Scarab went into hiding while he took a look around this brave new world. Learning America didn't have a King he decided to rectify the matter but first he had to take care of Isis. He decided a boobytrap with live bait seemed the best way to take care of her making him a villain after my own heart.
Confident he'd set a great deathtrap for Isis, Scarab flew off to the White House to take over. He was right but not the way he thought. Either way things didn't look good for Andrea!
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