SOURCE: "Shazam! Here Comes Captain Relevant," in Popular Culture and the Expanding Consciousness, edited by Ray B. Browne, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1973, pp. 81-98.

In the following essay, Braun takes stock of the impact comic book artists have had on other media, such as cinema, and outlines the early 1970s trend in socially relevant comics characters.

Envision a scene in a comic book:

In Panel 1, two New York City policemen are pointing skyward with their jaws hanging open and one is saying, "Wha … ?" They are looking at four or five men and women, shown in Panel 2 plummeting through the air feet first, as though riding surfboards. The dominant figure has a black long coat thrown over his shoulders, wears a peaked, flat-brim hat and carries a cane. As the group lands on the street and enters the "Vision Building," Panel 3, a hairy hip figure on the sidewalk observes...