KMC Forums - Respect Zha-Vam

I figured I would skip ahead a bit and make a respect thread for one of my favorite obscure Pre-Crisis villains. Since he only appeared in 3 issues (Action Comics #351 - 353) and I have all of them, why not?

(please log in to view the image)

Zha-Vam is essentially a golem. He was molded from clay and brought to life by the gods (mostly Greek and Roman gods, but gods from other pantheons were involved too). His base powerset is a pretty blatant ripoff of Captain Marvel/Shazam, as he has one attribute of a god or mythological being for each letter in his name.

Z is for the lightning of Zeus

H is for the strength of Hercules

A (the first one) is for the invulnerability of Achilles

V is for the fire manipulation of Vulcan

A (the second one) is for the archery of Apollo

M is for the speed of Mercury. This also seems to be what allows him to fly.

Note how I said his 'base' powerset, though. There's more to him than that. He also has a magical belt with various buttons with letters on them. When pressed, these buttons will manifest the power of another god/mythological being, in addition to his base 6.

The powers he demonstrated with the belt were:

T, for Titan: Allowed him to grow to giant size, 100 feet tall. Presumably his strength increased proportionately.

T again, for Thor: We never see this one activated, but he does smack Superman with Thor's hammer

G, for Gorgon: Gave him the ability to turn Superman to stone with his gaze

M, for Morpheus: Put Superman to sleep

P, for Pluto: Plunged the entire world into pitch darkness

O, for Orion: Created a magical shield in space that prevented Superman from returning to Earth

C, for Cyclops: Gave him one eye that could fire an energy beam, which could harm Superman

M again, for Mars: Caused magical swords to materialize in his hands, which could cut Superman

S, for Siva (Shiva): Gave him 4 arms

J, for Jason: Allowed him to plant dragon's teeth, which grew into fire-breathing dragons, whose flames were implied to be deadly to Superman

I, for Iris: Created magical rainbows that bound Superman's limbs and started to crush him

P again, for Phaeton: Summoned the chariot of the sun, which could burn the Earth to a crisp

So how did Superman beat this guy? Short answer: He couldn't. Not without help, at least. He went back in time (this was the Silver Age so he could do this at will) to find out Zha-Vam's origin and weaknesses, and met up with a rival group of gods who were willing to assist him against the gods who empowered Zha-Vam. These rival gods created a belt like Zha-Vam's for Superman, which allowed him to summon the powers of different gods and mythological beings. Only with this belt he managed to win.

Anyway, on to the scans

- Superman says Zha-Vam is the toughest villain he's ever faced (this was 1967, and this could be hyperbole, I'll have to go through more Superman comics to get a better idea. Obviously Zha-Vam isn't as powerful as the likes of Mxyzptlk, but he would be considered tougher to defeat, as tricking him into saying his name backwards wouldn't work):

https://imgur.com/gv6agxk.jpg

- Zha-Vam gives a basic demonstration of his powers (notable is that he can materialize a bow and arrows from thin air, and used an arrow to blast through the ceiling and destroy a meteor moving at 40 miles/second. He also flies into space, grabs some satellites, and returns moments later:

https://imgur.com/yuCL8Sx.jpg

https://imgur.com/TjZlR6o.jpg

https://imgur.com/9gXp2ah.jpg

https://imgur.com/aJ5uADj.jpg

- Fires an arrow through the walls of Fort Knox, and says that his arrows can split mountains:

https://imgur.com/gEsWlPa.jpg

- Rips through a steel vault door. Also, his lightning can be used in a stun mode:

https://imgur.com/kSfTRzB.jpg

- His first fight with Superman, in which he defeats him soundly (he says he'll throw him to the other end of the universe, but Superman breaks out before that):

https://imgur.com/FspxmyW.jpg

https://imgur.com/niKw4lJ.jpg

https://imgur.com/5uwANOs.jpg

https://imgur.com/B9Zf2Fn.jpg

https://imgur.com/OT0hrTd.jpg

- Knocks Superman around with Thor's hammer:

https://imgur.com/5bQnOlB.jpg

- Turns Superman to stone (he managed to undo it, but it's suggested here that Zha-Vam allowed that to happen):

https://imgur.com/Kbifvd0.jpg

https://imgur.com/8Bmt6DY.jpg

- Zha-Vam's belt has a failsafe against anyone who tries to destroy it or use it against him, its powers will activate against the interloper:

https://imgur.com/EgXYHeg.jpg

- Envelops the Earth in darkness. Zha-Vam, like Superman, also has a voice powerful enough to be heard around the world:

https://imgur.com/zEFYXI0.jpg

https://imgur.com/g33HYcI.jpg

- His Achilles power comes with the weakness in his heel, but he thought ahead and coated his heel with Kryptonite. We see that he could have killed Superman any time he wished:

https://imgur.com/p1Vyyck.jpg

https://imgur.com/TG8kuG0.jpg

- Zha-Vam's Orion shield prevents Superman from returning to Earth. The shield can expand as fast as Superman can fly to block him. It's also immune to his heat vision:

https://imgur.com/i6f5Oz6.jpg

https://imgur.com/vam9IqU.jpg

- The creation of Zha-Vam:

https://imgur.com/8EIy0Pu.jpg

https://imgur.com/RvV0riY.jpg

- Superman uses time travel to get around the shield, but Zha-Vam turns into a cyclops and blasts him. This beam is powerful enough to blast through Superman's skin and injure him:

https://imgur.com/25wiLFS.jpg

https://imgur.com/wsrJXE9.jpg

- However, this time Superman has a magic belt too, and manages to win the fight:

https://imgur.com/iADxGmb.jpg

https://imgur.com/j7TvGQD.jpg

https://imgur.com/B0Hi9oM.jpg

https://imgur.com/qCFR1zd.jpg

https://imgur.com/bnpdT6S.jpg