Black Adam - Blog Posts
Thank you for everyone’s advice on which Shazam comics to get. ⚡️
Introduction to the Rock of Eternity~✨
This was my first time trying to make a drawing with a full background, a character, and shading and it took soOoOo long 😭 lmfao.
Anyways, this is my finished concept art for the train car that Billy gets off of once he’s magically transported to the Rock of Eternity. This version of the Rock of Eternity is a series of floating island that is in the middle of The Magic Realm.
This version of the Rock of Eternity is filled to the brim with jungle and rainforest nature and animals. That is how Tawny comes into the story. Tawny is a magical tiger who is the Wizard’s right-hand pet. They have a magical gemstone embedded in their head that grants them the power of telepathy, allowing them to communicate with others around them. They are not humanoid. They walk on four legs like a tiger and aren’t really fond of wearing human clothes.
I still have to draw the throne room for the champions, that’s where I want The Wizard and Tawny to spend most of their time. Working together as they divide up their time between recording/collecting ancient magic artifacts, resolving magic-related issues, and overall just trying to keep The Magic Realm safe. The Rock of Eternity is a protected hub of information and resources for anyone who is interested in learning about magic.
[ WRITING CONTINUES BELOW ⬇️ ✍️📝 ]
⚠️ Content warning: mentions of slavery in ancient Egypt, mentions of tyranny, clear portrayals of villainous intent, moral corruption etc.
It is a tireless job, that always has a constant flow of work to be completed. This also explains why The Wizard is looking for a champion of magic. He is looking for a pupil to train. Someone who will assist him protecting/saving the other realm. The Wizard sees The Mortal Realm as a mess that is in desperate need of assistance.
The Wizard decides to launch a project where he will expand his influence to The Mortal Realm in an attempt to solve all the problems he sees that plague the mortals of Earth. This project starts roughly about 5,000 years ago, when The Wizard believes he has found a worthy champion, Teth-Adam.
Teth-Adam proves to be a very powerful champion, who actively trains his newfound powers to help harness them to their full potential. He also becomes very involved in his studies of magic. Spending his early adulthood growing alongside The Wizard and Tawny as they eventually form a family-like connection. This joyful aspect of Adam’s life is in sharp contrast to his life in The Mortal Realm. Where he is a slave in ancient Egypt, being forced to help with the construction of the pyramids.
Eventually, Adam starts to corrupt. He returns to The Mortal Realm and begins to use his powers as a tyrant. He successfully frees the people of Egypt from their current enslavement however, instead of letting them roam free and begin to build their own lives, Adam has a different plan in mind. With his arrogance and ego afoot, he decides that he is the one true ruler of Egypt, and seizes complete control of the country.
Adam believes that he is the best possible person to rule over Egypt. He sees himself as a strong, competent leader. A pillar of strength who wants to optimize Egypt to it’s fullest potential. As his overt political power starts to corrupt him, Adam starts to micromanage the Egyptian people, turning the country into a complete and total dictatorship.
The Wizard sees this corruption that Adam is forcing over the people in Egypt and tries to talk some sense into him. Telling Adam that he did a good thing by freeing the people of Egypt however, in seizing complete control over the country he himself has become the one of tyrants he swore to destroy. Adam isn’t hearing any of it, he believes he is different from any previous leaders of Egypt because he has the country’s best interests at heart. Everything he has done in his rule has only improved the country, so he was clearly destined to be Egypt’s one true leader.
The Wizard then realizes that there is no getting through to Adam. They have a dramatic confrontation. The Wizard with a heavy heart, realizes that Adam has grown to be a very powerful advisory and is willing to fight for his rule over Egypt.
The Wizard eventually wins the battle however, doesn’t have the heart to kill Adam because they formed a very strong father/son relationship over the years as The Wizard was training Adam as his champion. As a last resort The Wizard decides to banish Adam to the furthest star in the galaxy. The Wizard reverses Adam’s influence over Egypt. He helps them to establish a proper democracy before returning to The Magic Realm to grieve over what he had to do to Adam, someone he saw as his own son.
The Wizard and Tawny mourn for many moons, causing the Wizard to put an indefinite pause on his project, leaving The Mortal Realm with no champion for the time being.
Fast forward about 5,000 years, The Wizard realizes in his old age, that he is growing weaker and weaker as the centuries pass. He ponders the idea of trying to find another Champion of Magic. Tawny tries to talk him out of it, reminding him of how poorly that went last time and saying there is no reason to want to do that again. The Wizard eventually changes Tawny’s mind once he reminds his fuzzy friend that once the Wizard is dead and gone, that Tawny will be unable to keep up with the responsibilities of the Rock of Eternity all by themselves.
The Wizard doesn’t really want to find a new champion, but he deems it necessary because he wants to make sure there is always enough people/resources to keep the balance of magic. He wants to personally train a mortal to eventually one day take over his duties, guiding them closely to make sure they are on the correct path. Hoping that now that he and Tawny are both wiser and older that they can find one pure, good soul to build into the perfect hero, and avoid repeating their old mistakes.
The Wizard and Tawny search for hundreds of years in an attempt to try and find a new Champion of Magic, but no one they bring to the Rock of Eternity seems to have a completely pure and good soul.
After years and years of tirelessly searching, they eventually stumble upon Billy Batson. Unfortunately Billy, like everyone who came before him, has imperfections and moments of human weakness that lead The Wizard and Tawny to initially discard him as a possible champion.
Then Billy questions their judgment, questioning them if there is such a thing as a “completely pure good person”, explaining that everyone has their flaws no matter how “good” they are. Suggesting that The Wizard and Tawny have been searching for so long because they’re looking for peoples flaws instead of their strengths.
This convinces The Wizard to change the conditions of his search. Deciding to comb over Billy’s mind again, but this time looking for the good within him instead of his flaws. The Wizard begins to see that Billy has a lot of moments that show him being a good kid and genuinely trying to help people, showing that Billy genuinely has a good heart.
The Wizard and Tawny mull over this decision and bicker amongst each other. They eventually decide that the Wizard has already burned thousands of years on this search so far, and they don’t know how much longer he has left to live as it is. Better to choose this kid who obviously has a good heart, and help mold him into a hero than to wait around for another thousand years, possibly having The Wizard die before he ever found a replacement.
And then, The Wizard decides to bestow the powers of Shazam to Billy Batson, making him the next Champion of Magic.
Very shortly after this decision is made, Adam returns to Earth. He has spent the last five thousand years traveling across the galaxy in an attempt to eventually make it back to Earth. He is very hurt by the Wizard’s decision to banish him to the furthest star in the galaxy and seeks to make amends.
However, when Adam finds out that The Wizard has chosen a new champion this sends him into a complete and utter rage. He sees this as The Wizard trying to replace him, both as a champion and as a son.
It’s a total slap in the face to Adam since he just spent the last 5,000 years traversing the cosmos to see The Wizard again. Adam sees it as a complete dismissal of the deep and meaningful familial connection they once shared to replace him with his new champion, Billy.
Adam knows that Billy is on the same path that he once was, being trained by The Wizard and Tawny to become the new Champion of Magic, and that they eventually plan to have him manage/protect The Rock of Eternity.
Adam resents the idea that he could ever be replaced and seeks to seize control over The Rock of Eternity. He plans to kill both The Wizard and his new champion to prove his superiority and “show them” that he was always destined to be the one true champion of magic.
His villainous behavior is not only motivated by his desire to have control, but also by his deep internal hurt of being replaced by Billy. Adam sees the terms “champion” and “son” as interchangeable. To him they mean the same thing, and Adam will stop at nothing to prove himself because deep down he wants The Wizard’s approval.
The Wizard and Tawny were the closest thing Adam ever had to a real family and after spending thousands of years trying to get back to them, he returns only to find he’s been replaced, and that is a pain he’s never felt before.
Adam doesn’t know how to cope with the feelings that erupt within him besides crushing all competition and once again using his tyrannical personality traits to try and prove his worth.
End. ⚡️
Wow that was a long one, lol. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed. I know the writing of this post was a post about Black Adam’s origins rather than The Rock of Eternity, but I hope you enjoyed regardless.
As always let me know what you guys think. I’m always open to suggestions since I’m making my own version of Shazam anyways lol. ⚡️💕
🖤⚡️ My Black Adam Design ⚡️🖤
Lol I ended up tracing over my original Shazam design because I was mostly working on this drawing while I was at work, on my phone.
I had it a lot more purple at first but then changed it over to be more of a worn bronze color.
Enjoy~✨
