Posted in: Comics | Tagged: black adam, brian bendis, dc comics, justice league, shazadam

DC Shocker: Shazadam Officially Changes His Name to Black Adam

In a move sure to send shockwaves throughout the comics community, DC Comics has changed the name of the wildly popular character Shazadam to Black Adam in the pages of today's Justice League #59. In irrefutable proof of the name change, a caption lists his name as Black Adam prominently on a page from the book.

Not many readers are likely to remember this, but Shazadam actually did go by the name Black Adam in the past, so it's not completely out of left field for him to return to that moniker. In fact, it was Bleeding Cool's own Rumourmonger-in-Chief Rich Johnston who first reported the then-shocking news that Adam would adopt the name Shazadam in the first place. Johnston was ridiculed at the time for his report, but we ask you, who's laughing now?

Don't answer that.

Instead, see this quote from "The Great One" Brian Bendis in a DC Comics press release promoting the release of Justice League #59.

"Just so we're very clear, at no time ever, in the history of the planning of this book, in any format, in any stage, in any way has the production ever been about Black Adam changing his name, his legacy or anything," said The Great One. "His name is Black Adam and someone else calls him something in the book."

Asked for comment, Rich Johnston pointed behind us and said, "Oi, look over there! Marvel is releasing an ongoing X-Men comic written by that Chris Claremont bloke, they are! Blimey!" We turned to look and there was nothing there, but when we turned back to Rich, he was gone, leaving only a Rich-shaped puff of smoke where he once stood. Faintly, we could hear the smoke tell us, "pip pip," before it dispersed into the atmosphere.

Anyways, whatever The Great One is trying to tell us is unclear. Maybe Bendis is trying to say is that DC didn't intentionally set out to change Black Adam's name to Shazadam. It just happened. Sometimes, these characters just write themselves, you know? Stories take on a life of their own. But who planned to change whose name to what, or who erroneously reported a ridiculously untrue story as fact and then doubled and tripled down on it, none of these things really matter in the grand scheme of things because Bendis and DC have officially changed Shazadam's name to Black Adam going forward, starting with Justice League #59. Now the question remains: how much will this first appearance of Shazadam as Black Adam go for on eBay? You should probably pick up ten or twenty copies, just in case.

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