Yours Truly

December 4, 1996

Well Wiz,

We finally made a plan, Superman and I.

It took us long enough, but we finally did it.

For the past couple days, Mr. Muscles and I have been tracking Black Adam's movements. He's been hiding in the day and striking each night at exactly 12:04 in the morning.

At first we thought that he was controlling his movements. That he was killing in only one area. But then we discovered that he goes anywhere in Fawcett City. It doesn't matter how rural the homes he invades are as long as there's someone there.

We also noticed that he kills a diversity of people. I can't believe I finally wrote that word. Kills. I've been living in denial, Wiz. I've been thinking that everything is fine even though things are getting worse. And I can't help but feel even more guilt, because in order for Supes and I to make a plan, we had to wait for him to kill. We couldn't save those people.

Anyway, age, race, and gender don't matter to Teth. His victims are of opportunity.

All of them were people who forgot to lock there doors and shut their windows. The people that had too much to drink and were walking home alone.

I've been seeing his horrifying kills, and each one that I have to investigate makes my stomach sick because there's this blame. There's a guilt that I should have done something.

And I've discovered that Black Adam's merciless, because he preys on the weakest of the weak. He is a hunter. A monster.

So in order to make plan, I had to tell Superman some things about my powers.

I told him about you, Wiz.

He stood in silence and solace as I said each word. He hung onto my story like it was the only problem that existed in the world. He gave me his full attention and I let go. I let everything out.

My anger. My frustrations. My loneliness mixed with shame that weighed me down.

But in the emotions and beats of it all, I slipped. I'm sorry, Wiz. I guess I couldn't hold onto your secret all by myself. I couldn't hold up the world alone anymore.

I brought him to your lair.

I told him that I felt like I could never go back to being a kid.

I could never be the old Billy Batson.

He watched me. He studied me.

And then he sat down next to me on an old bench of some kind.

He sat there with me without judgement. And Wiz, it made me feel so good, because it felt like you were there with me again. He radiated this warmth that I so desperately needed.

But then he sighed and focused on the plan. He sighed not because I was kid, but because of the mission we were on. He focused on the task at hand. He was being the Superman everyone knew.

Then he told a story of how he dealt with a villain like Teth. A trickster like him. A person who was a cruel hunter who thrived on discord.

He told me a story of a liar.

He said that there was a being who could travel in between worlds. He said that the guy he fought was named Mr. Moxypick or milzick or something. I can't quite remember the name, but it had an 'ick' sound in it.

Anyway, this guy Supes fought was cunning, and the only way he ended up defeating him was tricking into saying his name backwards. Superman didn't use his powers. He couldn't, because the guy was too powerful.

He had to rely on heart and smarts.

Superman said that he didn't yet understand how my powers worked, but said that it all has to do with a name.

And that's when it hit me.

We had to find Black Adam and make him say the word. My word.

We had to make him say, "shazam."

Then Black Adam would be gone forever.

His old age would catch up to him.

And we could win, Wiz.

Yours Truly,

-Shazam