Steamboat was the owner-operator of a horse-drawn lunch wagon, who made his living selling hamburgers, ice cream, and soda pop in a large park. His business was nearly ruined when he was set upon by a gang of young hoodlums that stole his food, and spooked his old horse Napoleon, causing him to bust free from his rigging and run amok in the park.

Fortunately for park-goers, Captain Marvel (working undercover as a police officer) was on hand to bring Napoleon under control, and returned him to Steamboat.

Later, after hitching Napoleon back to the lunch wagon, Steamboat saw an opportunity to help his new friend "de big cop", who was in a stand-off with gun-wielding gangsters. With Napoleon galloping at full speed, Steamboat steered the lunch wagon directly into the path of the gangsters, who scattered for fear of being trampled. This gave Captain Marvel the moment he needed to go into action, and make short work of the criminals!

Unfortunately, during his daring distraction, Steamboat lost control of Napoleon, and the lunch wagon was completely destroyed.

Captain Marvel made a hasty departure from the scene, and after a quick change, returned in his civilian identity of Billy Batson. Grateful for the help Steamboat gave to Captain Marvel, Billy offered to fix him up with a new job at Station WHIZ, the broadcasting station he worked for.

Working and living together, Steamboat became a faithful friend to Billy Batson. Despite the close relationship, Steamboat was not aware that Billy is the one who changes into Captain Marvel. Even without that knowledge, Steamboat assisted them both equally, and often helped get them out of jams. But, even more often than not, needed rescuing himself!

Once, while under hypnosis, Steamboat believed himself to be a version of Captain Marvel. His non-magic word was "Shazowie!".
Donned in red flannel underwear, a tattered white dress shirt as a cape, and wearing yellow spats over his shoes, he called himself Harlem Marvel, or as he would pronounce it "Hahlem Mahvel". As the Harlem Marvel, he could outrun a speeding truck, and possessed "hypnotic strength" enabling him to battle, and easily defeat, three men at once. Despite all this though,, he could not fly. The hypnotic spell that gave him his powers eventually wore off, and he returned to being his plain old self, with no recollection of his short stint as a superhero.

* America's Greatest Comics #2, 3, 6
* Captain Marvel Adventures #11-22, 23 (cover & back cover only), 24-28, 30, 40-41
* Whiz Comics #29-32, 36, 38, 41-43, 45, 47, 52, 54, 58-59, 63
* Captain Marvel and the Horn of Plenty

* He has made no further appearances since 1945 as Fawcett chose to retire the character after being pressured to discontinue his use.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat_(comics) Wikipedia]
*[https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Steamboat_(Earth-S) DC Wikia]
Category:Comic Book Characters
Category:Fawcett Characters
Category:1942 Debuts
Category:Ed Herron - Creator
Category:C.C. Beck - Creator
Category:African-American characters
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Category:Protagonists
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Category:Real Name Unknown
Category:Shazam Characters