It has now been 13 years since DC’s “New 52” Reboot and after many Universe resets it is fair to say that almost all new ideas for characters and aspects for characters introduced have gone down the toilet. The only character to have major changes and still have them stick would be Shazam, who up until 2019 was neglected to back up stories in Justice League and then a 15-issue series all written by Geoff Johns.
Before this reboot and the recent movies most of us were more familiar with, the Billy Batson we saw was on Young Justice and “Batman the Brave and the Bold
(who went under the moniker Captain Marvel), who was an orphan who lived with Uncle Dudley and had two sidekicks, Mary and Freddy.
The New 52 reboot was something more in line with what we saw in the movie, a more modern-day look at the foster care system and expansion of the Marvel Family with the addition of Darla, Pedro, and Eugene turning something more akin to Power Rangers.
The Justice League backups are were an abridged version of the 2019 Shazam movie with the introduction of Billy, the new family, along Geoff John’s bizarre decision to relocate the hero’s base from Fawcett City, Wisconsin to Philadelphia, which is very bizarre decision when you consider how so many superheroes are already based out of the East coast. I would not recommend reading the Justice League backup stories though, as the movie does much better justice to the source material, integrating the characters and keeping Billy likable. I would even call Shazam my favorite DC movie that doesn’t involve Batman.
Geoff John’s 2019 Series is basically the sequel to the movie we should have gotten. We get a sense of Billy being torn between his role of a Superhero and civilian life when his father reemerges into the picture. We even get an incredible journey into the magic lands that were hinted at in the movie where we learn they are this massive combination of old works of fiction. Unfortunately, the series came to an abrupt end thanks to the “Future State” line wide event, as the character would get shifted between Team books that have no major impact on the current run.
Which brings us to the current run of the character, starting with 2023’s “Shazam #1”, written by Mark Waid with art by Dan Mora. The newest series has the character finally getting back to the status quo for people who have read the Geoff Johns material or have seen the first movie. The only major change is that the Shazam family has been reduced to just Billy and Mary, as Freddy, Pedro, Darla, and Eugene are mostly sidelined due to being depowered in Lazarus Planet. However, it keeps the high fantasy craziness that was also previously established.
The other major status quo shift is now that hero Shazam, is now going by the moniker Cap’n, which is reasonable considering going by Shazam was pretty weird. The first arc features the 6 gods who lend there power to Cap’n fighting over control of the Superhero as if he were a super popular video game at an arcade.
This proves to be a disaster as Billy has to cope with the gods giving Cap’n a horrible reputation on top of a species of alien T-Rex who has shown up to do an intergalactic audit of Shazam’s magic. This in itself is quite brilliant, as it levels out the concept of how all magic comes at a price. By using the powers of the gods, Shazam is also inheriting there own flaws such as Mecuary’s immaturity, Hercules’ recklessness and Zeus desire to flirt with anything that moves.
Stuff like that is what bugs me about the current state of Black Adam, he works better as a cautionary tale of what could happen if Billy abuses his powers for too long and gets rapped up in his role.
However, we do see Billy is using his powers for personal gain, because what child with magic powers wouldn’t. On top of this, Billy is starting a livelihood of being an influencer who reports on Cap’n, a brilliant way to modernize the Golden Age Billy who worked for Wiz Radio doing the same thing. This helps adds tension to the plot of Cap’n having to save his reputation.
The magic audit subplot was great way to not have to completely side line the recently depowered children as they are dealing with the magical dinosaur audit subplot at home, only to eventually find a way to help out Billy at the end of the first arc. I also have to praise the artwork by Dan Mora, as it is incredibly detail-oriented and does a great job of portraying the motion and environments within its panels. The pacing for the book has also been great as well, I appreciate how despite a shift in writers, it feels like many of the plots and subplots have been well handled,
The issue with the gods is slightly resolved by the end of the sixth issue, but the Shazam family will still need to cope with there heightened presence. There has already been a new creative team brought as a new arc starts (with new writer Josie Campbell and new artist Emanuela Lupacchino), but so far the story is very much a continuation of what worked in Mark Waid’s earlier issues. The newest issue proves promising as Billy has to cope with the concept of how Shazam is a separate entity from him just like in the Golden Age. However unlike the Golden Age it is possible he may not be a perfect Boy Scout. So the series appears to be in good hands.
You can currently pick up any of the recent issues of Shazam at your local comic shop, or available for purchase digitally (or with a Subscription to the DC Infinite app). A TPB collection of Waid and Mora’s “Shazam” (Issues #1-6) will be available June 4th, 2024.
