If you pick up DC’s new Shazam! #1, you’ll notice that somebody in editorial won an important battle. I want to give credit to Mark Waid, but I don’t know for sure that these are all his. Billy Batson no longer calls his alter ego Shazam; that’s the wizard who gave him his powers and the eponymous magic word. Billy seems younger than portrayed in a while, younger than Asher Angel was in Fury of the Gods. Comic book Billy can stay eternally young, after all.
He’s also struggling to find a new hero name, but writer Waid makes no bones about people calling him Captain Marvel. Perhaps that explains why this month DC Universe Infinite has finally started adding their original run from the 1970s that had the subtitle “the ORIGINAL Captain Marvel.” Waid also plays with something that the 1940s comics did — the alter egos refer to each other in the third person. It’s not just the wisdom of Solomon only being present when Captain Marvel is; they may be two similar but distinct personalities. Both of them are kind. And therein lies the plot complication and coming character arc.
This may be the closest to the original version of Captain Marvel we’ve gotten since the 1970s*. This may also help new fans understand why so many older fans love the character.
With their recent collaboration on World’s Finest, Waid and artist Dan Mora have proven they understand that superhero comics can have complexity and still be fun. They made Damien Wayne (a little) less dark and broody, and reminded people of the groundwork that made Dick Grayson so popular as both Robin and Nightwing. In Mora’s hands, Captain Marvel (I’m sticking with it for now) follows the same. On the cover you see an expression of joy. The Big Red Cheese bursts through the pages of his origin story as drawn by creator C.C. Beck, with a grin that says he’s having fun, but not with a swagger.
Together, the creative team opens this book with a moment that would have fit in the 1940s. The Captain rides a teen-aged T-Rex in South America. That’s all I’ll say, but it’s a move that says no matter how serious the story will get, this book is about fun. And kindness. No doubt Waid will hit that note hard, and I’m here for it.
Mora’s artwork recalls that moment DC shifted from the style Beck established to the more realistic notes by the underrated Don Newton. That makes the presence of the rest of the Marvel Family less jarring, though I wish it were okay to stick to a more cartoony Tawky Tawny. After all, it’s not like he’s a real tiger anymore. He’s from a magical land.
That may be the only block to full engagement from new readers. Not the magical land part, but that it’s still tied to continuity established by Geoff Johns (and later the movies) and a few different shifts in direction DC has done with the characters in the past few years. Waid and Mora limit the extended family to Mary Bromfield and Freddy Freeman for now, so it’s not clear if the others will get their powers back. (Mary has hers back, clearly sponsored by different gods as a result of Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods. But of course, that’s the way it was originally anyway.)
Don’t let the spin-off from a crossover tie-in book keep you away. This “Dawn of DC” looks to be re-establishing the best of what makes some characters not just liked, but loved. They don’t have to be edgy. They just have to be good.
Shazam! has the potential to be great.
*Special mention to Jeff Smith’s Shazam! and the Monster Society of Evil — it came close, too, almost 20 years ago, but was promptly ignored.
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