Yes, there's the funny bits with Billy Batson in a grown up body with a super hero suit and powers trying to figure out how things work. The ancient wizard that gave him his powers did not so much as leave a brochure, let alone a manual on what his powers are and how they work.
There's a lot of humor but it also comes with a lot of heart. But if you think this is just a family movie with a lot of jokes, there are some serious thrills and scares. Thaddeus Sivana is brutal in his quest for power. The Seven Deadly Sins that give him that power are fearsome monsters frightfully conceived. Nothing your kids haven't see in any number of video games but still, the Seven Deadly Sins are some butt ugly critters.
I really wanted Shazam! to be good. Shazam! was a regular purchase of young Dave-El from ye olde spinner rack of my youth. In fact, one of the first comics I bought back in the 1970s was Shazam!#12.
Shazam! was like nothing else on the stands. I think it was the pure guileless joy of these stories that I found appealing. I continued to pick up issues of Shazam! even as I got older and pure guileless joy was less of a desired quality of my older teenage self.
Also, Bob Oskner's Mary Marvel was hot.
Sadly, not enough people were picking up issues of Shazam! and the series came to an end with issue #35. And just when it found the perfect creative team. Thankfully, writer E.Nelson Bridwell, penciller Don Newton and inker Kurt Shaffenberger got to continue their distinctive take on the Shazam family in the pages of World's Finest Comics. It's a shame but I don't think the Bridwell/Newton run of Shazam! has ever been collected. I know I would love to have those stories collected in one place.
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| The opening page of the Shazam feature's debut in World's Finest Comics#253 |
The current movie has a few throwbacks to the long ago days when Billy Batson yelled "Shazam!" to turn into Captain Marvel. These days, Billy Batson yells "Shazam!" to turn into... Shazam! Marvel Comics has a one billion dollar hammer lock on the name "Captain Marvel" these days.
The movie owes most of its structure to a story written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Gary Franks that ran as a back up series in Justice League.
There are some changes. Black Adam is absent from the movie but the Wizard does obliquely reference him. Here, Sivana's quest for powers leads ol' Thaddeus to absorb that power for himself.
Well, we gotta save something for the sequel, right?
And since it looks Shazam! was a success at the box office, we'll get one and hopefully soon before the kids get too old.
Or me for that matter. I can't wait to see what Billy Batson and his friends do next.
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