SHAZAM! by Geoff Johns -- what are your thoughts? (Spoilers w/tags ok)

[Güicho]

Speaking of which, will Adam fill the 7th seat?

Interesting, are these thrones to be filled by Billy and the kids?
And by extension the 7 realms "ruled" buy one of each of them?
So far they mostly decorated the Wizards throne with mementos celebrating their good deeds, so yeah the set-up is these kids are not meant to be rulers, or the ones to pursue that. (well expect maybe Freddy whose already declared himself King LOL!)

Of course that could change, considering who (supposedly) showed up that last page. Could be setting up what if somebody guides (or misleads) them, into being pawns to that end.
Looking at the map again, I wonder if each of these realms, will cater to the wants, and personality of each of the kids.

And yeah the one who sits in the center throne could likely have power over all.
If it's not one of them...

....Very interesting.

[Kon93]

Question- has John's ever written a book that he hasn't turned into a team book?

[Scott Taylor]

Solicits seem to indicate that he will be showing up very soon.

Great! Maybe I'll pick this up after all. After reading these posts, I'm more intrigued.

[LordUltimus]

As good as the writing is, as a fan of pre-Flashpoint Shazam stuff I'm finding it hard to get into this. I think it's the new foster kids, they're fine characters (though Eugene being yet another Asian nerd makes me roll my eyes a little), but new characters having such central roles out of nowhere after a reboot always throws me. Maybe I need to pretend that they're rebooted Lieutenant Marvel's or something.

[Rod G]

I must say, the new SHAZAM! series does have potential.

[Frontier]

Question- has John's ever written a book that he hasn't turned into a team book?

His Flash run didn't really turn into a team book.

At best we had Wally working with Jay and Bart, but that's not really a team so much as the Flash Family uniting, and it was like when Barry, Wally, and Jay would team-up.

I guess it counts as a team book if you count all the focus and character development for the two Rogues groups.

I also don't think his Superman or Aquaman run ever became team books. The closest to a Superman team in that run were probably when the Superman Family was all hands on-deck, and Aquaman had The Others, but otherwise they weren't really team books.

I also don't recall any kind of team in his Hawkman run (aside from the team of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, of course).

[Kon93]

His Flash run didn't really turn into a team book.

At best we had Wally working with Jay and Bart, but that's not really a team so much as the Flash Family uniting, and it was like when Barry, Wally, and Jay would team-up.

I guess it counts as a team book if you count all the focus and character development for the two Rogues groups.

I also don't think his Superman or Aquaman run ever became team books. The closest to a Superman team in that run were probably when the Superman Family was all hands on-deck, and Aquaman had The Others, but otherwise they weren't really team books.

I also don't recall any kind of team in his Hawkman run (aside from the team of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, of course).

You just described all kinds of teams lol.geoff is a team book guy,even for characters that are supposed to stand on their own.

[jsainfinity]

I'm not crazy about having so many Marvels (Shazams?) and I don't think I'll ever get used to a blond, long-hair Freddie...but I enjoyed the first issue and look forward to where the series is going. Hope the wait between issues isn't too extreme.

I can’t stand blond, long haired Freddie. I guess it is a small thing, but it just kills the character for me. He’s had short, dark hair for like 75 years.

[jsainfinity]

That’s a great concept!

Well, I've now read the first issue, and it was OK for me, not great.

I wish Geoff had found a way to make the original setup work. I think Jerry Ordway did a great job in general of doing so even if Peter Krause's art was boring and uninteresting.

I think Billy sharing the comic with 5 other kids is a little too crowded. I'm not loving it.

I would have preferred to see an update of the original concept where Billy works for Sterling Morris at WHIZ-TV. Maybe in today's world, Billy is a blogger who becomes a social media celebrity. Then, Morris hires him as part of refurbishing the WHIZ website to reach the younger audience. Billy gets to report on issues as he did in the pre-Crisis comics, but in a modern-day context of using social media and the Internet to shine the light on events relevant to young people. The other kids can be part of the supporting cast at the website, but it should only be the classic trio with the Shazam powers. Also, Billy and Mary should be twins again.

[Montressor]

Art looks great, and it's always good to see Mary. I wonder--has her nationality been changed? She seemed a bit darker in complexion (but only when in her normal human form I noticed, after looking again).

I like the idea of the team, I enjoyed that during Flashpoint.

Panel 6, on page 1, the panel with Mr. Mind in the bottle--are the statue, the dpor with the crescent moon and the green piece of Kirbytech machinery callbacks to past Captain Marvel stories?

[SilverWarriorWolf]

I’m game to see where this goes.

[Kon93]

I can’t stand blond, long haired Freddie. I guess it is a small thing, but it just kills the character for me. He’s had short, dark hair for like 75 years.

Oh no,your gonna get in trouble with ppl who think any character can be changed appearance wise no matter how off it is.

[Hypestyle]

interesting. so who all will be updated among the villains? so many of them were all very whimsical in their original versions.

[Dataweaver]

I haven’t read most of the comments, so I may be retreading ground others have already covered. That said, my thoughts:

Overall impression: I loved it! I’ve mostly sworn off of DC because of the mess they made with Heroes in Crisis; but this ain’t that, and I need to support the works they come out with that aren’t grimdark. It’s not surprising that Johns is behind this one. I’m very much of the opinion that he’s the Anti-Didio, and that any hope of the DCU surviving Didio’s depredations lies in what Johns produces.

Now for some of the specifics:

There are a couple of cosmetic matters to address. First, they restored the original appearance of the wizard. IIRC, his N52 version was some sort of Australian Aborigine type rather than the Gandalf archetype that he had always been; and while I didn’t have (much of) a problem with the change, I’m glad to see the original look restored. Second, Freddy: while I understand the need to diversify appearances a bit more and I normally wouldn’t mind the recasting, I really wish Freddy was still the dark-haired kid from the original Captain Marvel — in particular, I wish that his superhero form looked a bit like an Elvis impersonator. Why? Because Elvis’ iconic sideburns look was something he copied from one of his favorite comic book characters, Freddy Freeman. That was the reason why, when Alex Ross added him to Kingdom Come, he made sure to give him the iconic Elvis look and even went so far as to call him “King Marvel”.

Which brings me to the names. I love the fact that the book highlights the problem of naming the characters using the magic word that causes them to transform; so first and foremost, they should not use “Shazam” in their codenames, or in their team name. Yes, Billy, “Captain Marvel” is a perfectly good name, and (OOC) one that you’ve got dibs on. Reclaim it! The “blunder” by one of her siblings of calling Mary “Mary” in public sets her up nicely to be called “Mary Marvel” — if that’s what they’re setting her up for, please and thank you. I mentioned before Alex Ross’ “King Marvel”; I don’t see that actually happening here due to the changes in Freddy’s appearance, but I’d love it if it were to happen. As for the new kids, I wouldn’t mind seeing names like “Captain Thunder” crop up among them — though maybe that would be better for Freddy, as his share of the Shazam name seems to be leaning heavily on the Power of Zeus (i.e., thunderbolts).

I am not at all bothered by there being so many Marvels in this book; in fact, that was a selling point for me: I was disappointed that immediately after relaunching the Marvels in N52’s Justice League and establishing that there were, in fact, six of them and not just Billy, they went back to focusing exclusively on Billy. If this title had focused exclusively on Billy, I would have given it a hard pass.

And yeah, I’m perfectly fine with adding three new Marvels: Eugene, Darla, and Carlos are perfect illustrations of how to add diversity to comics. They’re not defined by their cultural/racial backgrounds: Eugene isn’t “the Asian kid”, he’s “the smart one”; Darla isn’t “the black girl”; she’s “the hyperactive one”. I don’t yet know enough about Pedro to say anything about him (too early), but I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be “the Hispanic one” — his nature seems to revolve more around his physique (being chubby as a kid, and I’m pretty sure his part of Shazam is the Strength of Hercules — a nice dichotomy IMHO). I look forward to the backup stories that I’m sure will be coming out for each of them in the upcoming issues, fleshing them out the way the Mary backup fleshed out Mary Bromfield.

Speaking of which, the Bromfields are total jerks. I look forward to the story when Mary finds out that she’s not their actual daughter, and that she and Billy are actual siblings — though given the tone of the book so far, I figure that will prove to be less important than it might otherwise be: they’re already family.

[SilverWarriorWolf]

I haven’t read most of the comments, so I may be retreading ground others have already covered. That said, my thoughts:

Overall impression: I loved it! I’ve mostly sworn off of DC because of the mess they made with Heroes in Crisis; but this ain’t that, and I need to support the works they come out with that aren’t grimdark. It’s not surprising that Johns is behind this one. I’m very much of the opinion that he’s the Anti-Didio, and that any hope of the DCU surviving Didio’s depredations lies in what Johns produces.

Now for some of the specifics:

There are a couple of cosmetic matters to address. First, they restored the original appearance of the wizard. IIRC, his N52 version was some sort of Australian Aborigine type rather than the Gandalf archetype that he had always been; and while I didn’t have (much of) a problem with the change, I’m glad to see the original look restored. Second, Freddy: while I understand the need to diversify appearances a bit more and I normally wouldn’t mind the recasting, I really wish Freddy was still the dark-haired kid from the original Captain Marvel — in particular, I wish that his superhero form looked a bit like an Elvis impersonator. Why? Because Elvis’ iconic sideburns look was something he copied from one of his favorite comic book characters, Freddy Freeman. That was the reason why, when Alex Ross added him to Kingdom Come, he made sure to give him the iconic Elvis look and even went so far as to call him “King Marvel”.

Which brings me to the names. I love the fact that the book highlights the problem of naming the characters using the magic word that causes them to transform; so first and foremost, they should not use “Shazam” in their codenames, or in their team name. Yes, Billy, “Captain Marvel” is a perfectly good name, and (OOC) one that you’ve got dibs on. Reclaim it! The “blunder” by one of her siblings of calling Mary “Mary” in public sets her up nicely to be called “Mary Marvel” — if that’s what they’re setting her up for, please and thank you. I mentioned before Alex Ross’ “King Marvel”; I don’t see that actually happening here due to the changes in Freddy’s appearance, but I’d love it if it were to happen. As for the new kids, I wouldn’t mind seeing names like “Captain Thunder” crop up among them — though maybe that would be better for Freddy, as his share of the Shazam name seems to be leaning heavily on the Power of Zeus (i.e., thunderbolts).

I am not at all bothered by there being so many Marvels in this book; in fact, that was a selling point for me: I was disappointed that immediately after relaunching the Marvels in N52’s Justice League and establishing that there were, in fact, six of them and not just Billy, they went back to focusing exclusively on Billy. If this title had focused exclusively on Billy, I would have given it a hard pass.

And yeah, I’m perfectly fine with adding three new Marvels: Eugene, Darla, and Carlos are perfect illustrations of how to add diversity to comics. They’re not defined by their cultural/racial backgrounds: Eugene isn’t “the Asian kid”, he’s “the smart one”; Darla isn’t “the black girl”; she’s “the hyperactive one”. I don’t yet know enough about Carlos to say anything about him (too early), but I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be “the Hispanic one” — his nature seems to revolve more around his physique (being chubby as a kid, and I’m pretty sure his part of Shazam is the Strength of Hercules — a nice dichotomy IMHO). I look forward to the backup stories that I’m sure will be coming out for each of them in the upcoming issues, fleshing them out the way the Mary backup fleshed out Mary Bromfield.

Speaking of which, the Bromfields are total jerks. I look forward to the story when Mary finds out that she’s not their actual daughter, and that she and Billy are actual siblings — though given the tone of the book so far, I figure that will prove to be less important than it might otherwise be: they’re already family.

The Latino boy is Pedro, not Carlos.