Surely I'm not the only one that hates New 52 Shazam?

[Lord of Narrative]

I'd hate to make a hate thread, but I just can't take it anymore. Geoff Johns absolutely DOES NOT get Captain Mar-........uh, Shazam!!!!! This is one of the worst possible updates that I could ever imagine.

1. Billy's awful characterization reeks of poor writing. As much as fanboys complain about MOS and New 52 Superman not being like "the good old days", he is FAAAAR more in character than Billy, who is a little douchebag, completely unlike the innocent boy who tried to do the right anything despite his bad circumstances.

2. Mary is not Billy's real sister, yet people wanna complain about Wonder Woman being the daughter of Zeus?!!!!!!!!!!! Plus, all of the other foster kids just reek of bad "diversity", like some kinda modern day Planeteers. What would've been more interesting is to just have them as friends who come from different backgrounds and CHOOSE to be friends, not essentially forced to be that way due to circumstance. The black girl could've been aged a little more and been Billy's love interest while the other boys all fight over Mary. And the only empowered characters should be Billy, Mary, and Freddie, in that order.

3. Sivana being cursed into his sickly form is actually kind of a good idea, but the whole "science has failed me, but magic can save me!" shtick is just stupid. Isn't the whole point of Sivana that he uses science against a magical foe? Plus, the whole thing with his family, while left ambiguous, is another tepid Johns trope that needs to stop. I'm surprised that crappy origin that he gave Cheetah (far inferior to Perez's) didn't involve Barbara Minerva's mom hitting her or something.

4. The idiotic renaming the character for the sake of the illiterate and lazy is needless pandering, completely ruining the naming of the characters. It also leaves the door wide open for a certain blonde bimbo to forever take captive the name.

5. Were they even in Fawcett City? See, this completely divorces the character from his roots. Jerry Ordway's Power of Shazam, while dated, is leaps and bounds better than this. Heck, even Shazam: A New Beginning is more accurate to the character than this crap. Sadly, I fear that the movie will take its aim from this dreck.

[Sirzechs]

So basically Nostalgia.

[GrandKaiser]

I think the New 52 Shazam is awesome and I'm a fan of the original comics.

[failo.legendkiller]

Tell it to Wally West fans, Original Titans fans or Tim Drake, Conner, Bart Allen Fans just to name a few.
The only way to accept changes is understand that New52 characters are not the ones of the PreFlashpoint Universe.
Those characters are gone, maybe one day they'll come back, but for now they are not here with us.
It's better for you to approach to this new Shazam with another point of view, if you can. Nostalgia can only get things worse.

[GrandKaiser]

I just pretend that the bullcrap origin story they gave Tim Drake never happened

[maxmcco]

I'm a long time Captain Marvel fan and really enjoyed Johns' take. Still hate the name change though. Can't wait till Morrison's Thunderworld!

[vartox]

Mary and Billy don't always find out that they're siblings right off the bat. Considering that her costume was the same color as Billy's and she heard mirror lady talking about family I think there's a pretty good chance they're actually related.

[Claude]

Oh no, "bad diversity"!

And it's odd to see "not enough people hitting on Mary Marvel" as a complaint.

[Sirzechs]

Oh no, "bad diversity"!

And it's odd to see "not enough people hitting on Mary Marvel" as a complaint.

-Yes if the new supporting cast that's introduced isn't white then its "Bad diversity" and here I thought that they were just well received in Flashpoint so they were brought over to the new universe like Element Woman.

-Seems all of the female involved most be regressed to mere Love Interests.
-

[Mark]

I'm not sure yet, but there's not a lot you can do when another company steals your name.

[Starchild]

The last issue with Sivana discovering Mr. Mind in the temple made me want more. I hope Johns is at least working on a manuscript, because I know he wants to write an ongoing. People really need to put their nostalgia aside on here, it's getting annoying.

[andersonh1]

I agree with the OP. DC/Johns/whoever took everything that made Captain Marvel appealing and flushed it away to create "Shazam". Can't stand the new version myself.

I've noticed that the titles for the Captain Marvel/Shazam series have gotten progressively bleaker over time. We started out with Shazam: A New Beginning. Then it was Power of Shazam, Trials of Shazam and finally, the oh so inspiring Curse of Shazam. I suppose Shazam and the Pits of Utter Gloom and Death is the only place they can go next.

People really need to put their nostalgia aside on here, it's getting annoying.

See, this type of thoughtless critique is what gets annoying. Just because someone prefers a past version over a current version of a character does not mean that it's simply nostalgia. The OP listed quite a few reasons why he prefers the pre-52 Captain Marvel by comparing past characteristics with current ones. That's not nostalgia, that's compare and contrast, and it's completely valid. You act as though the only valid opinion is to accept whatever DC is currently publishing, and you're just wrong.

[Starchild]

I see things for what they are. Just disagree and move on, because I'm not interested in arguing. I love the New 52 version, just as much as I love the old version. Fans aren't open minded anymore because they're too stuck in their ways of how things used to be. Fanboys are still bitter because Superman doesn't wear underwear.

I agree with the OP. DC/Johns/whoever took everything that made Captain Marvel appealing and flushed it away to create "Shazam". Can't stand the new version myself.

I've noticed that the titles for the Captain Marvel/Shazam series have gotten progressively bleaker over time. We started out with Shazam: A New Beginning. Then it was Power of Shazam, Trials of Shazam and finally, the oh so inspiring Curse of Shazam. I suppose Shazam and the Pits of Utter Gloom and Death is the only place they can go next.



See, this type of thoughtless critique is what gets annoying. Just because someone prefers a past version over a current version of a character does not mean that it's simply nostalgia. The OP listed quite a few reasons why he prefers the pre-52 Captain Marvel by comparing past characteristics with current ones. That's not nostalgia, that's compare and contrast, and it's completely valid. You act as though the only valid opinion is to accept whatever DC is currently publishing, and you're just wrong.

[Starchild]

If people want to be stuck in the past, so be it. I will still continue to embrace the new stuff, just as I did with the old.

[andersonh1]

I see things for what they are. Just disagree and move on, because I'm not interested in arguing. I love the New 52 version, just as much as I love the old version. Fans aren't open minded anymore because they're too stuck in their ways of how things used to be. Fanboys are still bitter because Superman doesn't wear underwear.

If you post an opinion, you're asking for an argument or discussion. And I'll say it again: it's just as valid to dislike Shazam, for whatever reason, as it is to like him. It may make you feel better to label it as "fanboy nostalgia" and dismiss all opinions contrary to your own, but you're still wrong when you ignore a list of reasons and pretend everything boils down to "I want what I had when I was a kid".