DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE TRIALS OF SHAZAM! #1

The Boy & The Man

October 2006

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Howard Porter

Inks by Howard Porter

Cover by Howard Porter

Synopsis

In Norway, two men are transporting children to a castle in order to perform a magical rite that requires “untainted blood from unsullied virgins.”  They have 13 kids; the original dozen and one kid picked up along the way.  One of the men asks the kid’s name.  He simply says:  “Shazam.”  A bolt of lighting strikes and Billy Baston becomes Captain Marvel.  The men, however, also transform, this time into monsters.  Marvel knocks one back into the castle.  He is met by his master who decides to proceed with the ritual without the kids.  He kills the man.  Suddenly the castle is crushed beneath the weight of a giant frog.  Previous, 23 hours ago, Marvel helps out Zatanna to defeat a monster.  Marvel tells her that rules of magic have been re-written.  In the rock of eternity where marvel now lives, Billy sits down to rest, but learns of the impending ritual in Norway.  Now, Marvel is having difficulty with the giant frog, but thanks to the new rules, Marvel has more tricks and he is able to win.  After taking care of them men, Marvel needs to get the kids back home, but decides to that as Billy.  When he calls out “Shazam,” however, he does not change to Billy, but rather his costume and hair and skin all turn white!

Review

“Fighting a gigantic frog is bad enough, but getting my butt handed to me by Kermit on ‘roid rage is a level of humiliation that I’d rather not endure.”

This mini-series will probably be one of those that can easily be divided into two categories:  Captain Marvel fans who will immensely hate what Winick had done to their beloved icon and fans with no history of Marvel who will enjoy the story.  Of the two, the internet will most likely be filled with the first category.  A lot of that will be due to the grim and gritty nature of the story and the lack of light-hearted silliness.  Yes, the frog was silly, but it was still dark and serious.  Captain Marvel fans will rail against this; claiming (and rightfully so) that Marvel’s history is steeped in good, light fun and what Winick provides is not that.

However, I fall into the second category.  I do not have any history of Marvel, except for a mini-series with Superman awhile ago that Winick wrote and just a passing knowledge of the basic information of Captain Marvel.  So, I was not put off by the tone of the book or the opening scene in which Billy ask serious when calls down the lightning.  What struck me (sorry, bad pun) was that Billy and Marvel have a new responsibility as the bearers of Shazam’s power and to me that responsibility has given him a gravitas that had not existed before.  It’s okay to fun around when someone else in charge, but when you are the boss 9so to speak) it is time to get down to business.  Plus, Billy is growing up and at age 15 he really is no older than some of the Teen Titans.  Personally, I think the tone worked for the story being told. 

There are a number of questions from 52 (such as, how did Marvel get the ability to change back to Billy or are the seven sins still driving him up the wall) that are not answered here, which I am sure will annoy some people.  I am not sure this was the issue to do it, if at all.  Perhaps Winick will provide the answer; perhaps the answer will come during 52.  Forget about that or any other questions, at least for this issue.  What this issue did was to establish Marvel for the here and now and establish what he can and can not do.  This issue solidly delivers those answers, given us a creepy villain for Marvel to defeat. 

I have two little nitpicks:  First, for anyone who might be reading this who did not read Day or Vengeance or Infinite Crisis, the entire Rock of Eternity scene will create massive confusion.  There is absolutely no exposition to tell new readers what happened before this started.  Second, there was no need to treat Zatanna like a little step-child.  I realize that the dialogue between her and Marvel is somewhat necessary to tell the reader about the new rules, but Winick could’ve allowed Zatanna to defeat the monster or at the very least understand what Marvel is telling her.  Come on, she is smart and certainly one of the more powerful magic users in the DCU, she should be able to figure it out.-- MRB