DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE TRIALS OF SHAZAM! #2

Grounded

November 2006

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Howard Porter

Inks by Howard Porter

Cover by Howard Porter

Synopsis

In New York City, Freddy Freeman is still reeling from losing his powers as Captain Marvel Jr.  After withdrawing from school, Freddy visits Mary Batson, who is in the hospital after falling when she also lost her powers.  While sitting at her bedside, Freddy says, “Shazam” and suddenly a crack of lightning rains down on him and Freddy finds himself in the Rock Of Eternity with the former Captain Marvel, Billy Baston.  Marvel tells Freddy that with Shazam’s death, Marvel has taken Shazam’s place as the keeper of the Rock’s magic.  But the power of Shazam still needs an acolyte:  Freddy Freeman.  These gifts will not be given, but will be earned.  Freddy will be tested by each of the gods that make up Shazam’s name and if he passes he will given powers and will be called Shazam.  To help him, Freddy is given a guide:  Zareb Babak.  On the way to meet Zareb, Freddy takes a package from a delivery guy.  The package turns out to contain a large magical creature....

Review

SHAZAM = Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury

Ah! Silly me.  And here I though the series was going to be about Billy and the trials he was going to experience taking over for the wizard Shazam.  Little did I realize.  The story is really about Freddy and how he becomes the next champion of the powers of Shazam.  Actually, I like this twist and I think this switch has a lot of promise for the future of the Marvel family.  Freddy is a character that I don’t think has been used much (although I have limited knowledge of the Marvel family) so it will give writers the chance to start from scratch without having to deal with the backlog of history and continuity; with a new position and new powers this is pretty much a chance to start over without actually erasing the past completely.  Many people will be upset at this move.  At least the change is not a change for change sake, but rather a chance to allow some character growth and push them beyond their current status into something new.  It is not often this is done, but I think this definitely works (for me at least; your mileage may vary). 

And in one small panel on page 14, the entirety of the Marvel family, the extended branch of characters that have been created over the last 50 years or so, were completely wiped out of continuity. 

Naturally, the cynic in me realizes that the decision to forgo the Captain Marvel name in favor of the Shazam name for Freddy is related to the convoluted legal entanglements with Marvel Comics.  In short, when Captain Marvel was originally published by Fawcett Comics, National Comics (Soon to be DC Comics) claimed it was a rip off of Superman.  They sued and eventually won.  For a long period, Captain Marvel comics were not published.  During that period, Marvel Comics created their own character called Captain Marvel and secured the copyrights.  So, when DC Comics bought Fawcett Comics in the early 80s they could use the character, call him Captain Marvel, but could not put the name on the cover of the comic book.  In essence, this series seems to remove that legal entanglement, creates a character called Shazam that can then be used on the cover.-- Review by MRB