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Shazam! (New 52) Vol. 1 [Review]

shazamvol001Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterers: Nick J. Napolitano, Dezi Sienty
Cover: Gary Frank & Brad Anderson
Published by: DC Comics
Cover Price: $24.99

I’ve never really been a fan of the Shazam/Captain Marvel property. I haven’t exactly disliked it, but I’ve never really had any active interest in it. Actually, my primary interest has probably come much more in retrospect in the last 10-15 years, looking back to where I came across the character(s) in the 10 or so years prior, and seeing how the concept’s been worked into the general DC Universe, and given the history as tough competition to the Superman publications.

In more recent years, I neglected to follow the Trials of Shazam series, though seeing the changes wrought by Infinite Crisis and its lead-up seemed to hold a lot of potential. I just never really got around to going back and checking up on the saga.

Then the New 52.

I didn’t care for Justice League, so wasn’t about to buy a title “just” for some “backup feature” or “co-feature” or whatever. It seemed to me that there was some miscommunication as to when the Shazam stuff would even start, and ultimately that came down to “out of sight, out of mind” for me, if not simply “don’t care.”

Skip then to Villains Month and the heavy house-ad presence for the Shazam! vol. 1 hardcover, combined with a conversation I had with a friend whose only real exception to “no super-heroes” IS Captain Marvel/Shazam. Beginning with simply being “cute” and sending an SMS photo of the ad (“hey, here’s something NEW you can buy!”) followed by realizing I’d been enjoying the stuff with Black Adam in 52 and then the JSA story near the end of Johns‘ run there, and opting to get the Black Adam Villains Month issue…and I fell into my own “trap.”

I was curious, and interested.

Which, finally, brings me to the book itself: Shazam! Volume 1. This book collects the Shazam! feature from Justice League (2011) #s 7-11, 0, 14-16, 18-21…or 13 chapters. Being–as I understand–functionally “backup” or “co” features, these were each significantly shorter than a standard issue, so these 13 or so chapters work out to approximate six issues…making this a standard-size volume overall.

That I was able to get the hardback for $15 shipped made it like getting a paperback, but the added “plus” of actually being a hardback…though that’s probably moreso the immediacy, as my curiosity had gotten the better of me and I was more interested in checking out the New 52 iteration of the property than caring about having a hardback vs. paperback.

The cover’s depiction of the character is a bit “off” to me, looking questionably sinister, power-mad, or at the least, slightly creepy. Based on the interior, it looks to me like that image was from a variant cover of an issue of Justice League, and seems modeled after the 2012 #0 issues of the New 52. Fitting, as this is the introduction of this version of the character…not so fitting as it’s the only image of the character that stuck out to me in that way.

Gary Frank‘s art is a definite draw for me, and made the book quite easy on the eyes. Everything taken solely in context of this single volume, I haven’t much to say about the art other than I enjoyed it quite a bit–in general as well as the character designs themselves. Adding my knowledge of more Shazam stuff than just this volume, Mary seemed a bit too “old” and not so “innocent” as I’m used to seeing the character (excepting Final Crisis and such), and I’m not familiar with Pedro, Eugene, or Darla offhand. Additionally, the hooded full cape isn’t an aspect of the costume I’m used to, though Frank makes it look good.

Story-wise, it was a bit stranger to me seeing a more rebellious, cynical Billy Batson, one quite lacking in the wide-eyed worldly wonder and “Holey moley!” of even the ’90s take on the character. While that’s long been a relatively defining aspect of the character, its absence in this was actually quite welcome to me. This Billy seems much more grounded and realistic, and it’s a lot easier to identify with the character himself. That there are echoes of the typical “with great power comes great responsibility” refrain thematically doesn’t hurt things, either. I also found that I don’t at all mind the missing “Captain Marvel” name, as I’ve grown up with Shazam as the cover designation involving the character(s). It remains to be seen the long-term designation of the siblings’ names, but as I’ve (as of this writing) yet to even read Ordway‘s Power of Shazam series, I have no particular vested interest in the old naming convention.

Throughout this volume, we get to see some honest growth of the character as he first takes advantage of his power, then attempts to learn to channel it, and finally shares it and steps closer to being the hero he’s gotta be. We also have the introduction and a bit of development of the villain–Dr. Sivana–whose quest for Black Adam and access to magic dovetails into the overall arc of Billy getting HIS powers and stepping into action. Sivana’s motivation also rings true, as he’s seeking to save his family with the magic and not “just” some mad scientist-type scheming against the magical hero.

There were a number of splash pages, enough that I couldn’t always tell where a chapter definitively had ended. In this single-volume format, that’s definitely a good thing…yet it underscores how much I would have hated this in its original serialized format. The story taken as a whole–this entire volume–works very well, but pull out any one chapter by itself and there’d be a lot left wanting for that chapter–either focus on Billy and his building relationship with his new “siblings,” or continued development of things on Sivana’s end with Black Adam.

As touched on earlier–I very nearly bought this for full cover price just for the immediate gratification…but currently holding an Amazon Prime account with free 2-day shipping, I forced myself to hold off in order to save $10 (40%). At the $15 I ended up paying, this was more than worthwhile as a purchase. The full $25 might be a bit of a stretch…but as a hardcover, it’s not a horrible value, and as something I was actively interested in acquiring TO read, this seems one of the better volumes I could have chosen. 

All in all…I’m quite satisfied with this book, and the amount of time it took me to read the thing cover to cover for its price compared to the same price for say, four of last month’s Villains books. I don’t know that I’d jump into buying single issues with a continued backup series featuring Shazam or the Shazam family, but I would certainly check out an ongoing title or occasional special.

Thoughts on Issues First Week of October

QUANTUM AND WOODY #4

quantumandwoody004I’m continuing to quite enjoy this series. I’ve been reading through the original series digitally, and other than consciously noting that they’re different, for what I’m getting of the reading experience of both: this new iteration fits right into the spirit of the original. Even the slightly modified relationship between Eric and Woody works well and does nothing to diminish their interactions…if anything, it adds depth. Despite all the hubbub earlier and the promotional posters, here in THIS issue we finally meet “the goat,” and quickly see why this is the most awesome goat in comics. I’m pretty sure my high enjoyment of the Goat is knowing it to be a running gag from the original series combined with the “hype” from even before I’d read any of the originals. I look forward to seeing both the continuing development of the main characters, as well as how the goat is handled in this iteration long-term/moving forward. This issue wraps up the first arc…if you’ve not read any so far, it’ll definitely be worth picking up the collected volume.

SHADOWMAN #11

shadowman011Of all the Valiant titles, this is certainly the best one TO have a Halloween Special. That it’s another issue of the main title and not some extra issue (say, a $4.99 one-shot with a couple of sketch pages making up the $1 difference from the price of a regular issue) is a huge “plus” for me. The story itself didn’t interest me all that much, yet as a slice-of-life piece, I liked it; it’s the sort of thing I often like to see…so I can’t quite figure out why it didn’t have the expected appeal. The art was good; no complaints from me there. This is a self-contained issue…and Valiant offers a “previously” blurb on the inside cover, so really, you don’t need to have read anything before this to pick it up and “sample” the Shadowman title. Not my favorite issue, but not every issue CAN be. This is still a decent read and I’ll be continuing to keep up with the title.

FOREVER EVIL #2

foreverevil002With all the “hype” around the first issue and what it COULD mean for Dick Grayson/Nightwing, as well as buying several of the 3-D covers and figuring context wouldn’t hurt, I bought the first issue, and it wasn’t all that bad…I figured even though I had no intention of following Villains Month into any individual titles, I’d go ahead and check out the next issue of Forever Evil…and here it is. I did. There’s potential…but I have no intention of buying all the tie-ins: whether individual titles’ issues OR specific tie-in minis, and this reeks of Infinite Crisis to me where the main issues might advance things a bit, but also serve as ‘setup’ for many of the tie-ins (which will have the “meat” of the event). I’m not interested enough by this issue to plan on continuing on with the series. Perhaps if it gets good word of mouth from others I’ll jump back in…otherwise, I think I’m pretty much done with this.

BATMAN: BLACK AND WHITE #2

batmanblackandwhite002Normally I’d balk at the $4.99 cover price, especially for “only” a mini-series…and I’d wait for the collected volume. After all, mini-series = short, finite story = better in one go as a single-volume. However, this is an anthology, and each issue is already several shorter stories…and for me that would get a bit grating after awhile, having a thick edition where every several pages begins a new story. So I’m enjoying this format, and getting some nice, short one-off bits dealing with Batman and his cast, by a number of creators with varying name-recognition for me. If this were an ongoing series, I doubt I’d have as much interest in it–I’d wait for others’ reviews and general word-of-mouth as to anything particularly “amazing” to be found in a given issue. But while nothing really stands out to me from this issue, I enjoyed it, and compared to many comics felt I got a good read for my money.

Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 8

This is another fairly boring (to me) “page” in this series. I’m not all that familiar with Splice or Tiger Shark, though I definitely know of the other characters and have read a fair amount with all of them through the years.

While the image is simple enough to see what’s going on without being overly “busy” like some of the others in this set, the characters’ individual cards seem to be some of the more individualistic of the set so far. Tiger Shark definitely gets the raw end of things, being shown taking a repulsor blast, rather than getting a cool pose.

I remember Namor’s “savage, new look” from around this time…at the least, it’s interesting to see the character with long hair, compared to his usual style.

Not much else really stands out to me with these…though it IS interesting to realize that I would have been exposed to Wonder Man this early, despite my earliest conscious discovery of the character being his return early in Busiek‘s Avengers run and then backtracking to learn of his early-’90s fate.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 7

I think this is one of my favorite “pages” from the set, particularly as it works quite well with having parts of a building (or webbing from a building) to contextualize all the characters!

I’m not all that familiar with Shock, though I’ve had experience with all the other characters…most recently Cardiac in an issue or two of Superior Spider-Man earlier this year.

It’s interesting to consider that–I believe–neither Venom nor Carnage are really the same characters in present continuity, though either way to generally consider how far the two have come individually.

The Spider-Man part of this seems quite iconic, certainly due in part to it being used on one of the foil wrappers for this card set.

I’ve seen a lot more of Daredevil since these cards; at the time I think he was mostly just a name-character that I recognized more than some, but hadn’t read much of anything actually starring him. The spider-villains I got a fair bit of exposure to, particularly during Maximum Carnage (which I think may have just finished around the time this set came out).

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Another year

My Kayla would have been 23 today…

weepnotforme2013

East of West vol. 1 [Review]

eastofwestvol1Volume One

Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Colors: Frank Martin
Letters: Rus Wooton
Published by: Image
Cover Price: $9.99
Collects: East of West #s 1-5

I’m not a fan of Hickman…I’ve been more turned-off by his work than I’ve been impressed. I didn’t enjoy his Shield (I never even managed to finish the first issue); couldn’t get into his Fantastic Four, was actively turned off by his Avengers. So by rights I should have left this volume on the shelf. But, it’s a healthy-sized 5-issue volume…and only $9.99 cover price. Which is the “sweet spot” for me…especially as that’s a bargain whether the single issues were $2.99 or $3.99 originally…and just as I’ll check out pretty much anything at $1/under, I have little problem trying the first volume of a series for $10 or so.

I noticed the chapter-heading pages pretty quickly, which I’d also noticed in Infinity #1, so that was a stylistic thing for me immediately. Not quite the sort of thing I enjoy with Quantum and Woody, but this being its own thing, I found it a little more fitting than I did IN Infinity. Otherwise, visually, this had a different feel than I’m used to and I could almost see this being all silhouettes for the characters. The color palette is definitely not what I’m used to, but for this particular story–not being something I already knew, or involving super-heroes–it works very well and I like it. I also like the quasi-“Western” sense I got from it.

Story-wise, I’ve long since read Gaiman‘s Sandman, which to me has the definitive take on the personification of Death. However, here Death is brought in as one of the Four Horsemen rather than “just” the embodiment of an abstract, so it’s a bit different, and works. Reading this, I wasn’t looking to analyze or dig deep; and it being Hickman I expected to have a sense of high-brow pretentiousness to things; and for this to be totally over my head. What I got was a followable story where Death had fallen in love, married, lost a child and his wife, discovers both to be alive yet and seeks them out. His wife’s less than thrilled at his return, and she has quite a bit of status as a woman who has conquered Death. Meanwhile, the other Horsemen are seeking to reunite with Death in order to usher in the end of the world. I mentioned above getting a sense of a quasi-“Western” from the visuals; the story seems a mix of things, and actually put me somewhat in mind of Stephen King‘s The Gunslinger, which is a credit to East of West.

Given my being able to read this as a larger chunk–5 issues’ worth of story–I rather enjoyed the volume. I couldn’t quite identify the end/beginning of issues because of the chapter breaks’ pages, and I am relatively certain I would have hated this as single issues; but as something I knew nothing about and so had no real expectations for going in, I enjoyed it. (I think this is the first I’ve actually enjoyed Hickman’s work in general.) $14.95–the “regular price” for a volume this size, these days–will be a much more significant investment and “risk” for me for the next volume…but having read the first volume now, my picking up vol. 2 in a few months won’t be out-of-the question as it would have been before.

This is no Sandman or Gunslinger…but for the price, a pretty good volume. I probably wouldn’t specifically seek it out, but for the $9.99, it having been right there and my having the money to spend at the time, it was worthwhile and I’m definitely glad I picked it up. If you’re a fan of Hickman in general, you’ll probably enjoy this; and if you’re a fan of Sandman, the Gunslinger books, or a mix of Western/dystopian future/etc. this might tickle your fancy. And whether you typically enjoy this type of fare or not…I’d say that cover price makes for a solid bargain for just checking it out (Especially compared to most volumes…particularly as this is less than half the price of a 5-issue Marvel premiere edition.

Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 6

Here we’re into an interesting mix of characters. Dr. Strange and Dormammu work; Loki and Thor fit, but it’s strange to me to not see Nightmare here sharing with Sleepwalker.

Loki looks much darker and more sinister here than I can think of seeing him in quite awhile. I’m vaguely familiar with Blackheart from something I’ve read in the past–possibly a Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher book. Cobweb I don’t think I’ve ever read; and I’m not overly familiar with Hellstorm outside of reading an issue or two of his ongoing series sometime awhile back.

This is a fairly “busy” image, not really one of my favorites, though I definitely like seeing Sleepwalker here.

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DC Villains Month, Backtracking

villainsmonthcatchup

With the end of Villains Month and all the issues I wound up getting, I still found myself curious about a few more issues…and ended up “backtracking” and picking up several of the “leftover” 2D editions for a few issues…and figured I’ll offer some some thoughts/commentary associated with each of these same as I have all the rest this month.

ARCANE (Swamp Thing #23.1)

foreverevilarcane001I jumped into Swamp Thing at the start of the New 52, but never got to “meet” Arcane himself. I’ve heard of the character through the years, been aware that he existed, but never actually encountered him. I also–based on where I left off when I dropped the title before the Rotworld stuff or whatever it was–knew “something” was going on with Abby, so her appearance here (while not to my taste) isn’t all that “shocking.” It’s interesting finally meeting the character, and it’s easy to see just how dangerous he really is; I could also tell that there seems to be some retconning going on as he interacts with Abby. No problem with the story or art; this one issue is not enough to draw me back in to the ongoing series, though it gets my curiosity up where I’ll be interested in learning where things go, down the line…and/or perhaps I’ll seek the series out in bargain bins someday or snag the issues digitally if there’s a sale or such. Definitely enjoyed this, and I’m glad I picked it up.

BIZARRO (Superman #23.1)

foreverevilbizarrow001Bizarro is another character I’ve really never cared that much for. I didn’t mind the interpretation used in Byrne‘s Man of Steel mini, and the Bizarro’s World arc not long after the Return of Superman wasn’t bad (as I recall). But I’ve never been thrilled with the more recent version from the early-2000s to present. However, having checked out a number of the other Superman-related villains’ issues this month I figured I’d check this out, and have to say that I found this at least somewhat “interesting.” I actually think I’d prefer this interpretation of the concept to a singular character, as this makes more sense to me than some backwards quasi-duplicate of Superman. This issue fits the “Morrisonian” aspects of my understanding to the New 52 Superman, and this felt like it would’ve been right at home in the pages of Action Comics moreso than Superman, but c’est la vie. As an issue I “backtracked” on, I’m glad I didn’t pay $3.99 for the 3-D cover as I’d’ve been particularly disappointed…but as a 2-D edition “after the fact” this was a good read.

H’EL (Superman #23.3)

foreverevilhel001I’d already bailed on the New 52 prior to the recent H’El on Earth Super-book crossover, and never paid attention to any of the solicitations or covers for that story, so knew virtually nothing of the character until seeing this cover. This was another issue that I got–backtracking–because of having grabbed other Superman-family villains’ issues, I figured I might as well be a bit more comprehensive in my “experience” for the month. While I don’t entirely buy into the time travel aspect of stuff, I still felt like I got a better handle on this character from this issue…enough that if there’s a single-volume collected edition of H’El on Earth I might be inclined to try to get/read that sooner than not. Along with that, I’m ALMOST inclined to watch for the Action Comics Annual, except I actively want to keep from getting sucked into more monthly titles right now. I probably would’ve enjoyed this had I bought the 3D edition when I had the chance, but I’m satisfied with the 2D edition and simply having read the issue.

PENGUIN (Batman #23.3)

foreverevilpenguin001The Penguin was one of the earliest Bat-villains I remember becoming familiar with, in whatever iteration. I don’t think I consciously noticed the shift in the character from washed-up umbrella-guy to master gangster, but now that I have noticed that, it’s a fitting role for the character, in my eyes. This issue touched on a number of things I do like about the character and associate with him–from his past having been bullied to present-day exacting revenge upon those (and other) bullies, as well as being a kingpin-like character. I also definitely enjoyed seeing confirmation that he’s not JUST some backseat leader…this Penguin is dangerous on multiple levels and quite capable of wading in and getting his hands dirty, doing his own dirty work, when provoked. This isn’t enough to get me to rush out and buy the recent Penguin mini-series…but if I find the collected volume for a decent price I’m more inclined to check it out, or might even be inclined to on a whim buy the issues digitally since they’re all well into the discounted 2+ months old range. All that said, this issue felt rather short–it pulled me in and the whole thing flew. I’m actually rather disappointed that I didn’t pick this up the week it came out…but content with having read it as I did rather than waiting til sometime later.

TWO FACE (Batman and Robin #23.1)

forevereviltwoface001I’ve got a mixed history with Two Face…generally I’m not that enamored with the character, though I’m not necessarily going to avoid his appearances. I did avoid this issue earlier in September…but found myself curious and so tracked this down to read for the immediacy. I’m not all that impressed by the issue’s story–of the character using his coin-toss to decide to help or hurt Gotham–but it “works” with what I know of and think of regarding the character. It might have been the quick read of flying through the issue but I didn’t get much “substance” from this, and really didn’t feel I gained any particular insight into the character or anything of much interest to consider watching for later. This was just sort of a slice-of-life/what-he’s-up-to kinda thing to me. I would have been quite disappointed buying this at $4 (or the marked-up $10+ I saw the 3D edition going for)…but as a $2.99 issue, not AS disappointed.

Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 5

Here we have some tangential X-characters that I’ve come to know MUCH more about in intervening years than I knew at the time these cards came out!

To this day I’m not entirely clear on the Guardian character, and outside of these cards know nothing of Micromax or Wildheart (though I wonder at the Wild Child connection, and am obviously missing plenty of context there, even after Age of Apocalypse).

I certainly didn’t appreciate the Phoenix character at the time–though particularly after last year’s AvX, I’ve come to appreciate the enormity of the Phoenix Force…which seems a bit shoe-horned in given its regularity here in the early-’90s.

While I associate most of these characters with Excalibur, Havok and Strong Guy I strongly associate with X-Factor, particularly from this time-period; in Fatal Attractions and at least on up to just before Age of Apocalypse.

I’ve become most familiar with Captain Britain in the first Uncanny X-Force run, and certainly miss Nightcrawler, given his fate a few years ago.

This image these 9 cards make up would make for a cool (or hot?) poster, I think– nicely showcasing the characters.

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Comixology vs. Comic Shop: First Impact

supergirlbackissuescomixologyComixology has never replaced the comic shop experience for me. Sure, I partake in the various 99-cent sales to try stuff I’ve never read or to get a digital copy for a re-read or such, and RARELY will outright buy a “new issue” of something just as an impulse buy. But I don’t think I’ve ever been in a comic shop and had issues in-hand with the intent to buy them and then put them back in favor of buying them digitally from Comixology instead.

First time for everything, though, right?

In my various posts the last several weeks about DC‘s Villains Month, I’ve reiterated my lack of interest in following the villains’ issues into ongoing titles, and yet also my likely exception for following the Cyborg Superman’s story into Supergirl. I ducked into another comic shop Friday since I was out of town, curious about what 3-D covers they might still have in stock, and a bit of an increased interest in catching a few more villains issues. I ended up buying Supergirl #23–the issue immediately preceding the Cyborg Superman‘s September issue, as well as snagging the 2-D editions of the Arcane issue, the Bizarro issue, and the H’El issue.

Saturday I decided to check another shop I occasionally visit, having decided I was interested in the Penguin and Two Face issues (which I found and bought the 2-D editions as the 3-Ds were marked up to $10 and $15 apiece). I also ended up flipping through the Supergirl issues on the shelf (looked like the entire series back to #1), and checked the endings to #s 22 and then 21, both of which seem to involve the Cyborg Superman. I picked ’em up and was going to include them with my purchase, when it dawned on me: sure, #23 made sense to buy in-print, it’d still be $2.99 on Comixology since DC seems to have moved to a 2-month lag on dropping the price. But we’ve already hit the 2-month mark for #s 21 & 22.

So rather than buy either of those, I figured I’d just wait, since all I want to do is read them for further context of the Cyborg Superman (and the lack of issues 0-20 in my possession would kinda bug me) and I can just buy ’em via Comixology and save $1 apiece.

In this case…yeah, the digital may have “undercut” a sale for a comic shop…but this is in the 2+ months time-frame, and NOT the week-of/day-and-date sales window. Granted, at this particular shop, recent back issues are still cover price; as opposed to shops that may bag ‘n board and mark up issues after only a month or two. But it’s still “back issue” territory, and a 33% discount. $2 apiece–a TOTAL of the price of ONE Marvel issue–for two recent issues makes for a decent price, to me.

Just something I found sorta interesting to note in my own purchasing (or lack thereof). ‘Course, DC–thanks to the Villains Month stuff–wound up with me purchasing 27 issues this month that at the end of August I’d had no intention of purchasing. 21 of these were the 3-D editions; several of which were still impulse-buys the week-of; 5 were 2-D editions and 1 was Forever Evil #1 itself.