It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of the Marvel Family. Unfortunately in recent years, the fates have not been kind to the characters or the concept. When the new 52 came around, I had a bit of hope, but then we got the new costume, and the new name. When the Shazam backups began in the pages of Justice League, I outright loathed them. Rather than have a series of negative reviews, I decided to bide my time, and review the whole of the backups when it concluded. Now it has, and man I am glad I waited. Justice League #21 brings an end to the Shazam saga, and I find myself wanting more.
When we last left Shazam, he and Black Adam were in a standoff. Adam was demanding Billy give up the power of Shazam to save the lives of his foster family. The story picks up right there, and Shazam does the honorable thing and agrees. The tables are turned when Adam lets it be known they are connected like family. A light goes off in Billy’s thought processes and he does give up the power, but not in the way Adam would want…
This was a great moment. It evokes how the power was shared in the Pre-New 52 Flashpoint series, but more importantly, it makes the concept of the Marvel Family (I guess in this case, it’s the Shazam Family) even more central to the concept. The Shazammers proceed to dogpile on Black Adam, but experience wins as Adam is able to overcome the onslaught. When the seven deadly enemies of man (unleashed by Adam in a previous chapter) show up, Billy asks his newfound family to handle them (manifested in a demon reminiscent of classic Shazam villain Sabbac), while he takes down Adam himself.
The ensuing battles are great, and I’ll tell you why. The Shazam Family are truly heroic, cleaning damage, saving people, and get this, having fun doing it! I like my superhero antics on the bright side, and this is the first time in the new 52 that I’ve felt we’ve gotten this kind of dynamic, and I love it. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the interactions of the Shazam family are worth the cover price alone.
The climax of the battle has a lot of little nods to Marvel Family history. While not a humanoid tiger, Mt. Tawky Tawny gets a bit of screentime, and Black Adam’s defeat is straight out of his very first appearance. As the story winds down, we get two epilogues. One showing that new 52 Billy Batson may not be such an arrogant jerk of a kid after all, and another that sets up future stories with two classic villains. I absolutely cannot wait to see more Shazam stories in this continuity. Kudos to Geoff Johns for turning my expectations around, and major props to Gary Frank. His interpretations of the characters are full of personality, and I hope if there is an upcoming Shazam series, he gets to be the primary artist.
To be fair, I didn’t like everything about this issue. I still think calling the character “Shazam” is wrong-headed. Even from a copyright standard, Shazam is now much more ubiquitous with the music app than it is with comics. Also, while the ending is intriguing, it’s almost exactly like the ending of the infamous failed post-Crisis re-imaging, Shazam: A New Beginning.
At any rate, I’m more excited about the future of these characters than I have been in years, and I am definitely going to pick this story up again if they decided to give it a dedicated collected edition!