The Trials of Shazam

[GoldenAgeHero]

just read issue 1, pretty solid issue. although not much happened in this, its just really an intro into how everything is about to change for billy and the rest of the marvel family. i do feel a bit cheated, in the brave in the bold, we saw mary marvel falling to what seemed her death and freddie getting the snot beaten out of him, that was no where in this issue. porter's art was great in this issue, im really digging this new approach. the last page made captain marvel/billy look totally badass.

8/10

 

[sethcohen]

i agree... good solid read... a little slow though... i hope the pace picks up a tad in coming issues...

 

[Fledermaus]

I'm not going to buy it so how about some scans? Spoil me spoil me spoil me.

 

[Hush]

Not scans but Spoilers. Please???

 

[Stealth_Prime]

Spoiler-scans! Spoiler-scans! Spoiler-scans Pretty Please?

 

[Stealth_Prime]

Spoiler-scans! Spoiler-scans! Spoiler-scans Pretty Please?

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I skimmed through it in the shop. I'm more interested in CM Jr. but this book looks fun. What's it basically about? I know the wizard is dead and all, but what's Billy going through?

 

[Hush]

That is what the book is here for to explain to us what is goin on.

 

[Not Jake]

I skimmed through it in the shop. I'm more interested in CM Jr. but this book looks fun. What's it basically about? I know the wizard is dead and all, but what's Billy going through?

Here it is and I refuse to use the spoiler button so stop reading here, puritans



So, Billy. He's the main man at the Rock now. So he's all extra-powerful and such. Right? Well, he's going around, kicking magical monster ass, to save some children from ritualistic sacrifice in the present, and with Zatanna against some iron beasties in the recent past. Well, anyway, at the end of the book STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE LAST PAGE he goes over to help the children and decides that taking Billy-form will be less traumatizing for them, so he says the big S and instead of transforming into his normal pubescent ass, an enormous thunderbolt comes down, making a giant crater, and CM goes all white suit and long-hair and the hair is white too which is a faux pas with autumn coming and all.

 

[Mister J]

I could have gone for a bit more in this issue, especially coming off the Brave New World preview. It's a good setup for the real stuff, which I guess kicks off in #2. It took me a minute to get used to the art. At times Marvel looked a little top-heavy. I'm used to it for female characters o), but threw me off at first. Still a good read.

 

[legacy]

This issue was pretty OK, I expected alot more. But, the added bonus of Zatanna made me forget my expectations.

 

[Not Jake]

I really dug this ish

 

[Doc Destruction]

I thought it was great. Fresh new take on the character.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Here it is and I refuse to use the spoiler button so stop reading here, puritans



So, Billy. He's the main man at the Rock now. So he's all extra-powerful and such. Right? Well, he's going around, kicking magical monster ass, to save some children from ritualistic sacrifice in the present, and with Zatanna against some iron beasties in the recent past. Well, anyway, at the end of the book STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE LAST PAGE he goes over to help the children and decides that taking Billy-form will be less traumatizing for them, so he says the big S and instead of transforming into his normal pubescent ass, an enormous thunderbolt comes down, making a giant crater, and CM goes all white suit and long-hair and the hair is white too which is a faux pas with autumn coming and all.

Thanks, sounds good. I'll def pick that up today then. I'm trying to gobble up as many DC books that I can

 

[BrianWilly]

Thoughts of mine...The Trials of Shazam #1
I really do think Judd Winick is an awesome writer, with a lot of very good ideas and great execution. On the other hand, for some reason a lot of his stuff is pretty hit-or-miss.

Thankfully, this is not one of those times. Not yet, anyway

I've been getting more and more into Captain Marvel lately thanks to 52 and JSA trades, so I've been both excited for this series and dreading it for a while. On the one hand, I don't like the idea of Winick getting rid of a lot of the classic elements of the Big Red Cheese like the timeless, old fashioned feel of Fawcett City and the "Gee whiz"ness of the Marvel family. I think those things make up more of the character than Judd realizes and I hope he's not throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak. On the other hand, what is here is pretty good, pretty interesting; Judd freely says that things like Buffy and Sandman influence this series, and I love both those things and so far it's off to a good start. Fighting magic monsters and being all wizardly...it's the sort of thing that I expected from Shadowpact, but since I dropped that book I'm glad that it's here, 'cause it's a decent concept and the DCU is really fertile ground for those kinds of stories.

And hey, Billy summoning platinum TV in the Rock of Eternity was pretty cool, too.

Ultimately, Winick does have a point: people have lost touch with Captain Marvel and it's long past time to revitalize him as a character. A lot of characters from Green Lantern to Wonder Woman to Green Arrow to the X-Men have had to let go of certain mainstays of their books that may have been iconic but also really held the characters back, so it's not like something like this hasn't been done before in the medium, with varying degrees of success. And of course, I'm always the first annoying guy shouting at the writers and everyone within earshot, "PROGRESS IS GOOD! STATIC STATUS QUO BAD! AGE CHARACTERS! MAKE LEGACY CHARACTERS SUCCEED THEIR MENTORS!!" so something like this is always going to be exciting to me. But then, I look at the last page of this book, with Billy looking all old with white hair and that costume...and I wonder if sometimes something like that could go too much, too fast.

(8 out of 10)

 

[Black Canary22]

This is was really great, and well written. I loved it. I'm going to be adding it to my list and see where it goes.

 

[kiuju2k]

Twas a good read.

 

[Knives122]

WTF is Kratos doing in the Trials of Shazam?

 

[slipalong]

Pic from the end?

 

[Hal Jordan GL]

This was an awesome book.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Do I have to read Brave New World before reading this book?

 

[Mister J]

Nope. What happened in BNW didn't even figure into this issue. I imagine (or hope) they'll get to that stuff, but it was brief and not critical to understanding what's going on. You can just pick up #1 and be fine.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Cool, cuz I skimmed BNW and I had no idea what was going on so im glad it's not a prereq for this book.

 

[Mister J]

From my take, BNW was just meant to give a tease on the theme of this series. Basically, things getting all jacked up in the world of the Marvels and what they do to make sense out of it.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

But it was 80 pages! There was so much more going on and all those peopel were on the cover: Billy, J'onn, etc. I'm just not sure what the book is really about.