The Trials of Shazam

[Colossal Spoons]

Yeah, gimme a minute to adjust to calling Freddy "Captain Marvel"

 

[3dman27]

thats easy just leave the suffix junior off

 

[yenaled]

Yeah, gimme a minute to adjust to calling Freddy "Captain Marvel"

Freddy is actually Shazam.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Oh, right, there is no Captain Marvel anymore.

 

[Kitsune]

Oh, right, there is no Captain Marvel anymore.

Actually there is, he's running a prison in the negative zone though <sigh>

 

[Varient]

U have to wonder how it's all going to turn out?

I don't mind Freddy being the new BIG CHEESE. I want to know who he's going to be running with.


Will there be a "new" Marvel Family?

 

[Kitsune]

U have to wonder how it's all going to turn out?

I don't mind Freddy being the new BIG CHEESE. I want to know who he's going to be running with.


Will there be a "new" Marvel Family?

Does anyone else find the corruption of Mary Marvel unconvincing?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yes. It's been pretty terrible.

U have to wonder how it's all going to turn out?

I don't mind Freddy being the new BIG CHEESE. I want to know who he's going to be running with.


Will there be a "new" Marvel Family?

I hope the crazy chick with dreads is the new Talky Tawny.

 

[Varient]

Does anyone else find the corruption of Mary Marvel unconvincing?

It makes her a lot simpler than I took her for.

 

[Kitsune]

Yes. It's been pretty terrible.

Maybe She and Wanda Maximoff could have group therapy together.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm pretty sure Mary, at least, won't be staying this way.

 

[Kitsune]

I'm pretty sure Mary, at least, won't be staying this way.

Wanda's going to be back eventually too. Probably once Bendis wears out his welcome at Marvel.

 

[Varient]

Wanda's going to be back eventually too. Probably once Bendis wears out his welcome at Marvel.

Ouch 2.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Wanda's going to be back eventually too. Probably once Bendis wears out his welcome at Marvel.

His welcome is the amount of money he brings in, which doesn't seem to be going down.

 

[Kitsune]

His welcome is the amount of money he brings in, which doesn't seem to be going down.

My father's favorite poem seems appropriate for some reason:

Even This Shall Pass Away

Once in Persia reigned a King
Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which, if held before the eyes,
Gave him counsel at a glance,
Fit for every change and chance.
Solemn words, and these are they:
"Even this shall pass away."

Trains of camels through the sand
Brought his gems from Samarcand;
Fleets of galleys through the seas
Brought him pearls to match with these.
But he counted not his gain
Treasures of the mine or main;
"What is wealth?" the king would say;
"Even this shall pass away."

In the revels of his court
At the zenith of the sport,
When the palms of all his guests
Burned with clapping at his jests;
He amid his figs and wine,
Cried: "Oh loving friends of mine!"
"Pleasure comes but not to stay;"
"Even this shall pass away."

Fighting on a furious field,
Once a javelin pierced his shield;
Soldiers with a loud lament
Bore him bleeding to his tent;
Groaning from his tortured side,
"Pain is hard to bear," he cried,
"But with patience, day by day,
Even this shall pass away."

Towering in the public square,
Twenty cubits in the air,
Rose his statue, carved in stone,
Then, the king, disguised, unknown,
Stood before his sculptured name
Musing meekly, "What is fame?
Fame is but a slow decay
Even this shall pass away."

Struck with palsy, sere and old,
Waiting at the gates of gold,
Said he with his dying breath;
"Life is done, but what is death?"
Then, in answer to the King,
Fell a sunbeam on his ring,
Showing by a heavenly ray,
"Even this shall pass away."

--- Theodore Tilton

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Lovely poem. Bendis' welcome doesn't look like it'll pass away anytime soon, though. Strange as it may seem, there are people who still love what he's doing with the Avengers and Marvel's universe as a whole to death.

 

[Anubis]

Actually there is, he's running a prison in the negative zone though <sigh>

Actually, he quit right after that final Battle in Civil War. He's been in France ever since staring at a painting of Alexander the Great and coming to terms with the fact that he's gonna f**king die in a way unfitting of a warrior.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Blurgh. Both Captain Marvels suck now.

 

[Anubis]

Actually, that first issue of that mini was pretty good, despite the dumbass circumstances.

One could say the same thing about Trials, if I believed the concept of Billy being the Wizard and Freddie being the avatar sucked, which I don't.

Maybe that's the difference. I've never been that big of a CM fan. So the "bastardization of the character" has little effect on me.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I'm a new CM fan, so the bastard is all I know

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I've never been a huge fan of the characters either. It just doesn't make sense to me. Billy, who is for all intents and purposes still about 16 years old, is being asked to step into the shoes of a centuries-old wizard with intimate knowledge of everything necessary for the job completely cold... and nobody has a problem with it. Then he's basically playing games with his former comrades in the Marvel family, stripping Mary of her powers and forcing Freddy to jump through hoops to regain his. Not to mention Winick's stupid idea to separate the gods into "Wonder Woman's gods" and "the Marvel family's gods" instead of just having Zeus be Zeus straight across the board.

 

[cerealkiller182]

I have felt very guilty about enjoying this title because it is so different from the original (a bastardization I believe everyone is calling it), but I do find it very entertaining

But are the gods really different from the WW ones? Havnt they been run off Mt. Olympus and now living among the mortals? I kind of like the way the gods have been portrayed on earth. Although it is very similar to the new THor series too (in a broad sense).

 

[Anubis]

I've never been a huge fan of the characters either. It just doesn't make sense to me. Billy, who is for all intents and purposes still about 16 years old, is being asked to step into the shoes of a centuries-old wizard with intimate knowledge of everything necessary for the job completely cold... and nobody has a problem with it. Then he's basically playing games with his former comrades in the Marvel family, stripping Mary of her powers and forcing Freddy to jump through hoops to regain his. Not to mention Winick's stupid idea to separate the gods into "Wonder Woman's gods" and "the Marvel family's gods" instead of just having Zeus be Zeus straight across the board.

I'll agree with you about abandoning Mary like he did, but in the end, I'm sure it'll be for some purpose that is above the understanding of mere mortals and all that BS that cosmic beings are supposedly into.

But as far as the "gods" that's just petty. They're all just dream stuff. Chumps and Chumpettes created by Morpheus that became powerful enough to be independent of they're creator. So what if there's more than one? They're dreams.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's been pretty concretely established that there's only the one set before. I think they even made reference to being the same as Captain Marvel's gods in the War of the Gods mini-series before. The Olympians were one group, period. They absorbed the Romans and they were still one group, period. Now there's a new set of gods while the "real" Olympians are off in exile with no explanation whatsoever. That's the thing that really galls me--changes are fine, but I hate it when creators just throw stuff in there and pretend like it's always been that way.

As for Mary, I'm sure that's the case. She'll be tempted and corrupted and ultimately redeem herself. But I'm just left wondering what Billy's problem is. Have the new powers and responsibility warped his mind somehow so he's not the sweet kid he was for years before now? He wasn't above taking Katana aside and explaining his actions to her. Why not afford the same level of respect and courtesy to his bloody sister?

 

[Anubis]

You have to remember that one, IC changed the universe so the possibility that there are two instead of one is feasible, and two, Magic has changed. (Whatever the f**k that is supposed to mean.) As far as the new Earth is concerned, it has always been that way.

As far as Mary, like I said, the whole situation with that has yet to be revealed. I mean, all of this could be one of those greater good deals. And Billy's gotta man up and make some sacrifices. It might be a *****e baggy thing to do, but that kinda comes with the job of being whatever the f**k it is that SHAZAM was.