The Trials of Shazam

[Tropico]

Dammit! I missed the good stuff!!!! I miss the days when the fights wouldn't get erased.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Hm, didn't know BA got his powers from a diff set of gods.

 

[Tropico]

Shu-Stamina
Heru-Switness
Amon-Strength
Zehuti-Wisdom
Aton-Power
Mehen-Courage

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

I thought the god's blessed him and such, but I thought his power derived from something like 1 percent of Shazam's true power? Maybe not. Oh well.

 

[BrianWilly]

It's MAGIC!!

I actually have no idea.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

It's like...

"He participates in the power of Shazam! No, he's the power of the Gods. Wait, Shazam is a cripple now? What the hell is going on?!?!"

 

[Whirlysplat]

Hm, didn't know BA got his powers from a diff set of gods.

Yup Egyptian as opposed to Greek. They come out as equal to classic big red cheese.

- Whirly

 

[Assassin]

It's like...

"He participates in the power of Shazam! No, he's the power of the Gods. Wait, Shazam is a cripple now? What the hell is going on?!?!"

whats wrong with cripples? ohh i forgot, you french execute your weak....

 

[DraconicLord]

whats wrong with cripples? ohh i forgot, you french execute your weak....

If they really did that there wouldn't be much of a country now would there?

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

whats wrong with cripples? ohh i forgot, you french execute your weak....

It's not like we have any other use for the Guillotine as of late.

 

[Assassin]

If they really did that there wouldn't be much of a country now would there?

hence the rolls eyes lol, i was being sarcastic, I dont wanna get into this any further but you see where i'm going t:

 

[BrianWilly]

So I read issue #3, and...well...

Okay, there's really nothing so wrong with this whole concept. There is really nothing fundamentally wrong with the idea of Billy becoming the Wizard and Freddy undertaking a series of trials set by the gods to succeed him as the Wizard's champion all the while evading the big bad shadowy villains. It's like a video game or a fantasy novel plotline; it's straightforward and basic and easy to explain and get into. I even thought that having Solomon be "Zally" was sort of a quirky, fresh take on the situation. It's probably not nearly as clever as Winick thinks he's being, but it's just clever enough. And it's not like they didn't warn us that magic was changing.

Why, then, does it all still feel quite so...forced? The whole tattooing thing just smacked of Winick trying to be Gen-X. We can't seem to get by a single page without the word "magic" being crammed in at least once. Yes, we get it; Winick's trying to make the Shazam mythos relevant to this day and age and he's trying to put him squarely in the world of magic. And IMO he's trying too much, too fast. I don't think Judd quite realizes how much of an attitude adjustment this requires of his readers; the backstory of Captain Marvel by its nature isn't going to age that well and had only an incidental connection to magical things. Any one of the two shifts are questionable experiments. Both of them at once should be handled delicately and with extreme caution. And Judd is doing the narrative equivalent of barrelling through, heedless of possible concerns, all the while just casually tossing out any aspect of older Captain Marvel continuity that doesn't quite conform to what he has in mind. Nevermind that a lot of those aspects were charming traits that people really liked; he only has eyes for the NEW and RADICAL and to hell with older things. It's just a bit annoying that, over in 52 with the Black Marvel Family, Johns or whoever the heck is writing them seems to be nailing a lot of the elements and traits that made the old Marvel family likeable and unique, whereas here with the Marvel family proper Judd is displaying very little of that. The worst mistake any writer can make when tackling an established character, in my opinion, is to assume that something is wrong with the character. No...there are very few intrinsically bad characters. There are, unfortunately, quite a number of writers that can write bad stories with those characters.

And worse, with every passing issue Freddy looks a bit more like Bruce Lee for some reason.

That's not to say, though, that there aren't several things to like about the series. For all his neglect of the Captain Marvel mythos, Winick is writing a decent Freddy Freeman and seems to have an admirable grasp of his psychology and desires. As much as Freddy can get by as the wide-eyed sidekick who likes Elvis, it is about high time that someone got around to exploring his life, his fears, his side of the story. The whole "hidden anger towards Billy" thing is a bit awkward and illogical (Captain Marvel didn't kill his grandpa and cripple him, Captain Nazi did! Seriously, this whole guilt-by-association thing that seems to be gripping superhero comics recently -- "You didn't stop him, so it's like you did his crimes!" or whatever -- is just getting old), but it is understandable, and it does have precedence from some of Freddy's past stories.

I'll give the issue a 7 out of 10, but that's me being extremely generous.

 

[Kevin]

I'll be reading the first three issues of "Trials of Shazam", then I'll be able to join in my words. Later.

 

[Kevin]

I liked what I read. SHAZAM!

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Yeah, I'm really enjoying this series and I don't feel it being "forced" at all. The magic aspect is what I like about the Marvels so I like it to be on "every page". Granted, I'm new to DC so I don't know how this story would be written better but if it's a 9/10 for me now; then it could only get better.

 

[Kevin]

Yeah, I'm really enjoying this series and I don't feel it being "forced" at all. The magic aspect is what I like about the Marvels so I like it to be on "every page". Granted, I'm new to DC so I don't know how this story would be written better but if it's a 9/10 for me now; then it could only get better.

Yeah, what he said.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I think it'd be cool if Freddy crippled some kid during his final test and we got a new Cap and Jr in one shot.

 

[Kevin]

that is so f***ed up, dude.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

The tattoo idea was very fresh and magical and tied into ancient ideas about tattoos, though it can come off easily as trying to be modern and fairly lame. Though I don't think I'll end up enjoying the final product of what he'll probably end up looking like. Shazam being replaced... I still don't like, but I'll live with. The part I DON'T like, is how the gods are changing into beings that are very unbecoming. Like how would a tattoo artist be the voice of wisdom? I must have missed a modern social sciences class, where a ton of life experiences are shared in a needle booth. *Shrugs.* I'm enjoying it, but wary of where it is going.

 

[yenaled]

I'm surprised Freddy didn't get a little heart on his wrist or some stars on his collarbones.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

I'm surprised Freddy didn't get a little heart on his wrist or some stars on his collarbones.

What would have been better is tears, for every year he's been a Marvel.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

that is so f***ed up, dude.

Well not the crippling part; but the fact that we'd get a new Cap and Jr. Cuz right now, the Black Marvel family is way cooler.

 

[Kitsune]

I though Freddie was supposed to look like Elvis.


Just a joke, I know that Elvis actually tried to look like Freddy.

 

[3dman27]

I though Freddie was supposed to look like Elvis.


Just a joke, I know that Elvis actually tried to look like Freddy.

true can anyone post some art of the new look marvels? btw whats this about black adam an the mighty isis? i thought she was a filmation character liscenced to dc?

 

[BrianWilly]

There's no pic of how Freddy looks as "Shazam" yet except for the OYL shot in issue #7 of Infinite Crisis.

Billy as "Marvel" looks like this:

Black Adam and Isis (and Osiris) are appearing very regularly in the pages of 52. Catch up on that series (or simply wikipedia it, I don't care) to find out what they've been up to.