CREDIT: DC Comics
Rating: 4/5 – Shazam’s Powers Fueled by All New Gods.
By ComicSpectrum senior reviewer Shawn Hoklas
As the Justice League is in the middle of the Darkseid War, DC has released one-shots for each of the League team members spilling out of that storyline. So far none of the one-shots have been required reading, but they have been entertaining and have provided a different take on the characters than what we’re used to. For example, we saw Batman sitting atop the Mobius chair and preventing crimes before they even happen and here in Shazam’s story, we see his connection to the previous gods fail, and a new connection to an all new set of gods form.
With Darkseid’s death, Shazam no longer has the powers of Solomon, Hercules and the rest. So the Wizard has to find new gods to take his place. Those gods have names like S’ivaa, Ate and Anapel and artist Scott Kolins does a tremendous job in designing them and infusing them with energy with his kinetic pencils. Kolins’ line work can at times get a little messy, but here it adds to the impact on the page. The opening splash page has Shazam bristling with energy as his cape flows amongst the smoke and wreckage of battle. The majority of his panels, although smaller of course, are all packed with this same type of energy and detail.
Steve Orlando creates a compelling story that as a fan of Shazam and the current Darkseid War storyline I wanted to read. At times the dialogue was a bit overdone and Billy came off as kind of a brat, but I was still entertained and interested until the very end which had a villain that I thought had potential for future stories. I’ve been a huge fan of the Justice League Darkseid War so I’m glad to see these spinoffs providing some solid storytelling and great art, and this issue starring Shazam is no exception.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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