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Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #1

posted by Matt Knicl at 7:22 pm.

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There are inherent problems with super heroes that destroy reader accessibility. DC heroes are plagued with these sort of problems.

courtesy DC

Take Superman - while a child’s hero, is not as accessible as he could be. What I mean is super hero comics are escapist fantasies - the reader likes to get lost in these stories and for kids, imagine what it would be like if they were that hero. But I can never be Superman. He’s an alien. I can’t be Batman - I mean, I could if I was the world’s greatest athlete, a millionaire, have gadgets and an IQ over 300. Wonder Woman is a Greek Myth.

But Captain Marvel is a better sort of hero. When kid Billy Batson says the word SHAZAM he becomes Captain Marvel, the super strong and fast adult hero that can throw down with the likes of Superman. Any child can be Captain Marvel. You don’t need scientific knowledge or a trust fund to become him. It’s conceivable that walking down the street we could be this hero.

That’s why I’m glad DC is continuing to work with the Captain Marvel property. After the success of Bone author Jeff Smith’s miniseries last year, the youth imprint of DC Comics, Johnny DC, has released the “sequel” series Billy Batson and the Magic of SHAZAM!. The first issue follows Billy and his sister Mary, who can become the similarly magic powered Mary Marvel, as they prevent disaster and attempt to live as orphans without guardians.

The art and plot show that this is geared for a really young reader, showing slapstick and no fighting in an attempt to create a clean experience for kids and their parents trying to get into comics. The story sets up for some comedic situations in the future when Billy uses Captain Marvel to pose as his father, and the wizard Shazam warns Marvel that the villain known as Black Adam is again on the loose.

I have mixed feelings towards the book. I wouldn’t recommend it, but then again, I’m not six. I don’t know if I would even give it to someone who was six - I’d rather hand them the Showcase Presents edition of SHAZAM as opposed to giving them this. It’s great to keep this character around and in reader’s minds, but you don’t have to constantly rehash an origin story or intro series to do that. In the age of trades and online distribution, children have access to all the old material that usually would molder in an attic somewhere. If they actually wanted to read this material, and weren’t force fed the comic by an older family member dead set on indoctrinating them, kids should seek out other, older SHAZAM stories.

But I doubt that kids would want to seeing as Billy can turn into one super hero, but Ben can turn into ten.

Matt Knicl: My name is Matt Knicl. I'm a U of I alumn and one of those unemployed English majors Garrison Keillor likes to make fun of. I've been reading comics since high school and one day I would like to write them. My goal is to expose readers to what is out there in the world of comics and using my English powers, show what is worth reading or not. I can be reached at buzz.comics@gmail.com.