Justice League #8

[flint_marko]

Billy meets his new family.




Darla cries and runs off, and the others go after her. Mary pushes Billy into his room.





Billy says to himself that he didn't mean to make Darla cry. Then it starts thundering, and he sees a face that looks like the wizard Shazam in the clouds.

Comments

[espanolbot]

Interestin', the capacity for Mary and Billy's secret brother/sisterness is still open and the idea that Captain Marvel's appearance might be subconciously based on Billy's father is there too. His mum kind of looks like Mary too, so maybe that'll factor into her powered up appearance too.

Also, yay, Marvel Bunny and Possible!Talky Tawny!

[vitruvian23]

Why on Earth would you make Freddy blond, or without the cowlick, and lose that whole Elvis connection?

[vitruvian23]

That's Tawky Tawny to you, buster... ;-)

But yes, the cartoon anthropomorphic and the actual tiger in the picture of his parents... very cool Easter Egg.

[freezer]

Still not feeling Little Snot!Billy.

[halloweenjack]

I'll take back some of the bad things I've said about nuDC if there's a Darla Marvel.

[twomasks]

What is this? Captain Marvel was always supposed to be one of the more upbeat, positive heroes and here we've got Billy Batson, Scourge of Orphans?! Why does anyone hire Geoff Johns anymore? The man has an incredible talent for turning gold bricks to cow pies.

[bulletsandbraclets]

If this wasn't Billy Batson, I could get behind this. I'm perfectly okay with unlikable characters so long as I get where they are coming from. And I do empathize with him a bit. Strange environment, patronizing adults, over excited little girls, I've been there. And the kid lost his parents, how could you not feel bad for the poor kid and understand when he snaps.

BUT BILLY BATSON IS NOT UNLIKABLE! *ahem* Sorry. Billy Batson would never be so awful to people who are just trying to help. Yeah, they're a bit of know it alls, but they're still trying. It's okay for him to be angry and sad about it, but mean? No. That's not Billy.

This kind of reminds me of the short "Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam." Billy was clearly sick of his situation and wanted out, but he still managed to keep his chin up and kept trying to make the best of things for everyone. Is this realistic? Probably not. But this optimism and determination is what I like about the character, and so seeing him act so contrary to that is maddening.

Also, hi scans-daily! I've finally crawled out of my lurker shell.

[salinea]

welcome to the comm :)

[blueprintstyles]

I think Freddie and Billy would have looked to similar so they made him blond.

[venatosapiens]

Weirdly enough....something about this clicked for me. I don't know what. But I'm now willing to see where it goes and see if this version of Billy gets better. Because I suspect he will, and it'll be heartwarming when it happens.

Also, I need me some Tawky Tawny. Make it happen, Johns.

[darkknightjrk]

So he doesn't look as much like an exact clone of Billy?

[darkknightjrk]

I'm really liking this take on Billy--it's a different start, but you just KNOW that Billy's going to soon embrace his new family by the end of this.

Hell, the whole issue itself was great--the reveal with J'onn was particularly surprising.

[skemono]

I can just imagine Shazam's thought process here. "I need someone to give nigh-rivalless power, fueled by the very gods themselves. Clearly he my champion needs to be mature enough not to abuse this power and compassionate enough to use it for good.

...I know! That bitter kid who lashes out at people who are trying to welcome him and give him a home, a life, and companionship. Wisdom of Solomon, you've done it again!"

[jaybee3]

Part of me thinks it goes back to Mark Waid (when talking about what was done to Mary Marvel in Countdown) - who said "....It takes more imagination than most comics creators have to find something interesting about a good girl, but it’s not impossible."

Blanket that with all "good" kid characters and I think it applies. Geoff Johns (whose GL and JSA runs I loved) created Stargirl/Courtney Whitmore yes (and she's the type of character Billy should be) but he also gave us Superboy-Prime becoming a hero who saved the universe into a whining mass-murdering villain, Black Adam becoming a genocidal (in "52") villain killing millions, the decapitation of Pantha and the murder of Baby Wildebeast (who had the mind of a child) by Prime and then made it a RUNNING JOKE, having Captain Boomerang Jr. (who was Supergirl's roommate and almost a member o the Outsiders) feed women and little children to his zombie father in the Blackest Night and more and more blood and gore. He's also an unapologetic Black Adam fan more than a Captain Marvel/Shazam/Billy fanboy so frankly I'm not surprised. Outside of Blue Beetle/Jamie and Steph's run as Batgirl I can't think of a recent DC teen who wasn't made all dark and edgy. They think thats what sells.

[jaybee3]

I do hope Mary turns out to be his biological sister. Part of the mythology going back to when Otto Binder created Mary was her link to Billy that extended beyond them being separated (and which Jeff Smith used to good effect in his "Monster Society of Evil" mini-series).

[leikomgwtfbbq]

I would love it if there was a magic thunderstorm and Shazam descended on the clouds into Billy's room. "YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO WIELD THE POWERS OF THE GO--wait, you're not the kid I want. Wrong room. Sorry. DARLA VASQUEZ... YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO WIELD THE POWERS OF THE GODS!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaay!"

Darla Marvel would be the best series.

[flint_marko]

How did the Pantha thing become a running joke?

[shadowpsykie]

i agree. the thing is that Billy is really guarded. he's not going to let people in easily. but he is not a heartless jerk. he's a guy who has, more often than not probably, let people in only to have his heart broken... but once he starts letting them in, he will probably be as defenseive of them as Mary is.

[jaybee3]

It's probably not true but I fanwank it partly as Johns protesting of Winick/Didio's idea they could just replace Billy with Freddy (and then draw Freddy/Shazam just as they used to draw Billy/Cap which made no sense). I don't always agree with Johns' Black Adam fanboyism or the way he wrote Billy as naive (back in JSA) but he was an old school fan of Ordway's run on Power of Shazam (and even had Billy, Mary, Freddy guest star in his first series: Star and S.T.R.I.P.E.) and his more traditional take on the Marvel Family that he pitched with Alex Ross was rejected in favor of the Winick "Trials of Shazam" (which was quickly discarded by DC, wasn't it?) so making Freddy blonde could be his way of preventing Billy being removed as the top character in the franchise.

Or it could be that they just thought having too many dark-haired kids would be too much.

Whichever works.

[shadowpsykie]

Wisdom of Solomon, you've done it again

i think the Wisdom of solomon would allow him to see the good kid kid who is inside the jerk who has probably developed a thick skin because he's had his heart broken one too many times.

[jaybee3]

I forget the issues (and it wasn't Johns who did it to give him credit) but there were a couple of instances (the "running" was a bit of hyperbole, I admit) later (could have been in the awful TT runs post-Johns) where the phrases Superboy-Prime and "losing your head" (or something to that effect) were tossed out and we were clearly supposed to think of what was done to Pantha.

I hated what was done to them (particularly Baby Wildebeast, who like I said had the literal mind of a baby and rushed in to save his "mama"). The fact that no one outside of Red Star seemed to be effected by their deaths (outside the above mentioned comments related to S-P) spoke volumes to me.

[flint_marko]

Where did you hear about his pitch with Alex Ross?

[shadowpsykie]

hmmm are those the same kids who were in the Flashpoint marvel?

i kinda like this.... I like that Mary seems like a good kid, but she's not a pushover, or naive.

as far as Billy, yeah he is acting like a jerk. that does not necissarily means that is who he is. it could very likely be that he HAS let people into his heart, only to have them break one too many times. but so far all anyone has to say is "BILLY IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SO ANGRY! THAT MAKES ME ANGRY! ARRRRG!"

don't like it if you don't i am not saying you have to like it. but before you start raging maybe see where the story is going... or don't really it's not my choice. i don't like it or dislike it... it is however interesting and compelling and somthing i am keeping an eye on

[jaybee3]

I like Franks' art work here a lot. The kids actually look like kids instead of tiny adults (which is how some of the art in Superman: Secret Origin seemed to me).

[flint_marko]

Yeah, they're the same kids, though Darla was older.