Justice League #10

[flint_marko]

At nighttime when everyone else is asleep, Billy sneaks off to the zoo to feed a tiger named Tawny and Freddy follows him. Billy tells Tawny that, other than his parents, he's the first thing he can remember, and that he's the closest thing to family that he's got.

Freddy explains that the Bryer Brothers go after them almost every day, and that he can usually distract them long enough for Mary to help get the others away. Billy says he wishes he could get back at him, and Freddy says he knows where they live.



The wall explodes, and the rubble crushes one of Sivana's assistants.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

Sivania must get his hirlings from an Minion's Depot.

[shadowpsykie]

hnmmm i have to say, i am still liking this. Billy is thawing, or at least showing that he ISN'T just a little punk.

[ensiform]

Gee, I was gonna say he still seem like just as much of an asshole as the from the last scan. But, glad someone is liking him. Me, I have always adored the idea/premise/history of Capt Marvel, hokey silliness and Talky Tawny and evil Worm and grandpa and all, so I hope that DC keeps trying with the property.

But this version is NOT at all for me. I'm just hoping it get replaced quietly with something more fun and less derivative of the same old "gritty" 90s vibes.

[auggie18]

Massive amounts of motto. Word. IA. Etc...

[espanolbot]

It does seem odd that Mark Millar's (actually very good) Captain Marvel patische actually is closer to the tone of the original than this one.

Not that this one is bad, it seems to have the elements of something good there, but I think that collected it'll come together more.

Like Kevin Smith's Batman comics, which in the individual issues come across as something o a jumbled mess, but manage to but pretty good when read as a whole.

[nyadnar17]

I will be interested to see step 2 of Sivana's plan to profit by releasing sealed evil in a can with no possible way to contain it.

Although it would be cool if Sivana's idea that breaking the seal will cause magic to reemerge into the world on a grand scale was correct.

[shadowpsykie]

well funny thing... Adam would not be able to be relased unless there was already someone able to fight him. sivania probably would not have had that magic if there was not someone already...

IOW... Magic is tricky!

that said, hmmm it would be interesting to see magic take a more prominant role in the world

[espanolbot]

Dealing With Magic In a Post-Potter World could be a book that would be useful in the DCnU possibly.

[darkknightjrk]

Just so you know, on your writing you got the two mixed up--Billy ran off to feed Tawney, and Freddy followed.

That was a good installment, though. The main story was also pretty good--Grave's power seems interesting, and I'm now REALLY curious about this Native American woman Diana visits every month...:O

[flint_marko]

Oops, thanks.

[majingojira]

I recently read "Shazam and the Monster Society of Evil".

It's tainted my view of this re-imagining something fierce.

[auggie18]

...okay, weirdly enough, this is actually getting me to want this Billy Batson to become Captain Marvel-


-Jr.


This Billy seems a lot like Captain Marvel Jr anyway, and this Freddy seems like he'd be a good Captain. (Or Mary. Or, hell, Darla.) Honestly, its taken me a bit and I'm still not thrilled with this Billy, but if the power became a family thing or he wasn't the main Marvel, I could get into this.

If it's just him, though, then no way.

[captainbellman]

"Climb Wall, Feed Animals, Touch Animals"

This is a very...suggestive zoo.

[mrstatham]

Jesus, based on the shading of that first panel there, the burger might not have any pickles, but it sure as hell has fucking arsenic on it. That's an evil grin bar none.

[maxisanacorn]

All I want is Mary Marvel.

DC you have yet to feature Steph Brown, Cassandra Cain or Miss Martian (besides a monitor shot) you can at least give me Mary Marvel.

[jaybee3]

I actually dread what they're going to do with Mary (considering how they felt they had to sex her up during the last time she appeared with Countdown, Final Crisis, and the JSA arc which Geoff Johns was part of remember). As Mark Waid has said some writers seem to find it difficult to write a character who's supposed to be a "good girl" (this was exactly the image the Countdown writers said they wanted to subvert/tear down according to their own interviews when that series was going on).

And I wonder what they're going to put her in. The fanarts (which I doubt were actually done by fans of the character) of Black Mary and her teenty tiny skirt seem to predominate over the classic Mary look these days. These new Shazam outfits seem infinitely uninspired (what was better than Black Adam's classic look?) especially with all these hoods. Is that standard Shazam wear now? If they give Mary one she might look like Red Riding Hood.

[flint_marko]

The JSA arc was him undoing the Final Crisis stuff.

[auggie18]

Poorly.

[jaybee3]

Yes. Exactly my thoughts. There were better ways to get where Johns (and Ordway) were apparently (according to Ordway) mandated by Editorial to go: with Billy and Mary depowered, BA and Isis out of the way and the Wizard back alive and most of those scenarios did not have to being with Mary being corrupted and evil again (with Billy and the JSA having to save her) so soon after Morrison literally having her saying "never again" at the end of Final Crisis. But he chose to down that route - Mary, evil and corrupted, for the THIRD different time (Countdown, Final Crisis, JSA) in less than 2 years.

[espanolbot]

Which asks the question... why undo it? They heard that Grant was going to have Mary go evil and work for Darkseid in Final Crisis, so they botch together a story where she becomes a villainess. Only Morrison then revealled that, in keeping with the other themes of his recent New Gods stuff like in his Seven Soldier's Mini, that she was possessed and thus not responsible for what she was doing. It was fixed in the end of the series, and they could have had another mini series, with Mary going the opposite direction and trying to earn her powers back again, like what happened to Freddie in Trials of Shazam...

...But instead they decided to undo Morrison's stuff, say "Yeah, actually it is really Mary's fault and she caved again to Dark!Mary because she's WEAK". Which asks the question... why? Where they just trying to prune the Marvel Family tree, and implictly laying all the blame on Mary while doing so?

[flint_marko]

IDK, the whole Final Crisis thing was one big crappy clusterfuck (Grant included), but Geoff had Billy also getting corrupted so I think that was to show Mary wasn't corrupted because she was weak.

[espanolbot]

I'd agree to disagree regarding Final Crisis, but Geoff had her cave first to her evilness and then jump and forcibly transform Billy in a similar manner... even though she was evil because her superpowered persona was possessed by Desaad, which she knew, so her deciding to bring Evil!Mary back was a stupid decision on her part AND just because her powers were "evil" doesn't mean that Billy's would be.

Hell, even them possibly using Black Adam's powers doesn't automatically mean the people using them are evil, as he himself only went evil due to external forces (such as an evil version of Metamorpho killing his family) as opposed to the powers themselves.

[flint_marko]

Atom Smasher said in that storyline that Black Adam's anger was so strong (presumably after what happened in 52) it stained his powers, which is why it corrupted the others.

Mary was only possessed by Desaad in Final Crisis; she wasn't possessed in Countdown. Maybe Geoff brought Evil Mary back just so he could absolve her of what happened there by saying it was the powers' fault.

[jaybee3]

Well then he did it badly. It also reflect badly on Ordway (who wrote Power of Shazam and so basically created the post-Crisis Mary) who was one of the few pros on DC payroll who openly criticised what DC was doing to her in Countdown. The solution? Having had Morrison say more than once in FC that it wasn't Mary's fault - they make it her fault (the story itself states Mary went back to Black Adam post-Darkseid)!

[flint_marko]

The Mary Marvel in Final Crisis was possessed by Desaad, the Mary Marvel in Countdown wasn't.

If the mess is anyone's fault it's Morrison's; he's the one who wanted to turn sweet wholesome Mary into an evil dominatrix. Also, I have a feeling that he didn't tell DC that Mary was possessed by Desaad, and so DC decided to have Mary become corrupted in Countdown to help set up her appearance in Final Crisis.

[jaybee3]

Oh, no doubt. I'm not letting Morrison off the hook. By all accounts he didn't tell anyone at DC how he was going to make Mary Marvel evil - he just was. It wasn't until they were well into Countdown before DC Editors learned Morrison's whole plan for Mary (at least that was what was rumored). But you can't let the Countdown people off the hook. By the time Countdown was ending and they had that infamous scene with Darkseid on Mary's couch and her accepting to join him for more power (though by this time she had been given her power back and she had rejected Darkseid before when he wanted to make the 15 year old his concubine) the DC Editors/writers knew Mary was supposed to be possesed but they went with this line anyway. As Linkara said in his review of Countdown, if they had just had Mary refuse Darkseid in that scene and have him take her away by force and having DeSaad possess her body, it would have blended in better with Final Crisis and would have had her ending Countdown on a heroic note (defying the Big Bad) after everything she had gone through in Countdown. But no, they had to tarnish her a little more and Morrison is not responsible for THAT.

[jaybee3]

The storyline was very strange in that it seemed written by people who had no understanding of the Shazam mythos rather than 2 people at DC who handled the Marvel Family the most post-Crisis (Johns and Ordway). I think a lot of the story was actually dictated to by Editorial (i.e. Dan Didio since I doubt Johns' JSA editor who let him do anything he wanted prior to this would actually dictate to Geoff) based on Ordway's own statements on the DC message boards on how the story was constantly being re-written and re-drawn to the last minute.

The problems were many:
1) The idea that it was Black Adam's "dark" power that corrupted Billy and Mary. Considering that it was Johns who wrote most of the "52" storyline with Black Adam where Isis and Osiris became HEROES after being gifted with Black Adam's power this is Johns contradicting himself.

2) The idea that Billy could be so easily corrupted. Like I said in another post, there was a whole crossover event (Underworld Unleashed) predicated on the idea that Billy's soul is so pure it can't be corrupted at all.

3) The whole Mary storyline. Prior to Countdown, Mary was always presented as the most level-headed and smartest of the Marvel Family, she had no ambitions and she never even thought bad things even when people were snarky and making jokes at her expense (something that often happened when she appeared in other books like in Supergirl or SuperBuddies). If you just took Mary's appearance in Final Crisis (which I didn't like but just for the sake of argument) you could still make the case that Mary hadn't changed since Morrison made it clear she was possessed. The whole Countdown fiasco (written by men who who admitted they were unfamiliar with the character and what they were familar with - her nice, goody-goody image - they didn't like) could be slowly retconned away. DC was already moving away Countdown by that time. Mary could have come out it the situation with her reputation salvaged - instead they start the JSA story with her going back to Black Adam for her "dark" power again and being corrupted AGAIN. It was so unnecessary and insulting. And worse it made the Countdown Mary characterization, as a bratty selfish rather dim girl, stick - to the point that in the pointless one-shot that was supposed to feature Shazam/Freddy (but was really just an Osiris/Outsiders tie-in) Eric Wallace started the book by seemingly having Mary make a deal with Blaze to kill Freddy in order to get super-powers (yet again!) - yes the deal was a fake-out but the point was that Wallace thought this was part of Mary's character now to the point where he lampshaded it by having Blaze, being foiled, tell her "You're a good liar, Mary". Which is NOT how Mary should be written at all...but Geoff's JSA arc just perpetuated that.

[jaybee3]

But that was short-sighted as well since there was an entire company-wide crossover (the only post-Crisis one where Captain Marvel was front and center) with Underworld Unleashed based on the single premise that Neron was putting all of the DCU through some giant Xanotos Gambit in order to obtain the purest, most INCORRUPTABLE soul in the DCU, which everyone in-universe thought was Superman but which turned out to be Billy Batson's. And then in this one 3-issue throw-away story (that DC literally never followed up on despite promises it would) they have Billy being corrupted within the space of a few panels.

[flint_marko]

Just because Billy isn't going to make a deal with Neron for personal gain doesn't mean he's immune to external evil influences; he's been possessed by Eclipso before.

[kenn_el]

My assumption is that this 'Shazam' will be pretty much the Flashpoint version, with all the kids making up a part of the whole (ala Captain Planet and numerous others), but with Billy being the lynchpin, which is why he's our POV character. Shazam will be an adult male, with vaguely caucasian skintone, but will contain diversity of race and gender within. Or something.

[icon_uk]

I'm still wondering if the kids together will be able nominate one of them at a time (or perhaps two at a pinch) to use the Shazam power. So Billy will become a classic(ish) Captain Marvel Shazam (because he wants to be grown up), Freddy becomes a younger looking Shazam because he's happy with his self image and so on....

[kenn_el]

I think I'd like that. Or it could be that each of them could become an individual Shazam with only one power, only able to access the full set when united with the group. ots of potential variables. Also possibly why they're making Billy more surly. Getting him into the combo will depend upon his mood, etc.

[big_daddy_d]

Gotta admit. That last page does look awesome.

[philippos42]

Aaand--there's no reason this has to be "Captain Marvel" rather than "random new manga property #117."

Hey Granpa Johns

[jlroberson]

Who has a membership card for a website?

Re: Hey Granpa Johns

[icon_uk]

In some cases you can be a member of an organisation (with a card) and have access to their website. Especially if the Organisation predates the internet.

Re: Hey Granpa Johns

[jlroberson]

So, two things: one, it specifically says "website." Two, I'm certain Billy does not predate the web.

This Billy anyway. By the way, is it just me or are all his smiles evil?

Re: Hey Granpa Johns

[icon_uk]

No, but not all organisations immediately jumped on the web. Billy could join a group which has been around since 1812, but their website only went live last Thursday.

ALL the smiles in this series have more than a hint of madness to them.

[eyz]

I just hate this new Sivana...
that's not the "new and modern" take on the Captain Marvel franchise...err, I mean "Shazam". It's just one big gritty Elseworld to me...

[espanolbot]

I miss Mr Burns Sivana. :(

[wizardru]

S'ok. Not as bad as I was expecting, but not exactly great, either.

It's funny...when I was young, I thought Captain Marvel was stupid and Superman was boring. Now, more years later than I like to think, I miss them being the way they were. Superman I've just grown to appreciate (and some excellent writers over the years have changed my mind), while Captain Marvel just had an appeal I didn't long for at the time, but miss now.

I really kind of wish they'd gone with the Flashpoint version of Captain Marvel or used...well, most versions of the last several reboots. This is OK, but main continuity Captain Marvel has been badly grimdarked (and don't get me started on Mary) over the years...and really, that shouldn't be what he's about, IMHO.

[jlroberson]

How come so far Billy's smiles are much more evil than Sivana's?

[jaybee3]

Because Gary Frank draws all his kid characters like adults with little bodies? Better yet why does Dr. Sivana look just Lex Luthor with glasses. At least pre-reboot Lex and Sivana were different body types.

[auggie18]

I mean, Captain Mar, er, Shazam is pretty much just magical Superman, right? So, why shouldn't his super scientist foe look exactly like Lex? I mean, creative and creepy character design is for suckers and chumps, amirite?

[kraesil]

Interesting costume you got there, Mr. who I presume is Black Adam...