World Famous Comics: Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil
By: Jeff Smith Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 240 Publication Date: October 17, 2007 Release Date: October 17, 2007
Product Description: Jeff Smith, the award-winning creator of BONE, tells the story of young orphan Billy Batson who finds himself transformed into the World's Mightiest Mortal whenever he says the magic word "Shazam!" after being granted the magical powers of the gods by an ancient wizard.
Now, Billy must use these extraordinary abilities to face an invasion of alien creatures as well as stop mad scientist Dr. Sivana and his Monster Society of Evil from taking over the world.
Shazam! Entertaining and Colorful This collection of the 4-issue mini-series is highly enjoyable. The story retells Billy Batson's transformation to Captain Marvel in a modern-day setting, and puts Sivana at the head of the Dept. Of Homeland Security. Initially I was put off by how young Billy and his sister, Mary, were drawn, but it ends up working out well for the story. The art is colorful, the plot simplistic, and the writing minimal.
Enjoyable, but you don't get a lot for your money.
Graphic SF Reader Cute, with Tigers.
Jeff Smith here appears to have taken Captain Marvel back to his roots, and maybe even further, although the art style may make Billy Batson look younger than he is actually supposed to be, given how short and stumpy Smith displays these characters.
These is absolutely designed to be for the very young comics readers, so the actual story isn't going to thrill the non-kids, but they should find some amusing bits in it nonetheless.
3.5 out of 5
Not perfect, but a step in the right direction for DC This is a vast improvement over some of the junk being kicked out by DC lately, and it's a good read (Jeff Smith has such a clean, easy to view brush style). It's not perfect, and it's still not quite a childrens book (Billy Batson being kicks to unconscienceness by a thug isn't kid-friendly) but it's vastly better than the latest Infinity Whatever kicked out by DC lately. The story is rather hollow, and has virtually no substance other than zippy entertainment. Which can be good for a fun Shazam-like, and yet I would have liked a little more substance here. Something a little deeper.
Not your father's Captain Marvel! I'm just adding my voice to that of a few others. Jeff Smith's art is unique and perfectly suited to this type of story. The book looks very good, nobody can deny that. But Smith made a few choices that I can't agree with personally and that I think hurt the story objectively. First, I like Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as the same person. I like the idea of a ten year old boy with that kind of power. Definitely gives the character a different perspective than most heroes and provides an anodyne for many of today's gritty comics. But Smith makes them two seperate people. Didn't see the need and didn't care for it. I know that's the way it was originally set up, but I like the revised "two-in-one" version better. Smith didn't slavishly stick to Beck and Binder's vision(Awesome as it was!) on other issues so he didn't need to here either.It didn't help the story in fact I think it hurt it. The biggest problem though was Smith injecting his own post-9/11 political views into the story. If a comic book artist wants to communicate his political views, let him write an op/ed piece for the New Yorker. This is especially true of a character like Captain Marvel. Marvel's world was always a little bit more fanciful than ours, even more fanciful than the typical superhero's. I can appreciate how that horrible day affected Smith, but this character and story just aren't the right venue for Smith's political feelings. Like combining oil and water, Captian Marvel and modern terror politics just don't mix.
I really liked it This graphic novel puts together the entire story-arc presented in SHAZAM!: THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL 1-4, retelling the story of Billy Batson and the origin of Captain Marvel. Billy Batson is a homeless boy, on the mean streets of New York City. But, when he rides a fantastic train he meets a wizard named Shazam, and he unleashes the power of Captain Marvel. But, when Billy's curiosity gets to be too much for him, and he travels beyond the beginning of the universe, he unleashes a power from beyond time. Can Billy and Marvel overcome the mysterious Monster Society of Evil? Read and find out.
I must admit to being somewhat ignorant of the Golden Age Captain Marvel, and as such, I cannot discuss how this Marvel is different than that one. But, what I can discuss is what I think about this here book. Well, I must admit that I really liked it. Too many modern comics are too adult, focusing on politics or the political issue de jour, whereas this graphic novel tells a great adventure story that is sure to please any young fan of superhero stories. Heck, I loved it myself.
Now, there are some problems with the story - the relationship of Billy and Marvel is rather strange. But, in spite of that I did think that it was a fun and highly entertaining story. I loved this book, and highly recommend it.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
