Shazam!
Here’s what the new Shazam! looks like
Shazam!
The character formerly known as Captain Marvel will make his debut in Justice League #7, but you can take a look at him right now thanks to DC Comics and the New York Post.
Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the New 52 version of Billy Batson’s alter-ego will run as back-up tale in Justice League by writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank. According to Johns, the character will “be far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before.” Hence the cloak.
“With SHAZAM! Gary and I will be focusing on the magic hero instead of the super hero,” Johns told DC’s The Source blog. “For centuries, science has ruled the world, but now magic is returning. We’re telling the story of the hero’s young alter ego, Billy Batson, a foster kid at a crossroads in his life. The question is, how does the emotional journey of this troubled teenager collide with the fate of the world? The Rock of Eternity and the legacy of SHAZAM! will be explored in a different way as the extent of Billy’s connection to the magic world around him is greater than ever before. The story will have a profound impact on Justice League later in the year and you’ll see new characters, locations and creatures along with the classics from the SHAZAM! universe. Billy’s friends and enemies will be along for the ride.”
Quote of the day | Erik Larsen on the curse of Shazam!
“By that logic I should change my name to Eric Larson. Geoff Johns should change his name to Jeff Johns since everybody spells it that way anyway.”
– Savage Dragon creator Erik Larsen, responding to the news that, after 40 years of dancing around Marvel’s trademark by using titles like Shazam and The Power of Shazam, DC Comics is officially changing Captain Marvel’s name to … Shazam. Geoff Johns explained the decision was made, in part, because “everybody thinks he’s called Shazam already, outside of comics.”
NYCC | A round-up of Saturday news
Avengers Assemble
Saturday at the New York Comic Con brought news for the Avengers, Superman, Legendary Comics and … Disney’s Prep & Landing? Here’s a round-up of announcements from the show today.
• With a big, blockbuster Avengers movie scheduled for next May, Marvel announced a new ongoing series, Avengers Assemble, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley. The book will launch next March and will feature most of the Avengers featured in the movie — Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Hulk. The first arc will feature the villainous group the Zodiac.
• Speaking of that big, blockbuster Avengers movie, fans were treated to new footage from it featuring Bruce Banner and the Black Widow. Tom Hiddleston spoke to CBR about his work on the film.
• Marvel also announced that writer Rick Remender and artist Gabriel Hardman will take over Secret Avengers with issue #21.1, adding new members and pitting them against a new Masters of Evil.
• At the Cup O’ Joe panel today, Marvel also announced a Disney/Marvel crossover — Prep & Landing: Mansion: Impossible. It features the elves from the Disney television special who prepare homes for the arrival of Santa Claus every Christmas eve — only this time they’re trying to break into Avengers Mansion to get it ready for Santa. Written by director Kevin Deters and drawn by story artist Joe Mateo, the story will run in the back of the Marvel Adventures books as well as Avengers #19 in November.
NYCC | Shazam back-up to run in Justice League
Just Imagine ...
Fans wondering if or when the original Captain Marvel, a.k.a. Shazam!, would make an appearance in DC’s New 52 can wonder no more. DC Comics announced today at the New York Comic Con that writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank will team up on a back-up feature, The Curse of Shazam, that will run in issues of Justice League starting with #5.
Beyond that, DC offered very few details. We’ll keep you updated as more news becomes available.
Johns and Frank have worked together previously on Superman: Secret Origin and Action Comics, and are the creative team for the upcoming Batman: Earth One graphic novel.
As I went looking for art for this post, I was reminded that this isn’t the first time Frank has drawn Shazam — back in 2002, when DC Comics recruited Stan Lee to “reimagine” some of their characters, Frank teamed up with him on a very different version of the character.
Grumpy Old Fan | The Alternative Thirty
DC Universe: The Stories Of Alan Moore
[A quick note before we go too much farther: I started writing this post before DC’s big announcement about its September-and-beyond plans. In fact, I wanted this particular post to be about something other than Flashpoint and/or line-wide reboots -- so depending on your perspective, I picked exactly the right week, or exactly the wrong week, to draw that line. In any case, it’s probably not hard to tell, from the past few weeks’ worth of posts, where I stand on current events.
[So there you go. On with the business at hand.]
Since it’s pretty much summer, and time to think about catching up on reading, let’s revisit DC’s list of “30 Essential Graphic Novels” — “best-selling titles that you must read[, ]whether you are just beginning to discover graphic novels or you are an established fan looking to expand your collection.”
The list is almost four years old, and has had a few minor updates. (Pride Of Baghdad replaced The Quitter, and Crayon Shinchan replaced Sword Of The Dark Ones.) For the most part, though, it’s the same compilation — heavy on the Batman and the Jeph Loeb, a decent amount of Alan Moore (but no Swamp Thing), a couple of Sandman books and Hellblazer, but no Wonder Woman, no Joe Kubert, and no Jack Kirby. While there are at least a couple of representatives from each of DC’s imprints, there aren’t many hints at the real scope of DC’s diverse publishing history.
Grumpy Old Fan | Surprise me: DC Comics Solicitations for August 2011
Featuring the classic Blizzard vs. Polar Bear battle!
One tagline for the big alien-invasion movie Independence Day cautioned, “Don’t make plans for August.” Well, perhaps the biggest news coming out of DC’s August solicitations is the pervasive sense of foreboding they have about September. Rich Johnston maintains that a whole crop of new No. 1 issues is on tap for the fall, but there are no “FINAL ISSUE!” blurbs to be found on any of the current ongoing series.
While that doesn’t rule out a line-wide relaunch, the solicits also seem to say that readers won’t have to worry about a line-wide reboot. As noted in this space a couple of weeks back, the degree of change will probably be different for different titles. Nevertheless, now that we have a better idea of how August will look, let’s see what it says about September….
Grumpy Old Fan | Learning to love Mary Marvel
Mary Marvel's '90s reintroduction, by Jerry Ordway
Let me start by saying that I am supremely unqualified to speak about what women or girls want from superhero comics. In this respect I am probably pretty similar to former DC publisher Paul Levitz, who (as you might have heard) told the Comics Journal:
I think the whole myth of superheroes is that they simply aren’t appealing to women as they are to men. I’d like to think I had a pretty good track record on that myself as a writer, as the Legion historically had a pretty good number of female readers, Chris Claremont on his years on the X-Men had a tremendous number of female readers, and there may be any number of other superhero titles that had a fair balance. But overall it would surprise me at any point if you started to have a title that was both a traditional superhero and a majority female audience.
What strikes me about Mr. Levitz’s comments (not just those but others in the article) is the apparent indifference they betray to the prospect of a big female readership. He seems to suggest that while he wouldn’t turn one down, it’s not something DC has particularly pursued. Many more men than women read superhero comics, so DC has focused more on the guys. Even when Sandman appeals to women, that ends up proving his point, because Sandman and Vertigo aren’t superheroes.
Again, at this point I am neither well-equipped nor especially interested in evaluating Mr. Levitz’s arguments. Nevertheless, the attitude that “we don’t need to go this way because it’s never panned out before” sounds rather short-sighted. In the current publishing climate, DC simply can’t afford to ignore women and girls. It needs all the readers it can get.
With all that in mind, I’d now like to talk about Mary Marvel.
What Are You Reading?
Saturn Apartments
Welcome once again to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately. Our special guest today is Faith Erin Hicks, creator of the graphic novels Zombies Calling, The War at Ellsmere and the upcoming Friends with Boys. She also drew the recent First Second release Brain Camp and has a comic strip in her local weekly newspaper The Coast called The Adventures of Superhero Girl.
To see what Faith and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below …
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Chaos War: Alpha Flight #1
Welcome to another installment of “Food or Comics?” Every week we set certain hypothetical spending limits on ourselves and go through the agony of trying to determine what comes home and what stays on the shelves. So join us as we run down what comics we’d buy if they only had $15 and $30 to spend, as well as what we’d get if we had some “mad money” to splurge with.
Check out Diamond’s full release list for this week if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Michael May
If I had $15:
I’d pick up Salimba ($9.99), because it’s Paul Chadwick drawing a jungle girl who fights pirates. Then I’d add Chaos War: Alpha Flight #1 ($3.99) to that pile. I’m a huge Alpha Flight fan and can’t wait to read about the original team’s new adventure, even if they are dead.
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Batman Incorporated #1
Welcome to another installment of “Food or Comics?” Every week we set certain hypothetical spending limits on ourselves and go through the agony of trying to determine what comes home and what stays on the shelves. So join us as we run down what comics we’d buy if they only had $15 and $30 to spend, as well as what we’d get if we had some “mad money” to splurge with.
Check out Diamond’s full release list if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Graeme McMillan
If I had $15, at least $9 of it – okay, $8.98 – would be already spoken for. The first issue of Batman Incorporated ($3.99) and one-shot lead-in Batman: The Return #1 ($4.99) offer up the first glimpses of what Grant Morrison has in mind for his new Batus-quo and, after the way he brought the RIP/Return of Bruce Wayne storyline to a close, I’m pretty much on board no matter what. The remaining money…? It’s a tough one, but I’m going to go for Spider-Girl #1 ($3.99), pretty much because I like Paul Tobin’s writing, I like the Twitter gimmick (Somewhere, Joe Casey’s going “I did it first in Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance!” and I know, Joe), and, most importantly, the Spider-Girl short was my favorite part of last week’s Amazing Spider-Man relaunch issue. Who could’ve seen that coming?
DC goes ‘iconic’ in January with cover treatments, one-shots
Superman #707
DC Comics announced yesterday that the covers for their January comics will get “a unique and yet familiar logo treatment that brings the focus on the characters and stars of their respective books.” As you can see in the image above, the covers will feature the star of the book with their familiar logo behind them.
“This January, we’re putting the focus squarely on the characters and iconic heroes of the DCU,” said DCU Co-Publisher Dan DiDio. “Not only will we tell new stories some of the more-deserving with special one-shots, but we’ll be giving every title in the line a unique treatment that puts the spotlight on the heroes and villains that populate the DC Universe.”
More information on the four one-shots — SHAZAM!, Wonder Girl, Steel and Starman/Congorilla — can be found after the jump.
Batman: Brave and the Bold comic gets rebooted this November
All-New Batman: Brave and the Bold #1
Remember when DC co-publisher Dan DiDio said last month that the kid’s line, which appeared to be ending when DC’s October solicitations were announced, weren’t really ending? I guess this is what he was talking about: Batman: Brave and the Bold is dead, long live All-New Batman: Brave and the Bold.
It’s a mouthful, sure, but DC’s comic tie-in to the Batman: Brave and the Bold series on the Cartoon Network isn’t ending, just getting a name change and a new first issue. Writer Sholly Fisch and artist Rick Burchett will chronicle the adventures of Batman and “an A-list cast of co-stars and surprise guests” starting in November, with Superman and Shazam! appearing in the first two issues.
Now when are we getting Billy Batson and the All-New Magic of Shazam! #1?
New Shazam! cartoon anchors DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection
Black Adam
Warner Home Video announced today that they plan to release a DVD collecting the animated shorts that have appeared on their other DC Universe Original Animated Movie DVDs thus far. The DVD, titled DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection, will include a new short starring Superman, Shazam! and Black Adam.
The collection, which will include the Spectre short from Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Jonah Hex from Batman: Under the Red Hood and Green Arrow from the upcoming Superman/Batman: Apocalypse DVD, comes out Nov. 9.
Another preview image and the complete press release can be found after the jump.
SDCC ’10 | Rob Lowe to voice Captain Marvel on Young Justice cartoon
The Magic of Shazam!
Rich Sands from TV Guide Magazine is reporting that actor Rob Lowe will be yelling “Shazam!” on the Cartoon Network’s upcoming animated series Young Justice. The star of such films as St. Elmo’s Fire and, more recently, TV shows The West Wing and Brothers & Sisters, will play the role of Captain Marvel on the new series.
Sands notes that because he’s really a kid, Captain Marvel “will bond more easily with the younger heroes.” Producer Greg Weisman says that Shazam will be an important recurring character in the series, so this could ultimately involve multiple episodes for Lowe.
Sands also reports that the Young Justice cartoon will get a sneak preview during the Batman: The Brave and the Bold tomorrow morning in San Diego. I thought it was kind of odd that there was no Young Justice panel at the show.
What Are You Reading?
Enter the Heroic Age
Welcome once again to What Are You Reading? where we ask, “If you were stuck on an island with the smoke monster, what would you bring to read?” Yes, that was my lame attempt to make today’s edition topical. Sorry. Let’s just write that off as me being really excited to see the end of Lost.
This week our special guest is comics retailer Randy Lander, who you can find selling comics at Rogues Gallery Comics & Games in Round Rock, Texas or blogging over at Inside Joke Theatre. To see what Randy and the rest of our merry castaways have been reading, click the link below …