The Revolution enjoyed Trials of Shazam #1. I thought Winick did a nice job delivering a well paced and exciting storyline that kicked this 12 issue maxi-series off with a bang. I loved Porter’s art. I have high hopes for Trials of Shazam #2. Now, I didn’t get to read it until today and I have heard tons of rumbling across the internet about how bad this issue is. I’ll approach Trials of Shazam #2 with an open mind and formulate my own opinion. Let’s do this review.
Creative Team
Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Howard Porter
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: This issue starts with Freddy Freeman talking on his cell phone to his girlfriend Shareena. Freddy tells Shareena that he has dropped out of college. Freddy walks into a hospital and tells Shareena that he will talk to her later. Freddy is depressed since he lost his powers. Now that he isn’t Captain Marvel, Jr, he is just a normal human. And a crippled one on top of that.
Freddy enters a hospital room and we see Mary Marvel all effed up and lying in a bed. She is wrapped in bandages from head to toe. Evidently, when Mary’s powers disappeared she was three miles above the water fighting a demonic fire harpy. Mary has been in a coma ever since. Freddy sits by her side and talks to her about how alone he feels and that he wishes they still had their powers. Freddy says that it looks like they won’t ever recover from losing Shazam. And with that a bolt of lightning hits Freddy and he disappears.
Freddy appears in the Rock of Eternity. He is greeted by Billy Batson in his new form: long white hair and white costume. Billy says that he is no longer just Captain Marvel. That he is everything that Captain Marvel was and is also everything that Shazam was infused with. That he is a combination. Billy says that the Book of Magic has been rewritten. That they must adapt along with this evolution. That the Power of Shazam still needs an acolyte who will maintain the balance between the world of Magic and the world of Humanity.
Billy tells Freddy that Freddy has been chosen to earn the powers of Shazam. That Freddy will be tested through various trials in order to earn each of Shazam’s powers. That if Freddy does not succeed then another magical lineage will assume the Powers of Shazam and their hearts are not as pure and good as the hearts of the Marvel Family. Billy tells Freddy that Freddy will be called Shazam.
We cut to Freddy back on earth at the apartment building of a guide who Billy said would help Freddy with his trials of Shazam. The guide is named Zareb Babak. While entering the apartment building, Freddy takes a package for Zareb from the mailman. Freddy meets Zareb. Zareb is a 12th level necromancer from the Telbian Realm. Zareb is less than thrilled that he has to spend his time helping out a newbie like Freddy. Zareb tells Freddy that they are dealing with the Lords of Magic and not the Gods of Olympus. Fore example, the god Zeus isn’t so much the guy’s name as it sis his station. That there are millions of entities that bears the names of these gods.
Zareb then sees the package that Freddy brought in with him. Zareb yells to Freddy to drop the package. The package suddenly morphs into a demon. Zareb tells Freddy that the first lesson is to not take anything from anybody.
Comments
The Good: I thought Trials of Shazam #2 was a pretty solid read. I’m not too sure why everyone hates this issue so much. DC made no secret that Freddy was going to inherit Billy’s role as Captain Marvel. So, I can’t imagine that Freddy taking Billy’s place is the reason why everyone has ripped this issue so much. Billy has now assumed a slightly varied role of Shazam. Billy is still everything Captain Marvel was in addition to everything that Shazam was. Again, this was no surprise. We knew that Billy was being elevated into this role.
We did find out that all of the various members of the Marvel Family lost their powers including Mary Marvel. That could very well be the reason why so many people hate this issue. Since I’m not a long time Captain Marvel fan, it really didn’t make much of a difference for me. For my taste, the fewer Marvels running around the better. I like the uniqueness of only having a few Marvels in the DCU.
I’m sure that most long time Captain Marvel fans hate what they must view as the total destruction of the Marvel Family and everything that they enjoyed about Captain Marvel. I totally understand that pain, but don’t have too much sympathy. I’m a long time Legion of Super Heroes fan. I watched the TMK Legion totally butcher the Legion beyond recognition. I then saw DC completely wipe out the entire history of the Legion that I grew up with and carry out a hard reboot of the Legion not just once but twice! So, whatever Captain Marvel fans think they have suffered, believe me, as a Legion fan, I have suffered much worse than what is happening in Trials of Shazam.
Having said that, I totally understand that long time Captain Marvel fans are going to dislike Trials of Shazam. However, DC doesn’t seem concerned with satisfying long time fans. That is obvious in how they handle all of their characters outside of Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman. They constantly replace characters. So, while I understand why long time Captain Marvel fans won’t like this issue, I think that readers who don’t have much of a connection with the Captain Marvel history will probably enjoy this series.
I thought that this issue moved at a slow pace, but I had no problem with that. Winick used the first issue to get this maxi-series moving at a fast pace to pull the reader into the story and ended the issue with a surprise designed to hook the reader into coming back for issue #2. Now, with Trials of Shazam #2, Winick is laying the foundation for the remaining ten issues. It is a necessary evil and means that this issue is slow and not particularly action packed as Winick puts all the players in place and sets the scene for the rest of this series. This is a classic set up issue and I had no problems with Winick taking his time to properly lay the foundation for a tight and focused story.
I like that Freddy is getting plenty of panel time. He is a good character that will do well in the new role as the avatar of Shazam. I think it will be fun watching Freddy successfully accomplish the various trials that he will have to endure in order to gain the power of Shazam. I also like Billy in his new role. I dig the white outfit and the long white hair. I think Billy is actually going to be more interesting in this new role than he was as Captain Marvel.
I also don’t mind what happened to Mary Marvel. I have never been a real big fan of her character and don’t really like derivative heroes. Female versions of established male heroes have never intrigued me. I thought it was pretty sick how she lost her powers while fighting high in the sky. I’m sure that Winick has plans for Mary Marvel. I don’t think this is her final fate. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mary Marvel fly again.
The point is that I’m willing to give Winick a chance to show me his full vision for this new Captain Marvel. I think that this has the potential to be a pretty entertaining series. I am interested in this new world of Magic and am curious to see what role Shazam and the Marvels will play in it.
Porter’s art was incredible. I absolutely love his heavy lined painted style. Porter’s art really boosted an otherwise slow story. Porter definitely makes Trials of Shazam a powerful looking comic.
The Bad: I thought that the scene between Freddy and Zareb was poorly constructed. This scene was too vague and incoherent. The entire explanation about the gods and how their names represent more of a station or position rather than an actual entity was confusing. This entire scene was a confusing jumbled mess. I hope Winick takes the time in the next issue to try and clean up this mess of a scene.
Overall: Trials of Shazam #2 was a better than average read. Yeah, it was slow, but Winick needed to use this issue to properly set the stage for the rest of this series. I have no problems with what Winick has done to the Marvel Family. I understand the complaints, but I’ll reserve final judgment until further into this series. I still think that this series will end up being pretty good.