“….Space dinosaurs. I call for your extinction.” — Black Adam
After his bout with the gods from whom he got his powers, Billy Batson is in dire need of a change of pace. Things are looking up as the Captain dives back into his casual day-to-day heroics and Billy’s foster parents promise a big change for him and his siblings. However, his negligence of a very tedious task in the last arc has brought bizarre new enemies to his doorstep, which incidentally puts him on a collision course with Black Adam. On top of all this? A budding crisis of identity. I mean, hey, escalation is technically a change of pace.
Mark Waid kicks off the second arc of this family fantasy comedy comic with art and colors by series newcomers Goran Sudžuka and Ive Svorcina respectively. Both of the latter prove themselves as excellent additions to the book, sidestepping Dan Mora’s postmodern take on Silver Age sensibilities in favor of channeling the golden age of superheroes. Their style emphasizes the run’s campier elements with action reminiscent of Max Fleischer’s Superman shorts and the cartoonish expressionism of old school Fawcett Comics.
The art also shines Waid’s approach to the series’ comedic elements in a new light, making for a visual narrative that uses the absurdity of the series’ established context to bring a delightfully bizarre (heh) undertone to even its most action-heavy sequences. Plus, with the mythological side of things being less present, we are treated to more traditionally heroic standoffs that are peppered with the clever and off-beat witticisms that have so far defined the series. One could also attribute the aforementioned whimsical Fawcett-isms to Waid’s time at Archie Comics.
In terms of pacing, the creatives seem to have found their sweet spot in how they handle their ongoing storylines. Almost every issue since #1 has featured a villain of the week of sorts, but they typically serve as preludes to further establish recurring characters and plot elements. For example, the buildup to the arrival of Mr. Dinosaur’s dreaded employers was pushed by Billy’s frequent distractions by hectic hero activities in the last arc, and their arrival quickly turned into a reason for the revamped Captain to butt heads with Black Adam again. This encounter is even complemented by our hero’s seemingly one-note battle with the Bizarro Captain at the beginning of the issue, enforcing direct thematic relevance to what has already happened and what will happen. This works as a subtle yet effective reminder of the strength of issue-by-issue serialization in an age where half-year story arcs reign supreme.
Now, this issue is the first major encounter between the Captain and Teth-Adam in the Dawn of DC. As we know, this initiative has been noted for its “everything is canon” attitude, and Waid has remained very faithful to that creative sentiment for the bulk of his latest DC work. This is to say, however, that the canonicity of Billy’s established relationship to his classic archenemy is a bit unclear at the moment, but appears to be putting a new spin on the status quo with the two having a less personal familiarity despite both having well-established individual histories. Though that feels like a play on how the two were being handled in the original DCEU, it allows for a means to reinvent their rivalry in a way that combines the more popular elements of their recent portrayals with the best of their classic material.
In Shazam! #7, Mark Waid continues to break down Billy’s increasingly complicated relationship with the Captain while surrounding him with threats both old and new. Bolstered by Sudžuka and Svorcina’s pages, absurdity meets camp in this delightful first impression of the series’ sophomore story arc, fueled by dramatic irony and a keenly self-aware sense of humor. Though it is not overtly focused on the Captain and Black Adam’s relationship as it is on giving them a reason to cross paths, it still provides ample opportunities for the creatives to explore their new take on them while not taking focus away from the overarching elements they’ve built thus far.
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