“Come on, dummy. You’re my brother. No matter what the adoption process says.”
Other than facing interdimensional magic eaters for the last couple issues, Billy has found himself blacking out, thus being blinded to the fact that his superhero alter ego the Captain is not only sentient, but is also the cause of these mysterious blackouts. Now, by the beginning of Shazam! #12, the sudden reappearance of Billy’s birth mother has thrown him into a personal crisis and halted the official adoption process for him and his foster siblings indefinitely.
Josie Campbell has built her opening arc, “Moving Day”, around the recent development that the Captain’s power is changing in the wake of the elder Solomon granting him more wisdom. This has splintered the power dynamic between Billy and his alter ego given that the latter now has more agency, which feeds into deeper problems in this finale: does Billy have the emotional strength to face his past, or will it—maybe literally—be his and the Captain’s undoing?
Three issues into her run and Campbell has certainly made the book her own. Even with super heroics present, she has been far more intent about making readers look at the realer parts of the world through our protagonist’s young, repressed eyes, resulting in a more emotionally fragile lens on what’s happening. Billy was a child that had to grow up too fast even before magic made it a literal transformation, and now must reconcile with revelations about both his current life and one he never got to live.
DC Comics
With this being an emotionally heavy climax in comparison to the ones in the last couple arcs, it will no doubt be impactful to how Billy and the Captain are characterized going forward both individually and as a dynamic. A major crux of this series so far has been Billy taking on a more responsible outlook and simultaneously exploring his self-sacrificial nature, but how are you supposed to grow up when the adult version of you is treating you like a child? How are you supposed to rationalize a life you never got to live when the life you have keeps getting in the way?
What is interesting here is how the new level of wisdom at play makes for a great way to expand upon themes leftover from Mark Waid’s first arc, which revolved around the Shazam gods corrupting the Captain’s persona with their arrogance simply because they didn’t wish to be forgotten. Though the Captain’s less sinister actions—even if they seemed otherwise—have the intent to keep Billy safe, he is exercising unprecedented control that also raises questions about how much closer he is becoming to his inherited godhood and what that could mean.
Emanuela Lupacchino, joined by returning artist Mike Norton, structures the visual narrative in a way that emphasizes the split between Billy and the Captain, but also in a way that lets any tension simmer until things truly come to a head. The focus on family dynamics makes the heroic moments feel more weighted, especially as the stakes become more apparent. Trish Mulvihill’s soft coloring for each tonally contrasting sequence also gradually blends together throughout the issue, with the result being a visual style that complements the raw yet more somber nature of the finale’s climax—which can also be attributed to Troy Peteri’s effective use of diverse lettering styles as we follow the story.
Packed with twists that lead us to one of the strongest cliffhangers this volume has seen so far, Shazam! #12 is an emotionally charged tale that recognizes the value as well as the complications that can come with deeply ingrained self-reliance. On the outside, it is easy to use an alter ego to represent an internal conflict, but it is handled here in such a way that it doesn’t cheaply trivialize the Captain’s side of things. Even if he is becoming his own person, he is part of Billy regardless and now reflects deeper questions and sacrifices that Billy must come to terms with. As usual, I eagerly await what’s in store for the Big Red Cheese…and Billy.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login