“When the world tries to forget you…become friggin’ unforgettable!”
Things hit the fan in this latest issue of Shazam. Just when Billy is found with a new(ish) ally in Uncle Dudley—an elderly man in a red shirt wielding a crowbar—they and Mary are attacked by a horde of monsters called Submen coming from deep below the earth. Meanwhile, after a brief meeting with an enigmatic new player on the Fawcett scene, Freddy bides his time underground with King Kull, the classic Captain Marvel villain who is not associated with Conan the Barbarian.
At the core of this arc, Where in the World is Billy Batson, is dealing with one’s disillusionment. This is present in how Billy sees his relationship with the Captain and tangentially in how Freddy wrestles with his total lack of superpowers. The latter proves to be the more prominent here, however, as Josie Campbell continues narrating from Freddy’s perspective, effectively delivering a nice dose of internal conflict that counterbalances the weight of Billy’s brooding. And the fact that Freddy is getting his time to shine also leads to the question of what is going to happen between the two brothers as a subterranean army rears its head?
Freddy has been the emotional anchor for this series ever since Shazam! #1, with his complicated mentality towards powerlessness at the forefront. Though he’s okay with compensating for them with his wits, that inner voice telling him the opposite is all too present and makes for an engaging way of setting up his returning powers down the line. Even with solicitations confirming that as the case, the direction of that particular story is made prevalent by how Campbell reshapes the nature of the Shazam’s power both metaphysically and emotionally, clearing the way for yet another return to form for the Shazamily.
With how the Submen are tackled, the stakes of this issue feel much higher in spite of its claustrophobia, helping sell how dire the state of the Captain’s situation is due to his secrecy. Despite being a light antagonist for Billy right now, he is at no point treated like a villain for his sentience in spite of that often being a problem in other similar stories. The Captain has been remade into his own fleshed out character independent from Billy, and that can serve as an excellent — not to mention welcome — narrative vehicle for the future of the series.
Speaking of such, if she hadn’t before, Emanuela Lupacchino has more than succeeded Dan Mora as the main series artist. This issue’s visuals are much darker and more claustrophobic than previous ones due to the underground setting, which not only harkens back to her first issue on the series that featured the Creeper, but also makes Freddy’s conflict all the more immersive.
Lupacchino and Trish Mulvihill have designed a world around the Shazamily that looks and feels like classic Fawcett with how the heroes’ color contrast transcends the setting, giving it a timeless feel without skimping on the modernity the book has earned itself. One splash page of the Captain in particular earns more brownie points than this issue already needs, and is given a massive boost with how climactic the page is made to feel with Campbell’s words and the surrounding narrative.
This creative team has delivered their best installment yet with Shazam! #14. This issue has an emotional weight that feels uniquely Shazam in how it balances familial drama, superheroic levity, as well as the complications and dread that can come with getting so much power at only so young. It succeeds at putting fates in the balance by leaving us with a strong but bleak cliffhanger that puts all of Fawcett in jeopardy in a way that signals even more big changes as the series goes on. And as long as they deliver, we’ll most certainly be there for it.
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