CBR Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil

Here's a new comic review!

This time it's about one of my favorite "Golden Age" super heroes, The Big Red Cheese himself!

Comic title: Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil
Art and story by Jeff Smith

Published by DC Comics
From 2007
Lineup Captain Marvel
Format: Trade paperback containing Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil issues #1-4

Captain Marvel's always been a fan favorite classic comic book character...
Even if DC fans don't usually know him as much as Superman or Batman, this golden age character has come a long way since he starred in his own book at Whiz Comics to now at DC Comics...
He was created only a year after Superman and Batman (both from 1939) and was the first to have a movie adaptation long before the others in 1941!

But his place in the DCUniverse's never been well defined and the mainstream audience either isn't interested in him anymore, or simply don't know him...
So how did this revamp of the 2000s come out like?...
Let's dig in~

SHAZAM! One magical word and young Billy turns into the World's Mightiest Mortal!

Our story begins with young Billy Batson. Billy is an orphan who lives in the street in Fawcett City.
He always has problems finding either money or food... lives in an a abandoned apartment.. is always picked on in the streets by thugs...

But one day everything changed.
After meeting a magical creature, Mister Tawky Tawny and the Wizard Shazam, and using a magical train to a place called the Rock of Eternity, Billy has now the power of the gods and can turn into the World's Mightiest Mortal!
Captain Marvel uses the word SHAZAM which grants him: S for the wisdom of Solomon, H for the strength of Hercules, A for the stamina of Atlas, Z for the power of Zeus, A for the courage of Achilles and M for the speed of Mercury.

It's basically a magic fun twist on Superman.
A little kid turns into a superhero, a magic-version of Superman (the real Superman being a bit defenseless against magic)

Enters the big red cheese~

Billy is chosen by the wizard Shazam because of a great magical disturbance in the magic.
In fact, the evil corporate Dr. Sivana has made an alliance with an alien creature called Mister Mind. Mister Mind plans to invade our plan of existance and conquer the universe with help from his Monster Society of Evil!

And along the way Billy discovers he has a little sister, Mary, he never heard of...

Billy fights off creatures, tries to defeat Mister Mind and his armies and machines...
Mary turns into Mary Marvel thanks to a magical twist~
Whizz Station (named after the orginal comic book publisher) tries to uncover the truth...
And Sivana escapes to fight another day...
(do not worry, I didn't spoil all the plot and details)

Well... this doesn't exactly happen in the book, but it's close! Sivana always escapes at the end~

It's your usual origin story.
And I'm sure written or drawn by any other person, it would have been your generic super hero comic book story...
But it is not!

It was done by the very talented Jeff Smith, which I consider to be one of the greatest artists/writers of this generation! (nonetheless!)
The art is adorable, fun and bright! Captain Marvel looks exactly as he should! The evil characters are pure evil...
It's cartoony and quite dynamic!
The story itself pays a lot of reference to the classic Captain Marvel stories. There's a lot of attention to the details (the seven evils of men, the rock of eternity, Tawky Tawny..).
Smith knows his "Shazam" and uses his knowledge to retell a classic tale.

In the end it's a great retelling, set in a more modern background (Sivana's situation and administration).
It sets Captain Marvel's background and establishes a whole "family" (the "Shazam-family").

Overall, it's a great book!
A recommended read, be you a fan of Shazam! or not!

It was, personally, my doorway into the Shazam comics.
I really like the story, the art, everything! I sets the tone of this franchise...
It's pure entertainment! And in an era of grim, gritty, realistic and violent books, it's a great fresh breath of air~

For the little story:
-There's an on-going detail about Shazam! comics. Mister Mind and his Monster Society use a secret language, a "code" if you will. In issues (and the hardcover collection) you could try understanding and translating "The Secret Code of the Monster Society" to read a special message once you collected the 4 issues. It was used in old classic Captain Marvel comics as well as some recent ones.
-All of Captain Marvel comics uses the word Shazam! on the cover instead of the character's name. It is because of an agreement DC and Marvel had long ago. Both have a character called "Captain Marvel". (though I'm personally not a big fan of Marvel's Marvel) Marvel was allowed to use that name in the title since the company's named Marvel as well, while DC would only uses Shazam! for their comics.

It's a great book! Probably my favorite one about Billy Batson & the power of Shazam! (that's a reference right there!)
I might review some others if you liked this one~
Anyway, check it out!

I give it:

  2,5 / 3 Plastic-trophies!