Retro Review: Shazam! Origins
As I was preparing for the movie version of Shazam to come out, I came across Shazam! Origins, the retelling of the New 52 Shazam’s introduction to DC during that relaunch. No better way to than to relearn about the character.
Words: Geoff Johns
Pictures: Gary Frank
Publisher: DC Comics
That said, this was a good introduction to Billy Bastion and the “Marvel Family”. At the time of the book, Shazam was known as Captain Marvel; once Marvel announced the movie for their Captain Marvel, DC changed his name to Shazam.
Right up front, New 52 killed my DC reading for a while. They drastically changed most of my favorite characters — Red Robin, Superboy, Impulse/Kid Flash — and I didn’t like that they eliminated years of stories. At the time, the only DC book I continued to read was Batman for Year Zero stuff.
Billy Bastion is a troubled child in the foster care system. He’s been in and out of families and is counting down to his 18th birthday. Enter the Vazquez’s, a couple that has a few other foster children in their house. Billy is rude and really doesn’t want to be part of the family, even though he sticks up for them against the school rich kid bullies. Billy makes his way to the subway, where he is summons by the Wizard Shazam, who’s looking for a new champion; the Wizard is looking for the perfect person to bring magic back into the land and stop the recently awakened Black Adam. Billy informs the Wizard no one is perfect in this society, so Billy gets the powers of Shazam and becomes a magic version of Superman.
Billy shows foster brother Freddie his new powers and they decide to test them out, buy some beer, and get into a little mischief. They end up meeting Dr. Sivana, the villain of the movie who is trying to use magic to save his family (from what, the book never says) and resurrects Black Adam, the dark version of Shazam. Shazam and Black Adam battle and Shazam relies on this foster siblings to help save the day. At the time in the comics, they were the Marvel Family (Captain Marvel Jr, Mary Marvel, Eugene, Pedro, Darla).
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I know there are some differences. Black Adam is probably limited to a cameo, if that; we know Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been tied to the character for years. The Marvel Family is probably not present since DC has distanced themselves from the Captain Marvel name (even though Billy has used the name since 1939).
The story was originally published as back up stories in Justice League comics during the launch of the New 52 in 2011. Johns did a good job of re-introducing Shazam to the new universe of DC characters; while he did take some liberties (making Billy a troubled child), he made him fit more into that universe, where the characters are a little darker (was the New 52 a precursor to the DCEU?). It was also refreshing for character change because he’s less like Superman, the poster child for the “boy scout”. The changes show how Johns can update the story of existing characters to fit modern culture.
Johns also created an interesting backstory for Black Adam and the history of Magic; unfortunately, I don’t know how much was created by him and how much was pre-New 52. Adam is centuries old and was given the powers, along with his nephew, to free his people. Rather than showing mercy to their slavers like his nephew, Adam killed them. It’s told in an ambiguous way, so you don’t actually know if Black Adam is the uncle or the nephew until the plot needs to tell you.
Frank’s art is breathtaking. He’s a guy who’s tone matches what Johns did in the story, which is probably why they have worked together frequently over the years. Frank’s characters look unique and you can tell them apart easily (a pet peeve of mine; I don’t like trying to figure out who is on panel).
I’d recommend this for people who are interested in learning more about the character before watching the movie; it’s a good, basic introduction to the character that’s well written and drawn.
