In what has been a really nice change of pace from the shitshow that was “Countdown,” we are back with the first arc of the lovely all-ages title “Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam.” This week, we are focusing on the four issues that were written and illustrated by Mike Kunkel, so let’s dig in!
Written, illustrated, and colored by Mike KunkelCover by Mike Kunkel
Lettered by Steve Wands14-year-old Theo Adam has been returned to Earth from banishment, but there’s just one problem: he can’t remember the magic word that gives him the powers of Black Adam. There’s only one solution: follow Captain Marvel and get the word out of his alter ego, 11-year-old Billy Batson!
One thing that is constant in Marvel-family reboots is change. There are always slight adjustments to the origin, the ages, what exactly WHIZ is in this time period, etc. “Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam” establishes Billy as Mary’s older brother, unlike the twins they are sometimes presented as. They are living alone, with Captain Marvel posting as Mr. Batson, and are new to the Fawcett City school district. As this is an all-ages book, there is ample attention put on their schooling and their sibling relationship, and all of it is really fun.
The big difference in this version is the age of Black Adam, who is a 14 year old, compared to Billy’s 11. This makes their antagonistic relationship make a ton more sense. This interpretation takes a lot of the nuance out of Adam’s characterization, but I’m not exactly sure how you make a dictator of a country have sympathies in a book aimed at kids. But there is a lot to like in the Billy/Adam relationship here, and having Mary as an even younger kid works, too. I’m a little bummed at the #MaryErasure that making her significantly younger does, especially as “The Power of Shazam” established her, in many ways, as the better Captain Marvel, but I understand what the book is trying to do.
As I mentioned earlier, these four issue were written and illustrated by Mike Kunkel, who gives the book a really fun visual look and feel. His Captain Marvel and Black Adam are lager than life, with bodies more like Flex Mentallo than Zachary Levi, but it adds to the magical tone quite nicely and gives a real distinction between the world of them as kids and as champions of magic. Kunkel does equally impressive work with the characters as kids. Adam’s smarm drips off of him, and Billy and Mary have the most innocent eyes this side of Peppa Pig.
His action is bombastic but never scary, which distinguishes it from, say, the Shazam film, which has a few truly terrifying moments. Kunkel also finds a way to make the Seven Enemies of Man Deadly Sins Evils look gross but not too terrifying. Visually, these issues land somewhere between the “Aww Yeah Comics” style of future “Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam” co-writers Art Baltazar and Franco and some of DC’s all-ages OGNs. Kunkel also adds in some fun word puzzles with a code for kids to do.
Reading this arc is a reminder of just how poorly DC has handled this property over the past 50 years. Captain Marvel is literally a child’s dream come true, and this arc shows just how easily that can be adapted into a book for kids of Billy and Mary’s age. The fact that there hasn’t been a Shazam ongoing hit #25 since the 90s is a crime. I wish that Kunkel was on this book for longer, but I’m also excited to see what the other creators bring to this title.
