In the final Chronicles of Shazam for 2020, I’m going to spill digital ink about something has a total running time of three minutes and forty nine seconds. Why am I doing an entire article on this? Well, in part because it’s one of the best adaptations of Shazam we’ve ever seen, and also because today is its last day on the DC Universe app before disappearing, possibly heading to HBO Max, possibly just floating away in the ether. So, let’s take a few hundred words to celebrate the DC Nation Shorts: Shazam!
The DC Nation Shorts were aired between episodes of Cartoon Network series a number of years ago, and they’re incredibly fun glimpses into different corners of the DC Universe. I would take the half-hour or so you would need to watch all of them and check them out today. They’re great for a lot of reasons, but the Shazam ones in particular are a treat.
The first episode, titled “Courage,” sees Billy Batson transforming into Captain Marvel in order to see an R-rated movie which, of course, winds up scaring the hell out of him. He is so shook that when he needs to transform into Captain Marvel, he can’t even muster the courage to say his magic word, and a lot of humor is milked out of the half-transformations that happen when he can’t quite get both syllables correct.
The second, “Wisdom,” sees Billy trying to solve a word problem in math class, and decamps to the Elders to consult Solomon. This is a clear homage to the Shazam series from the 70s, replete with twinkling effect over the Elders’ heads. Unlike when I first saw this, I now got the joke, and chuckled heartily.
The third, and final, episode, “Stamina” involves a staring contest between Mr. Mind’s champion of choice and Captain Marvel. All of these being focused on one particular attribute that Marvel was granted by the gods leads me to believe they initially wanted to make six of these but got shut down. Or, who knows, maybe they just don’t like Mercury, Zeus, or Hercules.
In this short time span, we get a nice cross section of supporting characters, including Tawky Tawny, and a real sense for what the character is like, specifically in the post-Crisis status quo where Captain Marvel always has Billy Batson’s mind. The wish-fulfillment angle is highlighted, as is the sense of fun and silliness that the best Shazam stories have.
Fare thee well, DC Nation Shorts: Shazam, and fare thee well 2020.
