Well, this is it: the finale of “The Power of Shazam.” There are still more Captain Marvel moments we’ll get to in future weeks, but let’s dig into the finale six issues of “The Power of Shazam.” But first…a brief detour to “DC One Million.”
Written by Jerry Ordway, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and Michael Jan FriedmanCover by Jerry Ordway
Penciled by Jerry Ordway, Val Semeiks, and Josh Hood
Inked by Dick Girodano, Prentis Rollins, and Jose Marzan Jr
Colored by Glenn Whitmore, Pat Garrahy, Tom McCraw, and Jerry Ordway
Lettered by John Costanza, Kenny Lopez, Gaspar[Solicit text for #41]Chain Lightning returns to Fawcett City to exact revenge on Captain Marvel Junior–only to set in motion events that will leave the three Marvels in critical condition and without the famous Powers of Shazam!
The events of “DC One Million” add up to one of the best events in DC history, but there really isn’t too much Captain Marvel in there. The tie-in issue, shockingly titled “The Power of Shazam” #1,000,000, features a thousands-years old Billy, still at the Rock of Eternity, awoken by people who accessed the Rock through the underground of Mercury. Billy has clearly been asleep for many years, and was quite confused about a lot of aspects.
But I really like this take on Billy. It shows that, unlike so many other heroes, he may not receive his happy ending, though this isn’t exactly a tragic one, either. It also connects nicely to the “Powers of Shazam” Annual #1, where we see Billy, yet again, training a new protege. I’ll talk more about “DC One Million” in the Stray Observations, but the real meat of this column is going to be the final arc of “The Power of Shazam.”
After Peter Krause left the title, there was only one person who really could have finished up the run, and that is Jerry Ordway himself, who returns to pencils for the first regular issue since the original graphic novel that launched the series. And, as much as I prefer Krause’s pencils on this book, it feels right for Ordway to be the one to close the book.
And close the book he does. Just about every character from the first 41 issues gets a moment here, big or small, and it leaves all the characters in good palces going forward. The character it does the most interesting work with is someone who has been gone for a very long time, and that is Black Adam. Black Adam makes a case that he, the god, did not kill the Batsons, but rather Teth Adam, the man did. This gets him released from prison when he shows a different set of fingerprints belong to him before and after transformation.
But this sets up Black Adam from the role he’s more or less occupied ever since, which is not exactly villainous. Sure, he’s a prick at times, but he’s always trying to do what is right, or at least his version of what is right. The conclusion also leaves Mary, Billy, and Freddie in places where they could pretty much do anything. It seems like DC didn’t have too many plans for any of these characters, as its not like they all joined teams, or had new series launched right away.
In that way, this ending feels more definite than most series-ending arcs, because we know there’s some truth to the ending. This isn’t as simple as ‘wait until next year for the big relaunch,’ and while we may not have known that with such certainty in 1999, it seems fairly obvious, no?
This arc also connects Freddie’s New York adventures with Chain Lightning, and sets up a Freddie/Mary romance that, in light of the Geoff Johns reboot, seems pretty creepy. But more than anything else, these final six issues complete a story that, with very few exceptions, is totally contained within these pages. It feels like a rich, complete work and, while I wish it were longer, is a pretty wonderful example of what a comic series, more or less left alone, can achieve in a shared universe.
Continued belowStray Observations:
– I wonder why Billy is forced to make his new recruit in the future say “Captain Marvel” and not “Shazam.” Is the Wizard still a god thousands of years from now?
– “DC One Million,” especially when read today with what is happening in “Justice League,” and especially if you’ve read “All-Star Superman,” is just so great. Man, this is a great event that I hope to get to read all of sometime soon (I just read the main miniseries, the “Power of Shazam” tie-in, and “The Flash” tie-in, which features the Captains Marvel.
– I’m going to present three panels, more or less without too much commentary, just captions. Here we go:
– If DC ever did continuations of past runs that aren’t in continuity anymore, I’d love to catch up with some of the weirder characters here. But, alas, that ain’t happening.
Next week: A combo of two events that I thought would have more Marvel action in them: “Day of Judgment” and “Sins of Youth!”
