Shazam #13 – Geoff Johns, Writer; Dale Eaglesham, Artist; Michael Atiyeh, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: Things took a turn for the dark in the Shazam family reunion when it was revealed last issue—a long time ago—that Billy’s father had been possessed by Mister Mind and his entire reunion was nothing more than a scheme to become the seventh champion. Now, with the villains released and representatives of the seven Magiclands attacking, their master plan is revealed—to destroy the gates and open all the magic into the humanlands. Dale Eaglesham is clearly having a great time with this issue, as he gets to fuse genres ranging from giant robots to ghastly monsters to Wizard of Oz characters in one chaotic battle scene. Most of the Shazam family has very little to do, mostly relegated to fighting these monsters, but that’s because this is Billy’s story on almost every level, as he’s forced to confront his painful past and overcome it to save the power of Shazam from his mistakes.
We all know the most painful scene of the movie was Billy’s screwed-up reunion with his mother, but Johns tries to top that this issue with the reveal of what kind of person Billy’s father really was. He never speaks—he’s possessed by Mr. Mind the whole time—but the flashbacks make it pretty clear that Billy isn’t getting the reunion he wants. Couple that with the Vasquez family being endangered, and the choice Billy makes at the end of the issue makes sense. We know Johns’ run is coming to an end here soon, but there is a lot of story still to be told here. Superboy Prime is just around the corner, and it’s hard to see how Johns gets enough pages to deliver a full conclusion. Maybe there’s some OGNs coming to finish out the run down the line? One thing’s for sure, it’s been great to have this creative team reunited and Eaglesham is the perfect artist for this epic magical finale.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
