Knight Terrors: Shazam! #2 – Mark Waid, Writer; Roger Cruz, Penciller; Wellington Dias, Inker, Arif Prianto, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The first issue of this spin-off from Mark Waid’s four-issue Shazam mini had one big thing going for it—it captured the vibe of a nightmare better than any other tie-in. As Mary struggled with sleep deprivation and saw herself stalked by a sadistic, overpowered hybrid of Black Adam and Billy Batson, she found herself slipping in and out of dreams, never quite sure what was real and what wasn’t. And as “The Captain” stalked her and murdered her family in front of her, she was starting to slip into madness herself. But as she finds herself at the start of the issue, she’s able to start fighting back and use her wisdom to determine fact from fiction—but she’s not the only one caught in a nightmare, and her next challenge will be to help her family members break out of their own nightmares one by one. Given how little focus the various members of the Shazamily seem to get, this is a great plot device.
Some of the nightmares are surprisingly affecting, particularly Darla’s fear of being surrounded by larger, more powerful people who can overpower her at any time. This is probably the best segment of the issue. On the other hand, many of the others just feel like comic relief—particularly Pedro’s fear of being pantsless in front of an audience or Freddy’s fear of having… a tiny head? Things take a swing up when the whole family is able to unite and face off against the Captain, sending him back to where he came from—or do they? There’s an eerie ambiguity to the issue that finds Mary waking up only to discover the nightmare isn’t over, and it indicates that the Captain may not be a simple creation of nightmares. Does this tie into the rogue Gods in the main Shazam series, trying to corrupt Billy? With only two issues to go, we’ll find out soon, but it seems like this mini might be essential to the main story.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
