Shazam! #12 – Josie Campbell, Writer; Emanuela Lupacchino, Mike Norton, Artists; Trish Mulvihill, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Both Mark Waid and now Josie Campbell have done an excellent job with this series in balancing the high-stakes magical adventures with the very human daily traumas and struggles of foster kids—including, for many, the complex legacy of their birth parent. Now, Billy’s chance to be adopted into the Vasquez family may have gone up in smoke—because his birth mother wants him back. Flashbacks did not paint the most flattering picture of her, but she seems desperate for a second chance—which, unsurprisingly, has sent Billy into a spiral. This is complicated by the fact that The Captain is acting more and more independently of Billy, and has even been trying to protect him by keeping the truth about his mother from him. This calls back to the earliest incarnation of the character, but while the Captain definitely seems to mean well, he seems almost distanced from humanity.
While Billy goes to see his mother—who now lives in a nice home, and not alone—Freddy and Mary tag along for moral support. Meanwhile, Pedro, Eugene, and Darla get pulled into a magic adventure with Hoppy and The Captain, as it seems the magic is deeply unstable and starting to bleed out into the real world. It seems like it’s tied heavily to Billy’s state of mind, which explains why The Captain had been trying so hard to keep things from him. And when things go south, they go south in a big way. The end of the issue turns into a huge-scale magical adventure, with Billy making a surprising sacrifice that leaves a big mystery for next issue. Overall, this series is an absolute blast, even if both writing teams struggled a bit with balancing what’s a huge cast filled with intriguing characters. Here’s hoping that Campbell gets to continue building on everything that’s been set up here.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
