Shazam! #18 – Josie Campbell, Writer; Dan McDaid, Artist; Roberto Poggi, Inker; Trish Mulvihill, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Josie Campbell’s run has been taking a darker turn since the start of the All In era, and it’s all built to this – a no-holds-barred issue with high stakes. Ever since getting his powers back via the Amber Lightning, Freddy Freeman has been…different. The light-hearted kid hero has been replaced with an increasingly grim, showboating hero, and now he seems to have turned entirely – working for a shady corporate overlord to clean out the homeless from Fawcett City and even turning on the family’s own “Uncle Marvel”. The Captain tries his best to fend off his twisted former sidekick, but the Amber Lightning seems to have some edge on the power of Shazam, and the Captain nearly gets beaten to death – leaving his fate in the hands of Beau, the new girl who had no idea what she was getting herself into when she gave Billy and Freddy a ride at the start of this arc.
One of the best moments of this issue is a conversation in the Rock of Eternity between Billy and the Captain. These two have been increasingly at odds since they wound up sort of…separating, becoming more like two people sharing a body. But this issue makes clear that there’s still a common link between them and they’re going to be working together for a long time – if they survive till then. And that’s the same concern for Mary, whose plot is sort of distanced from the rest but no less exciting. She’s up against Sivana’s mad daughter – who has teamed up with just about every other major villain Shazam has faced so far. The ending of the issue reveals what might be the real mastermind – and this is going to be a crowd-pleaser. Finding the right tone for a Shazam series has been a problem for just about everyone who took on the character in recent years, but this one is at least wildly unpredictable and exciting.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
