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Thursday, February 22, 2007

REVIEW
SHAZAM: MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #1
DC Comics 2007

Wizard: "I am getting old, Billy Batson. It is time for me to pick a replacement."

Billy: "What do you mean, a replacement?"

Shazam Monster Society of Evil #1
Story and art: Jeff Smith
Colors: Steve Hamaker
Purchased $5.99 February 2007
DC Comics

A 48 page comic book for $5.99? And the mechanics of binding and production are screwed up? Thanks a lot, DC Comics! More on that later. But first some nice words about Jeff Smith's art and story:

Smith has penned a nicely done, evenly paced story with some moments of graceful, poetic art. His Billy Batson is an orphaned, homeless kid of indeterminate age who has a squalid home in an abandoned building. Befriended by a weathered and elderly homeless man who gives him money, Batson tries to live on the streets without the size or experience necessary to survive. Victimized by a street punk named Lagreen who starts this story off by kicking Billy unconscious while searching for cash, the tale then flashbacks to an earlier time of the day in which Batson followed a mysterious, shadowy stranger into an empty underground subway station.

If you're familiar with Captain Marvel, then you know what happens next. Jeff Smith presents this origin tale with a lot of frightfulness (at least from a kids point of view) and the quasi- science/occult trappings of Marvel's powers are mapped out slightly, particularly his suit and his muscles (drawn rather crudely) and Marvel's ability to fly and traverse time all the way back to the 'big bang' of creation.

Flashback over, Billy Batson is back in his room being assaulted by Lagreen, who doesn't realize what trouble he is in for when Batson mumbles "Shazam."

The majestic qualities of the time-traveling scenes and the psychedelic 'Rock of Eternity' are impressive and scary. Smith has real control over this simple tale, and he keeps the few elements making up the plot come together to tell a story straight-forwardly and without too much super hero posing and the usual baggage of modern comics (Smith sticks to a 6-panel grid for his pages. What's old is new!)

My criticisms about this comic are few. Captain Marvel is a heroic creature that bursts to life as an alternative being that is "hosted" by Billy Batson (After meeting up with "the wizard" Billy just has to say "Shazam!" to let Captain Marvel pop out). DC Comics really digs demon possession these days as a way to explain a multitude of superbeings with alter egos, from the current Spectre, to The Creeper, and now poor Billy. Maybe it is meant to be some goofy-screwball way of describing multiple personality disorder via superheroes, or maybe presenting human beings as gloves for a superbeing to try on represents a strange world view hijacked from H. P. Lovecraft, but altogether it completely contradicts the classic superhero/alter ego dynamic. Instead of the average guy suddenly able to unleash incredible powers to overcome whatever nemesis that plagues him personally or his society as a whole, instead we have exterior powerful beings that completely erase the average schmuck and steal his place, if only for a short time. DC Comics wants the reader to believe it's a good idea to be temporarily deleted in the fight to combat evil villains, but I have my doubts. Superheroes used to be called "control fantasies" for a reason, but this metaphysical device of identity-swap is the opposite of control.

But the major problem with the DC Comics Shazam, The Monster Society of Evil it doesn't lie with the story, art or colors. It lies with the production values. And that's a surprise because this title is published in the DC Comics "Prestige Format" with thicker covers and paper (with the spongy, silky smooth U.V. coating across the cover). The square-bound binding is so tight that it swallows up the inside margins of the pages, and quite uncomfortably hides a whole quarter-inch from the reader's eye. Who sized these pages to fit this format? Does DC Comics care that they've shoved part of Jeff Smith's art out of view of the reader? Or, for that matter, the pages simply are not centered for the eye to read - - there are white margins on the outside of the page, but the colors and ink disappears into the middle.

This is especially bad on the "center spread" of pages 16 and 17, where a long row of the idols that Billy Batson must walk past contains a figure (titled "hatred") which is missing a whole side of its head and part of a shoulder, because the artwork is glued out of sight into the binding. All that extra hype and money for a format that sabotages the artwork and story!

This is issue one of a four-part series.

DC Comics has a web page on the series here.

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