Shazam! Vol. 1 (The New 52): Volume 1

Geoff Johns

Oct 2013 · DC

About this ebook

Young orphan Billy Batson has bounced from foster home to foster home, but he's far from the ideal child. Brash and rude, Billy is a troubled teen that just can't seem to find a calling. But after a fateful night on a subway car, that all will change. Brought to the feet of the magical wizard Shazam at the Rock of Eternity, Billy is imbued with powers beyond any mortal man. By shouting the wizard's name--Shazam!--the young teen is mystically transformed into the powerhouse known as Captain Marvel! Now given abilities that make him Earth's Mightiest Mortal at the utterance of a simple phrase, will Billy make the right choices and do what it takes to become a hero? Or will he succumb to the poor choices of youth--and the villainous Black Adam! Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, the team behind the New York Times #1 best-selling graphic novel BATMAN: EARTH ONE, unite to re-invent Captain Marvel as a part of DC Comics--The New 52. Collected here for the first time ever is the series of back-ups that ran in the pages of Johns' critically acclaimed JUSTICE LEAGUE. Collects the Shazam! stories that originally appeared in Justice League #7-11, #0 and #14-17.

Ratings and reviews

Love it. I find Shazam a very interesting character and abit of a break from the normally super serious dc character. I wish we would see more from Shazam, hes wasted potential right now for a guy as powerful as superman, but much more interesting there isn't much to read. hopefully after rebirth we get to see more from him and they dont turn him into a fully magic character. I personally love the blend of other worldly strength, durability, and magic. However this is a good start for the new 52 just a shame we didn't see anything else from this line. again DC comics this is wasted potential.

First of all, it is incredibly stupid to discard the captain marvel name in favor of the wizards. It makes the character a punch line, setting up way too many jokes and turning every issue into an episode of teen titans go. The jokes were lame when CM3 had to endure them but even worse for an adult such as CM. It also doesn't make sense to call himself shazam. Wouldn't Adam have also taken that name as well if that were the standard? there is a reason he calls Shazam the Wizard! Its the same reason naming himself Shazam makes no sense, and its certainly something that the knowledge of Solomon would preclude. Why is it most fans can figure this out instantly but DC cant? And the legal issue is non starter - we have all been smart enough to figure out who is who and why for a very long time. That didn't change so why mess with a legacy like CM? It just doesn't make any sense. One reason after another as to why this was a bad move come to mind; What about Mary and Freddie? We cant have Mary Marvel or CM Junior without a Captain Marvel!!! And again DC cant just pretend they never existed, the marvel family is a legacy and something we all will want back so unless they plan on calling her Mary Shazam and Shazam Junior as members of the shazam family, both of which are stupid, I don't see how they are going to fix this. Now with the movie there is a whole generation of kids thinking that his name is Shazam when anyone who read comics before new 52 which is the majority will always consider him to be CM, which will be more confusing than the legal issues with marvel. DC just cant seem to help screwing things up lately. First the debacle with Wally West, who has been the one and only flash for most readers, and active longer than Barry was the flash, they insisted on forcing Barry back down out throats despite no onw actually wanting him back. Then tossing 2/3 of the movie trinity, the only really great thing to come out of the JL movies was a Batman who actually looked acted and thought like Batman actually does in the comics and in cartoons. Finally I could watch a Batman and not only think about the differences and how prior actors were such poor choices, or a Kal-El that had the muscles and look of an actual Superman. The chemistry between the three of them was great and despite the humongous mistake of for some reason deleting Diana's ability to fly which shes been doing for a very long time now, the rest was great. The power of Shazam was a great title for the Marvel Family, I cant figure out why they made this blunder but it doesn't surprise me. After the blunder of what happened on the Kent farm, nothing they do will. Im done with them for a long while now. I cant take the disappointments anymore.

I miss old boy scout Billy, and wish the powers of Shazam was touched on especially his wisdom of Solomon. Which always explained how a kid could fight, and be more mature as an adult. But the art was nice, so there's that.

About the author

Geoff Johns is an award-winning writer and one of the most popular contemporary comic book writers today. Johns is the author of The New York Times bestselling graphic novels Aquaman: The Trench, Blackest Night, Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War, Justice League: Origin, Superman: Brainiac and Batman: Earth One which hit #1 on the bestseller list. He is also known for transforming Green Lantern into one of the most critically and commercially successful franchises in comics. Johns was born in Detroit and studied media arts, screenwriting, and film at Michigan State University. After moving to Los Angeles, he became an assistant to Richard Donner, director of Superman: The Movie. He and his mentor Donner later co-wrote Superman: Last Son featuring the return of General Zod. Johns has written for various other media, including episodes of Smallville, Arrow and Adult Swim's Robot Chicken, for which he was nominated along with his co-writers for an Emmy. He is the Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment and resides in Los Angeles, California.