SHAZAM #3: If You Want to View Paradise, Simply Look Around and View It

Thus far, three issues into this series, the shape of Johns’ narrative is beginning to reveal itself. The Magiclands as they are slowly being established are both familiar and jarring at the same time. To reveal the Wildlands, for instance, a land of anthropomorphic animals, evokes a sense of Disney-esque beauty, but as you settle briefly into that, the response of feeding the humans to the tigers shocks you out of the familiar. I have a sneaking suspicion that once we are treated to the Monsterlands, we’ll find the same system in reverse, as the monsters are also unfamiliar to their archetypes and have been sealed away, not out of a sense of danger, but to prevent them from setting things right.

Eaglesham’s art, as I mentioned in the review for #1, has aged so incredibly well. He continues to bridge the gap between his earlier works and the contemporary showing an incredible amount of growth while still maintaining the style that made him an industry icon in the first place. The interlude of King Kid’s partial (and probably mostly made-up) origin story features the stunning art of Sen Naito (see below) which simultaneously is another jarring (but welcome) break between story and “reality”. It has a storybook quality to it that exacerbates the incredulity of the tale.