Shazam! #7: Some Captain You Are!

Shazam! #7 is the introduction to the next story arc for this new ongoing series. Although Dan Mora provides an excellent cover, artist Goran Sudzuka takes over the interiors, delivering art that feels very inspired by Shazam’s Golden Age roots as Captain Marvel. This story arc picks up a lot of threads from the previous one, although the editors smartly plot footnotes where a lot of added context is needed. The meat of the story is split up a lot like traditional ’80s comics, where there is an A and B plot. The A plot sees Shazam, now going by The Captain, trying to prevent Black Adam from annihilating a group of alien T-Rex bureaucrats whereas the B plot has Billy’s foster family buying a new house. As with all great comic stories, these plots are infinitely intertwined while an overarching story looms in the background.

Mark Waid has been at the top of his game for longer than most new readers have been alive, and he is not slowing down with Shazam. This issue makes it clear that Waid went into this series with a concrete plan and he knows exactly what kind of story he wants to tell. In the first arc, the plotline with the T-Rex seemed like just a fun background gag, but Waid brings it back here in a way that pays everything off immensely. This all is a great workaround to showcase why Black Adam is going to be fighting The Captain anyways. For those not up to date on their Black Adam lore, he is now more of an antihero than the supervillain he was previously. Of course this makes it hard for there to be a clear line for these two to begin a fight. Needless to say, the way this issue plays out is testament to the skills, capabilities, and professionalism of Waid as a writer.

Goran Sudzuka takes over the art duties here which is bound to upset fans who have been spoiled by the talent of Dan Mora. To play devil’s advocate here, this is a win-win for fans and readers of this series. One the one hand, Mora still provides his art for the cover, which looks as beautiful as everything else he draws. On the other hand, Sudzuka’s art is pretty good. Yes, it is not the same style as Mora by any stretch of the means; however, Sudzuka perfectly captures the tonal feel of the series while also harkening it back to the Golden Age origins of the character. Credit is also due to the colorist for this issue, Ive Svorcina, who mimics that same prowess to fully embrace that style. From a story perspective, all of this plays really well into the overarching plot thread that sees The Captain persona splitting from Billy Batson ever so slightly as the issues go on. Having that Golden Age style reinforces that idea in a very subtextual way, allowing readers to pick up on more and more behind the scenes.

Rounding out the creative team is Troy Peteri on letters. Peteri does an excellent job in enhancing the reading experience of Shazam! #7 by giving each of the speech bubbles an expressive flair to highlight their tone, accent, or speech inflections. This immediately makes the T-Rex’s read in a completely different way than The Captain and also highlights the differences in The Captain’s speech and Billy’s. All of this makes this series so easy to read, giving the characters unique voices through style and placement alone.