do a little growing up, and stop living in the comic universe.

The art is the book’s best quality–a dubious honor at best. I think it would definitely benefit from a bold inking style, but I actually do think the designs are quality (for a comic aimed at pre-readers), even if they are derivative. But yeah, man, just looking at those pages makes me not want to read them. Soooo crowded. Story could be a lot better, but it’s really the dialogue and overall tone that really drag this book down along with the crowdedness of the art.

Reminds me of the debates about Owly (which I still love…and Shazam makes Owly look that much better) and Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed (about which I now absolutely see Joe’s point).

I admit that my bias probably comes from absolutely adoring the Captain Marvel line of comics in the 40s and 50s. The writers got to the story / action/ fantasy RIGHT AWAY. There weren’t pages spent explaining how Billy manages to live alone even though he is an orphan child–impersonating his own dead Dad to have meetings with teachers. Did Beavis and Butthead talk about why their parents weren’t around? Did the PowerPuff girls spend five minutes every episode with therapists discussing the trauma of having no fingers? A direct and unapologetic approach to fantasy would help any new Captain Marvel comic. Sam Henderson and Dean Haspiel’s Bizarro Comics Shazam story was closer to the right approach, I think, than any Captain Marvel comic since the 50s.

so sean, you are saying that the hep cats of today are lining up to buy shazam,
and that there are absolutely no adults buying this comic out of a sense of nostalgia?

That’s strange, I don’t think I said anything remotely like that.

Oh, I get your deal now. You’re not disagreeing with what I say so much as you’re pulling stuff out of your ass and disagreeing with that. Makes sense; I guess if you make up both sides of the argument, you can’t help but win.

At 37 I’m really not the target audience for “Billy Batson”, nor do I need to be. I didn’t like it, but it’s a first issue, maybe it’ll improve, maybe it won’t. (I read three issues of “Star Trek Year Four” before giving up on that junk.) “Improve” in this sense means “become more appealing to me” — it doesn’t mean it’s actually bad, just that I don’t like it. I hated Kyle Baker’s Plastic Man, too, tho from what I’ve seen I’m in a minority. Anyway, I found it to be a little hyperkinetic, overly styled and too sugary. Going by the review, Joe Rice didn’t like it. I think the vitriol about how and why he didn’t like it is misplaced, as are some of the more impassioned responses. Kudos to DC for trying something different again, anyway. Hope it works out for them. Most of their aimed-at-kids books are based on cartoons and designed to help sell action figures and DVDs, this is completely different from those.

then there is no helping you.

there is ‘evidence’ that you are having trouble understanding the basic concept that captain marvel isn’t popular with young ‘uns – you might be aware of the lack empire covers with shazam on them, then again you seem to be fairly unperceptive, so I don’t know.
there is a lot of ‘evidence’ that people agree that this comic is aimed at adults to give their young ‘uns, or at adults to recapture a false childhood.

“brian lockhart
July 3, 2008 at 3:25 pm

I’m 33. I’ve steered far clear of any of the DC or Marvel books aimed at younger readers. But something about this made me pick it up and I just might be hanging around for a while.”

“Rene
July 4, 2008 at 8:41 am

I would not be as harsh as SageShini, but I wonder why so many adults are so fascinated with a return to some uncomplicated, mythical childhood?

I can’t emphatize with it at all.

Is it people with a happy childhood wanting to recapture it? Or people with a painful childhood wanting to do a do-over? Or parents who like to get in tune with their kids?

I’m indifferent to kids, and I’m indifferent to this comic, I’m just intrigued by why such stuff strikes a chord with so many adults.”

I actually feel really sad that someone can’t grasp a basic concept like ‘shazam is aimed at adults’
its as simple as saying ‘rambo is aimed at men aged 18 – 30′
the fact that you are so misguided is scary.

there is not a kid on the planet today that would pick up a comic about a magic superman knockoff, which is how most people’d perceive the big red cheese – superman’s redheaded stepchild.
kids like ‘cool’.
apparently wolverine is ‘cool’.
batman is ‘cool’.

it makes total sense, unless you live in make believe world, sean.

I dare you to think rationally next time.

>A bogger is a typo that occurs when a prepubescent kid sets your spell check to the Urban Dictionary instead of the Oxford Dictionary, like he was asked to.

Huh. I just assumed it was some silly British slang — I mean, god love ‘em, but for some reason the entire nation seems to indulge in baby-talk, with people called Gaz (for Gary) & Moz (for Morrison) going on hollies (holidays). It’s downright pwecious, yes it is.

Bogger? What the hell is a bogger?

A bogger is a typo that occurs when a prepubescent kid sets your spell check to the Urban Dictionary instead of the Oxford Dictionary, like he was asked to.