Demotion: Early Curse of Shazam Art, Teasers

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A couple months ago, DC Comics announced that Geoff Johns and Gary Frank would be putting together a reboot of Captain Marvel as a backup feature in Justice League starting in issue 7 in March. Which, as an old school Captain Marvel fan dating back to that horrible CBS TV show back in the mid-70s, this was exciting news… provided the thing actually got done in time. After all, this is the same team that announced the Batman: Earth One original graphic novel… more than two years ago (Although to be fair, it is supposedly pretty much done and will be released sometime soon).

But the good news is that it looks like the work is coming in on schedule, because Newsarama scored some uncolored and unlettered pages from the first ten-page installment:

The one thing that those pages don’t have is any images of Captain Marvel (The image at the top of this article is of a statue Gary Frank designed a few years ago just as a taste for what might be coming), or of his new costume – what, you thought after changing every costume in the DC Universe in the New 52 that they’d stop with Captain Marvel?

Both Geoff and I were keen that our costume should look different to the rest of the Justice League’s costumes since it comes from a different place,” the artist said, noting the magic-based origin story behind Shazam. “We’re still ironing it out but, whereas the other costumes feel very modern and cool, ours needs to feel timeless and, hopefully, cool. We are dealing with magic rather than tailoring, so this has to be in there somehow.

So what are we gonna be looking at storywise, Geoff?

Well, the core of the character, obviously, is surrogate family. I mean, it’s easy. That’s what he’s all about. The same with wish fulfillment. And tied into his wish fulfillment, even if he won’t admit it, is a surrogate family.

But it’s making the best of every situation you’re in. I think it’s something that’s at the core. That’s what Billy Batson, that’s what Shazam really allows him to do, is you’ve got to make the best of the situation that you’re in.

Yes. Because if there has even been a situation which would require you to make some lemonade, it would be having incredible, Superman-level superpowers bestowed upon you. Particularly when you are a child, it must require an almost Little Orphan Annie level of retarded optimism to suddenly be in a position where you can buy beer.

Oh well, I’m just glad we’ve got our old Captain Marvel back. Right, Geoff?

Yeah, we’re going to call him Shazam.

Excuse me?

Well, there are a lot of reasons for the change. One is that everybody thinks he’s called Shazam already, outside of comics. It’s also, for all sorts of reasons, calling him Shazam just made sense for us. And, you know, every comic book he’s in right now has Shazam on the cover. So I think just by embracing that and calling him Shazam.

Actually, that kind of sucks. I always liked the name Captain Marvel, and not just because of nostalgia, although that’s a piece of it. “Captain Marvel” always felt like the kind of name that a kid would pick for himself as a superhero. At least he would back in 1939. Today, an eight-year-old would probably name himself “Captain Awesome.” Then again, that kid looks more like he’s twelve, which meas he would probably name himself “Captain Penis.”