savijmuhdrox wrote:Wow. As much as I just haven't enjoyed a lot of what DC has been doing recently.. that Captain Marvel/Shazam preview was downright... decent.
I don't want to get into a back and forth regarding something that is obviously your opinion, because I'm happy anyone can find some enjoyment out of the mess that is the Nu52. However, I would just like to address your points, and either agree or offer counterpoints.
The artwork is good, the flow and dynamic of the action is good... and this is something numerous titles are missing.
This I can agree with. Like I said, Frank gives us glimpes of the actual Captain Marvel at times, everything flows well, even if I don't like a lot of the character designs.
As for the portrayal of the character? I can only think.. hey.. he's a kid.. you can't expect him to be this goody two shoes.. All complaints about this character being replaced with some brat are expecting something that kinda makes no sense.. and after reading this preview, there's defnlee a sense of foreboding redemption about the boy.. i think the writers are putting forth effort and thought into this new book..
This is my major point of disagreement with you. Yeah, Billy's a 12 year old kid. So? Kids are tougher, smarter and more resilient than a lot of people give them credit. Does every kid that's ever suffered a tragedy turn out to be a self-centered brat? No, that's not how it works. Whenever someone faces a tragedy, they usually either become embittered by that tragedy, or they gain empathy for people because of that suffering. It's why you see kids who have lost loved ones reach out to other kids in similar situations, why victims of abuse often help start charitable organizations to coutner abuse, and sometimes work as councilers for people with similar problems.
Billy Batson was suppose to be the kid that suffered, but through suffering gained empathy for people around him and refused to let the world get him down. He was suppose to be a well adjusted kid that had the inner strength not to let the world turn him bitter. In short, he was a 12 year old version of the Steve Rogers we saw in "Captain America: The First Avenger", but with a bit more of a sense of humor. He was suppose to be someone optimistic and who we could clearly see as being worthy of wielding the power of the gods.
This kid? This kid is just every other sterotype about a kid of suffered a tragedy and become darker and bitter because of it, but the goodness is still there so he can be an edgy jerk with a heart of gold. It'd actually be less cliche at this point for Billy to still be a decent kid at this point than for them to go this route.
Let's compare Billy to, say, Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. They're both about the same age, both suffered tremendous losses, and both have been given great abilities and even greater responsibilities, and both of them could not be more different in terms of portrayal. And the thing is, Aang lost his entire civilization, everyone he ever knew and loved, and had an entire country trying to kill him, and he STILL held on to his noble and kind hearted attitude, rather than becoming some emo punktard that makes little girls cry and claims that no one understands his pain. And you can't say "Well, Avatar is a kid's show", because it's a shwo that included the concept of genocide and a father who scarred his own son's face while saying "You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher". Shows like Avatar and Gargoyles handle their characters and stories with more care and nuance than stuff like this anyday.
So no, I don't buy into the notion that this Billy Batson is more of a real character than the previous one. All they've done is turn one of the few unapologetically optimistic, idealistic and well-adjusted heroes out there, and turned him into another angst driven teenager with issues. But I'm not surprised, they did it to Blue Beetle, why not do it to Billy Batson as well.
The name change and history? hmmm.. that does seem odd and unnecessary.. but heck.. the wizard died.. he possibly just didn't have time to get into it, being that he was about to go all Obi-Wan on the kid.. they can get to this stuff later..
I can understand the logic behind changing Cap to Shazam, given the legal issues of putting the name Captain Marvel on products. It doesn't make the idea any less stupid tho, since the character has had more exposure in animated series and video games in the last 10 years than he has in the comics, and in all of them he was refered to as Captain Marvel, not Shazam, so all they've done is needlessly complicate things. For that matter, kids are smarter than people think. They can recognize the difference between a franchise and a character's name. It doesn't take a kid long to realize that the series might be Legend of Zelda or Metroid, but the heroes are Link and Samus respectively.
It's just a lazy way to divorce Cap from most of his classic mythos and go for the most simple, bare bones explanation for his abilities. The Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles and Speed of Mercury are gone, replaced with him having the power of The Living Lightning and the ability to cast spells. They've basically just turned him into a kid version of Dr. Fate with a Hood.
and the costume.. okay.. the upper body lines and stuff? myeh.. that doesn't work for me either.. a little too inspired by everyone upgrading to 'armor' these days..
Agreed.
but overall, that preview almost encourages me to give it a shot (heck, maybe thats all it was designed to do, and the rest of the comic is black and white).. at the very least, this seems like a book thats being given more of a polish them some of the others out there.. I can only take so much of Suicide Squad right now before i give up.. so perhaps i will replace it with this.. and if it gets crappy, i'll be sure to let 'teh internets' know.
By all means, check it out, and if you like it, well, like I said, more power to you. For my part tho, it feels just so very bland and safe. It's obvious they're going to use Black Adam as a wake up call of "Hey, Billy, this could be you if you don't straighten up", and they've made it clear they're going to go with the "Your real power is your family" and "Family is who sticks with you when things are rough", morals, which wouldn't be so bad if they weren't being even more blatant about it than a Disney Movie. I keep expecting to hear about how "Ohana means family" as this story continues.
In short, I feel like someone who use to enjoy classic Star Trek, Next Generation and Deep Space Nine being forced to endure Voyager and Enterprise. Or to be even more clear, a Transformers fan having to watch the Michael Bay films.
