XIVZN LU GSV XLNRXH – 2/7/2007

Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #1 (of 4)
story and art by Jeff Smith

What’s that? Can’t read the title of the post? Well, thank God you’ve got your handy dandy Secret Decoder! What’s that? You don’t? Oh. Well, thank God I’ve got a spare!

This is the kind of effort that Jeff Smith (known for his career-defining work on Bone) is putting into this book. He’s been providing regular updates on his blog, using the code-speak as an added treat, and he says it’ll even be handy when you’re actually reading the book. For example, take a quick glance HERE, and see not only his mindset about putting Talking Tawny in the book, but also the process of creating the art for the page. And hell, you even get another chance to use the decoder. Interested? Don’t even know who Captain Marvel is? Want some preview pages? Well, read on for more!

For those of you unfamiliar with the character, young Billy Batson turns into the full-grown, super-powered hero Captain Marvel when he shouts the magic word, “SHAZAM!” Each letter stands for a different trait he receives: S for the wisdom of Solomon, H for the strength of Hercules, A for the stamina of Atlas, Z for the power of Zeus, A for the courage of Achilles, and M for the speed of Mercury. The awesome thing is, though, Billy Batson is just a kid. Who hasn’t, as a kid, wished they could suddenly be full grown, let alone a superhero? Wish fulfillment at its finest. Eventually though, because his sales blew Superman’s out of the water, DC sued for copyright infringement, and won. The character vanished for over a decade, until DC first licensed it, and then outright bought it.

In today’s comics, many writers struggle with the character because they don’t seem to know what to do with a kid who turns into an adult, and who also has a talking tiger in his supporting cast. But Jeff Smith has thrown himself headfirst into this project with a passion, and he’s even taking his notes from the original 1940’s comics for his source material. The original “Monster Society of Evil” story ran for two and a half years, an unheard of feat for the time, though it’s a little hard to get a hold of today. Smith describes it as, “very fun. It’s full off secret codes, and you have to use a decoder ring, and there are lots of monsters. Although, it’s kind of corny and silly by today’s standards. But it was something that I could kind of base my story around.”

It’s clear that the man is devoting the full scope of his abilities to creating an awesome Captain Marvel story, one rich with history and fun. For some closing thoughts, I figure it’s best to (once again) quote him from his Newsarama interview (with preview pages mirrored below):

Captain Marvel really hadn’t gone through all the grim and gritty changes that every other character had. Well, at least he hadn’t [laughs] when I took the job. That character is kind of pure Americana comic book. He was the most popular superhero in the ’40s. Blew the doors off Superman — everybody. And this character, to me, still is connected to that Golden era of comic books. So that was interesting to me, to go and take a look at that guy. … It is kind of a comment on grim and grittiness. I like it that he’s still kind of pure and resonates with what comic books once said. There’s a lot less logic to him, and something about that appeals to me, you know? They’re just pure adventure stories that are a lot of fun.

48 pages. Available tomorrow, February 6th, for $5.99, at your local comic shop.