When I buy a comic book that's not on my "ongoing" list, I usually thumb through it quickly to make sure it's one I want to buy.Not this issue. I was a big fan of the original comic, The Power of SHAZAM!, so I naturally assumed I'd want to read this one. Silly me.
Not only is Jerry Ordway (the writer and artist on the original title) nowhere to be seen, but the issue contains only a tiny amount of actual SHAZAM content.
Instead of focusing on the Marvel Family (as in the original Captain Marvel, natch), this issue is all about the Black Lantern named Osiris, who was a member of the Black Adam Family before his death in the weekly 52 series.
Unfortunately, that was a series I didn't buy (yes, I know, it was a good one). Instead I bought the Countdown series - yet another mistake.
The good news is, we do get a glimpse of the de-powered Billy and Mary Batson - for all of about seven panels.
The rest of it is given over to the afterlife of Osiris, who seems to be able to withstand the control of the Black Power Ring.
My opinion of the issue is no doubt colored (sorry) by my disappointment in the content, but the story by Eric Wallace ends up going nowhere. I do like Don Kramer's art, but he's expending effort in a lost cause.
Unless you're a 52 or Blackest Night completist, I'd pass on this one.
Grade: C-
3 comments:
I flipped through this at the shop and put it back on the rack.
Ordway did the cover, though, but that wasn't enough to part me from my money.
That's right, I forgot to mention the cover! Well, lesson learned on my part - never judge a book and all that.
I probably would have picked it up had it been an Ordway continuation of the series. I loved "The Power of Shazam", one of the few series I have a complete run of... I did pick up "Blackest Night Suicide Squad" and enjoyed that alot (another complete run! I think my only others are "G.I.Joe" from Marvel and the original "Batman Adventures" based on the TAS)...
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