Superman/Shazam: First Thunder #4 (of 4)

DC Comics
Script: Judd Winnick
Art: Joshua Middleton

And so it ends - or maybe Winnick would have us think, begins.

The premise was solid enough: the first meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel. Of course there would be monsters, robots, magic, Lex Luthor, Dr. Sivana, Sabbac and Eclipso. Okay, maybe Eclipso wasn’t so obvious…or necessary…but the rest of the fuel mixture was there. The story started out fun and light, giving us a wise-cracking Marvel and a Billy Batson more in line with today’s sensibilities. Debate the merits of this all you like, but it worked well enough here to move things along – although the addition of a best friend for Billy was a clunky, none too transparent plot device. The whole of it wasn’t particularly inspired, but it was fun.

For three issues we barrel along, without much direction or apparent purpose other than two superguys beating up bad guys and working in a little bonding in the breaks. The bonding moments are handled well – pretty much what you would expect knowing these two characters and their backgrounds. As the story progresses a little darkness begins to creep in around the edges, although not in an obvious way, and as with the rest of the plot, without much clarity of purpose. In the concluding issue the larger-than-life heroics of the first three books gives way to the darker undercurrent, and while it had some effect it was ultimately at the expense of the earlier tone of the series, affectively dragging the whole thing to ground.

Unfortunately, reducing the story to more human elements detaches the first three issues from the finale, repositioning them as more of a prologue. In fact, this last issue would read more powerfully as a stand-alone book -- there’s very little attaching it to the rest of the series (that a little editing wouldn’t fix anyway) -- a fact that makes me think the rest was merely setup for this conclusion. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out the story was developed from this point backward. The thing is it wasn’t necessary - we don’t need the first three books to contrast the power and superhumanity of the two leads against the humanity we see at the end. We know all too well these guys are powerful, no need to pad three books to make so obvious a point.

The final scenes are nice enough -- touching, even -- but they run a bit counter to the iconography of both characters, particularly Marvel. I doubt it matters much as it’s unlikely this series will ever find its way into the greater lore of these two characters.

Comments

[Batman Geek]

Just curuious, why did you stop reading comics and what drew you back?

[Kurt]

Long story. Conveniently, it's all detailed "The Road Back" category over on the right. If you should decide to actually read any of it you might want to pack a lunch. And some No-Doze.