About Heroes

This Review Was Submitted by Knightwingbk:

Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Howard Porter

Wow. Just Wow. I picked up the first issue on a whim, enjoyed it and waited for the second issue to decide whether to continue or not. Count me in! The first issue had us follow Captain Marvel, find some orphans who were to be killed in an occult ceremony. We learned that a lot of magic has been rewritten, there are new rules in this new age. After saving the kids, Captain Marvel spoke his magic word to change back into Billy Batson, only to be struck by a huge lightning bolt leaving his clothes and hair white. Fast forward to issue 2, and we follow Freddy Freeman, now an ordinary human, crippled when he lost his powers back in the Brave New World short story. He is going to visit Mary Batson in the hospital. When she lost her powers, she was in flight, and fell to the water below. Now she lies in a coma. Freddy speaks "Captain Marvel" to try to summon the powers, but it does not work. When he speaks "Shazam" he is teleported to the Rock of Eternity.

Billy Batson, grown up and garbed in white is now the keeper of the powers of Shazam, and the power needs a new champion, Freddy Freeman. What's different is that they cannot be given anymore, it must be earned. Freddy must visit with each of the gods of magic who are signified in the name of Shazam (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury) and be tested. If Freddy completes these six trials he will be the new champion, and known as SHAZAM.

It’s the trials aspect that intrigues me in this book. Almost like the seven labors of Hercules, the powers of Shazam must be earned. This puts the Captain Marvel family more in line with the rest of DC and what is going on in 52, where we are learning that the title of "Hero" must be earned, and cannot be freely given to anyone who wants it. It also makes everything completely new, giving all the older fanboys or fanmen nothing to gripe about. They cannot say "the new Captain Marvel series is nothing like the old one, its not true to the character, blah blah blah..." because they are changing an aspect of the character to strengthen his core. Let's face it, Captain Marvel needed an update, badly. I'm so excited for the rest of the series to come out now.

Howard Porter (JLA, Flash) is the artist on this book and has changed his style. It's still Howard Porter, still beautiful, but taken to a new level. Instead of the old pencils and ink like he used to, Howard Porter now does all his drawing digitally. Unlike digital inking, this looks beautiful! Porter draws and colors the entire book himself, making this book the first true representation of what the artist wants and visualizes when they draw a page. This new digital style allows Porter's art to look like a painting, and also allows him to sharpen and focus the elements he wants us to see, highlighting key elements of the story. It creates mood, more then any other art has done before, in my opinion. If Howard Porter can do 22 pages in a month this way, get him on a monthly book after this! Or, give him a lot of lead time, this art is fantastic!

This book gets and A+ from me. I can't recall when I've ever been more intrigued in a story in comics.