About Heroes

Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Howard Porter

Damn. This felt like a long time coming. Issues 4 and 5 dealt with Achilles and Courage, and issues 6 and 7 look to be a two parter featuring Hercules (who looks like a tattooed version of a Street Fighter character). My only issue here is that we just had a two parter and that this issue is all build up for the fight next issue. There is not a whole lot to the trial here. In fact, now I feel like this issue was nothing. Winick rehashed the whole "Magic is being re-written" thing that plays into this story, but does nothing past that. We haven't checked in with Mary Marvel since issue 2 or 3. I thought they were close? I like the whole idea of earning the Shazam power, but the pacing is killing me. Why not get the trials out of the way and have a big task to complete at the end, or unravel this Council or Merlin that is trying to de-rail Freddie. It feels like this will end up like Ion, leading into something entirly else, and leaving my stomach empty. This issue is definately skippable, if you're picking this title up on and off. Winick needs to pick up the pace if he's going to keep readers from over the 2 or 3 months it takes this "monthly" book to come out.

Howard Porter continues his digital style here, and will for the rest of the series. It works, but I wonder if it is also slowing him down. Porter is doing the color as well, whereas other digital artists like Freddie Williams II on Robin are only doing the line art, and Robin is never late. I think Williams is 3 issues ahead of where he's supposed to be. Back to Porter, his storytelling and composition are on, its just the wait that kills me. If this were coming out more frequently I might be more excited, but I forgot this book existed until it showed up in my folder this week. And to forget that a book exists it a bad thing, especially for a mini-series that needs monthly readers to keep the idea of a future Shazam book after this alive. The concept is cool, but the wait is killing the book. D