Review of
Shazam!: The Junior Novel,
by Henry Gayden & Darren Lemke, ISBN 9780062884176
Five out of five stars
Classic DC character rebooted
The word Shazam
is one of the all-time greatest single statements in the history of pop culture.
Spoken with emphasis, it can serve many purposes, from astonishment to wonder
to joy. In the context of being uttered by young Billy Batson, it will
transform him to and from the superhero known as Shazam. The character was originally
known as Captain Marvel, and this is a novelization of the film reboot/modification
of that character.
The story moves
swiftly from Billy’s history of being in foster care and essentially a waif of
the streets. When he is selected to be the hero by an aged wizard, his life
changes dramatically. The main villain was selected before Billy, but while
that person received powers, they proved unworthy of taking on the role of the
hero.
What is
different about this story is that Billy is in a foster home with many other
children and while at first he is skeptical of them, they quickly become his
family and together they face the villain. Even though his foster siblings have
no powers. That makes it an excellent story as they help Shazam learn about and
cope with his newfound powers and how to control them in order to do good.
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