Sunday, March 11, 2012

With a single magic word...

Well, congratulations to DC and Geoff Johns. They managed to shake me out of my extended break by giving us a small glimpse of their plans for revamping Captain Marvel into a new Grim and Gritty version.



Now, in all fairness to DC and Johns, the description of the series doesn't really say that the new version will be grim and gritty, but man, look at that picture. And here's a snippet of the description from the New York Post article on the subject:

“We changed his name [to Shazam] for a lot of reasons,” said Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. “One of them is that Shazam is the word most associated with the character, so we just felt it made sense — a lot of people already thought that was his name, anyway.”

Actually, I would argue many people associate the word Shazam with Gomer Pyle...

 

...but let's skip that for now.

Here's the thing, WHY did DC think the Captain Marvel franchise really needed to be revamped in this fashion? Weren't they happy with the way the Jeff Smith Monster Society of Evil grahic novel came out?



At the time, it seemed like they were. And it still is lauded as a great example of a kid accessible graphic novel, so I kind of thought they would continue down that path. I even said I had positive hopes for John's version of the character a few months ago.
It appears I was wrong. :\

Anyway, enjoy today's Free Comic Monday which features another version of Captain Marvel which will undoubtedly be more lighthearted and enjoyable than anything we are likely to see in the near future.


[ Captain Marvel 01 ]

A quick word about my return to blogging: Posts on this site may be more infrequent or a bit less substantive than they have been in the past. That will be for a couple of reasons:
  • Currently Pierre is busy with an animation project
  • There are familial duties I must attend to on a weekly basis that take up quite a bit of my time (the original reason for my extended break)
  • And I have grown accustomed to a life outside of blogging.
I will try to have at least one good post for you each week, but sometimes, you may just have to settle for a hastily typed out rant on why modern comics suck or some such foolishness. ;)

- Jim

10 comments:

Trey said...

Yeah, I'm not too found of the look of the revamp either. The name change I don't particularly care for, but I think it makes sense as that's what they've been calling the comic, anyway.

Jim Shelley said...

Yeah, I understand the thought process behind it. "We can't put out a comic call Captain Marvel, because Marvel has trademarked Captain Marvel during the downtime..." so I'm down with calling the comic Shazam (as they did in the 70's) but to change the name of the character seems a bit unnecessary...unless there are other plans for the franchise.

But here's a question for you. What do they call the REST of the characters? Mary SHAZAM? SHAZAM JR?

Also, how does he introduce himself to other heroes?

"I'm SHAZAM."
Lighting Bolt...

Caine said...

It's good to see a new post even if they will be infrequent. It's almost enough to secretly hope that DC will keep finessing their universe to keep the posts coming. :)

I don't really have much history with Captain Marvel/Shazam but Jim's point about the secondary characters seems spot on.

I've stated this elsewhere on the web and I feel as if the relaunch is a last ditch (phase three) effort ordered by the new Warner Bros President of her new head honcho's over there (Jim and Geoff).

Nothing would surprise me at this point.

Caine said...

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flashback-Universe/363943803638137

Britt Reid said...

"Also, how does he introduce himself to other heroes?
'I'm SHAZAM.'
Lighting Bolt..."

And what will Captain Marvel, Jr...I mean Shazam, Jr, say to transform?
(He used to say "Captain Marvel"!)

Reno said...

Nothing DC does surprises me any more.

JP Cote said...

Oh God, they gave him a hoodie

Anonymous said...

Hey, Jim-
Very glad to see you back up- even if it will be infrequently. Hope you & your family are coping well.

Yeah, messin' with the Big Red Cheese isn't a good idea. Jeff Smith "got it" but DC doesn't.

Jim Shelley said...

@Caine - Thank you! I'll try to keep on a regular schedule, but we both know how hard that can be. :)

@Britt Reid, yeah, I'm betting Captain Marvel Jr. probably won't be appearing very soon.

@Reno - DC is getting sort of in a rut in some ways. I really don't understand how they decide which ideas make the cut.

@JP Cote - Ha! Hoodies are all the rage with the *kids*

@Blitzdawg - Thank you! And I agree. I'm not sure why they didn't just make a new character if they weren't going to use CM in the manner readers were used to.

MattComix said...

This is also the umpteenth time they have tried to grimdark Captain Marvel, only this time he has a hoodie.

DC's obsession with darkness is quickly turning them into a parody of themselves.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails