#comics explained shazam

[morninkim]

that one movie sinbad did about the genie

[chaoticallyfluffy]

somethings compelling me to keep drawing this random blonde kid. And also… give him all my money? Idk man, I just know he’s a super neat guy!

[tamayokny]

accidentally called captain shazam by his previous hero name (captain marvel) so i had to explain to my boss about the history of shazam and the character lineup

[davidmariottecomics]

To Enter the Public Domain!

Hey friends! 

I touched on this last week with public domain day (the first of the year) and obviously I've talked at length about copyright here in the past, but I wanted to expand on things a bit in light of a recent conversation on Bluesky. 

Kara Huset, a super talented artist you might recognize from her original work or from a couple of Godzilla gigs, mentioned something about the original Blue Beetles and Captain Marvel being public domain. Which if I was a fact rating website, I'd call "kind of true." So, today, we're going to talk about why it's kind of true, why certain things are definitively in the public domain and some are way less clear, why Superman entering the PD in a decade is both exciting and daunting, and why sometimes the PD isn't as exciting as it could be. 

So, Are Those Guys Public Domain? 

For the sake of all arguments... no. Not really. There's a slightly more complicated answer, particularly for the original Blue Beetle, but the simple and short one is, no. 

Let's very briefly talk about public domain in light of copyright law in the US. There are 3 major years/events to focus on for modern copyright law. First, the Copyright Act of 1976 was the first big change to modern copyright. This was a major codification and extension of US copyright law. It covered everything from new technology like television and comics (both of which were new relative to the last major update) to defining fair use to extending the terms of copyright to adding termination rights for work that's licensed after a certain period of time. It's extensive and still the backbone of how we understand copyright now, especially in terms of defining work for hire and rights held by corporate entities as opposed to those held by individual authors. 

But one really key thing here is it removed one of the big old hurdles of U.S. copyright, initial registration and renewals. As has been said before, if you want to make sure you're *really* protected, you should still register your copyrights so there's a clearer track record if you ever have to go to court. One of the benefits is it gives a very clear date of when something was published in a copyrightable fashion and can be referred back to easily, which matters when we are talking about rights going public and other possible expirations. But as part of that, many works were also caught in an interesting place. 

All works prior to 1977 that were published in the US without a copyright notice entered the public domain. Keep that in mind because it's the crux of the coming argument. 

The law was updated in 1998 with the Copyright Term Extension Act which, like the name says, lengthened the terms of copyright in the US. And, for 20 years, pretty much killed the public domain! Literally, it just extended copyright 20 more years, so stuff that was supposed to go public 20 years earlier suddenly couldn't anymore. We were actually supposed to get Steamboat Willie in 2004! This also added another complication to copyright terms. As of 1998, to my understanding, what's in the PD today is everything prior to 1929 (meaning, stuff from 1928 and earlier, but not including 1929), anything from 1929-1977 that was published without notice or was only published with initial notice and not renewed after 28 years, and anything from 1978-1989 that was published without notice or registration within the first 5 years from publication. Which is both a lot and not all that much at all, especially when you consider that in another world where things weren't delayed 20 years, we'd be up to everything prior to 1949 now. 

The last important year, of course, is 2019 which was the first year after the 1998 extension in which things started to be public domain again. That's less important to this specific thing, but I wanted to call it out. 

Okay, with that all in mind, let's circle back to the "works prior to 1977 published without notice" thing. Many older comics, particularly from the smaller publishers, were published without copyright notice because that wasn't codified the same prior to 1976 and--equally importantly--a lot of those smaller publishers were already gone by 1976. For some of those books, even if could've filed and protected things, those companies had folded and were gone and there was no one to make sure things were properly protected. And the argument contends that this includes some of the old Fawcett and Charlton comics stuff. So, if Captain Marvel Adventures was published from 1941-1953 and wasn't properly filed, fair game (fair use), right? 

Let's break this into these specific characters, because this is what makes it so complicated. 

Captain Marvel in Brief(s) 

Captain Marvel AKA Shazam was a Fawcett Comics creation. Again, assuming that you've got the proper archival material of the old comics to prove that they're public domain on the basis of a lack of notice that can be cross referenced with a lack of notice at the copyright office, sure, theoretically public domain! 

EXCEPT, unfortunately for the Big Red Cheese, he's already been the subject of so much trademark and copyright dispute! The very short version of the story is: after Superman debuted, there were a crop of rip-off comics. DC sued one of these rip-offs (Fox's Wonderman, all one word)... and won. The character was in violation of copyright! Bolstered by this win, they did it again, to another Superman copycat... Captain Marvel! Both the Wonderman and appeal of the Captain Marvel cases fell into careful Hands... cousins Judge Augustus Noble Hand and (the even better named and more quoted) Judge Learned Hand. And both cases, at one point, found that the rip-off was indeed, legally, that. But Fawcett had an extra trick up their sleeve--they argued that Superman had been abandoned and was basically public domain anyway because, you guessed it, there was a problem with Superman newspaper strips having been published without copyright notice. 

The case was argued into 1951 with various findings of "yeah, Captain Marvel is a rip-off" and "No, of course Superman's copyright hadn't been abandoned" and "yeah, we'll settle out of court because uhh... it's the early 1950s and superheroes are on the outs." Part of the settlement is Fawcett still owns Captain Marvel, but they can't publish the comics anymore which, again, they're kinda fine with because they thought the superhero bubble had burst. Like 20 years later, DC takes a wild left turn and licenses Captain Marvel from Fawcett, so they're publishing the CM comics (and in the 1990s, they outright buy CM and all related characters because at this point, DC's been publishing him longer than Fawcett ever did). But between those two points, Marvel Comics starts publishing their own Captain Marvel book and Captain Marvel character(s) and trademarks the name, Captain Marvel. Which is why DC's Captain Marvel no longer uses that name (though he did for a long time, even if his series did not). 

But the long and short of it is, if any of that stuff's public domain, it comes from somewhere in that would-be notice/renewal cycle, something not getting filed properly. I don't have direct evidence that that's the case, but assuming it is correct, you'd likely have to face DC's lawyers to try to reprint any of it and knowing how these things go, they'd likely argue something to the effect of "we own these stories because we acquired them in our purchase of Captain Marvel/Shazam and related characters and the names and looks and whatever other elements of the Fawcett comics that we maintain are covered by our copyright and trademarks of these characters/stories/logos/etc" and "if we don't own these stories, in all prior instances, they've been found to be in violation of our copyright on Superman, so we'll sue ya with that existing standing." 

There's no winning with that. 

My Favorite Guy and Also Alan Moore

If you didn't know, the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, is my favorite superhero. There are other heroes I love a whole lot--G'nort, the entire cast of the David/Nauck run of Young Justice, Spider-Man, etc--but Ted's my #1 guy. I also fully don't think he's in the public domain. So, same argument as earlier, if any of his stories are, that's a result of a lack of filing or misfiling or whatever, right? It also, kinda, has to do with Charlton Comics, where he's from. 

So, in the 1960s, some guy named Steve Ditko is doing a lot of work at Charlton and he and a few other creators have got this group of action heroes that you might've heard of. Most of them are just regular folks with talents and brains and brawn and then one real superpowered freak. The likes of Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, the Question, Nightshade, Peacemaker, Peter Cannon... Thunderbolt, Judomaster, etc. As time marches on and, once again, comics are dying and the industry has burst and nobody likes superheroes anymore (haha, it happens so very much) and in 1983, as a gift for former Charlton editor Dick Giordano, Paul Levitz has DC buy the Action Heroes characters for $5K a pop. 

This is the first argument for why Blue Beetle isn't public domain--the assumption of that sale is that these characters have applicable copyright that can have the ownership transferred. The second relies on another famous work of DC's that's at the center of copyright disputes, Watchmen! For as much as all of these characters have changed over the years, if there was any question at the time as to the legal status of the Charlton characters and the specifics of their copyrightable story details and trademarkable looks and titles and stuff, there wouldn't have been a reason not to let them just be the stars of Watchmen. If there was any indication they were or could be public domain anyway, why not let 'em? But they weren't and aren't (even if the technical letter of the law might disagree) and so to keep those characters true to themselves and to allow Moore and Gibbons to tell their story, they just made a bunch of knock-off Charlton characters that could no longer be sued over because DC had bought those rights. 

The reason I think there's a lot of confusion over this is that there are a lot of Charlton characters that did end up in a weird limbo. Basically, as much as possible, when Charlton saw the writing on the wall, they tried to sell things off. Some, like the Action Heros, went to competitors. A lot went back to original creators when possible. But some things just didn't sell for one reason or another and if they were created within those weird public domain windows, are public domain. But a lot of the big guys and big stories are not that, or even if they may technically be, folks have decided not to risk the potential of a suit over. 

"Big Blue" 

The first Blue Beetle actually has been featured as a public domain character!!! Kinda!!! Sorta!! Ehnnn! 

Okay, so a few years back, Dynamite and Alex Ross did this big thing called Project Superpowers that was a team-up book of all the superheroes that had accidentally fallen in the public domain over the laws we've already talked about. There are a ton of them! Black Terror! The original Daredevil (renamed there to the Death Defying 'Devil)! Miss Masque (renamed Masquerade)! Etc. And one of those heroes is Big Blue, AKA the original Blue Beetle!

Now, his story's a bit more of a mess. He passed through a number of hands: Created at Fox, published at Holyoke for part of the original run, sold to Charlton (but there's debate on if a sale actually happened or if Charlton just kinda... took him), ultimately landing at DC kind of more-or-less as a related character to his own derivative character, Ted Kord Blue Beetle, who had definitely been sold to DC. But the general understanding is that this Blue Beetle, Dan Garret (1 T, that's hugely important, Dan Garrett is distinctly the DC version), is in the public domain. That's why he shows up in Project Superpowers. But, because DC's got their claim pretty solid with the other Blue Beetles, for trademark purposes, you can't just call him that if there's any way he could be confused for the DC version. 

I've never read Project Superpowers. I actually don't know how involved he is as a character. But if you want to use him, he's probably the most viable of the three, just as long as you're doing your diligence not to impede on anything that is strictly DC's. 

Why Superman Entering the Public Domain Matters More, Maybe

Superman's one of the next big public domain milestones. Debuting in 1938, we're still 10 years out from him (which, as we've learned, means if there hadn't been the '98 extension, we'd already be well familiar with PD Superman). There are plenty of notable works entering inbetween then and now: The Shadow's early stories; Flash Gordon's early strips; The Phantom's early strips; the first Disney feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the early Popeye-era of Thimble Theatre, the Nancy-years of Fritzi Ritz, etc, but for comics in particular, Superman towers over them all. 

The reason Superman looms so large over comics should be obvious, he's Superman! He's universally recognized and liked in a way that few comics characters are. It's cool that we're living in a world where there have been multiple theatrical Shazam films and a Blue Beetle movie, but public consciousness of these characters is still far narrower than it is for Superman. In so many people's minds, Superman is The Superhero and everyone else in some ways stands as derivative of him. It's exciting having this major icon getting close to the public domain window for what you can do with the idea of the character generally, for the reprinting of those old stories, and for the act of him going PD as a signifier that the floodgates are about to open. 

Within 5 years of Superman entering the PD (so 15 years from now), we'll also have Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, the original Flash, the original Green Lantern, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, The Joker, The Cat, the original Justice Society, Captain America, The Sub-Mariner, the original Human Torch, Bucky, Red Skull, and a ton of other folks and early stories (including, definitively, the early Captain Marvels and Dan Garret Blue Beetles). That's a pretty major chunk of comics pop culture all dropping in quick succession. 

Simultaneously...we've got a decade to sort of see how things shake out with the entrance of still active licenses into the public domain. Part of what's so complicated about the works of the public domain is that the case has been successfully made that works enter on the basis of their publication, not as a collective. It's why though Winnie-the-Pooh went PD last year, Tigger only joined this year and people've been really stressing that it's only 3 Mickey shorts that're PD this year. For the most part, the companies and individuals that control these properties nowadays have not been terribly friendly towards their works entering the public domain. If you look at, say, Sherlock Holmes (a character that's benefitted from being treated as public domain well before he actually was because it got people to read the old Doyle stories), you'll see a legacy of fighting for control of every last piece of Holmes media--like the short lived suit against Netflix for Enola Holmes featuring a "warmer, caring" Sherlock. 

In my big copyright explainer from last year, I talked a bit about the differences between copyright and trademark. As a very quick refresher, copyright applies as proof of ownership of specific works of art as published--Action Comics #1's story and art is copyrighted. All Superman stories are copyrighted. And the characters within are copyrighted. Eventually, the copyright will expire (95 years in corporate ownership). Trademark applies to the distinctions and recognizability of brands. When Superman's copyright expires, he'll enter the public domain. However, the Superman logo, the S Shield, and other visual elements of what Superman is will still be under trademark because trademark doesn't expire after a set period, trademark expires after a period of disuse and non-registration. 

Basically, it isn't super clear at this exact moment what all will actually be usable when these things enter the PD. What *should* be happening is that it should be really good for archival work. Anyone should be able to copy the original work and--transformation and modification aside--have the ability to share, reproduce, and distribute it, basically making it far more available and hopefully adding to the everlasting preservation of the work. You also should be able to transform, modify, and do all the other things to the work, including creating new derivative works, but that's where the treasure trove of material still under copyright and trademark might make things difficult. 

By the same token, there's a lot of stuff that you can already do under fair use and I think it's worth it to ask to what extent is what you want to do not already covered? If you have ideas for earnest stories that'd compete with DC, yeah, you're not going to have a lot of leeway until we've got a clearer idea of what the landscape looks like. But if you want to do something to stick it to the man--Superman erotic material or over-the-top drugs and ultraviolence or recreating and recontextualizing Superman material in a new way as political art--you're probably fine already. Heck, if you just give the earnest stories a new name and look, DC doesn't really sue people over infringement on Superman's character anymore (plus, as I've mentioned before, comics has long had some additional flexibility for fan art). 

In the meantime, if you're feeling interested and want to dig into it, there are tons of comics that have far more clearly fallen into the public domain already that you could mine for revival characters or, like some folks do, cool archival projects reprinting old comics for new audiences. 

Next week, I *think* I'll be able to talk about my new job! 

What I enjoyed this week: Nancy (Comic), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Baldur's Gate III (Video Game), Blank Check (Podcast), How to Read Nancy (Book), Ted Lasso (TV show), Blade Runner (Movie), The Rehersal (TV show), the pilot of The Sopranos (TV show), my new big Taschen Ads of the 80s book, actually having some fun in my last week of not working, talking to a friend about putting together some original projects soon, prepping for Becca's next show. What I didn't enjoy this week was my phone dying! That's been real fun. 

New Releases this week (1/10/2024): None

New Releases next week (1/17/2024): Sonic the Hedgehog: Fang the Hunter #1 (Editor)

Announcements: Becca's first show of the year is today, 1/13, at Alesmith! It's a mini-con with BizBaz! They've got lots of cool deals and new stuff for the new year, including a new version of our Anti AI zine, so come out and see them if you're anywhere near San Diego today! If you can't make it, you can always find their webshop and portfolio here! 

The Cartoonist Cooperative is still doing E-Sim cards for Gaza. You can donate a digital sim card so that residents can get access to the internet and have more functional phones and, in exchange, get some comics or a drawing or whatever else is available from the many participating artists. It's a nice little thing for you if you want it, but ultimately, man, giving an E-Sim could literally save a life. 

You can also give more directly with your money or your time. You can call or fax or email or show up at the offices (or yell at the White House of) of your representatives to demand a ceasefire or to protest their inaction so far or to throw eggs at the president for participating in and encouraging a genocide. You should keep aware of actions, demonstrations, protests, movements, and celebrations in your community too. Given the nature of the things, they often come together fairly quickly, so do exercise your due diligence. Also, of course, being informed and just giving your time to Palestinian journalists and writers is incredibly valuable. I don't tend to be a big TikTok fan, but it has proven to be one of the most reliable resources for firsthand accounts of what's happening on the ground from folks who can get access to E-Sims. 

Finally, check out my Patreon where you can access this blog as well as a ton of cool other stuff and this year, it'll be one of the first places you can see some of my new comics work, as well as my webstore (final stock on basically everything there except Jimmy Squarefoot), my Kofi (I'll get the updated Anti-AI Zine up there soon), and my eBay account as I am between paychecks for a while and those are other ways you can support me!

Pic of the Week: My phone died and in it's last days, I did try to reset it with a factory reset. Prior to that, I *thought* all my data had properly synced, but apparently my photos didn't, so I lost a ton of them--anything I didn't have uploaded elsewhere already, and I haven't been taking new pictures. So, uhh... here's the front of our holiday card from last year. It's Garfield! 

[phoenixcatch7]

Billy, immediately: oh that just happens sometimes ^^

The shaken jl member: What happens? Mournful identical twins? Necromancy?? TIME TRAVEL???

Billy, having been or seen all of those things: Yeah lol

Jlm: What does that even - YOU HUNG UP ON ME??!!

That “Billy physically switches bodies with Captain Marvel whenever he transforms” AU where Billy’s mortal body ends up at the Rock of Eternity whenever he’s running around as Captain Marvel. Except Billy never visits the Rock as Captain Marvel so he had NO idea his mortal body went anywhere, he thought he was shape shifting or something.

Captain Marvel has to bring the Justice League to the Rock for [insert plot-related magic reason here] and he is just as caught off guard as the rest of them to see an apparently dead nine year old lying on the Rock. He has no explanation for his own “dead” body hanging out at his home base. Cue Wisdom of Solomon.

“Oh, he’s a… human sacrifice?”

[im-not-buying-it-ether]

Okay but now I feel compelled to wonder, in that fun AU of CC and Marilyn being Captain and Mary Marvel, what their lives as heroes would be like

Like, villains are the same for the most part with probable lack of antagonism with Sivana, he’s the dude who hired them for the dog in the first place with the public intent of a historical attraction at a park and on the side of the bus he’s campaigning for mayor. Other than that, villains seem to be the same from the brief moments we see.

They stay out of the limelight, they prioritize keeping their identities hidden for the sake of Billy and Mary’s saftey and childhoods, and they take their duties seriously.

But what’s tingling at the brain right now is how they’d interact with the rest of the world of DC, heroes and teams and whatnot, outside of Fawcett and the menagerie of characters there. We know CC accidentally stumbled onto some daring scene with Spy Smasher and the bunch (no joke, time was funky in Fawcett and CC was alive at that time) but I’d love to see him with other heroes

Like, say he fills the normal roles in comics Billy would’ve, joins JLI and, like his son, tries calling the other heroes out for acting like bigger juveniles than his actual kids and ditches bc apparently the people who save the world on the regular cant not try and fist fight the other every few hours. He’s on and off some team, focusing on his city and his family more and more, pops in for bigger fights when they occur but is mostly hometown based and handles his own issues.

Of newer stuff, I turn to YJ’s tv show for another idea. Aka, CC also being a chaperone for the Team at the same time Billy comes in but with a twist, turns out his kids have a percolation for magic and have been getting the hang of some spells so they’re joining the Team too while CC is on chaperone duty. So leads Billy and Mary’s attempt at a slow entrance into heroism that immediately backfires when they get captured, cue heartwarming scene of dad hugging his kids after a dangerous situation that follows him tearing the base apart looking for them. True dad fashion and all that. What becomes complicated is the World Without Grown Ups plot, in which I say have Billy and his had pre-the plot agree that Billy can have Shazam powers for super big emergencies and Billy definitely counts all adults disappearing as an emergency. Cue once more the fun father son bonding of Billy looking just like his old man with Shazam powers.

Onto Marilyn, who unfortunately doesn’t seem to have more beyond “clever” and “good mom” from comics, but she’s got her hutzpah and would probably be as active a hero as CC while still prioritizing her life and family over heroism. The whole Shazam thing is definitely more a job than it is what kind of person she is, she’s an archeologist and likes that profession more than she likes worrying about everyone else. She’s definitely more no nonsense and, if there’s a difference, she’d probably prefer the more grounded crime fighting than the mystical shenanigans CC would do in her stead. Billy and Mary end up closer to her in quality time since that focus of crime fighting keeps her grounded.

Also, the general vibes of the Captain Marvel tropes. Such as the identity shenanigans.

It is a fun thing of fanfic that, since his civilian identity is very vulnerable and people like their identity plots, Billy has his questioned or revealed a lot. Add in CC as Marvel instead and it flips a bit to be a man who is well known in his home city whose entire family, non-powered children included, could easily become targets if anyone knew who he was. And he’s deliberately secretive about it for that purpose, he’s protecting his children with his wife. So, perspective, there’s a new hero who comes in with a hero partner who is also their life partner. They have the power of actual gods and titans, they don’t explain anything past some nebulous Wizard they can’t name as to how they got their powers, they are very hush-hush on their normal lives but everyone knows they have to have one. It’s hard to contact them, you don’t know they’re working or traveling or with their kids because you don’t know they do work or that they have kids, so you worry what they’re up to for what seems to be every hour they aren’t begrudgingly saving the world with the rest of the heroes. You catch them talking to the other but the minute they hear you they clam up and change everything about how they were just a second ago, you could swear they were talking about digs or gods or bringing someone home but you don’t know anything because you don’t know them.

Cue the mistrust, the reveals, how it all goes wrong and someone gets hurt, be it the other when they don’t have their powers or their kids and suddenly you’ve pissed off the man who loves his family so much he was tearing the multiverse open to try and keep the timeline going where they were all alive and happy together and the woman who loves those kids just as much. Or, say that reveal had villains get both of the Batsons, and now those heroes have to look those orphans in the eye and beg forgiveness, and when fate still demands its heroes out comes two new ones that make it seem like the whole Batson sham was fake and no way Marilyn and CC were the Marvels, the marvels are still flying around after they’ve gone and gotten dead and buried. Cue those heroes looking at the new Captain and Mary Marvel, knowing it’s the kids they accidentally made orphans wearing the faces of the friends they betrayed.

[cypherscript]

Comic Con-versation

Had this little blurb idea while I was mowing at work, I seem to get these a lot while doing that...

This comes from the idea that during the episode Reign Storm, when Pariah Dark rips Amity Park from the land of the living it's not quite put back into its right dimension which ties into Reality Trip when Danny finds out there's a comic book series about him that heavily goes into his backstory to his dread. The universe? DC where Danny Phantom is essentially the same level as DC is here.

____________________________________________________

The Justice League was currently called into a meeting, not that is was a new thing for Billy aka Shazam. What WAS a new thing was that Constantine, workaphobic/smokeaholic Justice League Dark member, was the one to call in the meeting. Billy gets deposited by the zetatubes and sees some familiar faces around the table; Batman, Nightwing and Red Robin on one side while Flash and Kid Flash/Impulse sat across from them adamantly talking. Constantine stood by the projector controls with huge stacks of comics, newspapers and magazines.

One of the comics catches Billy's eye; a young man in a hazmat suit looking into a screen that loops onto him watching the screen titled Masters of All Time. He quickly flies over and snatches it from the pile, "Awesome! I didn't know we were aloud to bring comics up here. I've been meaning to catch up on this series." He kicks up his feet and starts reading.

Constantine gives a tired look at Shazam, "You mean to tell me that you know this series? I've just spent that last bloody three weeks studying this bollocks."

"Of course, who doesn't know about Danny Phantom?!"

The remaining league walks in at that point as Batman, Nightwing and Flash raise their hands. Impulse flashes over and reads them in a second.

"Dude that's so crash, these are CLASSIC~. Dad had an incomplete set that he gave me for my birthday. Oh dude! Reality Trip, I remember this one; Danny, Sam and Tucker are chased-"

"HEY! Spoilers!"

"Sorry."

"Constantine if you can just start the meeting about why we're here?"

"Right. As Shazam said; this is a comic book series about a ghost themed superhero. Sorta like Deadman but not magical." Constantine types into the console and brings up multiple pictures of Danny Phantom's scenes from the book. "The comic book series has been running for nineteen years, it's had multiple adaptations and crossovers. Thousands of roleplaying accounts across multiple social medias, millions of enjoyers of the media across the globe."

"How is this a problem for us," Aquaman asks as he flips through one of the comic books. "It's fictional."

"Yes and no." John presses a key and a real life picture of a town comes on screen."

"Holy Geez! Is that Amity Park?!" Red Robin exclaims as he takes over a personal console and makes a 3D render of the city, rotating and zooming until he finds a brick building with a heaping monstrosity of metal atop of it with a sign stating Fentonworks. "It's real..."

Batman looks at Red Robin calculatingly, "I wasn't aware you partook in that kind of media."

"It's a guilty hobby."

Constantine clears his throat, "It appears real. This city didn't exist four months ago and not just that." He pulls up an actual picture of Danny Phantom in the flesh, "This has magical bullshit written all over it and the only thing to explain it is a Tulpa. All of the evidence points to it; millions of thoughts based on one subject, it suddenly appears out of nowhere and there wasn't a blip on our systems."

"Is a tulpa that much of a problem," Wonder Woman asks as she looks over the pictures of Phantom and Amity Park."

"It can be difficult; seeing how this character's powerset changes more than Supe's does and he's just as strong. The problem is if it's NOT a tulpa and the comics are prophetic."

"Why," Batman asks straight to the point.

Constantine looks through the stacks of comics and pulls out two of them; one with a black gauntlet wearing a green skull ring taking up the front page and the other a grim scene of a large blue skin version of Danny Phantom with fire like hair standing amidst skulls and ruin buildings.

"This first one is about a King of Ghosts ripping the city from their plane of existance, he manages to defeat him in single combat and return his city to his world. Sound familiar?" John gestures at the images of Amity Park. The second is where the problem comes from; this is an evil version of the stories hero, corrupted after the lose of his family. He destroys his world with Amity Park being the only remaining city."

"Ok," Flash asks bored as he flips through the comics.

"Ok? Ok?! It's not bloody ok. It hasn't happened yet but other things have happened exactly as they did in the comics!" He pulls up videos of Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton being split apart and a satellite feed of a massive armored vehicle firing at something that can't be seen.

"The next part is Doomsday! Those two events happen directly after the city is ripped from its dimension and dropped into this one. We all die! Dark Danny comes back in time to reassure his future, we have to stop this."

The Justice league shares a look as Constantine keeps ranting about the incoming apocalypse from a comic book.

"Constantine when is the last time you had a vacation?"

[puppetwoman17]

@ace-is-undead It’s nice to meet a new fan! I hope you make lots of friendships on here❤️

For anyone who’s curious, this person asked me:

as someone taking interest in Captain Marvel because of the movies (never heard of him before :/), I'd love to know why you think the movies ruined Billy's image! Bear in mind, I recently started reading some comics about Shazam

I knew I’d be making a hella long comment, so I thought, hell, let’s make a post!

Now, as a preface, I worded what I said a little too strong. The 2019 movie isn’t the worst piece of Shazam/CM media ever. There are definitely parts of it that I liked. The humor was 10/10 for me, and I did like the costumes. There are things about the story I don’t like, but for the purpose of all of us not sitting here for the next two hours, I will stick with just Billy’s personality.

This post will probably have stated everything more eloquently than me lol:

Many Golden Age heroes were created/used to combat war trauma. To the kids who read those comics, it made them feel safe. To read about these people with fantastical abilities, who regularly fought Nazis, supervillains, and entire armies.

Captain Marvel was a little different, though. It wasn’t an adult who was doing the protecting. Or, it wasn’t JUST an adult. It was also Billy Batson. A kid, like all of the other kids reading these comics. And it was different from kid heroes like Robin because he was the hero. The main hero.

Before the New52 reboot, basically from the 40s-2000s, but I could be wrong, Billy was a homeless kid. His uncle Ebenezer threw him out after his parents died and stole his inheritance. He got a job at Whiz Radio and became a reporter, giving him enough money to get his own apartment.

In one continuity, his friend Dudley becomes his guardian. In the most famous interpretation, the Power of Shazam series from the 90s, he is, after some time, adopted by his twin sister Mary’s adoptive family the Bromfields, and Nora Bromfield happens to be their mother’s cousin.

The important thing to grasp from this is that Billy was independent. Responsible. And when he got his powers, he was also responsible with them. He has a few fumbles, but he was always able to keep them and do good with them.

His Captain Marvel persona was also like that. He led the Squadron of Justice, a team of Fawcett heroes. There are also instances of heroes like Batman and Superman praising him as a trustworthy hero, even knowing about his identity.

It’s also important to note that, while in some times the Captain character is childish, he is never stupid. He makes mistakes, is a little goofy, but he never does anything outright cringe worthy.

A prime example of a good interpretation is the JLU episode Clash. The whole JL really likes him. For some reason my tumblr is acting up today so I can’t put any videos without it not allowing me to type afterwords. But the series is on Netflix. Like holy heck, Bruce says they all like him because he’s sunny. Bruce!

There’s also comic examples, like Action comics #768, which is in the POV of Superman. I’m just gonna put everything Clark thinks as text.

“And then it happens.”

“Armed with the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Atlas, and the focus of Achilles, a teenage boy in the body of a man defends human kind to a frog goddess.”

“I can’t imagine anything more ludicrous. I can’t imagine anything more moving.”

“With unmatched eloquence, he explains humanity’s needs, our weaknesses, and our relationships with nature to a being as old as time.”

“She retorts. It’s not the act itself that enrages her, but the fact that her people are taken for granted.”

“Bred, butchered, wasted. Without appreciation for the contribution to the lifecycle.”

“He emphasizes. It is a horrible thing to be underestimated, unappreciated, forgotten.”

“His sincerity is a living thing. They speak for an eternity until Heqt has been heard and appeased.”

“Then, the war is over. Diplomacy and reason succeeds, where force…where I… simply would have failed.”

This is another example:

I mean the whole Captain Marvel-focused panel is Clark and Bruce arguing with Diana that Cap will be a great asset to the League, and how Bruce wants him on because he’s just GOOD. They all knew he was a kid, and they didn’t care because they trusted him that much!

Many 80s and 90s comic showed Cap as this beacon of hope, very akin to his Fawcett era, which is why so many of us liked it. He was still goofy at times, but it never overshadowed how much of a hero he was. Hell, the Fawcett heroes never gave a damn about him being a kid. All they saw was a person doing good, and they automatically began working with him.

He would get into friendly tussles with Superman, and him and Diana hugged one time, and she confided in him about how she might die. I can’t find the issue, but it’s drawn by Alex Ross, so that may narrow it for you.

Cap was genuinely respected. There are even some comics where Billy’s is interacting with the League as himself and they treat him like any other friend!

And Billy was chosen not because he was a last resort, but because the Wizard saw so much good and purity in him. He still made mistakes, but he was never not worthy.

Compare that with, not just the Shazam movies, but the DCAMU movies(JL War & Throne of Atlantis), and you get a whole other monster. I mean, he is just dumb, awful. He’s good when he’s Billy, a little snarky while also being a good person and comforting Cyborg(before taking his jersey, lol). But when he’s Shazam(his name in the DCAMU) every single thing that came out of his mouth was just… not it. If gets even worse in Throne of Atlantis. Literally almost everyone on the team hates him. The only reason Cyborg doesn’t is because he knows his identity.

In the 2019 Shazam movies, hes very similar. They made him a lot more jaded, which just ruined his character for me because Billy is the type of person who would rather die than talk down to other kids going through what he did. I’m cool with the rebelliousness, it’s just that that I’m worried about. It’s even worse in the 2013 shazam comic series because he’s actually way meaner there. Like jeez, why do you want me to hate this boy so much DC??

And as his Shazam self, he’s like ten times more goofy and irresponsible, which is such a backwards take it’s insane.

The character of Captain Marvel was beloved by so many children because it showed that they could be just like those other heroes. They could fight the monsters and get the job done, and no one would look down on them. They would be taken seriously. Seeing this kid bond with and interact with and be trusted by these seasoned adult heroes was EVERYTHING.

I may not have a grown up in the 40s/50s, but I did get introduced to him in JLU, and then Young Justice, and then obscure media, and then comics. And through that journey, the take I loved infinitely more was of Captain Marvel being this guy who made mistakes, but always tried to do the right thing.

Making him out to be this…immature dude who never knew what he was doing just stomped on all of us. It also really irks me because that is how some people will be introduced to him. As opposed to who he really is. And they won’t be interested because the face value is all they’ll see.

Heck, some people think he’s one of the weakest DC characters when he ranks in the top ten. He’s the Champion of Magic and guardian of the Rock of Eternity for Pete’s sake! He’s fought and almost won against the Specter himself! (Day of Vengeance comic series, it’s so good!)

It’s unclear why his character has been so diminished. Some people, including me, think DC is trying to lower his…everything in general so he can never measure up to the Man of Steel, which is so petty it’s ridiculous.

Hopefully he’ll get something in James Gunn’s new DCU, a movie or a show. Because I feel like there’s a chance to reintroduce the true Captain/Shazam to people.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my petty-fueled rant😅. Sorry for the angry spews. Anyway, there are some good reading lists for Shazam/Cap on tumblr. I really advise you to check those out. Though there are also a few articles on google listing all of his appearances, so if you wanna get detailed then those are where you should go.

We also have a Captain Marvel fan club! Go over to @im-not-buying-it-ether and ask for an invite for more content.

I hope you have a fulfilling journey!

[maxwell-grant]

Any thoughts on Doctor Sivana?

Nothing too extensive but Sivana rules in a way that doesn't really invite too much introspection. He's THE archetypal mad scientist comic book supervillain and he's more or less stayed as that, arguably the most influential of them after Luthor if not outright on par with him, because while Luthor is the comic book supervillain template, the pop culture image of a mad scientist (big head short body, ugly, big glasses, always with a labcoat, hunchback and big teeth optional) is pretty much taken from Sivana. But Luthor's status atop the ladder and position opposite Superman mutated him into varying kinds of villain and a complicated character over time, where as Sivana is Sivana and never really needed to be anything else, there's just a purity to him. They've tried to make him a Luthor clone and the movie ran with that, but who cares, we all know what Sivana is, you're not fooling anyone with that guy.

He's got a pretty great thing going as not just an evil scientist, but the evil scientist head of an evil scientist family, with children split in either looking exactly like him or looking like chiseled models who look brutally dissonant next to their dad, and he genuinely loves his kids (at least usually or in his own way), in fact he's even show loving the ones that don't support him and turned good. If he's going to be the arch-nemesis of the superhero who introduced the concept of a superhero family, he can't exactly be lacking in one of his own, and that familial aspect he has towards his children has become just as important to his characterization as the fact that he spends most of his waking hours trying to destroy a child and failing.

They get some mileage out of how ruthless he can be despite his image (and people's tendency to overlook how dark Captain Marvel stories could get), he has enough basic standards to not go as low as other DCU supervillains and Thunderworld establishes a Hannibal Lecter-esque Sivana to hammer in contrast with the main one finding him unnerving, but I'll never forget this panel:

Like I said, there's a lot of dark stuff in Captain Marvel/Shazam that gets forgotten, but I also like this about Sivana, that's the flip-side of that purity I mentioned. That he can and does have almost a Doofenshmirtz-thing going on, where he's playing such an over-the-top cartoon villain 24/7 that every mundane or decent thing he does becomes inherently funny via contrast, as is his loving relationship with his own family, but he is a guy who's very serious about taking over the world and very serious about destroying Captain Marvel even if that means killing the boy Billy Batson to do it and doesn't think for one second about that contradiction. Contradictions are for chumps. He may love HIS kids, other kids are just a thing in the way. Sivana doesn't need to explain himself, like some OTHER inferior bald guy who sold out to become a CEO or something, Sivana lets his deeds do the talking.

Besides, evil is his family activity, who's to deny the joys of it to him?

[sirfrogsworth]

The Babylon Bee School of Comedy

Have you ever wanted to make Elon Musk reply to you with a double cry laughing emoji?

If you crave that sweet billionaire validation you need only follow this carefully crafted conservative comedy content creation course for that powerhouse of online satire... The Babylon Bee.

Soon you too could be bootlicking billionaire balls with the rest of The BBee writers.

Are you ready to get your learn on?

Let us Bee-gin.

The number one most important rule that all The BBee writers must internalize to their core...

Conservative comedy abhors effort.

Brainstorming for hours on end to craft the perfect premise and punchline... is for the Libs. Check out this Facebook meme that got 10,000 likes.

Can you order Starbucks from a bar? Doesn't matter, it's a snowflake drink for a snowflake Lib.

Does this joke not have an actual punchline? Doesn't matter, get lost you stupid Lib!

Is this technically a joke by definition? Doesn't matter, if you believe it is a joke, then it's a joke! Just like modern currency.

If you put too much thought into a joke, it might grow in complexity. That could be confusing! The death knell of any conservative joke are the words, "Hmm, that's a thinker."

This brings us to rule number two...

NO THINKERS!

Let's take this Ben Garrison comic as an example.

Spell everything out! Label everything! Don't leave anything to the imagination! If your audience has to figure something out or draw their own conclusions, what fun is that?

Conservatives want to hear things that are familiar. They want their beliefs parroted back at them. You must regurgitate those beliefs and then just make it *sound* like a joke. Don't break new ground or introduce new ideas. Don't get all caught up in interesting wordplay or clever puns or subverting expectations.

All expectations should be fully verted.

That is definitely a word because I saw someone use it on Facebook. End of research.

Here is a helpful tip. If you can't imagine the joke coming out of the mouth of late night comedy genius GUTFELD!, then you need to dial it back a bit. Do not surpass GUTFELD! levels of humor. GUTFELD! is your touchstone.

Oh, GUTFELD! I laughed so hard I FELD it in my GUT.

See, I went too far with my fancy pun. That is not the GUTFELD! way.

But what happens if inspiration is fleeting and you can't pay attention to your comedy writing task because you don't believe ADHD is real and thus you are unmedicated?

Don't you worry. If you do happen to get writer's block or are distracted by a funny Pepe meme or a shiny object, just call your racist uncle and say the magic word... "Bidenflation."

As the ensuing unhinged rant darts from subject to subject without any kind of connecting theme, just start writing down every right wing buzzword you hear. Then just insert those buzzwords Mad Libs-style into a derivative joke format.

Let's practice!

Ex. 1: Why did the PRONOUNS cross the BORDER? To get to the DRAG QUEEN STORY HOUR!

Ex. 2: How many GENDERS does it take to GROOM a lightbulb? Two! One to hold the BUTT PLUG and one to GO WOKE, GO BROKE.

Great start! I'm sure with a polishing pass those will make more sense. Or not. The bar is pretty much "will it get clicks?" so we're not too worried about coherence.

Heh... Mad Libs.

U MAD, LIBS?

Get it? Cuz Libs are always mad? About the normalized bigotry and whatnot.

Jokes are always better when you need to explain them.

Oh! That's another rule. Write that down. Wisdom like this is why I am teaching this course, of course. Hah, that's like that horse show song. I got jokes coming out the wazoo. Wazoo is my butt, right? Siri, is wazoo a butt? Oof, I'm kinda spacing on what the next lesson is.

I really wish Matt Walsh hadn't flushed my Adderall down the crapper.

Can I get a second opinion? Top Gun was so good. What does Tom Cruise think about ADHD? He always has good takes on stuff like this. Did I leave my oven on? Shazam, what song goes doodoo doo doo doooooo? Can you vacuum a yard? Has anyone tried that? That sounds more like a marijuana thought than an ADHD tangent. I should double check the THC content of that cotton candy vape juice.

I'm flyin' off the rails over here.

Matt, are you super duper sure it's not real?

Okay, fine. I'm an "energetic boy."

I hope whichever fish absorbs my meds is extra focused on whatever fish shit he needs to get done.

COMEDY WRITING!

Sometimes it is best to learn through observation. Let's eavesdrop on an actual The BBee writer's room to see how the sausage is made...

"So what did your racist uncle have to say?"

"Well, first he texted me a cameraphone picture of Trump as an astronaut that he wants me to print out cuz he doesn't know what a crypto wallet is... but then he said all the woke schools are turning kids into a bunch of gay commies."

"EUREKA!"

Classic! The BBee writers strike again. I mean, they aren't striking. There is no commie clamoring for a union at The Babylon Bee. That's for damn sure. FOCUS!

Do you get the joke though? With the kids and the gay and the communism?

Because all of those woke schools totally cover complex economic theories in 4th grade and all it takes to turn gay is a little persuasion from a teacher with green hair. Libs of TikTok wouldn't lie about that. End of research.

Look at this public school teacher!

I mean, you knooow she has a litter box in her classroom. I can just sense it. End of research.

Sure... it is just a context-free picture of a person with green hair in front of a flag and you cannot actually judge the quality of their teaching ability from this. But yoouuu knoooooow she is skipping right over grammar lessons and giving detailed instructions on how to turn gay.

Step 1: Look at a bunch of butts. Step 2: Touch a bunch of butts. Step 3: Gay sex a bunch of butts.

(Replace butts with cooches for lesbians.)

Grooming accomplished.

And you definitely shouldn't look up that green-hair'd, nose ring'd educator and research her any further. Extensive research is for the Libs, bro. Because you definitely don't want to discover she is a passionate high school English teacher who makes fun content on TikTok in the hopes that people will buy things off her wishlist so her students will have a better learning experience. I mean, caring about her students? That's so gay.

YoooOOOuuuUUU knnnooooooOOOw she is a bad teacher because she has green hair and a flag. End. Of. Research.

So... you have your gay communist headline that is perfect to get all of those sweet conservative clicks. But you still have a full webpage to fill out with more words and stuff.

Now I want to see if you learned anything from my perfectly focused and informative teachings. I want you to write some jokes about kids becoming gay communists.

Ready? GO!

Joke #1 Little Billy has wealthy parents so all the students will share his cookie at snack time.

Joke #2 At the beginning of the day, students pick a new gender out of a hat but all the kids fight over Attack Helicopter.

Joke #3 At lunch, the students have to stand in a peanut butter and jelly bread line.

Joke #4 The teacher makes the kids take turns combing each others' hair for a grooming session.

Wait a sec... are those... THINKERS?

No no no no no! You made my brain all confused and thinky!

You need to calm down, you overachieving silly billy. You forgot the first rule... NO EFFORT.

Just make the same joke over and over again with slightly different wording. EASY!

Remember the classic final rule of comedy...

Jokes always get funnier the more you repeat them.

Anyway, that's probably enough... joke.

Now let's close this article out!

Maybe we can drop the pretense this is comedic satire and just do some hardcore pandering. Gotta own the Libs, amirite?

Gender theory and drag queens and guns, oh my! That is pure pander-monium.

Just shove those factless tactless Tucker talking points straight down their gullet. They'll forget this was supposed to be funny and shake their fist in the air with exaltation. And it's definitely a great idea to put the thought of gunning down drag queens in their heads. That won't backfire in any way!

Congratulations! You are now ready to "write" for The Babylon Bee.

Please purchase this official Trump NFT certificate for $99 that acknowledges that you have completed this course and have a very poor understanding of what satire actually is.

End of research.

[lambdysphoria]

Haven't watched the Shazam movies or any DC Captain Marvel comics yet besides the Jeff Smith run so idk what happens in em but ideal modern Captain Marvel should be a little orphan trans boy that's obsessed with looking like a 1940s man. Watching every Jimmy Stewart movie on archive.org and saving his money to buy pomade and giving himself the silliest men cuts. It all just makes him feel further isolated because no one is as much of a nerd as he is and he struggles to get into anything relevant.

Also would explain why Captain Marvel looks so much like Cary Grant! I should probably get to DC runs of Captain Marvel eventually, but I'm having too much fun with fawcett comics to care rn.

[angel-gidget]

DC Plot Bunnies on my Brain

Time-traveling Kon talks to his younger self about Tana Moon. I’ve been exploring the 90’s Superboy corner of fandom lately, and boy do those guys have some thoughts about Tana Moon. Muy negative.

I think an adult Kon who had a chance to talk to his younger self might also be able to express some criticism of Tana, but he would not be harsh about it. I think he would still view his younger self as having a lot of agency, and he would still remember how much he loved her.

So how do you explain to your younger self that the current “love of their life” isn’t actually good for them? Very veeerry gently.

Kon bed-hopping fic. I actually started this one over a year ago and have snippets of it on my hard drive. Basically, after the Gemworld and multiversal hopping, Kon has a paranoia about being alone, and he doesn’t have a place to stay. (I wrote this before reading about the Kents remembering him after all, so this is written with the assumption that he has nowhere to go.)

So Young Justice takes turns housing him. And then the sleepovers end up being a pretty effective way of catching up with old friends like the core four and getting to know the new ones like Amy, Naomi, and Jinny.

Kon/Lophi slow-burn. In my current Kon fic, I imply that if YJ had showed up later than they had, Kon would have felt duty-bound to stay on the Gemworld to raise baby Martha. I could write a story exploring that as well as his and Lophi’s relationship. However, core four fuzzies would still be involved, bc the team would 100% find a way to visit Kon on the regular if he were stuck in another dimension.

Kon/Amy slow-burn. Set after the YJ multiverse hopping storyline. With no way to return to the Gemworld, Kon and Amy are left to mourn it together. This leads to bonding. Amy does, however, have some experience with going between worlds and have some coping mechanisms to offer Kon. In turn, he’s able to make her feel more at home with the team.

Amy Winston character exploration via Young Justice. There is a LOT to explore. For one thing, Amethyst was never a very character-driven comic, so there’s a lot of scenarios where I have no clue what Amy would do. So I gotta start writing to find out.

In her own 80’s title, Amy can go back and forth between being confidently heroic and remembering that she’s a scared kid. Part of that was the physical transformation she would go through. Turning into a physically 20-something a la Shazam made her feel more confident. But she doesn’t have that trait in YJ continuity.

So maybe her magic is the key? In the 80’s series, Amy’s magic was very strong on the Gemworld, but would fade to nothing when she crossed over to Earth.

So what if in this Wonder Comics YJ ‘verse, her magic is fading away slowly while she’s stuck on Earth and that gradually eats at her confidence? What if she does bond with the core four, but then becomes scared to tell them that the thing that (in her mind) makes her a superhero is fading away?

Post-Mini Series Amethyst story. I have a very detailed write-up of this in my drafts. I was very frustrated with Amy being turned into, like, a Gemworld deity thing at the end of her OG series. But I write out a plot taking place after it that would allow me to really come to terms with it and have fun with where the characters are at that point. Might post the outline later. Basically makes Amy, Young Princess Emerald, and Donal (Topaz and Turquoise’s son) all co-protagonists.

Tim/Cassie detective competition. In a (fairly recent?) Wonder Woman storyline, Cassie referred to herself as a detective, and asked for time to investigate the murder of Hypolyta. What if that had consequences? What if there is some kind of, idk, Teen Detective Competition and maybe Donna enters Cassie’s into it bc she thinks she’d be into it?

Of course, Tim has entered but only because he sees it as chance to get close to someone else he’s actually investigating. But as soon as he sees that Cassie is one of the entrants things get… genuinely competitive for both of them. And then the trash-talking somehow turns into flirting when neither of them were paying attention?

Tim/Cassie preboot Identity Exploration. Cassie is reveling in having Kon and Bart back from the dead. She and Kon are “just friends” now, and tho a lil’ awkward, it’s still good. But a few passing comments between the three of them lead Cassie to realize that some of the things she knows about Tim’s civilian identity are contradictory.

She begins to obsess a bit. After all, Tim was her main support through OYL and other hells, so shouldn’t she know him better than anyone?

Meanwhile, she is utterly failing to make a go of her “Drusila” identity. When Tim hears about that, he offers to help. And as Tim teaches Cassie how to be someone else, he ends up revealing things about himself that clarify some of those contradictions that stumped her earlier.

Tim/Greta set during 90's YJ. Steph gets frustrated with Tim's lecturing and breaks up with him. Secret sees this as an opportunity, and shoots her shot. Tim has had an insane day and decides "ok, why not?" Queue their relationship subtly changing events throughout the YJ and Robin series.

[wolfsbanesparks]

Hey y'all!

This is the fourth of seven fics I've written for Billy Batson Week 2024! Today's prompt was: The Perfect Pair + Favorite Duo.

So naturally I decided to chose Marcus aka Monkey Prince as the other half of the duo!

Summary:

Monkey Prince couldn't stand Captain Marvel. And honestly the feeling was mutual. But for some reason he couldn't explain, Monkey Prince was incredibly fond of Billy Batson.

Which is why Billy probably should have known that he'd try to come to his rescue when Dr. Sivana kidnapped him

[grimmbitty]

Work in progress for my Shazam story. ⚡️

This is a scene towards the start of the story, right after the prologue actually. It’s the scene where Billy’s social worker is trying to explain to him that she’s running out of foster homes for him to go to and is trying to get him to behave.

These are very quick sketches however, I think it’s probably for the best because one of the hardest things for me to learn is how to incorporate storytelling into my art lol. Which is funny because I enjoy both writing and drawing. So yeah,,,,

But anyways,, again not really sure how I want to tell this story? Like at first I was set on a screenplay for sure, but then I was like,,, maybe I should just write it as a fanfic? Because I’ve had nights where I’ve written 8,000 words in one night,,,, but those are rare. But ALSO also I really do enjoy the visual aspects of a comic,,,, but a comic would for sure take me the longest and require the most focus,,,,

I’m still not sure at this point, but I guess I’ll have to decide soon if I want people to eventually be able to enjoy my take on Billy Batson’s origin story,,,,,

Also please excuse any typos it is 1AM for me while I’m working on this LOL

Anyways thank you byeeee~ ✨

[havendance]

New Comics!

Didn't get around to this last month, but we're getting back to this, baby!

Birds of Prey #12 -- Sophie Campbell's art in this was indeed very cute. Plotwise, hmmm, I keep coming back to the fact that Kelly Thompson writes fun comics. And this was a fun issue! There were a lot of fun moments and sight gags. The cartoon/chibi designs of the characters were all excellent. I liked Babs' big cartoon glasses (and I really liked her outfit!) and Cass' ears, and how Vixen and Megara's powers were drawn. I do feel like the cute art does make it harder for me to take the plot seriously though, when I'm expecting something more like Tiny Titans from the vibes. Overall though, I'm going to be curious to reread this arc once it's complete and see if it reads smoother because right now it feels simultaneously too fast and like there's not much going on each issue.

It feels like we're hopping too quickly between all these places and the constantly changing art, while a fun concept is starting to make it harder to feel settled. There are a lot of characters in this arc and it feels like Thompson is having trouble balancing them. These past few issues have felt very repetitive in that they jump through the portal, adjust to the new changes, go beat up stuff, and jump through another portal, cut to the real world for a couple pages while Maps and assorted characters stand around. Right now it's feeling like it would've been nicer if this plot was more focused. Does it really need 5 issues? I'm wondering if this will read smoother in trade.

I think my last comment is that both this and the last issue have a sequence where one character's like 'I have an idea' and then we cut to the birds executing the idea without really explaining what they want to get out of the portal. I get that it's to build suspense, but it's kind of frustrating to be hit by it twice in a row. I'm not sure how to articulate this, but I feel like there's got to be a middle ground between telling the audience nothing and telling them everything.

Shazam #14 -- I think part of the reason why I'm finding myself more eh about Birds of Prey is that I read Shazam right after this and it just feels like Campbell is doing a much stronger job of juggling the different pieces and all the different characters she brings together in this issue in a way that's engaging and really feels like it's moving the plot forward. In this issue we've got Freddy, Billy (and also the Captain!), Mary, and Uncle Dudley and Mary gets a more supporting role, but it feels like there's a good amount of focus on each character.

Freddy's POV so much fun. He's over here like 'I am going to talk my way out of this situation' and the results from that are very entertaining. Uncle Dudly is also fun and there's a good set-up and payoff in this issue with him. I liked what we saw of the continued conflict between Billy and the Captain and I am here for the invasion of the Submen as next issue promised. It's just really fun.

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics:

Batman #150: oh look, we're pulling through elements of Gotham War here for payoff! And we have some commentary on what it means to be a henchperson in Gotham and its effects on not only that person but their family.

Birds of Prey #11: Dinah and Mari discussing not having your powers at your fingertips...yeah Mari, Dinah gets that.

The art on this remains spectacular, and I hope Constantine really was off to find Xanthe Zhou.

Shazam! #13: aww yeah we finally got a Freddy viewpoint and voice, and we are on track to get Freddy powers back. Very solid time spent in the Shazvan on characterisation.

Love your work, Josie Campbell.

The Boy Wonder #3: oh gosh, this was right on point for Tim and Damian. I particularly enjoyed how tech focused it was in terms of devices (making that a point of difference from other issues), and in how it both had Damian completely misread Tim's motivations and be convinced Tim was Up To Something, but also have Tim outright explain to Damian that he has problems trusting Damian because of past events and that he finds Damian hard to read. It felt very in conversation with Red Robin period between them, and the impact Spook's beheading had on setting their initial dynamic. Justification! On both sides!

Juni Ba clearly gets their dynamic, which is something I really appreciate.

The Warlord #59: This week in Skartaris the kids including Joshua sneak into the dungeon and see what they think is a demon. Joshua gets trapped inside as the rest flee, and ends up talking to Travis.

As you can see, bondage is still in effect.

Joshua finds out Darvin is planning to kill Travis, and decides he wants to let Travis out - and in the process of unlocking the chains Travis feels the watch on Joshua's arm!

And....end of issue, before the reveal!