The
Power of Shazam (DC,
1994-1999)
I actually mentioned this a while back, that I took back up reading
my two library-bound volumes of this great 1990s series starring the
original Captain Marvel (and the entire Marvel Family, plus various
other Fawcett characters and cross-overs with contemporary DC
characters) about halfway through the first volume back when I was
down for a week with what I'm calling The Flu. It's wonderful.
While I could quibble with certain decisions that were made in the
updating (e.g., “CM3,” Mary Marvel as another “Captain Marvel,”
her white costume rather than red, the concept of the Power being
divided between however many of the three that have invoked it, to
name the most important “quibbles”), as far as I'm concerned this
is the best-ever “modernization” of the characters that DC has
ever managed to accomplish, largely due to the efforts of Jerry
Ordway. It certainly puts the current abomination appearing in
Justice League
to shame. It captures rather than turns-on-its-head the simple charm
of the original, albeit in a way that easily satisfies the modern
comics reader.
