After Jeff Smith completed his master work Bone, he decided to do a mini-series for DC comics featuring Captain Marvel himself. Smith hadn’t done any superhero work before and Captain Marvel is such a rich character, that I was interested to see how it would work. And Smith delivered. He reinvented Captain Marvel and brought him into the new age of heroes beautifully. But who is Captain Marvel?

Captain Marvel has an interesting history. Created by CC Beck and Fawcett comics when they saw how popular Superman was, the popularity of Captain Marvel led DC Comics to sue Fawcett over the likeness of Captian Marvel to Superman. By the time it had made it to trial and appeal and a re-trial, Captain Marvel wasn’t quite as popular, so Fawcett settled with DC Comics. In Britain, reprints of Captain Marvel were suddenly cut off and Mick Angelo created a Captain Marvel knockoff and named him Marvelman. Marvelman lasted for 10 years before falling sales killed it off. It was later brought back by Alan Moore in the 1980s (covered previously).

Captain Marvel gained his powers when alter ego Billy Batson was brought in front of the Wizard and given access to magial powers by saying the word “SHAZAM”. The word itself was an acronym for the gods who granted him his powers (Solomon, Hercules, Athena, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury). Smith took us back to the basics with a homeless little boy who survives on the street by his wits. The Wizard brings him in and gives him the power. Captain Marvel brings Billy back to the Wizard to discuss things (back in time). But Billy doesn’t listen and almost causes the world to be destroyed by an evil mind in a worm’s body named Mr. Mind. Billy/Shazam is helped by a feline shape changer named Talky Tawney. Billy also finds his younger sister who gets caught in the Shazam change and becomes Mary Marvel. Together they must defeat Mr. Mind as well as the evil Dr. Sivana.

The art is clean and fun. It has a lot of similarities to Smith’s Bone art.

The characters are cute as kids (and animals) and Captain Marvel has the look of an innocent in a man’s body (which he is). A backstory is implied when the Wizard tells Captain Marvel that he has found a new body for him (aka Billy Batson). Smith never loses the sense of fun while creating a nice super hero comic.

Smith can do no wrong in my book and I loved his take on Captain Marvel. It is a short read, but a quick fun comic that lives up to my expectations for Jeff Smith. Highly Recommended.