Say My Name…Shazam!

There are at least three moments in Shazam! that made my inner-nerd do a little leap of delight.

We’ll get to them in a moment.  First though, I want to reflect upon the film’s general strengths and weaknesses, beyond it’s obscure comic book appeal.

Shazam! is the latest film based on a DC Comics character to hit the big screen.  It’s arrived with much critical and financial success, and carries with it the reputation of being the kind of light-hearted whimsical escapist superhero fantasy film that the DC Extended Universe has thus far been famous for not making.

And this reputation is sort of deserved.  Sort of, but not quite.

Incidentally, there are spoilers ahead.  Big spoilers. Big Big Spoilers!

Aquaman

Back in the 1990’s, I used to make a joke about Kevin Costner, how he seemed to only star in three hour movies in which he got to play some iconic childhood hero. Like he’s saying, “Hey, I’m Robin Hood!” (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) or “Hey, I’m a cowboy!” (Wyatt Earp), or “Hey, I’m an Indian!” (Dances with Wolves), or “Hey, I’m Aquaman!” (Waterworld).

Of course, Waterworld is not actually about Aquaman, but some other guy who can swim really fast and survive the depths of the ocean. Part of the joke is that the idea of making an actual Aquaman movie is just ludicrous. Oh, how times have changed.

Weekly Geeky Question #30: Comic Book Wishes

Every week in 2018, the plan is that my friend Rod is going to ask me some geeky question that will answer in a post. This week is Week #30, and this week’s question is again about comic books.

What are my three comic book wishes?

 

Marvel & DC – Smooshing It All Together

Recently, I found myself pondering a question – a question that I’m sure you have all pondered as well:  if all Marvel and DC comic books were cancelled, and I was in charge of restarting the line as one shared continuity, limiting myself to 25 books or so, what would I choose?

That of course led me to think of what a shared continuity between Marvel and DC would actually look like.  How does one integrate the best or most interesting elements of both company’s properties into one streamlined story.  Can you indeed put both the Justice League and the Avengers into one continuity, and give them both a reason to be there?  What about Batman and Moon Knight?  Hawkeye and Green Arrow?  It’s an exercise sort of like what happened back in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but on an even bigger scale.