Shazam #7 Review

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artists: Dale Eaglesham & Scott Kollins

Colorist: Michael Atiyeh

Letterer: Rob Leigh

Published by: DC

After many years of reading comics created by Geoff Johns, I do believe one of his most prominent strengths is in taking a concept from the original creators and expendeding it to the nth degree. He did it with Green Lantern and the emotional spectrum, and he is doing it now with the introduction of the Magiclands to the Shazam mythos. 

This issue sees the Shazam family separated from the get go: Freddie and Darla are trapped in the Wildlands about to be served to the rebellious tigers - which leads to the introduction of a classic Captain Marvel character in Tawky Tawny - we have Pedro and Eugene being accompanied by the Wizard in Wozenderlands - which seems to be implying that Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland exist - and finally Mary and Billy still in the real world, confronting their foster parents and sharing a secret. 

You’d think with so many intersecting stories for a 22 page comics that it could potentially become confusing, but Johns keeps the flow of the issue going by concentrating mostly on the Billy/Mary and Freddi/Darla parts of the story. The introduction of Tawky is also handled really well as in just a few panels, Johns is able to convey who he is, why he is the way he is and provide motivation as to why he would join up with Freddie and Darla. 

Johns also drops some hints to future issues once Billy makes it to the Darklands, and for eagle-eyed readers, a specific name will make them happy (at least I hope it does). 

Art duties in this issue are split between Dale Eaglesham and Scott Kollins. At first, I thought this might have been a little jarring as they both have very distinctive styles, but it worked in the end. The first half is all Eaglesham in all his glory. I have been a fan of his ever since his work on JSA back in the day, and he continues to be one of my favorites. His art has a lot of movement and great facial expressions. Really good! 

Kollins also does a marvellous job with his pages and is helped by the lower page count in my mind. I sometimes find his pencils a little rushed, but here you can see that he had more time to fine-tune everything. It may also be because he is inking himself (or that is what the credits lead me to believe), so his work comes off more polished. 

Complementing both is Atiyeh on colors and man, do they do a wonderful job of really bringing out the image from the page. My favorite choice of his, whether mandated by editorial or not, is the lightning symbol on Shazam’s chest being in a perpetual glow. Really nice touch. 

The only real snaffu in the issue when it comes to color is when Darla and Freddie are making their way to the Darklands, she explains that her dress is losing color… yet it’s the same color as previous panels. Small little error, but noticeable.