Shazam!: Monster Society of Evil Review

I was lucky enough to win a copy of Jeff Smith’s Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil hardcover collection at the annual FallCon Comic Book Convention in Minneapolis a few weeks back. As a big fan of Smith’s Bone stories, I’ve been meaning to check out this book for some time. The series was a hit at the time of its release, but just how does this bold reinterpretation of the classic hero stand up? Check out my review after the jump to find out!

SHAZAM!: THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL

Written by Jeff Smith

Art by Jeff Smith and Steve Hamaker

Letters by Jeff Smith

Cover by Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith’s Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil is a reimagining of Captain Marvel’s origins told through the unexpected lens of a post 9/11 world. The story begins close enough to the original origin story with the young orphan Billy Batson living on his own before he is lured to the Rock of Eternity where he meets the wizard Shazam and gains magical powers to become the hero Captain Marvel.

From there, Smith begins taking the Captain Marvel mythos in his own direction. Some changes are subtle, such as Mary Marvel being considerably younger than Billy retaining her age even after she gains her power. Others, however, are rather massive, such as Talky Tawny being a shape-shifting magical ally of the wizard Shazam that appears often as a tiger, but also as a black cat and, most prominently, a friendly hobo.

The most important changes, however, are those that reinforce the changes to the Monster Society plot. These include Dr. Sivana being the Secretary of State and the world’s leading arms manufacture, looking to use Mr. Mind’s monster attacks and America’s post-9/11 paranoia for financial gain; Sivana is no longer a mad scientist, but rather a war profiteer. Other changes include Billy’s curiosity and lack of discipline unleashing Mr. Mind upon the world through his irresponsible actions at the Rock of Eternity—an interesting tactic that allows for greater development of Billy’s character.

I must say that the thing that surprised me most about this story was how complex it was. Smith’s design style and overall approach to storytelling are very clean and basic; at first glance, you may think that this book was intended for the Johnny DC (DC’s all-ages line). However, as you dig deeper into the story, it becomes clear that the story is much heavier and clearly geared towards a more adult audience. The story explores themes of post-9/11 fear mongering, war profiteering, and the role of the modern news media. These are themes that aren’t your usual fair for the average superhero comic, let alone the average all-age superhero comics. I will give Smith credit on this, though, as the story isn’t so complex that it would alienate younger or more casual readers; it is just considerably more satisfying if you can understand the higher concepts that Smith is touching upon.

Unfortunately, as all the plot points come to a head, things get incredibly messy. The fourth act of the story, which finds Billy taking on both Sivana and Mr. Mind (who only appears at the tail end of the story), is incredibly rushed and forced. Smith does wrap up all of the plot points, but the rapid pace of the conclusion takes away the gravitas of the moment and shortchanges the brilliance of both villains. Given that the rest of the story moves at an incredibly methodical and sometimes glacial pace, the conclusion of the story is very off-putting. I finished the story wanting more, but not in the sense of future stories, but rather a better explanation of how the story I just read concluded.

In terms of character work, Smith does excel here. He approaches Captain Marvel and Billy as separate entities that are strongly connected, but retain their own personalities—though he does a great job of establishing the fact that both characters have their merits and are equal parts of the hero that they become. I was equally impressed with his handle on Mary who is a spunky rival of sorts to Billy. He is her caretaker, but also her competitor, which is an interesting twist on their relationship, especially considering that by being similar in age, Mary represents the childhood that Billy was robbed of.

The art has an old school look that should please fans of the C.C. Beck-era Captain Marvel incredibly happy, but with modern twists that keep it very fresh looking. Smith is extremely clean in his work as the art is free of superfluous details and unnecessary shading—he keeps the reader’s eye focused on the main characters and nothing more, which is very similar to his approach in the Bone books. The storytelling of the art is very clear and direct, which simultaneously compliments the simple approach to characterization and contrasts against the complexity of the nuanced story. Smith uses very large, open panels that emphasize how small Billy is in comparison to the world around him, which is a interesting choice.

While the majority of the characters are drawn with exaggerated features, a lot of the background and supporting characters are drawn in a more realistic style, which is oddly off-putting. Also, while the large open panels do work thematically with the story, they also cause a lot of the book to look very bland at times because of the minimal backgrounds and additional details. The art is often at times with torn between the whimsy and fun of Smith’s design style and a grittier outlook that the story demands.

In terms of extras, I really have to say this is one of the better non-Absolute hardcover collections that DC has produced. It features a great introduction by Alex Ross about the history of Captain Marvel and the uniqueness of Smith’s approach, which sets up the story nicely. This is balanced with an afterward by Smith that explains how the events of 9/11 guided the book. There is also a lengthy sketchbook of character designs, comparisons between classic Captain Marvel moments and Smith’s interpretation of them, and production notes on the 6 year history of the series. Plus, as very unique bonus, the dust jacket folds out to be a full-sized poster featuring all of the characters. With this, so that the book doesn’t look odd if you decide to display the poster, the cover of the book itself reprints the dust jacket design (much like the Infinite Crisis hardcover) rather than being a single color cover that only features the title (like the vast majority of DC’s hardcover collections).

Verdict: Buy It. Jeff Smith’s vision of Captain Marvel is a fun and unique approach to a character that enjoys one of the richest mythos and histories of any DC character, but is often one of the most poorly-used characters owned by the company. The story of Monster Society of Evil is an interesting mix of political commentary and whimsical superhero action, which is a fun concept that falters a bit in execution thanks to the very rushed final chapter. In the end, the good outweighs the bad though, and Smith has created an enduring reinterpretation that I’d love to see him return to at some point in the future.

Interested in Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil? Buy it on Amazon.com and help support the Weekly Crisis!

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