Shazam #4 // Review
With the “Marvel Family” spread throughout the Magiclands, Geoff Johns, Dale Eaglesham, and Marco Santucci work together to bring life into this new corner of the DCU. The sibling dynamic has never been more fun, with an ensemble cast to play off of each issue generates more affinity to each respective member of this surrogate family. This series continues to be the much-needed light-hearted title fans have been after for so long.
The last issue ended with the family been ripped apart from one another while this chapter delves deeper into the secrets behind the Funlands and its despot ruler, King Kid. Continuing to slowly leak out allies and foes from the past, Tawny the Talking Tiger makes his debut onto the series as part of the family lands in his area, the Wildlands. With the remainder of the family finding themselves with the Gamelands, the whole of the Magiclands has still yet to be embarked upon as this series moves forward.
The differences between Dale Eaglesham and Marco Santucci are noticeably highlighted with this issue. Albeit, each artist pencils different areas of the Magiclands so the contrasts play more to their favor between the varying scenes. Eaglesham continues to deliver his signature pencils to the pages of The Funlnds while Santucci takes center stage and carries the weight of the remainder of the issue. Penciling the first glimpses of the Wildlands and Gamelands respectively, Santucci brings his best work to the series thus far. Mike Atiyeh delivers nothing short of fantastical color work, bringing each separate area of the Magiclands to live in spectacular fashion. Jim Lee delivers another spectacular variant cover in the same vein as his recent Justice League B covers
As per usual, Geoff Johns completely understands and highlights each character and what makes them unique. Never blending the aspects into one singular voice, Johns’ ability to utilize the ensemble cast and show off their own individuality is a testament to his sheer talent with storytelling and character building. The series title really stands more as the family cry rather than the titular heroes name. As Geoff continues to bleed in old aspects from the past, this chapter closes out with a jam dropping end for fans to gush about for weeks.
This series continues to display how entertaining and lucrative a simple light-hearted tale about family be genuinely be and how much weight it can actually hold. Eaglesham and Santucci bring beautiful work to each respective page as Geoff Johns continues to prove to readers why this series was worth the years of waiting.
Grade: A
