The New Champion of Shazam! #4 // Review
The good news is that Mary has been offered the position of teaching assistant at Fawcett Community College with the brilliant Doctor G. The bad news? Doctor G. is a total sociopath with no regard for human life. Mary walks into her final showdown with Doctor G. in The New Champion of Shazam! #4. Writer Josie Campbell closes out her four-part introduction to the new Mary Marvel with the aid of artist Evan “Doc” Shaner. Though it leans pretty heavily on broad strokes of human emotion, Campbell’s story engages emotions much deeper than most mainstream superhero comics in an enjoyable end to the four-part series.
Mary knows what she has to do. She’s going to have to stand up to a very vicious authority figure in her lair...which just happens to be a science lab in the basement of a community college. She’s going to have to face a host of monsters before she can come face-to-face with a villain who is a link to her own past. There are a great many innocent lives that hang in the balance, but Mary’s up to the task. She’s planned ahead, and she knows what she will have to do to save a whole lot of lives.
Campbell has been very sharp about constructing a story that both establishes a villain AND dives right into the heart of the hero’s psyche. The inner journey of the hero never compromised the overall action of a series that saw real change in Mary from beginning to end. As a result, the big triumph at the end of this issue feels deeply satisfying. Batgirl. Supergirl. She-Hulk. The best female versions of any superhero have always been more sophisticated versions of the male heroes they’re based on. With this series, Campbell has found an appealing way to make Mary Marvel seem that much cooler than Parker and Beck’s Captain Marvel.
Shaner is challenged with making the basement of a community college seem like a dangerous place inhabited by a psychotic supervillain. Shaner firmly grounds the setting in deep realism while amplifying the supernatural danger in a way that feels suitably fantastic. It’s a delicate balance that Shaner maintains throughout the issue. Not all of the action hits the page with great fluidity, but the emotional momentum of the story is bound to the page with compelling detail throughout.
Campbell has set things in motion for Mary. Her powers may not be terribly new or engaging. The distinct personality of an overachieving college girl in the form of a powerful superhero feels compelling enough. Mary has made quite a bit of progress in four issues. Mary’s development with the writer will continue. Campbell has one more chapter with Mary this month on January 24th in the one-shot Lazarus Planet: Once We Were Gods. Then Mary and Josie face an even bigger challenge in March as the new back-up feature in Wonder Woman #797.
