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Billy Batson & the Magic of Shazam!: Family Affair
In these tales from Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #1-12, Billy meets a new kid in Theo Adam! Theo tries to play nice with Billy and his fellow classmates, but it's all just a ploy to learn the secret word that will magically transform him back to his evil alter ego, Black Adam! Can Billy stop this supervillain in disguise before it's too late, and keep his super-powered little sister out of harm's way?
- GenresGraphic NovelsComics
282 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 18, 2020
3 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 9, 2020
Mike Kunkel writes and illustrates the first 4 issues and they are delightful. Kunkel fills the art full of the same magic, heart, and wonder he did in Herobear and the Kid. That's a book that if you haven't read, you should search it out. This is an all ages books similar to Tiny Titans. Art Baltazar takes over the book with issue 5 and the stories are flat kiddie fare from that point on with poor art.
July 4, 2020
Mike Kunkel both writes and draws the first four issues if this book and it is great. His art work is in the animated style which gives the characters a lot of personality and great facial expressions. I really could see this as animated film.
The first story arc has both Billy & his little sister Mary living and going school together while trying to get one over on the principal whenever he wants to see their parents, avoiding nosey neighbors, and dodging teachers who love putting their students in detention.
New student, Theo Adam, gives Billy trouble at every turn. This is due to the fact that he wants the magic word so that he can become Black Adam and he knows Billy is the one that can give it to him.
While the first four issues were fun the next eight are very boring and the art work goes down hill fast.
I can't really recommend this book as a buy but maybe as a borrow from your local library just to read the first four issues by Kunkel.
The first story arc has both Billy & his little sister Mary living and going school together while trying to get one over on the principal whenever he wants to see their parents, avoiding nosey neighbors, and dodging teachers who love putting their students in detention.
New student, Theo Adam, gives Billy trouble at every turn. This is due to the fact that he wants the magic word so that he can become Black Adam and he knows Billy is the one that can give it to him.
While the first four issues were fun the next eight are very boring and the art work goes down hill fast.
I can't really recommend this book as a buy but maybe as a borrow from your local library just to read the first four issues by Kunkel.
February 23, 2023
This book is having a real identity crisis.
It starts off okay, with a family friendly style that is definitely geared to kids. But then it gets wordy. and more wordy. And then other writers come in and get even more wordy, and the art becomes less cartoonish and more... retro I want to say? By the final issues, Captain Marvel looks like he walked out of a 40's era comic, and the people around him don't really match the style.
And when I say wordy, I mean opening pages for each issue that are more than half text, to the point that some hardly have any art. It made me groan to read it, and I can't imagine a target audience of pre-teens was any happier with it. And while the stories are mostly child-focused and family friendly (although the crush Billy has on one of the TV reporter co-workers reads a little weird), some of the themes are just strange - like one intro page is all about "shadows." And it's a bit disconcerting that the first half of the first issue has all of the word balloons in 'code' - that's a lot of extra effort to make readers go through for not so impressive dialogue.
It's all over the place in content, style, humor, art quality, and depth, and none of it ever really works for me. I know I'm not the target audience for it, but I honestly can't imagine anyone who WOULD be.
It starts off okay, with a family friendly style that is definitely geared to kids. But then it gets wordy. and more wordy. And then other writers come in and get even more wordy, and the art becomes less cartoonish and more... retro I want to say? By the final issues, Captain Marvel looks like he walked out of a 40's era comic, and the people around him don't really match the style.
And when I say wordy, I mean opening pages for each issue that are more than half text, to the point that some hardly have any art. It made me groan to read it, and I can't imagine a target audience of pre-teens was any happier with it. And while the stories are mostly child-focused and family friendly (although the crush Billy has on one of the TV reporter co-workers reads a little weird), some of the themes are just strange - like one intro page is all about "shadows." And it's a bit disconcerting that the first half of the first issue has all of the word balloons in 'code' - that's a lot of extra effort to make readers go through for not so impressive dialogue.
It's all over the place in content, style, humor, art quality, and depth, and none of it ever really works for me. I know I'm not the target audience for it, but I honestly can't imagine anyone who WOULD be.
February 24, 2023
DNF pg 158
There are so many words. Like, just so many words jammed onto every page. I'm not sure who this is for, because the stories themselves are too simple compared to the text is so overcomplicated. However, I fully admit this could be an expectation thing because I was expecting more Tiny Titans or even Jeff Smith's run.
There are so many words. Like, just so many words jammed onto every page. I'm not sure who this is for, because the stories themselves are too simple compared to the text is so overcomplicated. However, I fully admit this could be an expectation thing because I was expecting more Tiny Titans or even Jeff Smith's run.
January 1, 2025
It's... fine.
I know it's for a younger audience but for a technically follow up of "Monster society of evil" it's very disappointing.
I know it's for a younger audience but for a technically follow up of "Monster society of evil" it's very disappointing.
June 9, 2023
As a fan of Mike Kunkel’s “Herobear and the Kid” - and if you haven’t checked it out yet, get in on that! - I was looking forward to reading “Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!” Unfortunately, after reading this collection, I was a little disappointed to see that Kunkel only did the first quarter of the book; the rest are covered by different writers and artists, and as such the overall work suffers as a result.
Herobear fans will geek out at the reference to him that Mike Kunkel throws in at one part of the book!
Herobear fans will geek out at the reference to him that Mike Kunkel throws in at one part of the book!
May 4, 2023
Picked this up on a whim because of the Shazam! sequel movie release. Cute story and I didn’t get lost in the weeds as tends to happen to me when I jump into a comics story out of the blue. Great eye-catching artwork; lots of fun to read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews