The New Champion of Shazam!

The New Champion of Shazam! #1-4

by Josie Campbell (Writer), Evan "Doc" Shaner (Artist), Becca Carey (Letterer)

Mary Bromfield has always struggled to determine who she is outside her family…kinda hard to do when you’re all superheroes!

Now, after Billy Batson’s heroic sacrifice, the power of Shazam has vanished, and she’s been left powerless.

Most heroes would be distraught, but not Mary. It’s finally time for a voyage of self-discovery as she prepares for her freshman year of college and a civilian life. But nothing is ever truly normal for this young hero, because she’s just been chosen as the new champion of Shazam! (At least according to a talking rabbit sent by her estranged brother Billy.) Will she embrace the power? Or will it die along with this world’s hope of survival against the mysterious magical forces waiting to take control?

The New Champion of Shazam! collects the entire four issue series!

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 9, 2023

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary takes up the mantel of Shazam when Billy goes missing. A Shazam incident causes her to losing her place at the prestigious university of her choice, which leads to adventures at community college. Mary is very likable as a no-nonsense, get business done kind of hero, while at the same time being vulnerable threats against her family and against her educational goals. This makes her feel grounded even though she has great power. Overall, I really enjoyed this read. In fact, I probably enjoy Mary's Shazam more than Billy's Shazam. The only thing that lets it down is that the end of the story resolves rather quickly and conveniently.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find it hard to enjoy Shazam comics as I continually grit my teeth in annoyance with every page turn due to the name problems the franchise has suffered for the past couple decades as DC has tried to move away from the "Captain Marvel" moniker. I mean, it was stupid enough back in the olden days when Captain Marvel, Jr. (Freddy Freeman), couldn't say his own hero name because it included the magic word that triggered his transformation, so DC tried at various points to rename him CM3 and Shazam. But now everyone in the old Marvel family -- and a whole new family of foster kids to boot -- is Shazam, including the former Mary Marvel who stars in this mini-series with a title that awkwardly tries to sidestep the naming issues.

So now no one in the family can drop their hero name into casual conversation without bringing down a thunderbolt. And how is the general public -- characters in the comic and people reading the comic -- suppose to talk about the various Shazams without coming off as sexist or racist?

I suppose if the story in this book had been good enough, I might be willing to look past all the above, but it is a pretty safe, simple, and predictable story that does little to distract. Mary is looking forward to finding herself at college but is immediately called back home for a family emergency and spends much time whining about what she's lost and sniping at everybody. But -- gosh 'n' golly -- maybe she'll still find what she's really looking for after all, hyuk hyuk.

After the main story, there is short story entitled the "The Price of Eternity" that is reprinted from Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods #1 in which Mary has to team up with a guy named Malik to save Billy Batson. I was unfamiliar with Malik, and the story did little to introduce him. Apparently, he is Malik Adam White, the heir to the power of Black Adam, and he goes by the code name White Adam. (Maybe all the Shazams will be referred to by the color of their suits, like the Power Rangers? But wait, Mary and Billy both wear red . . . ) The story is all prelude to a Lazarus Planet tie-in that brings back the Wizard Shazam, who was revamped a while back under the name Mamaragan (sigh).

Boring, bland mess.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good showcase of Mary Marvel as the New Champion of Shazam. Loved seeing Hoppy and Uncle Dudley/Marv after so these years.

Shaner's art is just perfect for the book. Clean and uncluttered yet very modern.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful and powerful story of what it means to both human and hero, though Shazam has lately been great for those kinds of stories.
Mary, having done her time on Team Shazam, is now ready to go off to college at Vassar. While there, she receives a message (via rabbit) from Billy, imbuing her with the power of Shazam, even though that will cause issues. When her parents go missing, she transfers back to community college near home, and begins the search. What she finds will test her mettle as the only Shazam there is.
Really fast read. Well written. Actually looking forward to seeing more from this Shazam.
Recommend.

[David Palazzolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall not a bad miniseries—there is a lot of charm and whimsy here that evokes the feeling of past iterations of the lead characters while tweaking the elements to fit modern stories. I think this is the first story I’ve read from Josie Campbell and I hope to read more from her again. The artwork by Evan “Doc” Shaner is the best I’ve seen from him and he’s always produced beautiful illustrations that are always engaging and warm.

Having said all that, this series doesn’t escape the problems I have with the current iteration with the Marvel Family—er, Shazam Family introduced by Geoff Johns in New52. First the name change. I’ve always hated that DC abandoned “Capt Marvel” and all the other Marvel names—I find it nothing less than cowardice. Also, the Shazam Family calling themselves by their “magic word” I find ridiculous and confusing. How do they not transform when they introduce themselves? Then we have the lightning powers. The Shazams have flight, strength, speed, invulnerability and a heightened intellect/‘wisdom’ to guide the application of said powers. Why the hell do they need a “lightning” attack?!? It’s as pointless as giving Mon-El of the Legion a Green Lantern power ring!! (Sorry for the nerd comparison—couldn’t resist 😅). And finally there’s the extended Shazam Family itself—it’s not that I actively dislike like them or think they have no potential but they don’t really hold much interest for me as characters. They will never find an opportunity to grow without a dedicated ongoing Shazam book which is extremely unlikely at this point.

I also have a few problems with the series itself. First there’s a little bait-and-switch. The first issue makes a big deal of Mary going away and invests time in establishing themes of independence and self-discovery in the context of “who am I outside my family?” then suddenly that aspect is forgotten as she’s tossed back to her old foster home when the Vasquezes disappear. Now she has to settle for a local rundown barely accredited college while keeping the family together. The remaining family—the currently depowered Freddy, Darla, Pedro and Eugene—are only written to provide yet another problem for Mary to solve and get a very unsatisfactory one panel resolution. Thirdly is the Wisdom of Solomon—not seeing a lot of it. Not surprised either as virtually every writer of every Shazam character has them choose not to apply it at any time.

My last big concern involves something the series got right but played out poorly. Campbell spends time on the way that the internet can become a toxic space to women—particularly women in the media or women who are the subject of media attention. The way Campbell introduced Mary’s online harassment was seamless and a natural consequence of the action that came earlier. Among the cyber bullies were three super-powered adversaries that defeated Mary in an earlier fight and when faced for a rematch they came off lazily written with cliche and utterly cringe dialogue. This utterly destroyed any tension the confrontation should have had because there lies with modern adventure stories in general and comics in particular, a level of cliche dialogue that, once reached, is an irrevocable sign of impending defeat and that level was on full display. I’m getting tired of seeing it.

The series does do a lot of things that make me happy as well. It honors the history and lore of the old Marvel Family in a number of ways. It brings us WHIZ radio as the college station run at Fawcett College, new versions of Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, Uncle Marvel (who is now referred to as ‘Uncle Marv’, and apparently has a reason for the name as ‘Marv’ is not his name), Dr. Georgia Sivana and it sneaks in a Tawky Tawny plush. Campbell invests a lot of time developing Georgia as a character taking the time to give her synchronicity with Mary and I hope to see further clashes between the two.

[Murphy C · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Doc" Shaner's artwork is impeccable, and Josie Campbell's writing is sharp and sensitive and funny. Unequivocally, this is a great read with great characters. However (he equivocates), it's also too short, and the plot's too thin by half. The unresolved name issue is aggravating, to say the least. We all know that she's Mary Marvel, but in this DC continuity, the word "marvel" is apparently absent entirely from the English lexicon. 🙄

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun. Mary Marvel takes over as the new Shazam now that Billy is stuck at the Rock of Eternity. She goes off to college and her foster parents go missing. It was a bit disjointed in places and could have used an extra issue or two to further flesh out the story but I still thought worth a read.

Doc Shaner's art is just terrific. I'm not sure why DC hasn't moved him onto their biggest projects yet. He deserves it.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Great tie into Lazarus Planet. This was great but rushed anyway. I love Mary.

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The New Champion of Shazam!" pretty much sums up this book in it's title. This is a fairly simple yet enjoyable book that features Mary Bromfield , AKA Mary Marvel, as the new lead cape for Team Shazam. The story itself is fairly straight forward, if not downright cliched and simplistic, but it is very well done and overall quite enjoyable. Mary , who always seemed to outshine Billy, really pops in this this book and finally gets to have the spotlight. Darla and Hoppy also stand out in this book.

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

*sigh* This is one of those reviews I hate writing because both creators involved on this book seem like amazing people and one of them (Doc Shaner) is the reason I got this book in the first place. So I hope they don't read Goodread reviews. But write it I will because these are kind of like journal entries for me in case I forget things as I get older :).

Let me start off with the positive. The premise - the thesis of the four issue mini series contained in this volume - this, short, too expensive volume - is "Who is Mary without her powers, without her family?" It starts off with the relatable idea of Mary moving away from home for the first time to go to University and she gets a chance to reinvent herself and find out who she is away from all the safety of her family and friends. We are also at a point in DC where there are no Shazams (sadly I don't know more than that because this volume doesn't catch me up to speed) so she is just Mary, not Mary Marvel.

So off we go to college and Mary runs into her two roommates who seem very nice and one of them has a cute bunny. Don't get too attached to them because they will not be seen for long. But the bunny is the second good thing - because he gets magic put into him and becomes a messenger for Billy Batson (the Shazam (I wish we could still call him Captain Marvel) we know and love) who is trapped in the rock of Eternity (sadly we don't know more than that because this volume doesn't catch us up to speed). He is cute, really wants a carrot, adds a little bit of levity which this story is SORELY lacking, and he is the only character I ended up caring about. SPOILER: He gets his carrot eventually.

The art...I really love Doc Shaner's art but it isn't AS great here. Mostly I blame the story which consists of a lot of talking heads so he doesn't get to shine as much as where I first discovered him (Flash Gordon and FutureQuest) but it also didn't have the pop his previous work did - I wish I could explain it better. I didn't feel the passion I have seen in his art before. But I do want to qualify this by saying it is still solid art I just didn't get the excitement over seeing it like I have in other works.

So I liked the premise of the story and the talking rabbit why am I so down on this? One key reason is the premise (that I liked) is quickly forgotten, like almost immediately. In a way that was jarring and did not work well. Mary is just settling into college with a few sitcom-like awkward moments and BAM - talking rabbit says "You have the powers of Shazam (in fact 5x normal because you don't have to share it with your foster family anymore (but that won't come into play at all so why did we even mention that?) AND you have to go back to your hometown because your foster parents are missing". Also, you keep your roommate's rabbit because for some stupid reason Billy gave it the magical power and not a random wild bunny but let's never bring up how weird it is you stole your roommate's rabbit after issue one. In fact forget you had any roommates because you are back living in your foster house and now going to college in a crappy local college." I want to highlight that - the writer, Josie, spends one quarter of the story setting up "How does Mary adjust to being away from home without powers" and then immediately "gives her the powers back and she is back living at home". And aside from some VERY clunky narrative boxes while she fights there really is no further thought put into the premise. When I say clunky, I was embarrassed how poor the writing was. Instead of developing a story where Mary works out who she is - she fights the bad guys and while we see the art for that fightthe narration boxes say things like "How do I define me?" and then goes on to try to define herself in long-winded thought boxes while she fights.

Also - the driving mystery is VERY badly done. I could spend another page on why I disliked it but it is so lazy I was mad. The one teacher we meet...this teacher who reveals a lot of her backstory for no reason to Mary...do you think she has anything to do with the missing people? Also - the driving reason for Mary to return home is because HER foster parents were taken but then the premise shifts to homeless people are being taken and the police don't care hundreds of them have gone missing. Two things. "Homeless people taken and nobody cares but our hero" is lazy. Been done a million times. Stop it. Second thing, isn't it the height of all coincidences that the two none-homeless people taken were Mary's parents? Third thing...(I know I said only two but this drove me insane) Mary came home to find her parents and look after her brothers/sisters and she never does either of those things. Hey Mary, if MY parents were missing and I had super powers I wouldn't be enrolling in the local college. I would be flying around looking for clues. Take a break from school for a semester and start again in January.

Also there is the clicheed "Little sister wants to help, Mary snaps at her, little sister runs away and immediately runs into the bad guy and gets captured". Again - lazy writing.

Ugh. So much lazy and forced writing I was upset the writer put so little effort to be creative and make the story fun and make Mary interesting and make me feel this was a SHAZAM story and not a generic "could be anyone" story.

Also - there is a tack on story at the end that was also not good.

P.S. the way the whole town turns on Mary because they see her fly away instead of taking the time to do a TV interview? Very stupid. Very forced. I have never seen Batman do a TV interview but nobody calls him a coward for that. And the one good joke, calling her SHE-ZAM is ruined because they do an awkward call back to that.

[Idan Luisa Sanchez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feels like empty calories. Kept expecting something entertaining to happen. It does not really work as a character piece or a proper adventure. Mary keeps saying the same things like, "Who am I?" Stand out character is the rabbit. The whole book seems like it was making up time until the next event. Art's pretty. Colors are nice. Facial expressions convey emotion. Not worth it.

[Marco Cifuentes Durán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personalmente, y pese a que es innegable el icónico status de Shazam/Captain Marvel en el gran panteón de los superhéroes, siempre he creído que Mary Marvel, su hermana (adoptiva o biológica según la época y continuidad) es un personaje más fascinante y atrayente. Creada como sidekick, pero también como expansión y básicamente establecimiento del concepto básico de la familia de superhéroes (junto a personajes como Uncle Dudley, Captain Marvel Jr., Hoppy y Tawky Tawny), Mary es una piedra fundacional en los comics que, lamentablemente, no ha tenido el reconocimiento masivo que merece (en gran parte porque, por años, DC no sabía bien qué hacer con estos personajes luego de su adquisición, previa demanda por plagio, a Fawcett Comics).

Afortunadamente, esta situación se ha ido rectificando con los años, teniendo como punto cúlmine la publicación de "The New Champion of Shazam", un comic conciso y preciso (aunque no le habría hecho mal haber tenido un par de números extra y haber evitado la obligatoria conexión con un evento -Lazarus Planet en este caso-), que presenta un argumento más que convincente sobre por qué Mary merece estar bajo el reflector, gracias a un estudio de personaje que pone igual énfasis en las virtudes y defectos de su heroína, y su capacidad de sobreponerse a todo lo que la vida le tira en contra, sea en su identidad civil de Mary Bromfield, o la superheroica de Shazam/Mary Marvel.

El guión de Josie Campbell funciona a la perfección en todo lo dicho previamente, a la vez que construye una trama que, pese a sus elementos fantásticos, pone un énfasis no sólo en los problemas y relaciones personales de Mary con su familia y cercanos, pero también una crítica social a la situación de las personas en situación de calle y la crisis que se ha generado en EE.UU., sin que las autoridades tomen carta en la materia y no demuestren mayor preocupación por la gente que lo padece.

A lo anterior hay que sumar el estelar arte de Doc Shaner, que ciertamente se roba la película. Shaner hace tiempo que ha demostrado ser uno de los mejores y más confiables artistas en la actualidad y al servicio de DC gracias a su estilo expresivo, claro y sobre todo, icónico y merecedor de un status de super estrella, y este libro ciertamente es una buena muestra de todo lo que puede hacer.

En general es un muy buen libro que presenta un excelente caso en favor de Mary como personaje, y sólo me gustaría que la historia hubiera sido más larga y su final no tan abrupto producto de la conexión con otras historias, para que hubiera sido perfecta.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Si bien todos los hermanos de la familia adoptiva de Billy Batson han logrado compartir parte de los poderes del legendario Shazam/Capitán Marvel de forma pareja. Parece que Mary Batson ha logrado destacar al punto de poder volver a contar con un cómic protagonizado en exclusiva con su labor como superheroína. Aunque, por desgracia, la oportunidad se queda corta. Ya que al adscribirse en el contexto actual del Universo DC, tiene que rendir cuentas tanto a la situación particular de la idiosincrasia de Shazam como a la llegada del evento Planeta Lázaro, que incumbe a gran parte de la parcela mágica de DC (entre ellos a Shazam y el Mago). Por lo tanto, este The New Champion of Shazam!, no es más que una miniserie ni de 5 numeritos que apenas tiene tiempo para desarrollar su propia amenaza (buscando presentar una representación totalmente actual de la tecnomagia) ni cuestiones personales de Mary (empezando con cómo ha tenido que abandonar su nueva etapa vital en la universidad para atender a cuestiones heroícas al ser la única miembro de su familia a la que Billy ha cedido los poderes de Shazam).

Josie Campbell trata de encauzar esta obra limitada totalmente de entrada, sabiendo que el lector que incluso venga referido por las recientes películas de Shazam, se percatará de que buscan apelar a su exigua noción de esta franquicia. Notando por sí mismxs que aún así están leyendo una lectura rutinaria sin mucho entidad propia.

El dibujo de Evan "Doc" Shaner, es agradable y en una oportunidad de cabecera regular, podría hacer memorable un estilo "slice of life" superheroíco con Mary Marvel.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I'm being generous giving this three stars, but the things that I liked about this book were really good. First and foremost, the art. Shaner's art looks great, the character designs are all distinct that I know each character at a glance, and the faces, especially Mary's, are very expressive. The book looks incredible. I also liked how Campbell wrote Mary from a personality perspective. She's very believable as a naïve overachiever. The family relationships are also really good and feel natural.

And then there's everything else. First of all, this is a book that's in desperate need of a "Previously On..." type summary to get readers up to speed. Campbell should have given some exposition there, but editorial could have just as easily included a couple paragraphs after the title page. The actual plot is filled with details that make no sense (if everyone getting kidnapped is homeless, why did Mary's clearly not homeless parents get kidnapped?) or drain any sense of suspense from the story (could the villain possibly be the only character who isn't her family that Mary meets?). I also don't understand what the point was of sending Mary to Vassar only to yank it away from her immediately. In the story, she has to come back as the only legal adult in the family. But aren't they all foster kids? They would be split up into other homes, not left with a legally unrelated and unvetted adult. As a reader, it's depressing to see a gifted and promising kid have to give up her entire future. I like Mary, I love the art, but the story is a dud.

[Darik · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely delightful read that I wish was more than just a four-issue miniseries!

Despite my increasing frustration with the Shazam comics' inability to stick with a functional status quo, I have to admit that this revamp by Josie Campbell (shifting the focus onto Mary as the titular New Champion) is a great new approach to the material. Mary is a nuanced and engaging character in Campbell's hands, and watching her reconcile her need for independent personal identity with her responsibilities to family and superheroics makes for a strong narrative backbone to the arc.

But the book is still, first and foremost, fun-- with a great sense of humor and some wonderful nods to Shazam history (introducing this continuity's versions of Uncle Dudley and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny)! There's also a running metatextual theme of battling misogynist trolls-- clearly taking aim at toxic fanboys in the comic-fan community who can't tolerate female superheroes (and it's kind of cathartic to see turds like that get socked in the jaw).

The artwork by Evan "Doc" Shaner is gorgeous from beginning to end, with clean line work, tons of detail, and super expressive faces. It's a shame that the book is so short; if Campbell and Shaner had gotten to keep going, with Mary as the new Shazam on a monthy book, I'd'a been there for every issue.

[Alex Sarll]

Mary Marvel is looking forward to putting that identity behind her for a while - she's got into Vassar, reinvented herself as Marina, and can finally begin living a life she's chosen, instead of the magic hero bullshit thrust upon her. But pretty much as soon as she's got there, she's being embarrassed by a talking rabbit, before learning that her parents have vanished, so instead she has to transfer to Fawcett Community College, look after foster siblings who are mostly in a sulk with her, and resume hero duties while online gits slag her off as 'She-zam' and worse. Sure, it's not miserable like all the being torn in half stuff when Geoff Johns got his clumsy mitts on what should be the cheeriest, most Golden Age corner of DC - but it's still Marvel (as in the company) miserable, and really not what I want from a Shazam story (though I confess I did chuckle at bits of the running joke about the Fawcett campus' crappiness, even while feeling outraged on Mary's behalf). And of course none of it really amounts to much, because after four issues we get a lead-in to yet another event which will upend the family status quo yet again, leading into the much-heralded Waid/Mora run, from which they were quietly bumped nine issues in, the characters then being handed...back to Campbell. One might almost think that DC don't have a clue what they're playing at.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can't escape your past. Try and embrace your future...

This is a good change of pace and an update to the Billy Batson/Marvel family history. We've got a foster family that used to share Billy Batson's powers, now living normal lives. They're aging them up a bit and the focus now is on Mary Marvel. She's off to college. Trying to make a new start of things and 'find herself' is a whole new experience for her. Teen angst and new places to explore.

Then, Billy goes and screws it all up by making a request...

(this could be good for any ongoing series, because having ALL of them still in high school would be a biit much. I think even the 80s Marvel team of Power Pack aged out eventually.)

Bonus: Could it be? It IS! Uncle Marv is back. He was around in the Fawcett Comics days.

Bonus Bonus: How do you avoid having your main character use the exact same name as your rival comic book company? Easy. Make a complete name switch. Not Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, or Marvel Girl. She's (hopefully for a good long while) SHAZAM!

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting volume and is basically Mary going to college when she realizes she has to be Shazam again and thus a return to home and then all the drama that entails and we see some new villains, some of which feel related to online people, trolling them and that was awesome lol specifically Babel who has the worst power/ability ever but it was funny and one thing I loved about this story was showing Mary coming into her and how she had all these doubts and what constituted an awesome arc and then by the end how she almost got over it and then saving people and all and defeating the villain, which was such an obvious hint from the start and I loved it.

This book was amazing, like its the most comic book-y you can see, its got over the top villains specifically the one in the end and it may seem a bit too much for some, but hey its comics so thats the fun of it so yeah good book, great villains and the art by shaner is top tier and should be expected, but I just wish it was longer. This would have been a great ongoing series!

[Dash Steele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good idea- poorly executed.

Like Smiths efforts before- there are just WAY too many ideas packed into a run this short. My first big issue is how cruel this is to Mary in forcing her to give up her scholastic dreams for the rest of the family. There’s a good germ of an idea there about the sacrifices one has to make in the face of tragedy- but when faced with its complete lack of payoff, it feels awfully mean.

Same with the social media smear campaign. There’s an idea- but it really doesn’t give us much self actualization as it would want you to think.

What makes me really upset at the end is that ultimately Mary is destined to be playing second fiddle to Billy once he reappears- as Campbell denies the character any escape from the usual Shazam trappings.

This isn’t a terrible read by any means- but this along with Smiths miniseries provide a real letdown for what should be a real home run. Let Shazam be fun! This franchise was built for the youngest audiences possible- with cornball ideas and its heart on its sleeve. Deeper theme work can be interesting- but not when it comes with this pay off.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regardless of the decade Shazam (the character formerly known as Captain Marvel) struggles to find a comic book audience post the infamous DC Comics-Captain Marvel lawsuit. The Trials of Shazam focused on the former Captain Marvel Jr. (Freddie Freeman) and Judd Winick gave us a pretty good 12 issue story.

Josie Campbell is stuck with the Geoff John and movie mythos (frankly both do not work for me) and she defies the odds and give us a good Mary Marvel story.

The central conflict is not as important for me as the is the brief glimpses we get into Mary Batson herself. Campbell presents a believable young woman who is struggling to find herself while also being quite exceptional in many ways.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first issue and Hoppy was a delight every time he was on the page. I liked Campbell's voice for Mary as well and it was so nice to read a young hero comic that wasn't immediately about social media. That said, like another four issue miniseries from DC recently staring a female hero, there was a strong sense that this was at least six issues that was cut down to four. Things move by so fast that the is feels like wrap-it-up light was turned on as soon as the story started, leaving everyting feeling a little weightless and trivial. That feeling isn't helped by the last ten or so pages that bring Billy back with so little drama or effort that it makes you wonder why he was gone in the first place.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Bromfield tries to branch out away from her Shazamily, but things go about as well as you'd expect, and only Marvel Marvel can save the day and rescue a group of kidnapped homeless people (and her parents!).

Josie Campbell manages to make Mary independent without making her grumpy or unlikeable, and the plot fits nicely into what's going on with Billy right now at the moment too, as well as setting the stage for the Revenge Of The Gods story that follows right on from this.

This book gets a whole star on its own just for having four entire issues of Evan Shaner artwork, and a talking bunny. Do you really need more of a recommendation than that, honestly?

[Colin Post · Rating 3 out of 5]

Campbell and Shaner combine for a nice story that features a lesser known character from the DCU. This is your typical superhero grappling with their identity story but Campbell spins it in an interesting and very genuine way. Shaner’s art is such an incredible backdrop for the story, a very realistic style that brings Mary and co to life. Unfortunately, this is kind of shoehorned in to some other story arcs DC had going on, including leading in to the Lazarus world event, but this works pretty well as a standalone story.

[T.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Mary Marvel. I was excited to see her going off to college, maybe getting her own supporting cast and storylines away from the Shazamily, a true chance to stand out. Well, that doesn't really happen. It's an average story, nothing brilliant we haven't seen before, but elevated by Doc Shaner's sensational artwork. The villain reveal was at once obvious and a surprise throwback. Overall I liked this and would recommend it.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was mostly very sweet! I'm not entirely sold on this specific characterization for Mary, but I do love seeing her get the spotlight like this. Plus the art is GORGEOUS.

Seems weird they didn't include the follow up Lazarus Planet story since it definitely continues this theme of Mary and Billy figuring out their share mantle and without it this collection ends on a cliffhanger....

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll read just about anything with Doc Shaner art. But, this story skews a little young for me. It also doesn’t have my preferred version of this character. I’ve always thought changing the name from Captain Marvel to Shazam is dumb, and I don’t like the big family thing. But if that works for you you’ll like this a lot!

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed Josie Campbell's work at DC and this is no different. The focus on Mary as Captain Marvel is fun. It serves to focus in on how she will act and her character goals that we see in later Josie Campbell DC work like Lazarus Planet and Amazons Attack. The story is fun if a bit convenient and short but that is the nature of a 4 issue mini. What we got is fun and thrusts Mary as a capable solo Shazam character capable of doing her own thing while retaining the family focus of the Shazam comics. Josie Campbell's works have a lot of “Girl Power!” energy and it works very well here to add a strong amount of energy to the story.
The art is strong as well. It's crisp, consistent, and nice. It also emphasizes that girl power while also reining it in and doing more traditional comic arc when needed.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic book, highly recommend to all. From the great art, to the heart felt and fun story, to the goofy Buffy esc parts it's a joy throughout. The way this comic explores the specifics of a young women taking on the mantle is incredibly well handled and I honestly just wish this comic was longer.

[Nikolai Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved that this character I knew nothing about is getting their shine. Looking forward to seeing them more in the DC universe. The talking bunny was also cute and HOPefully becomes a staple character.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good!! Need Hoppy in every Shazam story from now on.

What I would give to see an adaptation of this with the Shazam movie cast, especially Grace Caroline Currey back as Mary. I was also picturing Michelle Gomez as Dr. Georgina. They would crush it.