DVD Review: Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam

I was REALLY looking forward to this DVD. I mean REALLY. Like I'm looking forward to Harry Potter and Green Lantern really.

Imagine my disappointment, then, when I was finally able to watch this train wreck.

Let me start by talking about Captain Marvel. (And yes - the hero's name is Captain Marvel - NOT Shazam.) Cap first appeared in Fawcett Publications "Whiz Comics # 2" in February, 1940. In 1953, DC forced Fawcett to stop publishing Captain Marvel, claiming that it was a copyright infringement - they claimed that the character was an infringement of Superman. Personally, I think that has always been a miscarriage of justice, because aside from some surface and power similarities, the two characters are almost nothing alike. In 1972, DC was able to gain the rights to the Marvel family, and has tried several times to revive them, including the unfortunate way that most people know Captain Marvel - from the campy, 1970's TV series.

DC Showcase was a (now-defunct) comic book series that DC used to spotlight new and minor characters starting in 1956. Probably best known for introducing the most famous incarnation of The Flash in issue # 4 and ushering in the "silver age" of comics, the title was cancelled in 1970, and then enjoyed another brief run from 1977 to 1978. DC is now reviving this as a series of shorts on their DVD's. Each episode focuses on one DC hero (except for this one which features both Cap and Superman). Each is around 20 minutes long, about the same length as any given episode of one of their animated series. The first four have focused on Jonah Hex, Green Arrow, The Specter and now Cap and Superman. All four of these are featured on this DVD.

I have always been a DC guy. Batman and Superman are my boys. Lately, Captain Marvel has joined them as they have allowed the character to become a little darker and more complex. Let's just say that this short DOESN'T highlight the new depth for the character, although he's not quite as goofy as he was in the 1970's TV show.

One terrific thing that DC is doing with all of its animated features on DVD is to include selected episodes from their TV series that are related in some way to the feature. This one includes an episode from the Batman animated series featuring Jonah Hex, an episode from Batman: The Brave and the Bold featuring The Specter, and two episodes of Justice League Unlimited focusing on Green Arrow and Captain Marvel. (The last of these, by the way, is a vastly superior Superman/Cap story to the feature.)

THE GOOD: Seeing Black Adam. Adam is a rich, complex character who was used to terrific effect in the DC comics miniseries 52. This series featured a year without Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. The series focused about equally on Booster Gold, The Question and Black Adam.

Adam is another to whom the wizard Shazam gave the powers of the gods to be protector of the Earth. The powers went to his head, however, and he decided that rather than just be ruler of his little nation of Khandak, he should be ruler of the world. Because of this, Shazam sent him to the far side of the galaxy, from which it took Adam five thousand years to return to Earth. For some reason that I've never been able to figure out, the artists always show him with pointed ears like Spock.

My one real problem with the way that the character is portrayed here is that several times he is seen standing on the ground, which Adam, in his arrogance, never does. He's always shown flying or hovering a few inches above the ground.

THE BAD: The story. It sucks. It's basically Superman and Captain Marvel beating the crap out of Black Adam for twenty minutes. Also, the physics are wonky, but I'm used to that in superhero films. About the only one to get them even half-right was Hancock.

THE UGLY: The animation in this short isn't great, but the biggest problem is Fawcett city. It's empty. In the aerial shots of the city, there are no cars and no pedestrians. Aside from some empty cars that Black Adam chucks at Captain Marvel, we don't see a car until about 3/4 of the way through the film.

Also, I wish that they hadn't revived Talky Tawney, Captain Marvel's talking tiger sidekick. At least they had the good taste to simply call him "Tawney" and have him be a REAL tiger instead of walking on two legs and wearing clothes.

Peace.

Rev. Randal