Shazam! #10 Review

The Calm Before The Storm

Written By: Geoff Johns
Art By: Dale Eaglesham, Scott Kolins, Michael Atiyeh, Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 22, 2020


After all the delays to this title it finally feels like it's finally getting back on track and with that we can move past the majority of the Magiclands...... at least for now so that we can deal with the seventh and final land that we haven't explored yet..... The Monsterlands.  That's right, with our Shazam Family kept occupied, Mr. Mind and Dr. Sivana have access to the Rock of Eternity and the locked door to the Monsterlands.  Hopefully now that Billy's father CC is the seventh champion, they'll have enough strength to take on the Monster Society of Evil when Mr. Mind breaks them out of their prison.  Let's jump into this issue and check it out.



In this issue of Shazam, we pretty much have a setup for the big showdown coming down the line between our Shazam Family and the Monster Society of Evil, but with that setup we get some really compelling storytelling and some great character moments between the entire Family that's just seems to be growing and growing.  I mean, we have Tawky Tawny at the house making dinner for everyone, Billy's father CC staying over the Vasquez' house and even the Wizard in the house staring off in the distance while everyone finally relaxes from their jaunt through the Magiclands.  Not to mention an opening battle between our Family and King Kid and his fearsome forces from the Funlands, which really shows the character of CC Batson.

Halfway though the book though we go from Dale Eaglesham to Scott Kolins, which is a real hit for me since I'm not a fan of Kolins' art style, but thankfully the story continues to be compelling when we have Dr. Sivana and Mr. Mind breach the Monsterlands and Mr. Mind takes us through a walk down history with what the Monsterlands are....... or at least his version of the story about what the Monsterlands are and I can't wait to see where we go from here, especially with a cameo of another prisoner within the Monsterlands, which is sure to shake up the DC Universe once again.  One of the best angles of the story though is that our heroes have a false sense of relief in thinking that they've overcome their obstacles, while in the background everything is about to fall apart around them.

All in all, I love Dale Eaglesham's art and I wish that he was the only artist on this book because when Scott Kolins takes over it just takes away from the scope of the story in my mind because everything just becomes a scratchy mess, but beyond the art it really feels like the story for all its delays and standing around at times that it's finally ramping up to something big and you can feel it by the end with all the twists that this issue takes, while also giving us huge information about the Magiclands, the Wizard's Champions and where a certain character has been since Pre-Flashpoint.  I just wish that the art was more consistent all the way through.

Bits and Pieces:

This is a great setup issue for what's to come with the Monster Society of Evil and Mr. Mind's plans for them, while also giving desperately needed looks at certain characters that are filling the pages of this series.  The biggest problem I had here is the art shift in the middle of the book because it just threw me out of the story and made me wish that Dale Eaglesham could have done the entire thing.

8/10