Favorite Movies of 2019

Avengers: Endgame - My favorite of the year for all the action, the humor, the payoffs, the tears, and the feels. A remarkable end to a 21-movie series. Full review.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - The end of a 42-year journey with the Skywalker family. I truly enjoyed the film and appreciated all the emotional payoffs.

Hobbes and Shaw - Arguably the most entertaining movie of the summer and the year. This counts as my first Fast and Furious film. Loved this movie. Full review.

Knives Out - In terms of "I think that movie looks good" to the actual viewing of the film, this is a great film. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and it has sent me on a search for more whodunits (and inspired me to try and write one).

Spider-Man: Far From Home - Much like Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr. in their respective superhero roles, Tom Holland was born to play Peter Parker. And a dang good film that keeps reminding viewers the character is just a teenager.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - An exhuberant movie full of fun, joy, and somber moments. My son who rarely likes all the superhero movies like I do really enjoyed this film.

Jumanji: The Next Level - Dawayne Johnson and Kevin Hart have great on-screen chemistry and I think I'd watch anything they're in. The fact that the ending serves up a nice message about aging is just icing on the cake.

Shazam - It only took something like eighty years for there to be big-screen adaptation of the original Captain Marvel, but the time was worth the wait. Everything you'd want from a Shazam movie is here, led by the incredibly charismatic Zachary Levi. Full review.

IT: Chapter Two - Both parts work well as a giant six-hour movie, but this second part brought the younger actors into the show more than I expected. The adult actors were all great, but this was my first time to see Bill Hader in a serious role. Wow. And that ending...

Older Movies I Saw in 2019

A Man Called Uve - My wife read the book, saw the movie, then watched it again as I saw it. Wonderful, wonderful film.

Jersey Girl - This was the year I decided to watch all of Kevin Smith's films in the lead-up to the new movie, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. I watched all the movies cold--that is, without any prep or even without watching the trailer. I had known how Smith and star Ben Affleck dog this film over the years, but it proved to be my favorite Smith film to date. A wonderful story about a single, widowed father coming to terms with what is most important in his life: his daughter. All the feels, all the tears both times I watched it. When does this movie get a critical re-examination for how good it really is? Full review

Free Comic Book Day 2019: The Haul

I spent the bulk of my selections of free comic books selecting things I'd never heard of except for the DC comics ones. But the two stores I went to in Houston--The Pop Culture Company and Bedrock City-- also yielded some interesting finds.

Probably the most fun comic was a Shazam 100-page giant. What great timing considering I just had a Shazam-themed month of posts.

I've heard good things about Denny O'Neil's run of The Question, and I picked up volume 1.

I love Hard Case Crime but have never read one of their comics. Now I have one.

Finally, a pair of books devoted to pulp fiction. One is Don Hutchison's book about pulp heroes while the second is a book called THE PULPS, published in 1970. Here, author Tony Goodstone actually read hundreds of pulps magazine and selected some representative samples. Looking forward to seeing what a guy in 1970 thought was a good sample.

So, what issues did you buy yesterday?

Shazam Spoiler Special from Empire Podcast

Yet another entry in the improptu Shazam group of posts all resulting from the new Shazam movie that debuted earlier this month. For this one, however, you need to have seen the movie because all sorts of stuff is revealed.

The Empire podcast have an excellent run of interviews for the genre movies it covers. In the latest, host Chris Hewett gets director David F. Sandberg and producer Peter Safran behind a microphone and dives deep into the Shazam movie. No, not nearly as deep as the seven hours--yes, seven hours--Hewett and director Christopher McQuarrie spent discussion last year's Mission Impossible: Fallout (my review) but it still gets to the good stuff.

The highlights for me was the discussion about 1980s movies like Ghostbusters and how it influenced the 2019 Shazam film. Also they discuss that fabulous last scene of the movie and how a scheduling conflict actually created a better final shot of the movie. It makes what I wanted to see not as good or meaningful as what was actually filmed.

See what I did there? Told you what I wanted to tell you while revealing nothing.

It's a great interview. Then the usual Empire panel discuss the film in spoilerific detail.

If you enjoyed the Shazam movie and are interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, check out this week's Empire podcast.

Oh, and star Zachery Levi sat down with the podcast a few episodes back. If you don't already love this guy, this episode might win you over.

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 15

Sometimes the day job can get you down.

Day Job Writers Have Security...

I think many a writer also holds down a separate day job. Mine is actually marketing/technical writing, so I'm constantly writing. And sometimes it drains the creative mind of some of its energy.

I'm not the only one. On Thursday, over at Do Some Damage, David Nemeth commented his day job is kicking his ass and it is sapping his creativity. He asked for some tips on how to cope. I offered my own:

"Wake up early and write before the day job. Set a time in which you have time to wake, pee, get coffee, exercise at least 5 minutes (I do jumping jacks, run in place, lift dumbbells, all with a timer), and then have time to write. It's worked for me pretty well. 4:30 am is my wake up time, but I adjust it depending on how late I stay up.

Oh, here's a new thing I've started on workdays since the first Monday of February: no snooze. If you have to adjust because you stayed up late, then adjust. But don't snooze.

If you get a lunch break, take that time to write. Or read. Or basically not to the day job. Helps me every day."

That last bit is my island in the middle of the day. It's my time to turn off the concerns of the day job and return to 1940 (my Ben Wade story) or some blog I'm writing. Plus there is nothing like the thrill of driving to the day job knowing you have already written. It also helps when the day job throws you a curve ball.

...But Still Have to Deal with the Day Job

My company is in conference and trade show season. Lots to do. Lots to think about. And, despite my best attempts, I've found my lunch hours gradually shrinking this past week. Sometimes, it's a 1pm meeting I have to prep for. Other times, it's an 11am meeting that run right up to the noon hour. Either way, the lunch hours grew shorter this week. Bummer, but, like David on Thursday wrote, the work has to get done.

Make Believe is Supposed to be Fun!

In her weekly Thursday column, veteran writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch reminded writers of why many of us first took up a pencil, a pen, or a pixel. The fun and joy of make believe.

So many of us writers constantly strive to learn more about marketing, selling, and doing the little things it takes to run our small business. All important, yes, but when it comes to the act of writing, have a blast! Don't think about selling. Think only of make believe!

A great reminder this week as I found myself getting behind on producing the next story.

An Improptu Shazam-Themed Week of Blogs

Last Friday, I saw the Shazam movie. Loved it. Then I scoured my bookshelves and found a treasury sized comic and read it. I kept going, all the way back to 1941 and the Adventures of Captain Marvel movie serial. Next I shot back to the 1970s and the Shazam TV show. I finally ended up in 1994 and Jerry Ordway's The Power of Shazam graphic novel.

In hindsight, I should have expected my interest in Shazam to be rekindled and read up ahead of time. I've done that in the past, but I actually enjoyed the way I did it this week. Everything Shazam-related thing I consumed I was able to compare to the new movie as well as each other.

By the way, I enjoyed Ordway's comic so much that I'm going to flip through my long boxes and see how many individual issues I bought back in the 1990s. Hopefully more than a few.

Aztec Sword Arrives Soon

In the next week, I plan on finalizing the text of the description of the third Calvin Carter adventure. I'm still proofing the text and dang if I don't enjoy this book pretty well. This one is part an old-fashioned treasure hunt/find-the-maguffin story. Here's the funny part: it's been a minute since I last read the book that I've kind of forgotten the ending. I wonder if Carter gets out of all the scrapes I put him in?

Guess I'll have to read and find out.


How was your week?

The Power of Shazam by Jerry Ordway

Movie review? Check.
Treasury comic? Check.
Movie serial? Check.
TV show? Check.
All that's left are the comics. And what better place to start than 1994's graphic novel by Jerry Ordway?

Yet Another Revision to the Origin

The original of Captain Marvel was pretty solid for a large chunk of the character's history up to the early 1950s when Fawcett Comics stopped publication. After DC Comics brought Shazam into the DC universe in 1973, the origin was unchanged. Roy Thomas revamped the origin a bit in 1987, but Jerry Ordway updated the origin again in 1994.

Here's the funny thing: In our modern world of comic book movies trying to live and breathe in the real world, Ordway manages to straddle both the expectations of contemporary 1990s comic readers without jettisoning the sense of wonder from the 1940s. That is to say, he gives some cool backstory to some of the Marvel tropes we know and love while presenting said tropes in a fresh, new way.

Billy Batson's Parents Are Alive...

The story opens with archaeologists C.C. Batson and his wife, Marilyn, are exploring a heretofore hidden Egyptian temple. With them is Theo Adam. What's fascinating is C.C. looks like the future Captain Marvel so much that I had to double back and re-read the opening pages to verify it wasn't the actual Shazam outside his costume. Nope, it was Billy's dad. Already new stuff.

As you can imagine, when the trio uncover the secret tomb of Shazam, Adam gets a tad greedy. He steals a scarab from the crypt, kills C.C., then turns around and hunts down the wife. She's gone, too. Lastly, he kidnaps Billy's sister, Mary.

...And Now He's an Orphan

Billy's living on the streets of Fawcett City, a town that seems to draw its retro-future vibe from Batman: The Animated Series. You've got art deco buildings and cars seemingly from the 40s yet there's also a car with similar markings of a Ford Mustang. Either way, the city looks great in a timeless sort of way.

Hearkening back to the character's earliest days, Billy's earning meager wages selling papers. A stranger beckons him to follow him into the subway system. This, at least, is a consistent thread through all permutations of the Billy's origins. Surprisingly, the stranger, clad in trench coat and fedora pulled low on the forehead, looks an awfully lot like the deceased C. C.

In the magical caverns, Billy meets the aged wizard Shazam. We get a little backstory, filling in the  gap between his parents deaths and Billy's present living situation. Still, despite everything, Billy says the magic word and boom!

Captain Marvel's Still a Kid Inside

Like the current movie, when young Billy becomes the adult Captain Marvel, he's still got his kid brain inside. And he's really confused. He starts wrecking Shazam's cavern, attacking the old man as the wizard tries desperately to explain everything. He finally gets through, and we move onto the next act.

Sivanna as a Businessman

To jump to a different hero's story for a moment, when John Byrne revamped Superman's story and made Lex Luthor a businessman, it made perfect sense. Perhaps Ordway saw how well that worked for Superman and did the same for Sivanna. He's still the small, scrawny type, but he's like an evil Disney, wanting to use his money to put on a World's Fair. Naturally, we learn Theo Adam is on his bankroll, and, well, things don't go well from there.

A Smart Villain in Black Adam

When Shazam finally makes his appearance, Theo Adam recognizes him as C. C. Batson. And he puts two and two together, especially when he sees the big yellow lightening bolt on the uniform's chest. He returns to his lair and, wearing the scarab amulet stolen from Egypt, actually becomes Black Adam.

This is what I'm talking about when I say Ordway brings a modern sensibility to this story. In an actual 1940s comic, the villain would just be a villain. Here, Adam, an adult, figures things out. He's not just a bad guy trying to do bad guy things.

The Big Fight Feels Familiar

If you've seen the new movie, you realize the villain, Mark Strong's Sivanna, figures out Captain Marvel is really a child inside. He wants the power. Same here. But in 1994, Jerry Ordway did it first. And it's during this fight Billy finally realizes his true potential.

A Great Re-Introduction of Shazam to the DC Universe

In The Power of Shazam, Jerry Ordway gives a modern take on the origin of the first Captain Marvel. He brings modern sensibilities to the  storytelling while laying the groundwork for future stories. His art is, as always, instantly recognizable and gorgeous. He has a way of capturing the true emotions behind the characters at certain times. It can be sadness or, like this panel, remind you Billy is nothing more than a ten-year old kid.

Plus, like the new movie, this story makes you feel like a kid again, with all the whiz-bang verve of a classic comic. As a historian, I also really dug all the nods to the original time period, including the movie serial. Captain Marvel is basically a pulp character come to glorious life in the pages of comic books. Look again at the cover. It's a pulp magazine painting. The interior title page also just rings with a 1940s vibe. It looks like it could have been the title card for the movie serial.

With Houston's Comicpalooza arriving in a month, I'll be on the lookout for issues of The Power of Shazam. My guess is I won't be the only one.

Jerry Ordway Interviewed

Not coincidentally (considering the big movie debuted), Jerry Ordway sat down with Ralph Garman on Garman's The Ralph Report this week. Garman and Ordway chatted not only about The Power of Shazam, but other milestones in comic book history in which Ordway played a role. Great peek behind the curtain with a legendary creator.

The Ralph Report is a subscription-based podcast about which I'll write a full-review in the near future. I listen every day on my commute home. It is a funny, acerbic view of entertainment news, complete with recurring bits. It's not your standard podcast. It's a show, with high production values, and constant interactions between the hosts and the listeners. The podcast is definitely adult in tone, but Ralph and Vice Host, Eddie Pence, deliver every episode with humor and heart.

Shazam! TV Show - The Joy Riders

No Shazam-themed week would be complete without a glance at the 1970s TV show. Between the 1941 movie serial and the 2019 big-budget movie sat the small-screen exploits of Captain Marvel

The Introduction for Many a Kid

For most kids of my Gen-X Generation, the Shazam TV show was the first time we figured out who Captain Marvel was. Coming just a year or so after DC Comics started publishing the Shazam comic, the TV show starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson and Les Tremayne as Mentor. They travel the country (at least California) in an RV righting wrongs and helping kids make good decisions. I had a little Tonka-brand RV in the same color scheme and I imagined it was Batson's RV. But it didn't have that cool Shazam lightening bolt on the front.

In season 1, Jackson Bostwick starred as Captain Marvel and he's the one I remember. Heck, I even had the treasury-sized edition of Shazam with Bostwick standing on that rock. Yeah, I made that pose more than once, thank you very much.

I loved this show, and while I can't say I was there from day one, I certainly remember many a Saturday morning anchored in place to watch the Mightiest Mortal do his thing.

Filmation produced Shazam, the company that brought many a smile to kids' faces. You'd recognize a Filmation program by the spinning circle with the names of Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott going round and round.

Plus there was the same Saturday morning music cues, something I picked up on when I watched episode 1, "The Joy Riders."

The Premise of the Episodes

With each episode, the intro features a voice-over with "The Saturday Morning Cartoon Guy" (you'd recognize the voice if you're of a certain age) giving you the premise of the story, who Billy is, and who Captain Marvel is. Boom, you're good to go. Speaking of boom, when Michael Gray says the magic name, there's a huge lightening bolt that looks not too dissimilar from the bolt that you see in the "Gilligan's Island" intro. When you get the flash, the music changes and there, in front of your eyes, in color, is Shazam himself. Marvelous

The Joy Riders

I actually chuckled to myself when four young teenaged boys meet up at hamburger shack and talk about "borrowing" a car in which to ride around. Just imagine: in September 1974, that was one of the worst things you could do, or at least show on TV. It came across as quaint, in a kind of old-fashioned sitcom-y way, until I remembered I was the target audience at the time. Gulp.

One of the four boys, a red-headed kid named Chuck, isn't too keen on joining in on the stealing. He says what it is, but the other three laugh at him, call him chicken, before they careen away in the stolen car.

Moment before, Billy gets a message from The Elders. He's signaled via...the light ball? There, he hears about his task: he'll meet someone who will have trouble standing up to others, including his friends. The Elders are all animated, with only their mouths moving. How cool it was to hear Adam West's voice coming from one of them!

As you can imagine, Billy and Mentor try to help Chuck with the latter's feelings of inadequacy and fear of being labeled an outsider and his trio of friends turning their backs on him. Chuck's bike is even stolen, giving all four boys a tangible reminder of what they did with the first stolen car.

When the  boys boost another car and force Chuck in with them, it's time for Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel on Screen

Look, I've only seen two episodes of the 1941 movie serial and this episode of the 1975 TV show, but if I'm being honest, the flying sequences in the old serial are better. Granted, the TV show has to operate on a TV budget, but you'd think there'd be some improvement.

Bostwick gets around some of the quirks of editing by having Shazam land feet first. He is shown in the air actually changing his trajectory, so that when you next see the hero on the ground, he's already standing. One fantastic thing they did was film many of his close-ups outside, so you get to see the sunshine on Shazam's face, hair, and cape while the wind machine is cranked up.

The boys take refuge in an old van in a junk yard, and dang if there wasn't a giant claw crane angling to pick up the van. It does, and the boys yell. The Captain hears it and, with his super strength, pulls the van back down, allowing the boys to escape.

Now, it's lecture time.

The Moral of the Story

Look, I was the target audience. I was supposed to know right from wrong. I had great parents, but what about those kids that didn't. Well, the episode ends in two ways. One, Shazam singles out Chuck for his courage in saying no. Even the other three admit that. When the lead troublemaker asks if they're going to jail, Shazam doesn't have an answer. It's up to the juvenile authorities. Have to admit: love that. There's no getting out of jail free card here.

After the commercial break, Shazam is there and Bostwick gives the moral of the story: it's really hard to do the right thing, especially if other people--or your friends--start calling you names. The producers knew their audience and, perhaps encouraged by law, made sure to drive home the message. Cheesy? Perhaps, but not necessarily bad. Cartoons and kids' programming is one way to teach young people about life, and if they listen to Captain Marvel instead of their parents and stay out of trouble, then we're all good.

Conclusion

I have good memories of this show, including the time when it was paired with Isis for a full hour of live-action superhero goodness. Come to think of it, CBS also aired the Tarzan cartoon and, later, the Adventure Hour with Zorro and the Lone Ranger. The network had a good amount of action cartoons. Makes me wonder if I was primarily a Channel 11 guy (the Houston affiliate) on Saturday mornings.

I thoroughly enjoyed re-watching this episode and going back to that simpler time. As I mentioned when I reviewed the movie serial, I hold degrees in history, so I'm always fascinated to research something, especially something I experienced and see it from a difference perspective. I'll certainly watch more episodes of the Shazam TV show.

The Charm of Zachary Levi

Clearly, this impromptu Shazam-themed week is a direct result of me seeing the film and wanting more with the character. There's the movie review, a review of one of my comics, and I wrote a little about the movie serial. Today, it's about the man himself.

I think it goes without saying that a large chunk of what makes the character Shazam work in the new movie is how you think thirty-seven year old Zachary Levi actually comes across as a fourteen year old boy. It's charming. It's wish fulfillment. It's what I said is one of the movie's greatest strengths.

But from what you get in Levi's various interviews, Levi is a down to earth guy happy for his turn in the superhero ring.

Men's Journal

I've read this magazine for years, and it's rather entertaining to see the different types of photos the publish of Levi. On the cover and inside, you see the stern, superhero visage staring either at the camera or off in the distance. Yet when they follow Levi on a tandem skydive, you see the true Levi: mouth open, grinning from ear to ear, excited for life and his opportunity.

Of all the things I've seen and read, this feature article by Mickey Rapkin digs into the man himself. I knew about the TV show "Chuck," and while I'm a fan of Amazon's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," I haven't watched season two yet (Levi's in it). I basically had the impression Levi did a lot of work, but in things I hadn't seen. Turns out, he wasn't working quite as much as I thought--or he wanted. The article explores both this part of his career as well as some of the mental health issues he experienced, especially after he narrowly missed out on the role of Star-Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy. To quote from Levi himself: "You wouldn't talk to your friends the way you talk to yourself. So knock it off."

I really appreciated his insights into what's important in life, and he's grateful for the opportunity given to him. He took it and gave it his all. It shows on screen. Give the story a read.

Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Levi's manic energy comes out as two comic book readers--Colbert is known for his love of all things formerly known as geeky--discuss the origins of the original Captain Marvel and having his own action figure.

How Levi Got in Shape

The Looper video goes into detail here, including a short discussion on the internet trolls issue I frankly first learned about in the Men's Journal article.

Levi and His Teenaged Co-Stars

If you need any more evidence Levi is just a big kid, here he is with Jack Dylan Grazer and Asher Angel for Teen Vogue as they are quizzed on their superhero knowledge.

Levi and Director David F. Sandberg

For the technical and storytelling aspects of the film, I recommend this joint interview with lead actor and director.

Empire Podcast

Episode 358 of the Empire podcast interviews Levi, and I was struck not only by the ebullient spirit Levi has, but the gratitude about this opportunity. And his feeling of responsibility about the eighty-year-old character of Shazam. Really enjoyed it. Listen Here..

Shazam: Serial Part 1 and 2

I am a comic book reader and a degreed historian, and being in a Shazam mood (both the new movie and a favorite comic), I thought I'd take a look at the 1941 Shazam serial, The Adventures of Captain Marvel. It's a 12-part serial, all available on YouTube (here's the first episode). From what you can read on the internet, this serial by Republic Pictures was the high-water mark of the form and serves as the first live-action depiction of a super-hero.

Far-Off Mysteries in a Smaller World

The story starts in the Valley of the Tombs in Siam. An expedition by white men (and one woman, Betty) is posed to open the ancient tomb. The natives do not want this to happen and attack. The expedition fends off the attack with the agreement to leave the area at once. Naturally, they don't.

They strike into the tomb and uncover the Golden Scorpion inside a sealed crypt. Young Billy Batson (twenty-five year old Frank Coghlan, Jr.) heeds the warning and leaves. That act of propriety earns Billy a visit from the Shazam wizard. Like he does in every incarnation of the character, the wizard imparts his powers to Billy as long as the lad can say the magic name: Shazam. But the old man has a warning: Billy must only use the power to help people.

Coghlan portrays young Billy with a lot of gee golly gosh youthful enthusiasm you'd later see in Jimmy Olsen in the Adventures of Superman TV show. But he's still a man of the times. He carries a gun and returns fire when the natives, led by Rahman Bar, again attack the expedition.

Captain Marvel comes to the rescue.

The 1941 Special Effects

Here in 2019, we are used to our super-heroes looking like real people even when they are CGI. Gollem was the first CGI character who was so good, you often forgot he wasn't really there. We've come a long way, just in my lifetime. Heck, just in the last eighteen years.

The movie makers in 1941 had none of that, but dang if they didn't work with what they had and make a pretty darn good convincing super-hero.

When Shazam (Tom Tyler) flies, the actor jumps, often diving into a bush or behind a rock. With a quick cut, you see what is in reality a paper mache mock-up of Shazam, ramrod straight, with the costume and flapping cape. The figure is attached to wires, allowing Captain Marvel to fly in the daytime. Then, with another quick edit, you see the actor again landing or smashing into fleeing bad guys. It was pretty good, at least giving the viewer the verisimilitude of watching a super-hero in action. Frankly, it's better than the 1950s TV Superman.

Similarly, when the bad guys shoot at Shazam, the bullets ping off the costume, leaving little pock marks that are, naturally, gone in the next scene.

When Billy and Captain Marvel say the magic word to transform back and forth, there is enough flash powder to mask what's really going on behind the smoke.

The Cliffhanger

This is a movie serial and it's designed to bring viewers back week after week. As such, when the bad guys dynamite the wooden bridge with one of the two cars containing members of the expedition fleeing, you want to know what happens. As soon as the car begins to fall, there's a title swipe and the admonition to come back next week for Chapter 2.

Knowing what I've seen in other serials, I expected to get a new scene of Shazam actually having flown up to the car, snatched out his two friends, and fly off to safety. Nope. The car crashes into the river below...and only then does Shazam save the day.

Later, after everyone has come back to America, the plot of the serial takes shape. A masked man, complete with a dark hood and robes with the scorpion symbol stitched on his clothes, is in command. He's the Scorpion. He directs standard-issue suited gangsters to start capturing the members of the expedition. You see, inside that crypt was a golden metal scorpion. In the legs of each were crystals that, if you line them up in a certain way, can turn stone to gold or create a weapon. The members of the Malcolm Expedition divvy up the crystals, dividing them so that only all of them in agreement can use the power of the scorpion.

Naturally, the Scorpion wants to collect the missing crystals. Boom! You've got your plot.

In Episode 2, the guillotine is introduced. It's a conveyor belt (natch) that electrically stuns a person who is then carried along to the guillotine. They introduced it early in the episode with a wooden chair being the victim as a threatening means to get one of the expedition members to cough up the location of his crystal. You know Captain Marvel's going to find himself on that belt.

He does. Right before the title swipe to remind viewers to come back next week for Chapter 3, "Time Bomb."

And I will. Might be a two-episodes per week thing, but I'm in, both for the historical nature of the serial, but the story is pretty good. It also easy to see how the 1966 Batman series--with its two-part episodes, the first ending with the Dynamic Duo in some elaborate trap--is indebted to the movie serials of the 1940s. Who knows? I'll likely watch the Batman serials this year, too.

Shazam: Power of Hope

Naturally, after I watched the new Shazam movie, I reviewed it. Then, I scoured some of my comic boxes for some Captain Marvel material to re-read. I didn't deep dive into the boxes, but came away with a handful of World's Finest from the late 70s and early 80s and this wonderful treasury sized one-shot.

Oversized Issues for Big Stories

From 1999 to 2001, artist Alex Ross and writer Paul Dini teamed up for a series of one-shots featuring Superman, Batman, Shazam, and Wonder Woman. Unlike your typical comic book with word balloons, Dini's words were presented purely as text in the panels, paving the way for the beauty of Ross's painted images to come alive on a larger canvas. I think we all know Ross's art and can recognize it instantly. I showed my wife this issue and even she was impressed by the majesty of the art. Ross's comic book art makes you almost believe these heroes are real.

But the art is only half the story. Dini's tale digs deep into what makes Shazam special: his youthful spirit. What's missing on these pages are battles with super-villains.Yes, they're there, but all told in flashbacks. The Captain's focus here are kids in the hospital with ailments even his great power cannot overcome. It grounds him, making him even a more powerful hero because he knows where the real battle is.

A Template for Grounding Stories

Most movie goers and comic book fans appreciated the early movies from DC's movie universe. I'm thinking of the Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series. I, for one, loved it. These films came to be the template for all subsequent films, with the governing philosophy of this is how these super-heroes interact in a "real world."

But there are other ways of doing it, and Power of Hope is a different template. You can still have super-heroics with a story that's grounded in reality but not be so grimdark. This comic shows the way and, frankly, the new big-budget movie does as well. There can be a sense of wonder with smiles while still fighting the bad guys.

Let's hope DC picks up on what it stumbled upon and keeps going. Because the answer to how you make a real-world super-hero movie was staring them in the face with this gorgeous tale by Paul Dini and Alex Ross.

Movie Review: Shazam! Has Its Own Superpower

At one point in Shazam!, Jack Dylan Grazer's Freddie Freeman asks his new foster brother, Billy Batson (Asher Angel) what superpower he would choose if given the opportunity. Freddie mentions most people select flight or invisibility. The movie itself, showcases another superpower altogether.

The Long Road Back to the Big Screen

For many of the heroes who show up on the big screen in this century do so for the first time. Others, like Batman, Superman, and Shazam, it is a return. For Captain Marvel--the character's real and original name--it has been 78 years since Shazam was a movie serial. Many critics and film historians consider that 1941 Republic serial to be a high-water mark of the genre, and I'll admit, I'm curious.

But now, we're in 2019 and the big-budget, color glorious film starring Zachary Levi as the Big Red Cheese is on the silver screen. And it is so good.

A New Story for a New Century

Most of us long-time fans know Billy Batson's origins from the 1940s when he was a radio reporter. In the last decade, Geoff Johns revamped the story for a modern audience, and it is this version we see on screen.

Billy, a sullen teenager, constantly searches for his mother, who lost him at a carnival when he was a toddler. He's street-wise, able to take care of himself, but still longs to find his mother and reform his family.

His latest failure lands him in a foster home with five other foster children. One of which is Freddie, a nerdy kid in love with the DCEU superheroes, but must use a crutch to get around. After Billy stands up for Freddie against a couple of bullies, he escapes in a subway train to a magical place where the aged wizard, Shazam, seeks to pass on his powers to young Billy. All the boy has to do is say the the wizard's name and he's transformed into an adult superhero.

Instant Chemistry Between Grazer and Levi

If the first part of the film set the foundation of all the characters, it's the interplay between Zachary Levi and Jack Dylan Grazer that really shine. Grazer, who I first noticed in the short-lived show "Me, Myself, and I" and the movie, "It, Chapter One," plays Freddie as the motor-mouthed nerd who know all things superhero related, excels in this role. He brings the manic excitement of a teenager thrilled his foster brother is an adult superhero, but then can swing the other way, giving Freddie the pathos and sadness of his life's predicament. Levi is a wonderful choice for Shazam. His enthusiasm at finding his newfound grown-up self is off-set by Levi's ability to make you believe he really is still a teenager. They make a great pair, and the humor and camaraderie between them had everyone in the theater rolling with laughter. They did what just about every teenaged boys would do: figure out the powers of the new hero, buy beer, and film most of it for YouTube.

Enter the Super-villain

When it comes to Shazam's rogue's gallery, he's got a few from which to choose. With Black Adam--basically the reverse Shazam--off the table (Dawayne Johnson is playing that character in his own movie), that left the other main villain: Dr. Sivana. In the comics, Sivana is a short mad scientist. In the film, he's portrayed by tall, menacing Mark Strong. Like everything else in this movie, a good choice. Strong brings a haughty disdain to the reality Billy is a mere boy. When he was a boy, Sivana was offered the power. He was seduced and chose poorly. He's now spent a lifetime tracking down the portal back to Shazam and his power.

But Shazam is completely out of his element. Billy has no idea how to fight Sivana.

But his family does.

The Foster Family Unites

In a movie with an underlying story about the power of family, it is inevitable the rest of Billy's foster siblings comes to help. There's little they can do against the magic of Sivana--he's powered by the seven deadly sins--but they try. They divert, the flee, they think on their feet, and they distract. But by showing Billy they have his back, they also show him the power of family.

Now, there's a few spoilers I simply must write about, but if you don't want to know until you've seen the movie--and believe me, you need to experience this movie fresh--just know this:

There is so much happiness, charm, and heart in SHAZAM! Hilariously funny with a real whiz-bang vibe about it. But there is one moment that brought me—and others in the audience who applauded—so much joy it actually got me emotional. Didn’t think I’d ever see it it. And I did. SHAZAM knocks it out of the park!

The Movie's Real Superpower

Oh, and that superpower the movie delivers in spades? The power to feel young! This show did that and despite how good Wonder Woman and Aquaman were, this is the first DC movie to do so.

Now...onto the Spoilers...

Okay, so I didn't think I'd ever see a live-action Shazam film. And I didn't think it would be so good.

But I never, in my wildest dreams, would have imagined I'd ever see the Entire Marvel Family in a movie!

So, late in the film, Sivana compels Shazam to grasp the wizard's staff in order to pass the power into the bad guy. But Shazam turns the tables. His family instead runs up and grips the staff. They say "Shazam" in unison.

And there, on screen, are the entire Marvel family. The audience actually applauded. I joined in, and, truth be told, my eyes welled up with tears of joy. Goosebumps, too. I was overjoyed with what was on screen. And the adult actors, like Levi, channel their inner teenager and bring the joy to being a super hero.

It was so unexpected and so wonderful!

The Next Bad Guy

You know what else was great about this film? Director David F. Sandberg and writer Henry Gayden both realized Shazam's third-most famous villain...is a worm. Granted, Mister Mind is an alien worm, a telepathic worm, but still a worm.

I knew Sandberg and Gayden were on the right track with the fun of Shazam when I notice Mister Mind off to the side of an early scene. That he shows up in the mid-credits sequence, communicating with the imprisoned Dr. Sivana means that a worm might be the main villain in Shazam 2.

I'm a DC fan first and Marvel second. I barely knew the Guardians of the Galaxy when the show dropped in 2014, but I was stunned there was a talking raccoon and a talking tree in the movie. As a DC fan, I dreamed of them realizing they have eighty years of characters they can use and develop. And if Marvel could make you feel sorry for a CGI raccoon, then DC could certainly do something with their most esoteric characters.

With Mister Mind, perhaps we now have the first step.

Please, DC, take that step. And keep going.

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 14

The To Do just keeps getting longer and longer

New Quarter. New Writing Cycle Begins

Monday marked the start of a new month as well as a new quarter. The entire quarter consists of ninety-two days. If you wrote 1,000 words a day for the entire quarter, you'd have 92,000 of new fiction. Imagine what you could do with that amount of new words. I wrote about it earlier this week, but here's a hint: you can do a lot. And you'd have anywhere from one to, say, eighteen items you can then offer to readers. It's an exciting time to be a writer.

To Do List Grows

I wrote what I needed to accomplish in the month of April. The more I thought about it, the more things landed on the list. Prepare AZTEC SWORD, the third Calvin Carter novel, for publication on 1 May, both the paperback and the ebook. Upload the ebook with enough lead time to land it on the first day of May. Layout both AZTEC SWORD and HELL DRAGON in paperback. Finish the novella I'm currently writing. And then keep writing.

Not complaining, but when you're a company of one, you do everything, and you have to plan it all.

Getting to a Schedule

I work for an oil and gas company, and we're gearing up for the Offshore Technology Conference here in Houston. It always is set for the first full week of May. As you can imagine, there are lots of things to do to prepare all the marketing efforts my company does. Lots of things.

I still take my lunch break and I still write. Mostly, I'm pretty good at blocking out the day job stuff for a hour so I can do some writing. However, this week, I discovered my brain didn't 100% turn off from the day job during the lunch hour.

Irritating.

But, as the week progressed, I think I might've found a solution. These blogs I have started writing every day don't always take a lot of time and I can write them without too much thought. As much as I would love to have both my 4:30-am writing sessions and my lunch-hour writing sessions both be devoted to my fiction, I'm thinking I'll let the lunch hour be the blog writing time. That'll leave the morning sessions for fiction. I'm fresh at that time, with the cares of the day not yet invading my thoughts.

So, starting Monday, that'll be the schedule I try. Hopefully, it'll work well.

Two Very Different Books

I reviewed a couple of books this week. CRASHING HEAT by Richard Castle and HAN SOLO AT STARS' END by Brian Daley. Enjoyed them both to different degrees.

The Matrix at 20

Last Sunday, The Matrix turned twenty. Yeah, really. I watched the movie again and wrote a few thoughts.

The Author Newsletter and a Surprise

I try and send out too many newsletters to the good people who have subscribed to my mailing list. I don't always get too many responses, but this week, I did. They were nice and encouraging.

What surprised me was the initial response to Chapter 1 of "Amber Alert." It's a different type of story for me. I wasn't sure how folks would respond. Judging by some of the comments, the old adage of a writer not being the best judge of his own work seems to be true.

I encountered a few issues this past week, but "Amber Alert" will be out this week.

Shazam Soars!

I saw Shazam last night. I'll write a full review tomorrow but here's what I wrote on Facebook:

There is so much happiness, charm, and heart in SHAZAM! Hilariously funny with a real whiz-bang vibe about it. But there is one moment that brought me—and others in the audience who applauded—so much joy it actually got me emotional. Didn’t think I’d ever see it it. And I did. SHAZAM knocks it out of the park!


That's about it for me. How was your week?