Posted in: Comics, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: dc comics, mary marvel, shazam, she-hulk

New Champion Of Shazam #3 Breaks She-Hulk's Toxic Fourth Walls

I rather enjoyed the recent She-Hulk TV series from Marvel Studios, both in how it echoed John Byrne's fourth-wall-breaking storytelling skills, but also how it anticipated the toxic male social media response online pretty damn accurately and then even found a way to make them the bad guys. The ending was a mess, and failed at being as good as Boston Legal, but that's common with most shows I like. However, today's New Champion Of Shazam #3 by Josie Campbell, Doc Shaner and especially Becca Carey this issue, shows exactly why comic books do these things better. Especially in the light of a movie like Black Adam, with connective tissue to this comic book.

So we have Mary Batson, the superheroine without a superhero name, tracking down missing people near her university campus. But her antics in town have not gone unnoticed, and they have drawn some criticism. What starts as simple mocking…

Which is par for the course for this kind of story. She-Hulk made this part of a bad guy conspiracy to turn the media and public view against She-Hulk by weaponising her private date and placing it in the public field. Until… that was rewritten and didn't happen? It wasn't so clear. But New Champions Of Shazam #3 has a new villain known as Babel. Who can do things like this.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me?" They never met Babel. He can take the criticism that anyone gets and turn it into a full frontal physical assault. Which means someone like Mary Batson gets a far greater assault than most superheroes on the scene…

Yeah, you can feel the writers on the recent She-Hulk show kicking themselves they didn't think of this one. We've had characters like Deadpool, Gwenpool and the like hit each other with speech balloons, and the like, but the actual comments from online trolls? That's something quite special.

So yes, congrats to Josie Campbell and Doc Shaner for this one – and especially letterer Becca Carey. This is a starring moment!

NEW CHAMPION OF SHAZAM #3 (OF 4) CVR A EVAN DOC SHANER
(W) Josie Campbell (A/CA) Evan Doc Shaner
DON'T READ THE COMMENTS! After a disastrous outing as Shazam, Mary is the laughingstock of the internet. Will she ever be taken seriously? Now it's up to her to ignore the haters and help those who really need her. The missing-persons problem in Philly has only gotten worse, and our hero is running out of time to find the culprit behind it!
Retail: $3.99 In-Store Date: 11/1/2022

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