Every time I read one of these, I’m struck with the same realization I encounter trying to watch The Honeymooners or a black-and-white movie: Wow. Old things suck.
So says John August, the writer of the upcoming Shazam! movie on recommending older Captain Marvel titles for people to read. Instead August recommends reading many of the newer appearances of the Big Red Cheese over at his blogsite. Before everyone gets all up in arms over August’s comments, remember even recent retellings of Captain Marvel’s adventures (Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith for example), re-tell the origins of how Captain Marvel obtained his powers. I have a feeling any movie is going to be able to convey the power and myth of the title character without glossing over any key historical moments.
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I don’t necessarily think it’s a horrible thing as long as the essence of the character remains the same. As near and dear as Lieutenant Marvels, Uncle Marvel, and Tawky Tawny are, the characters are silly and somewhat cumbersome unless you’re making a Saturday morning cartoon for 3 to 10 year old kids. The sense of the fantastic can be retained. The “magic” angle will be pushed hard to reel in the Harry Potter brats, and I’m pretty sure this means that this will be the modern angle of “Billy Batson-Brained” CM rather than “Switch places with Billy” CM…which means this will fall into “Sky High” territory if the writer isn’t careful (Sky High wasn’t terrible, just unsuccessful.) I just want a good movie, that’s all. SHAZOOM!