November 29, 2010: "Superman/Shazam!" – Movie Review
World’s Mightiest Animated Short is Real Steel Deal
Holy Moley but “Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam” was good. The short film released last week on DVD and Blu-Ray effectively characterized Superman, Captain Marvel, Billy Batson, Black Adam, and even the wizard Shazam and Tawky Tawny. The voice work is top notch and features the return of actor George Newbern to the voices of Clark Kent and Superman. Newbern voiced the Man of Steel and his alter ego on “Justice League”, “Justice League Unlimited”, “Static Shock”, and “The Batman”. Also in a role reprisal, actor Jerry O’Connell voices Captain Marvel just as he did on the “JLU” episode “Clash”.
The story revolves around Captain Marvel’s origin which has been told countless times since Whiz Comics #2. It also involves Cap’s first encounter with the evil predecessor to the power of Shazam, Black Adam, another often told Shazam tale. Both stories are melded together and Superman is brought in to hold the piece together with a more popular hero. Superman fans ought to be thrilled as I was to see the Man of Steel being used as the top draw DCU character to generate mainstream interest in what is essentially Captain Marvel’s story.
Read the rest of Barry’s “Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam” review right here at the Superman Homepage.