DC COMICS
WRITER: Judd Winick
ARTIST/COVER: Mauro Cascioli

In his efforts to become the new Captain Marvel, Freddy Freeman calls on the magical superteam, the Shadowpact to help him. But his evil rival Sabina gets a head start in stealing the powers of Mercury.

This is a very inconsistent issue. Freeman, Billy Batson and the Shadowpact don't really succeed in doing anything. They mainly follow up false leads and ponder how far they have fallen behind against Sabina and her patrons, the villainous Council of Merlin.

In fact, if it were not for her evil deeds, one would think that Sabina was the real hero of this comic as she gets the best scenes and the best lines... and amazingly, manages to defeat Mercury with one of the silliest tricks in the book.

This issue ends with the Justice League being brought in but all this does is highlight how helpless Freddy Freeman has become in carrying out his own quest. He already brought in the Shadowpact -- and he still failed. What is left? To bring in The Authority? This mini-series is suppose to launch Freddy as a worthy successor to Captain Marvel but in this issue, he is left looking totally ineffectual, calling in other superheroes to do his work.

The art is pretty eye-catching however. It almost looks like a children's picture book with its lush illustrations and classical poses. Even Mercury has an epic grandeur to him that is rarely seen in comics (where ancient gods usually look like refugees from old "HERCULES" movies.)

Despite the obvious craftsmanship that went into this story, it really looks like this issue was revamped and rushed out at the last minute, maybe after some big change was forced upon it. The fact that they got a new artist is telling. This mini-series was suppose to showcase Howard Porter's new art style but now, they have dropped him entirely.

For whatever reason, this miniseries has taken a really bad turn in recent issues and this may severely hamper efforts to make readers accept Freddy Freeman as the new holder of the power of Shazam. This issue gets only two stars out of five-- and most of that is due to the art.