Favorite Panel Friday: Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil

Let's just get something out of the way - Jeff Smith gets it.

His retelling - and reinvention - of the Captain Marvel origin is so much fun it makes me want to put on a thunderbolt T-shirt, wrap a towel around my neck and run around the house yelling, "Shazam! Shazam!"

Smith has packed a lot of story into just the first two issues of his four-issue mini-series, Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil, and enough pitch-perfect character moments to make me depressed with the fact it's not a regular series. Attention DC: If you're really looking for that fabled "gateway" comic that will appeal to a broad range of fans and bring in new readers at the same time, guess what? You've already got it.

That panel up there proves it. That's just a taste of what amounts to Captain Marvel smacking around mouthy alligator-men for ... let's see ... one, two ... five pages! Stupid, stupid alligator-men!

Plus there's some wonderful moments with Dr. Sivana (of course he works for the government); the newly found, pain-in-the-butt little sister Mary Marvel; and a giant robot threatening to "remove all trace of human civilization." How cool is that?

And it's even given us a new quote to throw around. I know I'm just waiting for the chance to yell out, "We've lost! Quick! Eat the children!"

Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #2: Jeff Smith, writer/artist