DC's latest animated release-Superman/Shazam!

I didn't have high hopes for this animated special. I've seen a lot of the DC animated comic book movies, and they've been decent. A few of them have even been good, but I was extremely impressed with this DVD. Of course, I should add that this DVD will still disappoint you with what it isn't, but we'll get to that in a minute.

So based on previous DVDs put out by DC, I was expecting to see the entire length of this disc devoted to Superman and Captain Marvel fighting with Black Adam, but about half an hour in, I was very disappointed to see that the story was coming to an end. Before I move on to the rest of the disc, let me tell you that the main reason I was disappointed was because the quality of story and art was so high that I didn't want the story to end at that point. Let's talk for a minute about what's happening in the story.

So the basic storyline is that Billy Batson is just a kid trying to survive alone on the streets. He's lost his parents and he ran away from foster care. He's trying to make it the best he can. Somehow he still has a positive attitude about the world and is even willing to stand up for a homeless man who is getting robbed by a group of kids. (Being a foot shorter than the shortest of the trio means he doesn't last very long.) Billy is also meeting with Clark Kent, who is doing a story on the foster care situation in the city. At the same time, Black Adam has made his 5000 year voyage back to earth after being exiled, and want to kill Billy because of what will happen next. (Billy gains super powers based off the ancient gods and is the replacement for Black Adam.) Super powered fisticuffs ensues, but you'll have to see the DVD to see what happens next.

The story ends and you realize two things: first the story was way too short, and second there's still a lot of time left. That's OK, the rest of the disc is going to blow your mind. There is an assortment of short features of a variety of DC heroes. It's a great idea even if the DVD is mislabeled. (It should have been called DC Showcase or something like that.) So what else do you get? The Spectre, The Green Arrow (with Black Canary cameo) and Jonah Hex all get short story treatment. Each special is done with it's own temporal and emotional treatment. The Spectre feels like an old film noir detective story, Jonah Hex has a wild west feel, and Green Arrow is more of a modern adventure.

If you have any interest in comic books and characters, you will want to watch this DVD even if you don't follow DC very much. It will be worth your time.