Why Can’t Magic Make Sense?

Some twenty months after “Brave New World,” the Trials of Shazam mini-series has finally concluded, leaving in its wake a new status quo for the Marvel Family, repleat with name changes, costume changes, and even a few changes in the core members. Oh, and the source of their powers has kind of changed too, I think. Depends on who you ask, I suppose.

Way back when this mini-series began, in September of 2006, I came right out and said that Trials of Shazam was, “my new favorite comic book.” Some claimed I was riding some sort of Hyperbole Train, whatever that means, but I stand by the claim. Throughout this series, the art has been nothing short of spectacular, and the characters and actions have been genuinely engaging. Sure, the delays friggin’ tanked a lot of the momentum; however, I’m certain that many will agree, for whatever reason, that it would probably read a lot better in one sitting.

With that aside, let’s forget about the merits of the story itself for a little bit and talk about what, exactly, it has established within the world of magic in the DCU.

Magic, if you remember, entered a new age after the events of the Infinite Crisis a couple years ago. The Wizard Shazam got punk’d by the Spectre, who had recently lost his host body and was on a rampage of sorts; the Rock of Eternity got blowed up; Dr. Fate kicked the bucket; the entire Marvel Family, save Captain Marvel, lost their ability to call on the power of Shazam; and, perhaps most importantly, a whole bunch of characters got a chance to inform people that, “the laws of magic have changed.”

Two years and twelve long issues of a mini-series later, Captain Marvel now wears a white suit with a hood and goes by the name of Marvel; Freddy Freeman dons a red suit that’s identical in appearance to Cap’s old duds, calling himself Shazam; and Mary Marvel is…well, who knows, really. Flaunting her tits and hanging out with Darkseid, for the time being, I guess.

Anyhow, with the Wizard Shazam dead, where exactly is Freddy getting his powers from? Why, the gods, of course! Seems his Trial Guide was actually Zeus in cognito, following Freddy through his trials to determine if he’s worthy of carrying the powers of the gods and serving as Zeus’ connection with the mortal realm.

I just figured I’d catch you guys all up to speed in case you haven’t been reading the mini-series. What with all the delays, heck, maybe you even forgot it was still being shipped.

This is the DC Universe, however, so things don’t quite work out as neatly and easily as the above might suggest. Do you remember back in Countdown to Final Crisis #10, when Mary Marvel was given her powers back to her by the gods? Not only did it directly contradict what has been taking place in Trials of Shazam (Granny Goodness apparently had all the gods kidnapped, even though Freddy had been meeting with each of them, individually, during his trials), but it seems that the gods in Countdown are completely different gods than the ones in Trials of Shazam. Freddy never met with the god of mischief that gave Harley Quinn her temporary powers, for instance. Plus, Zeus has been disguising himself as a mortal man for the past two years or more, according to the Trials of Shazam, so there’s no way he could’ve been locked away in that big box thingy on Apokolips.

Oh well. The laws of magic have changed. Maybe DC can just start using Marvel’s explanation for the conclusion to One More Day: It’s magic. It doesn’t have to make sense.