Asking for more after you’re done watching any type of film is a good thing, but in the case of “Superman/Shazam: Return of Black Adam,” DC comics does an excellent job of providing an excellent origin story and quickly leaving right after the best note has been struck.
However, there’s more than meets the eye here. Less than a half-hour long, this DVD is more about the second rung of heroes in DC comics than Captain Marvel himself, containing three other tales that encompass the whole collection.
Fast-paced and fun, the four animated shorts on this DVD definitely don’t waste anytime, quickly leaving after their climax.
And that’s a good thing.
Nothing against the characters featured here, but their fan bases are different from most and in order to get the mainstream comic fan and animation geek interested, DC had to play it smart.
In this case, that’s exactly what they did.
While the Superman/Shazam short takes up most of the space on the DVD, shorts featuring the Spectre, Green Arrow and Jonah Hex are all featured here and do an excellent job of bringing out the characters involved. Stellar voice acting by a myriad of stars such as Malcolm McDowell, James Garner, Thomas Jane and Alyssa Milano bring these characters to life, wetting the audiences palette for something bigger to be created in the future.
However, the best part of the DVD is the distinctive visual look every short has.
A rock-em, sock-em adventure from start to finish, Superman and Shazam has the look of an anime, while the Spectre’s tale is an ode to Don Siegel’s work on the “Dirty Harry” films. While the overall look of Green Arrow is similar to the Superman/Shazam short, the witty catchphrases and witty one liners Oliver Queen utters throughout give the short a Saturday morning cartoon feel, geared towards older viewers. Lastly, a cross between Vampire Hunter D and the look the comic had during its heyday, the Jonah Hex short is darker than the others and brings this brooding protagonist to life much better than the theatrical film that bombed in theaters this fall.
You might even be able to make the argument that had this short been turned into a full length production, it could have done better with fans and newcomers to series.
Even though this pieces are short, the top-notch animation, entertaining dialogue and more than solid voice cast do the almost impossible: making the second-tier stars of DC comics look and feel as important as the heavy hitters.
For that, this DVD deserves a look.
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