The Daily Comic Book Coffee, number 59: The Power of Shazam #36, penciled by Peter Krause, inked by Dick Giordano, written by Jerry Ordway, lettered by John Costanza and colored by Glenn Whitmore, published by DC Comics in March 1998.
During a crossover with the Starman series, Billy and Mary Batson have to work with Jack Knight to help clear the name of World War II hero Jim Barr, aka Bulletman, who has been framed for treason by neo-Nazis. In his Captain Marvel identity Billy initially clashes with Jack, until the more level-headed Mary Marvel convinces him to calm down. The trio heads to the home of Nick & Nora Bromfield, who have adopted the orphaned Mary and Billy. There they find the Bromfields having coffee with Jack’s father Ted, the original Starman, as well as Jim Barr himself, with everyone attempting to figure out what their next step should be.
The Power of Shazam was such an amazing, fun, underrated series. I came into it a bit late, in the second year, but I immediately became hooked, and I soon got caught up on the Jerry Ordway graphic novel and back issues. Ordway wrote some great stories. He successfully achieving the very tricky feat of simultaneously updating Billy, Mary and the rest of the Marvel Family cast for the 1990s while retaining a great deal of the charm from the original Golden Age stories.
Peter Krause did really good work penciling the series. Due to the prevailing styles in super-hero comic books at the time, I think his work here was unfortunately overlooked by many. Krause deftly balanced the serious and cartoony elements of the characters. On the later issues of the series Krause was inked by the legendary Dick Giordano.
Hopefully I will be able to locate a coffee page drawn by Ordway himself to showcase in a future entry.
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