The flagship New 52 title hits its stride with Justice League Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis. Writer Geoff Johns pares down the cast such to focus on a few very specific characters and relationships, and it brings some welcome depth to the book (not to mention the story's aquatic antagonists). With the most recent Aquaman collection, that title has been on an upswing, and it buoys Justice League along with it in this crossover.

[Review contains spoilers]

Throne of Atlantis's first two issues explore the relationship between Wonder Woman and Superman, and the over-protectiveness Diana feels toward the League and her friends, including Steve Trevor. Johns's kiss between Superman and Wonder Woman in Justice League Vol. 2: The Villains Journey was wholly unconvincing, as it was meant to be; in Throne, Johns has the characters back up and get to know one another better, and what emerges is a believable basis for their attraction. Superman finds someone who understands his responsibilities; Wonder Woman learns how to have a private life amidst her superheroics. Johns's Wonder Woman is a wholly different character from Brian Azzarello's portrayal in the main series; while I like Azzarello's portrayal, I'm curious here for the first time what a Johns-written Wonder Woman series might be like.

Toward the end of Villain's Journey (and even in part since Justice League Vol. 1: Origin), Johns has built up to a confrontation between Batman and Aquaman over leadership of the League. We've seen League leadership fights before (most notably in Justice League International) and I worried this would devolve into a fistfight or a schism within the League, a story told already too many times. While Batman and Aquaman do come to blows, surprisingly they later each admit their own errors and reconcile.

It's perhaps a shame that Batman and Aquaman each accepting fault should be so surprising -- in our fiction and in the real world, we more commonly see factions schism than compromise -- and Johns's less angsty, more reasonable solution is welcome. Also, Batman and Aquaman is not a team-up we often saw in the entirety of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe, and Johns succeeds in giving them a conflict where both have a natural role and would logically work side-by-side.

Finally, Johns gives Cyborg a wrenching decision in these pages that, as much as I'm curious about a Johns-penned Wonder Woman series, makes me wonder what Johns could do with Vic Stone, too. Coming out of Villain's Journey, Vic is increasingly concerned about losing his humanity -- he wonders even if his consciousness might simply be a computer program that believes itself to have been human. Vic's scientist father offers him an "upgrade" that would allow Vic to survive harsh climates, but at the cost of his one remaining lung. Vic opposes the change initially, but as soon as he needs the upgrades to rescue the League, Vic agrees -- even as the audience stands shocked at his sacrifice. Vic has been a cypher in the first two League volumes, but here we understand his capacity for heroism. If the Justice League title lacked heart before, it has it now.

Following from the excellent Aquaman Vol. 2: The Others, in which Johns resurrected and defined Aquaman nemesis Black Manta for the ages, he gives the same treatment to Ocean Master here. As is Johns's wont, Ocean Master is no cookie-cutter foe, but actually a passionate ruler of Atlantis who legitimately believes his city has been attacked. Even better, Ocean Master turns out not to be the story's true villain; rather, Johns plays on our pre-Flashpoint sympathies, reintroducing a beloved character and then having him turn out to be the mastermind behind the Atlantis war. This was clever on Johns's part and caught me by surprise, and it's a stark reminder that while some names remain the same, the New 52 characters are not the same as their predecessors.

Jim Lee departs art duties on Justice League before this volume, replaced by Ivan Reis (coming over from Aquaman); Paul Pelletier replaces Reis on the other title. I've come to associate Reis's work with Aquaman now, and his presence here on Justice League helped make the story feel less like a crossover and more like the next issue of a Aquaman/Justice League title. I have enjoyed Pelletier's work on such titles as Superboy and the Ravers, though I'll need a bit longer before I agree he's right for Aquaman; Pelletier's sunnier, smoother style doesn't convey the seriousness of the Justice LEague or Aquaman the way Reis and Lee did, and I'm not convinced the Aquaman title is the better for it.

Justice League Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis is a more traditional tale of the League in action than the Vol. 1 origin story (even despite Green Lantern's absence and Flash bowing out early on); its twists, turns, and inter-team politics are stronger than the same in Justice League Vol. 2: Villain's Journey. This marked improvement in Justice League gives me hope for the future; Trinity War can't get here for me soon enough.

Harvey Kurtzman, one of my favorite comic book creators of all time, started his comic book career working for the Louis Ferstadt comics shop. Kurtzman earned his genius status over many years of toiling in the comic book factories, like drawing one-page gag strips for Stan Lee until landing his gig with EC Comics. When Kurtzman created, edited and wrote Mad it basically sealed him in comic book immortality.

But these early strips, “Flatfoot Burns,” six-page fillers which appeared in Police Comics, are the work of a 19-year-old artist looking to make a living in comics. Kurtzman was dismissive of this early work. As written in Kurtzman’s bio, Art of Harvey Kurtzman, Mad Genius of Comics, by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle, Kurtzman is quoted as saying: “‘I never had a style so I had nothing to sell.’ In another interview Kurtzman referred to his pre-war output as ‘very crude, very ugly stuff.’ Nonetheless these give subtle hints of what is to come.”

When you look at these strips you will see panels here and there that are foreshadowing the future and his work on Mad and beyond. Mostly you are seeing a young cartoonist learning his way. These three stories are from Police Comics #24-26 inclusive (1943. When reference is made to “pre-war” in the biography I assume it means that period before Kurtzman entered the service.

There’s a sense of humor in both these stories from Strange Adventures #21 (1952). The three Herbert brothers, hillbillies who speak like, “We’m the Herberts. We’m heerd tell of a war goin’ on! We’m come to jine the fightin’!” are actually much smarter than they originally appear. The second story, which is cover featured with a beautiful illustration by Murphy Anderson, who also drew the story, is a reverse fish tale.

And that second story causes me some reflection. This issue of Strange Adventures is dated June, 1952. The Al Feldstein/Jack Davis story, “Gone...Fishing!” is from Vault of Horror #22, dated December, 1951-January, 1952. It probably went on sale in October, 1951, and if he saw it could have conceivably planted an idea in writer Jack Miller’s mind. In the EC story the “fisherman” is unseen. Perhaps Miller thought it would be fun to show what was fishing for humans.

From Vault of Horror #22. I scanned this from the Russ Cochran reprint, Vault of Horror #11.

It’s just conjecture, but I find the timing of both stories with similar themes interesting.

“The Genius Epidemic” is by Gardner Fox, drawn by Irwin Hasen and Joe Giella, and “The Monster That Fished For Men” is written by Jack Miller, drawn by Murphy Anderson.

According to the timeline on the history of the Pogo newspaper comic strip, 1949 was a busy year for Walt Kelly. However occupied he was launching the strip that would make his fame and fortune he found time to do comic books for Dell, including Four Color #244, The Brownies.

This story, “The Brownies in the Funnybody Kingdom,” is pure Kelly, story and art. I showed it before, years ago. These are new scans.

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Walt Kelly used a pen-name in 1945 to do this beautiful childrens’ book, Trouble On the Ark. Click on the picture to see it.

There's just a handful of references to the larger DC Universe in the new Shazam! collection (collecting the Justice League back-up stories). This dearth of outside influence, plus the presence of writer Geoff Johns and especially artist Gary Frank, puts the reader heavily in mind of their recent Batman: Earth One collaboration.

Shazam! could as easily be Shazam!: Earth One, and it succeeds as a new graphic-novel type introduction to the former Captain Marvel, of a kind we haven't seen since Jerry Ordway's seminal Power of Shazam graphic novel. Ordway's graphic novel and subsequent series (overdue for large-scale collection) made Captain Marvel modern for the time, while still hewing to the character's classic elements and tone. Shazam! nods to those elements, but the tone is modern now for the present day; Billy Batson has never been farther from his "gee whiz" elements.

This may offend some, but Johns's Shazam nee Captain Marvel is far from unrecognizable. In all this is an auspicious new beginning for the classic character.

[Review contains spoilers]

Johns's opening salvo to the story is introducing a saccharin-sweet Billy Batson who's verily what some readers might have feared -- before revealing that this Billy is really a troublesome brat. It's a moment in the same vein as Johns's Earth One Batman falls off a roof -- Johns, effectively if heavy-handedly, declares this a new, different take on an old favorite. Billy and fellow foster child Freddy Freeman try to vandalize a bully's car; when Billy becomes Shazam, one of their primary goals is to go buy beer. Johns's success is in making Billy, finally, someone the reader can accept as a "regular" adventure story-type kid, rather than the wise-beyond-his-years radio personality of iterations past.

Traditional Captain Marvel fans need not worry that Johns has leaned too dark here. The splash page of Billy and Freddie reveling in Billy's newfound power of flight perfectly reflects both the innocence and wish fulfillment aspects of the Captain Marvel legend. Neither does Johns shy away from the cornier elements of the mythos; by the end of the book, yes indeed, both Freddie and Mary (Marvel) get their powers, along with some new members of the Shazam family. Johns even works in "Tawky" Tawny (no Uncle Dudley yet, sorry). Billy's iconic red-and-yellow shirt is gone, but his jacket gives a nod to the striped elements.

Johns is no stranger to Billy's adventures, having written him in JSA (JSA fans will join me in hoping to see this New 52 Shazam encounter the New 52 Justice League of America's Stargirl). Johns spent even more time writing about Billy's nemesis (and sometimes ally) Black Adam pre-Flashpoint, and so it's interesting to see how Johns conceives him here. Whereas Adam had been a member of Kahndaq's ruling circle before, he's now a slave granted the power of Shazam to take revenge on his oppressors. It would seem at one point that Black Adam is a young orphan just like Billy, but we understand later that Black Adam stole the power from his nephew before murdering him.

As is the case with many of Johns's villains, Black Adam is not all bad, and this keeps too with Adam's JSA portrayal. Here, Adam works out of a misguided sense of justice, believing the slavery he once toiled under still exists. It's hard to see the "old" Black Adam in Johns's confused villain, but neither do I believe that Adam's death at the end of this story holds any permanence; I'm eager to see Johns continue to re-build Black Adam into the anti-hero we enjoyed for so many years.

The book only struggles a bit, as many of the New 52 titles have, with trying at times to seem too modern. Billy's mention of his "podcast" trips off the tongue; Johns is no codger, but it's adult-speak, not teen-speak. An iPad factors heavily into the story, surprisingly, both because I wonder about trademark issues and also because most every other New 52 has used Oliver Queen's Q-pad as their iPad equivalent; again, in the way it both stands out and potentially dates the story later on, I'd as soon the Q-pad was the device. Elsewhere in the story, the iconic Seven Deadly Sins statues are now holograms; I tend to think that's a too-self-conscious update rather than a necessary one.

Overall, however, I'd be thrilled to see Geoff Johns's much-discussed next DC series be a continuation of Shazam! -- with Gary Frank, too, or failing that, Cully Hamner might have an interesting take on the "Marvel orphans." That there are six "Shazams" now bothers me not at all, especially when there were at least that many before when you include Hoppy and so on; certainly no one could claim Johns's new Shazam! is more corny than what came before. Johns positions the new Shazam! somewhere between Goonies and Harry Potter, and it works quite well. Could Shazam! be the most successful New 52 relaunch so far?