Justice League Action, “Shazam Slam”, Review!
Jondee here at the Rock of Eternity,
It opens to a city at city with Batman (Kevin Conroy!)watching over it, he hears an older man pursued by three men in suits. Their faces open up in like hungry starfish, Batman can’t stop them, but the old man, the wizard Shazam (Carl Reiner), stops them and starts to run down a subway. Reiner adds some cantankerous fun as Shazam in the 2,000 Year Old Man mold. Batman is a good intro to this show with Batman Animated launching the many series, but he is the least mystical character. Batman sees him and Shazam tells him that he has to get back to the Rock. He tries to search for the secret entrance and uses his powers to show Batman his story. He sees Black Adam (Gary Cole) who wants to take on his mentor. Then, young Billy Batson (Sean Astin!) invokes Shazam’s name and Black Adam leeches the energy and blasts Shazam. He has to find a way back and Batman faces the men in suits. They slip into the dimension of the Rock of Eternity. Shazam has difficulty flying and Batman uses his grappling hook to pull them to the Rock. Billy is chained while Black Adam sits on the throne. The villain unleashes the monsters to send to Earth. Shazam peeks through a crack to see the orb with his powers which he tells Batman. He reluctantly asks for help from Batman. Billy spots Batman sneaking in and mocks Black Adam to distract him. The villain spots Batman in a pool and fights with him. The Dark Knight is no match for his power and is bound. Shazam tells Billy to summon the power. Billy shouts out the wizard’s name and breaks the orb open. Black Adam’s fist is stopped by Captain Marvel or Shazam as he’s called now (kinda confusing)! The Rock of Eternity shudders from Shazam’s punch and then the wizard strikes Black Adam with a bolt that sends him away. Shazam goes after the monsters of Eternity. Batman is thanked by The Wizard (not of Oz). Ok, so Black Adam used his powers to send the monsters, The Wizard can’t pull them back?
A warning in a prison, the warden tells Superman (Jason J. Lewis) that the prisoner is absorbing cockroaches, the Parasite! Upside down, the Parasite is feeding on insects, and he unleashes tentacles form his torso. Wonder Woman (Rachel Kimsey) ties him up with her lasso. Jimmy Olsen (Max Mittelman) pulls up as a van is taking away the prisoner. A meteor slams into the van and Superman fells sorry for him. The Parasite is now super charged as black charged villain Calythos ! He leaps away and draws out an energy sword that pulls energy from the earth. Wonder Woman slams him down, obviously he didn’t see Beavis. Jimmy Olsen takes cell phone video of the battle and loves the views from his recording. Calythos uses his sword again and the lasso is placed around him to make him tell the truth. He brings his scimitar down, blocked by Wonder Woman’s bracelets, then Superman right crosses him. Superman gets into a city smashing fight, Calythos flies into a helicopter, and Superman saves it from smashing into a concert. He blasts Calythos with his heat vision which he absorbs. Wonder Woman throws the scimitar into the sea, but she’s slammed into the Daily Planet globe by Calythos. The villain retrieves his sword. The heroes find that they are weakened, um, Parasite? This is something Jimmy tells them, he also notices the volcano formed in the sea. Wonder Woman is bringing in an ally. The heroes are knocked down by Calythos’ power. He hears something, it is Martian Manhunter (Crispin Freeman), slimmed down. He hits Calythos who knocks out the Martian Manhunter’s power and he finds out that Calythos absorbing Manhunter’s power fears fire! Both villains are captured. Another monster from the Rock of Eternity stopped. Superman freeze breathes the volcano. Some nice action and great voice work. I get the animated short format of the show, but would like to see stronger character moments more like Shazam in the first segment. Three Justice League Signal Devices out of Five!
