Shazam! Thundercrack

by Yehudi Mercado (Author) Yehudi Mercado (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 6th − 7th Grade

Super-heroics are dangerous, but joining the football team is an even bigger problem! Billy Batson's never been a team player, and becoming the superhero Shazam didn't seem to change that much. But his new strength and stamina will make football a breeze.

After skipping school one too many times, Billy is offered a choice: football or detention. The Fawcett Tigers need a new champion--their last quarterback ended up in the hospital, and the coach is pretty sure rival team the Fishtown Atoms are to blame. Between football practice and superhero training, Billy's muscles are getting bigger, but so is his ego.

Will foster dad Victor's wise counsel and memories of his own football triumphs help keep young Shazam grounded? Shazam! Thundercrack is set within the movie timeline--showing Freddy's vlog filled with superhero training montages, family pranks, and the new gig he took to monitor Billy's football practices (the cheerleading squad really needed a new mascot!).

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School Library Journal

Gr 3-7--Mercado writes and illustrates this graphic novel that canonically takes place in the same universe as the movie Shazam! The comic opens with scenes that overlap with scenes from the first movie, but then moves into a new subplot wherein Billy plays high school football and, with the helpful advice of his foster father, Victor, learns to value teamwork and accountability to others. Foster brother Freddy becomes the team mascot to tag along, resulting in some humorous scenes of him interacting with the cheerleaders (sadly, the book's female characters are largely one-dimensional background players). Of course, this is a superhero comic, so Billy's alter-ego Shazam must make an appearance and save the day when a rival football team's coach and players develop dangerous powers thanks to Sivana Industries experiments. The art is entertaining and clearly conveys action, with bright coloring and a caricature-esque style. VERDICT While the plot and character arc are simple, fans of the "Shazam!" movie franchise will enjoy this expansion of the first movie, making this a solid gateway into DC graphic novels. --Tammy Ivins

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

10000

It was very good it had a lot of interesting things in it and it's also was very very fun to listen to it.

Yehudi Mercado
Yehudi Mercado was born in Mexico City and grew up in Houston, Texas. He spent high school in the theater department putting on plays. After college he worked in video games and eventually became an art director for Disney Interactive, where he co-wrote and art directed the Guardians of the Galaxy mobile game. His graphic novels include Chunky, Hero Hotel, Rocket Salvage, Fun Fun Fun World, and Sci-Fu, and he was the artist on the Epic Original graphic novel Cat Ninja. Yehudi created a narrative podcast based on his graphic novel Hero Hotel for the Pinna network. He has adorable dogs named Bucky and Bosco and usually sneaks one of his pets into his books.
Classification
-
ISBN-13
9781779505026
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
DC Comics
Publication date
February 28, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV008020 - Juvenile Fiction | Comics & Graphic Novels | Superheroes
JUV008040 - Juvenile Fiction | Comics & Graphic Novels | Action & Adventure
Library of Congress categories
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