The power of "Shazam!"

I just had my interview with Jeff Smith, the creator of “Bone” and the writer-artist of DC’s “Shazam” The Monster Society of Evil.” The first issue of “Shazam,” a four-issue miniseries, came out this week.

Smith noted that while not everybody has heard of Captain Marvel, pretty much everybody has heard “Shazam!” (I’d forgotten that Gomer Pyle used to shout that out.) His parents, Smith said, were fans of Captain Marvel as kids and his mother tells a story that showed to him the power of “shazam,” the magic word that transforms young Billy Batson into Captain Marvel.

“My mom said that when she was a little girl and her older sister used to tickle her, she would say ‘shazam’ and she wouldn’t be ticklish anymore. And that kind of gave me a clue as to how powerful this word was and what it really meant.”

Look for more on Smith in the next Comics Fan column.