Review: Curse Of Shazam, part 8

Chapter 8 of Curse Of Shazam in JUSTICE LEAGUE #15 opens with Capt... er, Shazam, still in his Jethro topcoat, and Freddy on a bench eating hamburgers.  They realize they only have 75¢ left from their reward.  Not enough to buy beer.  They go to an ATM where Freddy tells Capt... er, Shazam, to put a spell on it to get money.  He speaks a childish incantation, ending with Shazam.  Lightning shoots out from his hands, and hits the ATM, which then starts spitting out all the money.  As they panic, for the money won't stop shooting out, they notice the bank is being robbed by other guys.  Capt... er, Shazam inadvertently stops the robbers.  A couple spectators ask who the figure in red is, and he replies, "uh... Shazam?"  Freddy and Shazam run off, only to stumble into another robbery, where the unlikely heroes are rewarded with all the junk food they can eat. Then they find themselves stopping a car theft.  Noticing how they seem to keep finding crimes being committed, an image of crystal named Francesca, whom only Shazam can see, confirms that he is being drawn to places where a champion is needed.  Francesca warns him Black Adam is looking for him as Shazam discovers he can fly.  As Freddy and Shazam enjoy the new power, Freddy decides perhaps its time for Shazam to turn back into Billy so they can go back home to the Vasquezes.  Shazam disagrees, intending to stay in his super powered form forever.  Freddy accuses Shazam of starting to act just like a grown up, and splits.  Suddenly, Black Adam finds Shazam, setting up a big fight in the next chapter.

This chapter has more of the Big Red Cheese acting like a goofy kid, and doing juvenile antics with Freddy (not cool, "Dead End Kids" style antics, just dumb kid antics) on their quest to buy beer.  One of the weaker aspects of the ever loathed Trials Of Shazam this new series clings to (besides the hooded cloak), is the idea the magic word does not trigger any transformation on its own, but rather the change must be willed.  Ultimately, this makes the magic word pointless.  Hopefully the big fight in the next issue will be an event, because so far, ever since Billy transformed into Capt... er, Shazam, the series has gone downhill.  Chapter 8 earns a C.