Shazam production journal: Mary Marvel!
The plot of SHAZAM! The Monster Society of Evil revolves around young, homeless Billy Batson’s search for his long, lost sister Mary – - who, it turns out, can share his powers.
One of the first things I did for this project was fill up sketch pages looking for the best way to draw her. 
The image below was originally going to be used for the cover of MSoE #2,and was widely seen in 2003, but it has since been pulled into the service of the story, flopped, re-colored and given word balloons and will be used inside the comic.
Here's Mary on the cover of Captain Marvel no. 19 from the 1940s.
Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #1 goes on sale February 7.
Next: A step-by-step first look at the new Talky Tawny…
Jeff-
These look awesome! I can’t wait for the series. I think the idea to make Mary much younger is inspired.
I love that you are using all the anthropomorphic characters.
Bring on Mr. Mind!
Frank
Comment by Frank Cammuso — January 12, 2007 @ 6:48 pm
I love your design to Captain Marvel. Cool
Comment by Marcos FJ — January 12, 2007 @ 6:50 pm
this looks incredible. Thank youJeff for giving us something to look forward to with Captain Marvel and Mary.
Comment by Mike McAfee — January 12, 2007 @ 10:16 pm
This is pretty darn exciting.
Comment by Kiel West — January 13, 2007 @ 3:14 am
I’m not liking the age. I prefer Mary to look about 12 not 6. Sorry. Good luck.
Comment by Capripede — January 13, 2007 @ 1:01 pm
Why does Mary look like a toddler, I don’t like how she is drawn she should be taller like the other poster said she should be more around 12 and so should Billy not transformed not 3-6
Comment by Jon Cutler — January 13, 2007 @ 9:29 pm
Mary should look like an adult as well.
Comment by Josh Cutler — January 13, 2007 @ 9:36 pm
jeff-
love the penwork, what do you use mainly?
Comment by josh nelson — January 14, 2007 @ 3:58 am
I say that the decision to change Mary’s age works better. Makes for a more interesting character, anyway, and a better contrast with Billy.
Comment by John — January 15, 2007 @ 1:11 am
These panels are great !! lot of space into them. This empire state building has got a lot of presence. Very very good ! So much with so few, that’s the Jeff’s touch. Amazing.
And I don’t speak about the colors, who are magnificent !! ;-P
Comment by bannister — January 15, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
I loved that you reversed Mary’s age. Get’s her away from the”sexier”image she’s unfortunately developed over the years. And back to her purer more wholesome self.;)
Originally she was based on Judy Garland,and invokes that kind of innocence of youth that she and Billy original shared.
So looking forward to this book.
Keep up the good work.
Later.
P.S. Thats the Chrysler Building not the Empire State.
Comment by William — January 16, 2007 @ 2:38 am
[...] Jeff Smith updates his blog by revealing his version of Mary Marvel: [...]
Pingback by Blog@Newsarama » How much money do we have to pay to let him have all the characters permanently? — January 16, 2007 @ 11:33 am
Love it! Yes, I like the “sexier” Mary Marvel too (with that outfit how could you not?) and even Judy Garland could be sexy, but this is a change entirely within the character of Captain and Mary Marvel. Instead of having Mary kill someone she has tied up with a rope (as some other writers have done to other heroes) Jeff is using her whimsical past to enhance her present and future. Trust me, I’m one of the biggest fans of Mary Marvel around and the important thing is that he’s enhancing her character. The age is almost negligible. I’d say different if she was a toddler. But she’s obviously 5 or 6 here (as far as I can tell) and the entire project looks like it’s in great hands. I normally avoid anything with DiDio’s name on it but I’m already reserving my copies of this. Congrats to Jeff and The Marvel Family!
Comment by michael — January 16, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
[...] El mes que viene hace su aparición en las librerÃas americanas el primer número de la miniserie Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil y su autor, Jeff Smith, comienza a desvelar en su blog algunos de los los detalles del proyecto a modo de diario de producción. Si hace algún tiempo ya pudimos ver algunas páginas de este primer número, ahora el autor nos muestra el aspecto que tendrá la joven Mary Marvel. [...]
Pingback by Entrecomics » Blog Archive » La Mary Marvel de Jeff Smith — January 17, 2007 @ 8:00 am
I find the younger age a little odd, mainly because she looks extremely young (5?) when transformed and he looks 30 when transformed. If he looked 15 transformed and she looked 6, then I could see it. If he looked 30 and she looked 12-20 I could see it. But when their ages (untransformed) are so close but their transformed version look so starkly different, it makes the relationship seem like parent/child, not older/younger siblings. It will be extremely difficult to get used to. Still, I like the Marvel family, so I’ll try.
Comment by Lewis — January 17, 2007 @ 11:32 am
[...] I’m sure it seems as if we link to Jeff Smith’s Shazam production journal entries every few days — and, well, we probably do. It’s just that his work on the upcoming Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil miniseries is so … spot-on, whether it’s a young-and-spunky Mary Marvel or the Hall of the Seven Deadly Enemies of Men. [...]
Pingback by Blog@Newsarama » You will believe a tiger can talk — January 18, 2007 @ 3:58 pm
I think once we can read the entire context of the relationship in the context of the story, it’ll be easy enough. Then again, the opposite could happen and those of us who are enjoying it now may hate it then and those who are having trouble with it now could love it. That’s the great thing for creators of these kinds of works, they get to sweat it until the release! LOL
Comment by michael — January 18, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
Gorgegous work, Jeff. As usual.
I can’t wait to hold the book in my hands.
A big Ciao from Italy
smoky man
PS.: read here at Gary Spencer Millidge’s site
http://www.millidge.com/home/news/news-stories/048-ampoeg-oop.html
Comment by smoky man — January 22, 2007 @ 7:24 am
Anyone here know what the 6th book will look like or when it will come out???
Comment by Anthony — January 27, 2007 @ 10:30 am
gostaria de reseber foto de shazam
Comment by aloisio cirilo coelho — February 4, 2007 @ 10:21 am
Okay. Why is it that a young boy gets to become magically adult & big & strong when he gets his superpowers, but a young girl has to stay a child?
I realize that Jeff didn’t come up with the Marvel character or its conventions, but it’s stuff like this that made comic books have such a “young male geek” image that’s hard to shake even now. I could go into the psycho-sexual politics behind such things, but it’s probably not worth the time. *sigh*
Comment by Chris — February 12, 2007 @ 7:58 pm
I was an undergrad at Ohio State during the mid-1980′s, and an avid reader of “Thorn,” going so far as to pick up a copy of the book the day it arrived at Long’s. I’ve recently returned to Ohio State as an MA student, and during a long, uneventful day at my desk in the Faculty Services office. “Thorn” crossed my mind. I Googled to see if I could discover what happened to the old girl, and discovered the rebirth of her universe in “Bone.” Accept my congratulations on sticking with your dream and making it reality. You are an inspiration to those of us still stuck behind our desks and dreaming of careers in the arts.
Comment by Todd — February 13, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
Making Mary Marvel a young child is a great stroke of inspiration , of the sort a contemporary version of Captain Marvel needs.In my opinion the Marvel Family was a poor fit into the DC universe – they already had a Superman , and Marvel had more cartoony roots than the DCU in general. Good luck in your work on this project!
Mark Moore
Comment by Mark Moore — April 5, 2007 @ 7:14 pm
Retired from England and living in Spain, comics can take a while to reach me, so to date I’ve only read/seen about MSoE on the internet.
Mary as a young child. That sort of threw me at first, but now I’m intrigued by the concept and can’t wait to get my hands on the comics.
As a Mary Marvel fan, I’ve dedicated a web site to her – would it be possible to include some of your art on that site?
Comment by Brian Humphreys — April 10, 2007 @ 11:52 am
Hey, Brian,
I just took a quick look at your Mary Marvel site, and it looks pretty cool. If you want to post images of young Mary, be my guest. I hope you like the comics once they reach you!
Comment by Jeff — April 14, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! nwtyniscbfqfcc
Comment by zlvweuhgwh — July 3, 2007 @ 10:48 am
Jeff:
As a golden age Captain Marvel Fan and a person that owns every issue of the Monster Society of Evil; I loved these four issues. I have been waiting for thr true return of the Marvel’s and have got them back at long last. Thanks for bringing the whimsy and the satire of the Marvel Family back. I certainly hope that DC will let you write and draw a follow up.
By the way; I just discovered BONE and I loved it!!
Comment by Scott M. — August 29, 2007 @ 11:46 am
very interesting.
i’m adding in RSS Reader
Comment by music — January 6, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
Dear Sir or Madam:
Where can I get all Marvel Marvel comic books & also for Shazam, Captain Marvel JR, & rest of their family comic books? I am trying to collect all their comic books. I need to know where to buy them at.
Thanks,
CRAIG CULWELL
Comment by CRAIG CULWELL — March 9, 2008 @ 7:44 pm