I'll chime in for Shazam!. I'll take front-loaded HSS with an 11-AV and PC over a 12-AV w/o HSS or PC any time.

If played as a duo, Shazam!-seguing-into Black Adam can be devastating.

Most characters, after taking 7-10 clicks of damage, are somewhat tattered around the edges, so to speak. :] At that point, however, Shazam!/Black Adam is on Black Adam's FURY ENOUGH TO DESTROY COUNTRIES: HSS dealing 5-6 clicks of damage w/ CCE, or 3-4 clicks of penetrating damage w/ EW. Not the highest AV (10-9) but plenty enough to bring some hurt!

If you start the duo w/ Black Adam, however, after 8-clicks of damage the dial is on Shazam!'s "soft" Defend clicks.

I think this duo has awesome symmetry, Shazam! up front all "Be calm, otherwise I'll zoom over there and clock you for 7 w/ this Dumpster!" going down to Black Adam's "All right, sucka, I've had enough, you are going down hard!" with FURY ENOUGH TO DESTROY COUNTRIES.

It depends.

Black Adam starts as more of a 'come to me' figure. That starting click does not have move and attack, of course. Feated, he can get around this with lunge and some tie up. In modern, he needs to play in some constricted maps where he won't be the target of any running shot. I would not push to his HSS attack necessarily. It depends on what I am facing. I might rather wait so that another person will knock him off that click. If Black Adam takes a hit, he has a lot of power to respond with.

Shazam is fantastic, of course, and plays entirely different. He is very much an alpha strike that cannot take too much of a beating. The defend clicks can be nice, especially when paired with his energy explosion, but usually that is NOT what I am looking for in a brick, primary attacker. The defend click is very moot to me; the JSA TA and the defend click are slightly (but only slightly) redundant. If Shazam takes a hit, he does not have Black Adam's level of power to respond with.

I think Shazam is far more deadly on his own due to his first strike capability. With HSS, PC, 11 attack, 7 damage with an object he has a great shot at getting in a first crucial strike. I will always take an 11 attack with PC over a 12 attack without. Now there is no doubt, in my mind, that click for click BA is more deadly, but unless you're playing an opponent with all 3 damage characters, no outwit, and no Penetrating damage, then you won't get to see all those clicks. And it's not like we're talking about figures that are 9-10 clicks deep. These figures are 6 clicks deep. Both are in trouble when hit. And Shazam simply has a much better shot at hitting hard before he's hit.

Cheers,
Jon Id Schultz

i just got the piece, havent had a chance to play it yet, but i am thinking Shazam!, just because of the combat numbers on him. wonderful for setting the direction of the game, Hypo on speed 10 combined with a respectable attack and a solid 5 damage with Prob!!!

otherwise, ya...still working on playing them