Black Adam Is Here!

Somewhere within the pages of DC's Black Adam #1 there appears to be a decent story premise. However, the problem I had was finding it. I have read comics before where I was new to the characters, but the story always found a way to catch me up. It appears that Priest wrote "The Sandbox" figuring that much of the background of our characters were known. I picked this one up because of the movie starring Dwayne Johnson that will be hitting theaters.

Lord Teth-Adam is the subject of a Senate hearing, which appears to be boring him. He may have violated the Arms Export Control Act. Being referred to as an Ancient Avatar on the very next page, a bulked-up much larger-than-life type is in battle also being addressed as Theo Teth-Adam. It should also be noted that the Justice League are still alive and well during this timeframe. With the creature that Adam is fighting dying quicker than he thought it should, Adam realizes that this foe was not Darkseid, whom he thought he was doing battle with.

Back at the hearing, Adam threatens everyone and then leaves. The death of Shakur Nassar of the Egyptian Kahndaqi Tribe shakes up Adam who also fears the authorities will try to pin this murder on him. Malik White ends up being arrested while seeing patients at a Washington DC hospital due to his supposed meeting with Nassar earlier. When confronted, a hospital staff member denies the existence of a Dr. Malik White.

After getting out of jail, Malik gets kidnapped and this is where the adventure seems like it is going to take off as Black Adam claims Malik is a descendent of his. Rafa Sandoval's artwork is very crisp, with elements of darkness. So there are possibilities here, but why does the villain shout out "Shazam" a few times while fighting?