For hundreds of years the Shadowmen have guarded our world from the horrors of the nightmare realm known as the Deadside and opposed the mysterious sorcerer known only as Master Darque. Should Darque make his way to Earth, all life as we know it could cease to exist. But who is Master Darque? Where did he come from? And does current Shadowman Jack Boniface have any hope of defeating this seemingly unstoppable force?
The Good
Art- Robert De La Torre, Mico Suayan, Lewis LaRosa and Neil Edwards handle the art this issue and while so many names on a single book usually causes jarring issues with consistency this issue pulls it off pretty damn well. The eyes of the twins on that opening page are chilling and the reanimated dead bunny gave me flashes of Pet Cemetery. Good times al around!
Action- Not a whole lot of action in this issue but right at the end of the book things ramp up significantly which does add to the climax of the tale.
Emotional- A great origin tale touches you on a very personal level and this one connected with me on just such a level. Nicodemo and his sister like every child love their father and want to be loved in return. To that end they allow themselves to be groomed by him in the art of magic despite the sacrifices they have to make both physically and emotionally. The plantation setting was also the perfect choice for staging this origin. This issue is dark and foreboding peppered with moments of happiness between the twins which only add to the emotional crescendo which happens at the end.
The Bad
Black Heroes- Only the cover showed the titular hero, the villain took over this issue and scampered off with my heart.
Twin Cliché– This is a dead beaten horse at this point were fraternal twins (Boy and girl) always seem to have this creepy incestuous connection of some kind. You can be loving to your sister surely but comics often take a sexual overtone that’s……..creepy.
Cover- Not a fan of any of the covers this month, none of them seem appropriate, last month’s cover should have been saved for this origin tale.
The Ugly
Shadowman #0 is simply beautiful. From Page one until the end I was glued to my seat eyes on the page the world around me simply a blur. This is arguably the best written and drawn single issue of this entire modern Shadowman run. We highly recommend you head into the shadows and buy this man! 4.5/5
