Comics Review: Shadowman

[bedsitter23]

Shadowman (2018) #1 (The Shadowman by Andy Diggle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Issue #1- I picked this up because I always feel I need to support the indies. My Comic Book Guy usually goes a bit thin on indie titles, and though I wish he wouldn't; I can understand he doesn't want to pick up books that don't sell. That said, Valiant comics seem to do really very well for him. Most of all though, I do generally like Diggle, so figured this was a safer bet than some.

I remember Acclaim back in the day when they launched the Shadowman title in the 90s (one of a few attempts). It was Garth Ennis at his height of creative powers paired with Ashley Wood, when he would be considered revolutionary. I don't really remember much except it was one of those big Indie pushes that seems to collapse almost at launch. Ennis was gone in four issues and Jamie Delano took over, and I collected it for awhile until I didn't.

This comic probably doesn't have much to do with that, but we get some very introductory looks at this universe. Nothing really struck me in the 30 seconds I thumbed through it at the store, but now having set down to read it, Diggle does a decent job. It's a cajun flavored horror story. Surely, there's been others that have been down this road- Moore's Voodoo, Morrison's Invisibles, as well as Hellblazer, the Mignolaverse, Straczinski's work and many others, not to mention True Blood being the go-to reference for cajun horror.

It stays pretty close to a comic book template. Much closer to Doctor Strange or Swamp Thing or even Iron Fist than Morrison's Jim Crow or Moore's Voodoo.

I do like that there is some meat to the story. My initial worry was that Diggle might not be invested enough to flesh it out. While I don't know that it presses the envelope, I did feel satisfied enough that I picked it up and feel it is worth continuing to buy.

I am not necessarily a fan of Stephen Segovia's art for the Big 2 publishers, but he works well in this realm with the appropriate feel given by Ulises Arreola's colors. The covers are pretty striking too.

I doubt this will ever be considered an essential title to buy, but I will go along for the ride.



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