Review: Shadowman #2

Shadowman is back in the world of the living and, along with his girlfriend, Alyssa, doing his best to end the threats of the loa among the regular people of New Orleans. Unfortunately, Baron Samedi is ready for Jack. He wants Jack back in the Deadside, where he can“t interfere with Samedi“s plans. Both of them are going to have to do a little better if they want to win.

In the middle of all this, Jack is struggling to control the loa attached to Shadowman. He used to have the shadow scythe to focus his power. That tool was left in Deadside when Jack returned to the land of the living and Baron Samedi has it now.

He and Alyssa continue to investigate how Baron Samedi“s power has been growing despite Alyssa“s work to hold it in check. They learn that many of the people Alyssa thought she was helping had rejected her gris-gris and fell under the power of the baron.

Shadowman is one of the Valiant heros that shot to the top when Acclaim bought the line in the 1990s and cranked out a bunch of games based on the character. Since Valiant“s own resurrection, he“s been more of a fan favorite on the periphery rather than carrying his own series.

Andy Diggle (James Bond: Kill Chain, Deadpool, Hellblazer) is digging into the voodoo world in this series to highlight what makes Shadowman so different from the other heros in the Valiant universe. He is as tied to New Orleans as he is to the loa. Diggle is exploring both of these connections while serving up an engaging adventure. And in addition to the demonic loa, Jack and Alyssa at some point will need to come up against Sabitine and his group who are preparing for the return of Nicodemo Darque.

Stephen Segovia (Ninjak, The Shadow/Batman, Action Comics) clearly enjoys playing with the trappings of Voodoo: the altars, group singing prayers and zombies — gotta have zombies. He brings a great deal of life to the slower conversational scenes as well as the big action pieces. You can see people“s status change in a conversation based on the way he chooses to frame them. When they are (or think they are) in charge, we are looking up at them. When they lose prestige, we are looking down on them. Only Jack and Alyssa, who are equals, are always shown on the same level with one another.

Based on how this story is going so far, I“d love to see an ongoing Shadowman series out of Valiant. Both the characters and the setting are so different from most of the Valiant universe, that I“d be willing to take the time to explore this pocket of it.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Stephen Segovia
Colors: Ulises Arreola
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment

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Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!