Re-Reading: Shadowman 9
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Todd Luck
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Re-Reading: Shadowman 9
Xoken asked em to keep the re-reading project going while he's out of the country...
I thought we could do a book a day (that way people can read one every day or catch up on weekends), talk about it on its own, in the context of whats next, in regards to what expectations it creates and vote on how good it is. I don't have to be the one that posts everyday. If I miss a day or if someone wants to take over please do
For voting think of your single favourite comic book (not just VALIANT) as the benchmark - thats a 10 - and grade according to that.
The voting (I'm hoping) will help new readers make more educated descisions. If this turkey files maybe we can even do a list of the books according to average voting grade.
Make sure to mention what you like'd about the book, what you didn't, what you wish they would have done, your favourite panels, lines of dialogue, little bits of trivia etc.
Shadowman 9
I thought we could do a book a day (that way people can read one every day or catch up on weekends), talk about it on its own, in the context of whats next, in regards to what expectations it creates and vote on how good it is. I don't have to be the one that posts everyday. If I miss a day or if someone wants to take over please do
For voting think of your single favourite comic book (not just VALIANT) as the benchmark - thats a 10 - and grade according to that.
The voting (I'm hoping) will help new readers make more educated descisions. If this turkey files maybe we can even do a list of the books according to average voting grade.
Make sure to mention what you like'd about the book, what you didn't, what you wish they would have done, your favourite panels, lines of dialogue, little bits of trivia etc.
Shadowman 9
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Todd Luck
- Doomed to forever roam the black halls
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First, lets get the bad out of the way. Sosa’s powers are completely different with no explanation. So when does a continuity glitch not affect the story it’s in? When it’s not important to the story. Sosa could be shooting death beams out of his eyes and it wouldn’t matter. That’s not what the story is about. It’s about Jack dealing with his own mortality. Sosa just acts as a catalyst to help show how Jack is dealing with it.
And what a story it is. Jack knows he’s going to die in 7 years. His reaction? Depression and frustration, isn’t that how you would react? But then. as the story goes on, Jack realizes he’s going to die in 7 years...so he can anything he wants without dieing until then! This results in some of my favorite scenes with the character.
“Ha ha ha ha. I’m really pushing this suicide ride. Ouch…I think I broke something.”
Priceless. This is the sort of quirky stuff that makes Jack such a great character. I often point to issues like this when asked why I think Jack’s character is so cool.
It’s a shame a story this cool has to break up a plotline like this. But the fortuneteller’s prophecy makes it feel appropriate to be in the middle of the Darque plotline. I may often skip this issue when I’m re-reading the plotline but that’s only cause it’s so much fun to read on it’s own.
Shadowman 9, the issue that deals with 9/9/99, gets a 9.
Continuity note: Sosa’s next appearance is Bloodshot 8 were he REALLY finally dies.
And what a story it is. Jack knows he’s going to die in 7 years. His reaction? Depression and frustration, isn’t that how you would react? But then. as the story goes on, Jack realizes he’s going to die in 7 years...so he can anything he wants without dieing until then! This results in some of my favorite scenes with the character.
“Ha ha ha ha. I’m really pushing this suicide ride. Ouch…I think I broke something.”
Priceless. This is the sort of quirky stuff that makes Jack such a great character. I often point to issues like this when asked why I think Jack’s character is so cool.
It’s a shame a story this cool has to break up a plotline like this. But the fortuneteller’s prophecy makes it feel appropriate to be in the middle of the Darque plotline. I may often skip this issue when I’m re-reading the plotline but that’s only cause it’s so much fun to read on it’s own.
Shadowman 9, the issue that deals with 9/9/99, gets a 9.
Continuity note: Sosa’s next appearance is Bloodshot 8 were he REALLY finally dies.
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Todd Luck
- Doomed to forever roam the black halls
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Manoftheatom pointed out, in another thread, that on-panel Elya only told Jack the year he died not the date. While it's true Jack knows the date in this issue, I couldn't find any reference to Jack knowing the DATE in later issues, only the year. Even the scene in issue 12 were Jack is remembering the "day of his death" he only mentions the year he dies in. Looks like MOTA was on to something. It looks like the offical position they took in the office was that Jack only knew the year he died, not the date. And in the time honored comic tradition, they choose not to confirm or deny that part of this story in later issues.
Problem: Shadowman fighting real life villains (like the crazies in the swamp) is boring and feels like a waste of his powers.
Solution: Use voodoo as a real life way of creating supervillains. Enter Sosa the soul eater (A small change for his appearance in #3).
Some really great stuff in this issue:
-Shadowman knows he should wait to fight Sosa because Sosa will expect him that same night but he can't wait, the night calls shadowman.
-We see more of how Shadowman affects Jacks life.
-Jack doesn't see the purpose of fighting injustice when he has only 7 years left to live. But when night comes shadowman takes over and Jack doesn't get a say anymore.
-Jack is a skeptic about voodoo but Nettie guides him.
-N'Doah and Jeremiah return. Voodoo iconography like tarrot cards and readings are used.
-Because he knows when he is going to die he starts to let Shadowman do really crazy things.
A strong 8, almost a 9
Solution: Use voodoo as a real life way of creating supervillains. Enter Sosa the soul eater (A small change for his appearance in #3).
Some really great stuff in this issue:
-Shadowman knows he should wait to fight Sosa because Sosa will expect him that same night but he can't wait, the night calls shadowman.
-We see more of how Shadowman affects Jacks life.
-Jack doesn't see the purpose of fighting injustice when he has only 7 years left to live. But when night comes shadowman takes over and Jack doesn't get a say anymore.
-Jack is a skeptic about voodoo but Nettie guides him.
-N'Doah and Jeremiah return. Voodoo iconography like tarrot cards and readings are used.
-Because he knows when he is going to die he starts to let Shadowman do really crazy things.
A strong 8, almost a 9
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Todd Luck
- Doomed to forever roam the black halls
- Posts: 4729
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:02:34 pm
- Location: Winston-Salem, NC
You know it actually made sense when he was a guy who built up excess electicity in his body. That seems possible.xoken wrote:Problem: Shadowman fighting real life villains (like the crazies in the swamp) is boring and feels like a waste of his powers.
Solution: Use voodoo as a real life way of creating supervillains. Enter Sosa the soul eater (A small change for his appearance in #3).
But having a victim turned into a burnted-up corpse by absorbing their "soul"...how does that work? Eating a soul creates heat? The soul creates friction as it leaves the body?
Their was actually a really bad attempt to explain Sosa's power over in Bloodshot 8. Something about Sosa generating energy that invades your cells to take your life energy or something
. Bloodshot thought Sosa was a Harbinger.Does he really eat souls? I figured he had the same power he just came up with a catchy nick name and some PRTodd Luck wrote:You know it actually made sense when he was a guy who built up excess electicity in his body. That seems possible.xoken wrote:Problem: Shadowman fighting real life villains (like the crazies in the swamp) is boring and feels like a waste of his powers.
Solution: Use voodoo as a real life way of creating supervillains. Enter Sosa the soul eater (A small change for his appearance in #3).
But having a victim turned into a burnted-up corpse by absorbing their "soul"...how does that work? Eating a soul creates heat? The soul creates friction as it leaves the body?
Their was actually a really bad attempt to explain Sosa's power over in Bloodshot 8. Something about Sosa generating energy that invades your cells to take your life energy or something
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depluto
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Another 9. This is a great run, and the tone of the books is consistent.
I like the way they deal with Jack's knowledge of his upcoming death. The risky behavior fits right in with the rest of the Shadowman style.
This wasn't my favorite Valiant book at the time (Harbinger and X-O were) but I'm really enjoying rereading these issues.
I like the way they deal with Jack's knowledge of his upcoming death. The risky behavior fits right in with the rest of the Shadowman style.
This wasn't my favorite Valiant book at the time (Harbinger and X-O were) but I'm really enjoying rereading these issues.
The VCB synopsis:
In the New Orleans night, Shadowman attacks a group of thugs who’ve just kidnapped a little girl. While he thrashes the well armed villains, one of the men escapes with the girl. But he does discover that the men work for Emil Sosa, the superhuman villain Shadowman defeated in issue #3. Somehow, Sosa has recovered from his injuries and is back in operation. With the cops arriving, Shadowman leaves the thugs to be apprehended and makes a hasty exit.
Elsewhere, the one kidnapper who escaped arrives with his victim at Sosa’s secret hideout. Learning of his men’s defeat at the hands of Shadowman, Sosa is enraged at the possibility that Shadowman might have tracked his underling to this hideout. Sosa uses his power to suck out the thug’s life-energy, leaving only a burnt-out shell. Sosa then reassures the onlooking kidnapped children that as long as they obey him, they have nothing to fear. But the children know better.
Later, Jack Boniface is practicing with a friend’s band, but he cannot focus on his sax playing and so he angrilly storms out of the session. It is Shadowman within him that is so angry. Sosa is at large and Shadowman must stop him. So he goes to Sosa’s plantation estate and attempts to break in. But Sosa expects him. Dozens of floodlights come on, making the scene bright as day. Under this disadvantage, Shadowman is attacked by Sosa’s guards. He has little choice but to retreat.
The next day, on Nettie’s recommendation, Jack visits a voodoo practitioner, Jeremiah Dimanche. Dimanche gives Jack a Tarot reading which is supposed to hint at the hidden location of Sosa’s kidnapped kids. Only after staring at one particular Tarot card does Jack realize that the card portrays an abandoned church in New Orleans. It is there, Jack is certain, that the missing children are hidden. So Jack anonimously tips off the police to check the church. But Shadowman demands to deal with Sosa personally.
Catching a ride on the landing-skiff of one of Sosa’s helicopters, Shadowman drops down onto the roof of Sosa’s mansion. Knowing that he is not fated to die for another seven years, Shadowman is unafraid of such risky stunts as dropping down from a helicopter. He immediately battles Sosa’s guards and fights his way into the mansion. In the resultant gunplay, a fire starts in the house. Sosa and Shadowman at last battle each other. The fight continues until the gaslines in the house explode from the fire. Shadowman is thrown to safety by the blast, while Sosa is presumably dead.
The next day, Jeremiah Dimanche reads of Shadowman’s exploits. He muses to himself that Shadowman shouldn’t rely on his fated day of death to get him through peril. For the fates are fickle and the future is never certain.
/Magnus
In the New Orleans night, Shadowman attacks a group of thugs who’ve just kidnapped a little girl. While he thrashes the well armed villains, one of the men escapes with the girl. But he does discover that the men work for Emil Sosa, the superhuman villain Shadowman defeated in issue #3. Somehow, Sosa has recovered from his injuries and is back in operation. With the cops arriving, Shadowman leaves the thugs to be apprehended and makes a hasty exit.
Elsewhere, the one kidnapper who escaped arrives with his victim at Sosa’s secret hideout. Learning of his men’s defeat at the hands of Shadowman, Sosa is enraged at the possibility that Shadowman might have tracked his underling to this hideout. Sosa uses his power to suck out the thug’s life-energy, leaving only a burnt-out shell. Sosa then reassures the onlooking kidnapped children that as long as they obey him, they have nothing to fear. But the children know better.
Later, Jack Boniface is practicing with a friend’s band, but he cannot focus on his sax playing and so he angrilly storms out of the session. It is Shadowman within him that is so angry. Sosa is at large and Shadowman must stop him. So he goes to Sosa’s plantation estate and attempts to break in. But Sosa expects him. Dozens of floodlights come on, making the scene bright as day. Under this disadvantage, Shadowman is attacked by Sosa’s guards. He has little choice but to retreat.
The next day, on Nettie’s recommendation, Jack visits a voodoo practitioner, Jeremiah Dimanche. Dimanche gives Jack a Tarot reading which is supposed to hint at the hidden location of Sosa’s kidnapped kids. Only after staring at one particular Tarot card does Jack realize that the card portrays an abandoned church in New Orleans. It is there, Jack is certain, that the missing children are hidden. So Jack anonimously tips off the police to check the church. But Shadowman demands to deal with Sosa personally.
Catching a ride on the landing-skiff of one of Sosa’s helicopters, Shadowman drops down onto the roof of Sosa’s mansion. Knowing that he is not fated to die for another seven years, Shadowman is unafraid of such risky stunts as dropping down from a helicopter. He immediately battles Sosa’s guards and fights his way into the mansion. In the resultant gunplay, a fire starts in the house. Sosa and Shadowman at last battle each other. The fight continues until the gaslines in the house explode from the fire. Shadowman is thrown to safety by the blast, while Sosa is presumably dead.
The next day, Jeremiah Dimanche reads of Shadowman’s exploits. He muses to himself that Shadowman shouldn’t rely on his fated day of death to get him through peril. For the fates are fickle and the future is never certain.
/Magnus