Shadowman #9 Discussion

[grendeljd]

There seems to be a rumour flying around that Ales Kot will be the new writer with #13, not just doing one of the short stories in 12... Saw something posted about it on the Valiant Fan Facebook page... Something about a leak in a Bleeding Cool article? I didn't look it up to verify though...

He's the one name that keeps popping up among fans and news sites (only rumors though). I shall investigate further, however

Sniff it out, scoop ninja!!

[The Dirt Gang]

I definitely think Sandria is the mother of the first Shadowman now, and think she may have created the Shadowman loan as well.

interesting hadn't thought of that. Could Darque be the father? I seem to recall an incestuous vibe in issue 0.

Overall, I've just found Shadowman to be kind of bland. I found nothing to make me care about this version on Shadowman like I did the original. I am all for them doing their own thing with the character and don't think they need to adhere to the original but this version just isn't connecting with me. I do think this reads better as a trade but still it's not a book I get excited about. Which is too bad because I really love Shadowman as a concept.

[krylox]

bad, inconsistent art.
bad, inconsistent dialogue.
bad, incoherent plot with little to no explanation as to how Jack beats Darque, how any of these powers work. How Darque's tree broke on through to New Orleans.

Nothing about this issue satisfied me. Some of the art was fantastic, other points were just grossly rushed and the swap in artists with no rhyme nor reason was poor.

I am not a fan of a story that won't explain itself. This story didn't, imo. Just stripping people from the tree, is that all it took? doesn't add up, Jack's father couldn't beat Darque without the tree and he was a more experienced Shadowman.

how does Jack manage to cause the tree to reverse its "polarity"? Sadly, besides the zero issue this series has been all flash, no substance and very little coherence.

I'd be all in favor of rebooting Shadowman tomorrow. Looking forward to see what a new creative team can do with this character.

+1

poor storytelling, horrid dialogue, pretty much a waste of time. i was at least hoping the arc would somehow wrap up in an interesting way, but: nope.
i'm done with this book and will give it another shot when issue 13 arrives.

[Heath]

The best part about this issue was that it ended and I could stop reading it.

[FormerReader]

I have nothing to add to what has already been said. I thank JJ for all his work, but this series really has left a lot to be desired for me. I am confused as to how issue zero could be soooooo good and the rest of the series has really been kinda boring and unrewarding to me. This title has the potential to be one of the best series for Valiant, but it has along way to go. I hope it doesn't take too long to get it figured out.

I would really say for this series maybe it doesn't need to be reinvented and maybe following closer to what worked in the original series is a better approach.

[Shadowman99]

I guess I'm going to take a step forward out of line and be the one person that says they liked the issue.

I really enjoyed it on first read, and I actually read it again just now before turning the computer on to check that I hadn't missed something really obvious that caused everyone here to hate it so much. And sure enough I enjoyed it again.

For me I thought it was a pretty good ending to the arc. The plot of course climaxed and the action in the book was more than entertaining. Samedi rallying the dead, Dox fighting Valiantly whilst on the edge of death, Darque being defeated by his own nefarious device, and a 'shock' on the final page when we see that Dox didn't make it... I don't see what wasn't to like about any of that.

Oh, and the little seed about "Her' telling the Loa Darque's "Secrets"... Certainly interested to learn a bit more about that in a future issue.

I didn't mind the art throughout the book and DLT's art on the final section was once again to die for.

To summarise, on the whole I found the action to be exciting, the denouement to be satisfying, the art satisfactory and overall; the book entertaining.

So sorry folks, but I don't understand why the issue's being slammed so much

[lorddunlow]

To summarise, on the whole I found the action to be exciting, the denouement to be satisfying, the art satisfactory and overall; the book entertaining.

So sorry folks, but I don't understand why the issue's being slammed so much

QFT

[tchalla8]

So sorry folks, but I don't understand why the issue's being slammed so much

Read this whole thread, and you'll see why

[ShadowTuga]

So sorry folks, but I don't understand why the issue's being slammed so much

Read this whole thread, and you'll see why

I've finished reading the whole arc last night. I'm a bit disappointed by the last issue, to be honest...

[Manaf82]

Not a bad issue. I thought the end to Darque was just fins, and I'm sure he'll be back. What the hell happened to Doctor Mirage, though?

I love RDLT and Larossa's pages, but Edwards pages were just not very good. I too hope one of those two or another artist with a similar style becomes the regular artist come issue #12.

Yes exactly! Where is she (Dr. Mirage) in all of this? I hope #12 for the new arc brings her back. I was really looking forward to seeing where she was heading within the context of the story.

Seriously, the disappearance of Dr. Mirage throughout the rest of the arc makes her brief appearance somewhat pointless. Right? Why bother introducing her a few issues ago only to have her vanish? Feels like maybe a change in the story line at some point...

For me there are three major things missing from this series:
1. The blue mask - Perhaps the old mask is considered dated, and therefore VEI decided to go a different direction, but I miss it. Acclaim tried something very different with the mask too; I missed the blue mask back then, and I miss it now. Even though it never made sense how it would stay on during fights, I liked it. It was an iconic symbol of the original universe, especially after Jack cut the chin piece off.

2. The mystery - The original run had a lot of mystery about who Shadowman was and why he was. In this run his back story is pretty much dropped on us right away, and Jack embraces the whole thing rather quickly. I would have enjoyed more mystery about the who, what, when, why and how...

3. New Orleans - The city was such a major character in the original run. I love the use of Deadside from the Acclaim run. It was a good idea to include this in the new version. But there is not much artwork depicting New Orleans, nothing about the city's history and relationship with Voodooism, and nothing about Jack's relationship with the city. Like Batman's Gotham, the original run not only had a vibe of "the night is mine" but also "this city is mine". Nothing about this series so far makes me feel like the setting is New Orleans. (There was the one scene with Samedi in the graveyard, but not much else.)

1.The mask not so
Much
2.Yes,Yes yes.And i believe they shouldn't have had Darque as an antagonist in the first arc.They should have just kept him as the voice in the people's backgrounds and never should have shown him in person.

3.My thoughts exactly,The first issues should have dealt with smaller threats affecting the New Orleans population amd by that go into the history of a region as such.New orleans should be as an important character in the book as the city in Star Man Comic.In fact i believe the 0 issue should have been about New Orleans and it's connection to the Loa.There should be more about ordinary people connecting with Shadow man and their history with him over the years.Like smaller background issues about him being like their protector and they going and asking him for help,like in the Comic "Fallen Angel" by Peter David.

[bygranddesign]

very good interview with the new writer Milligan

excited about the new story arc ...I think he has a great grasp on the series and the direction he wants to go in.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2013 ... s/2756687/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He reveals that his first arc will attempt to dig up some dirt, dislodge some skeletons and find out what's really going on with this new Shadowman.

"I'm not throwing everything out with the bath water — I'm just making the bath water a bit more grimy and, hopefully, unpleasant," Milligan explains. "Something is wrong with Jack and to find out what it is, he'll need to face some terrible truths about himself and make some big changes in his life."

Like Hellblazer, the Shadowman series has some inherent occult elements but is not tied to any strict interpretation of magic. So Milligan is making up his own set of rules where voodoo is just the starting point.

"The dark voodoo of the human heart — especially a young one with the kind of traumatic background that Jack Boniface has had — is the occult I'm more interested in," Milligan says.

He finds Jack Boniface a fascinating character mainly because Milligan couldn't really understand him: "He didn't quite seem to add up, this orphaned young man with the terrible loa attached to him. No one could be as normal as he seems, with that past and that terrible spirit attached to him."

Milligan also will be exploring Jack's childhood going from foster home to foster home — his dead father was also a Shadowman — and how emotions fostered during that time manifest themselves in his powers now.

[jmatt]

I've been a critic of the way the character and story has unfolded, what with Jack just "becoming" Shadowman at the end of issue #1. I've noted that it leaves the reader feeling like he walked in on a movie halfway over.

But I happened to pick up and read an old comic today just cause it was laying around on my desk. It was a #1 issue that was very much in that same mold and it was extremely well received back in 1992.

The title? Spawn.

Without getting into it too much, it takes the same approach JJ did with Shadowman. But I think the Who am I? What am I? vibe was much more clear for the reader and met with better acceptance.

[Shadowman99]

I think this Milligan fella seems to have a good grasp on the Shadowman comic so far and has picked up on the major problems with it, and it looks like he's setting about fixing them whilst turning the book into the darker story that I've wanted from Shadowman all along. Very keen to see what the comic becomes as of #13.