Shadowman #5 Discussion

[jmatt]

http://comicsbeat.com/review-the-villai ... adowman-5/

This is a really good review that puts some of the issues with the book into perspective, while glowing over others. I liked it enough, I thought I'd post.

I thought it was pretty spot on, thanks for sharing.

[bygranddesign]

Very good review - I thought this issue was a great opening set up to what should be an exciting 2nd Arc. A lot of moving parts but I think it was very well done. And finally seeing Master Darque really let loose and display some of the power that makes him so feared was great.

And I agree with the Jack assessment - I thought the 1st issue was a great introduction but he has been sort of over-shadowed (pun intended!) since. It would be cool to see Jack have the same connection to the city - the music and the culture - that the original had. But I think the character will be fleshed out more over time - and I'm more then happy to see little bits of his personality come out a little at a time while so many other cool plot points are happening at the same time. There is definitely no lack of ambition to the storytelling - which I really appreciate.

[Mandrakk]

I liked this issue quite a bit,it was IMHO the strongest so far(Despite it's lack of Mr Twist)Everything was very fine from the presentation of Samedi's worshipper(which oddly reminded me of the Acclaim Shadowman,dunno why)to the bits with the waitress and the conversation between Dox and Jack,but the best was the bit in dead side with Darque showing how awesome he is(that guy seems to be grade A villain which are very rare nowadays)to the introduction of Baron Samedi as the old forgotten power making his coming back,in short Il va y avoir de l'action à la Nouvelle Orléan(thought some french was appropriate.

Now let's have a look at doctor Mirage(Yes I love to have a look at hot asian women )she brings a lot of promise to the book in that she has some spiritual powers that seem to be neither Voodoo nor Harbinger ability,thus probably stemming from a new form of "magic" to be introduced to the universe thus broading the book's scope,but it also introduces another nice female character.All in all can't wait to see Issue 6,and perhaps even more Issue 0 if it is Darque's origin.

[hawkeyeps]

I liked this issue quite a bit,it was IMHO the strongest so far(Despite it's lack of Mr Twist)Everything was very fine from the presentation of Samedi's worshipper(which oddly reminded me of the Acclaim Shadowman,dunno why)to the bits with the waitress and the conversation between Dox and Jack,but the best was the bit in dead side with Darque showing how awesome he is(that guy seems to be grade A villain which are very rare nowadays)to the introduction of Baron Samedi as the old forgotten power making his coming back,in short Il va y avoir de l'action à la Nouvelle Orléan(thought some french was appropriate.

Now let's have a look at doctor Mirage(Yes I love to have a look on hot asian women )she brings a lot of promise to the book in that she has some spiritual powers that seem to be neither Voodoo nor Harbinger ability,thus probably stemming from a new form of "magic" to be introduced to the universe thus broading the book's scope,but it also introduces another nice female character.All in all can't wait to see Issue 6,and perhaps even more Issue 0 if it is Darque's origin.

I think Darque's origin will reveal much.

[Mandrakk]

I think Darque's origin will reveal much.

Indeed I am curious to see how he became what he is now and what he can really do,I also wonder how much he knows about the boader Valiant universe.To me this guy is one of,if not THE,biggest threat/Player of the new Valiant verse.

[hawkeyeps]

I can see Master Darque being to necromatic energy as Toyo Harada is to psiots, a major player.

[BugsySig]

I can see Master Darque being to necromatic energy as Toyo Harada is to psiots, a major player.

I have my that the next big event deals with Darque's arrival back on Earth and Harada is the only one powerful enough to stop him. We know, despite Harada's means, his end goal is a better world and I don't doubt for a minute he would put his life on the line against Darque. his ego wouldnt allow it. Mind vs. Magic for the fate of the VU...I would love to see that throw down.

[400yrs]

I read the first 2 issues of the book and then picked this one up yesterday to try the new arc. Still not my thing. I see Justin mentions that each issue of Shadowman goes through 3-4 revisions with changes. It almost reads like that to me. I'll likely revisit it when there is just one writer / one vision for the book.

Darque is pretty cool, except I can't get past him looking and acting exactly like Voldemort.

It seemed like there were alot of different artists on this issue. Since Zircher is leaving, I'd love to see them get a guy like Denys Cowan for an arc or so.

[Big Red]

This might be the best valiant issue for March.

It was.

Awesome issue. As everyone said, best issue of Shadowman to date.

Made me go back and read the first 4 issues. Loving this book now.

[Shadowman99]

I think the reviewer in that article got it more or less right, because that's how the book has read to me so far. I keep saying in various threads that the writers are taking the time to establish the Shadowman side of the Valiant universe well, and like someone else said, you certainly can't knock them for their ambition in running four/five different plotlines alongside each other similtaneously.

With Dr. Mirage and Shadowman's own set of powers it's clear that Valiant are introducing 'Magic' into the universe alongside psiot powers so they need to be careful to do this correctly, and currently it seems that the tradeoffs for doing this are slower-paced character building and limited panel time for Jack.

Personally I think they're doing a good job of it so far, and I can only hope that once everything's been established sufficiently that we see Jack/Shadowman come into his own, and have some kind of MAJOR faceoff against a villain, whether it's Darque, Samedi, or that new character they introduced who was worshipping Samedi.

I think it's fair to say that in the future of the Valiant universe Darque is going to be a HUGE factor, and big changes are going to come about because of his actions. Whether or not Harada will face off against him (which I think is an excellent idea, despite it overshadowing the fact that he's Shadowman's enemy) I'm sure we'll see some major events surrounding him, and personally I can see another Harbinger Wars-style comic event happening around the character in the future.

As far as I can predict, the issue #0 is mainly going to be about the Shadowman heritage, and whilst it hadn't occurred to me previously, it's highly possible that Darque may well feature in it as Shadowman's ongoing nemsis.

[400yrs]

With Dr. Mirage and Shadowman's own set of powers it's clear that Valiant are introducing 'Magic' into the universe alongside psiot powers so they need to be careful to do this correctly, and currently it seems that the tradeoffs for doing this are slower-paced character building and limited panel time for Jack.

I think that is the problem many of us are seeing. Someone else mentioned that the focus seems to be on character building, but the character building isn't effective because there is nothing to get us actually attached to the characters. That person was right. And in all honesty, that's exactly the same feel I got from The Strange Talent of Luther Strode. It feels like it wants to have alot of character stuff in there, but it's not strong enough or the right type of character building or ...... something so that you kind of end up with a kind of cool action book that misses the mark on making most readers care about the characters. That's Shadowman for me too.

[Shadowman99]

With Dr. Mirage and Shadowman's own set of powers it's clear that Valiant are introducing 'Magic' into the universe alongside psiot powers so they need to be careful to do this correctly, and currently it seems that the tradeoffs for doing this are slower-paced character building and limited panel time for Jack.

I think that is the problem many of us are seeing. Someone else mentioned that the focus seems to be on character building, but the character building isn't effective because there is nothing to get us actually attached to the characters. That person was right. And in all honesty, that's exactly the same feel I got from The Strange Talent of Luther Strode. It feels like it wants to have alot of character stuff in there, but it's not strong enough or the right type of character building or ...... something so that you kind of end up with a kind of cool action book that misses the mark on making most readers care about the characters. That's Shadowman for me too.

Couldn't agree more.

At the moment I think that the setting establishment is taking priority at the moment, and Jack/Shadowman is taking a very long time to learn his powers/abilities. I feel like we're currently being drip-fed Shadowman, but I'm going to support the series for a while yet because I'm sure that when everything's set down the stories and action will really take off, there'll be a lot more room for charcter development, and it'll be a great comic.

It seems to me that there's so much setting establishment happening at the moment that as 400yrs says here, there's barely any space for character building, and we really don't have any characters that we're really able to care about in the comic right now :/

[hulk181man]

Quick thoughts, more later:
Best issue yet. Lots going on but wasn't confusing. Left me wanting to read more now. I want to hear even more Shadowman origin. How did the first come about? Interesting to see the duality in Jack now, and how quickly the Shadowman comes out even in the day.

Enjoyed the Mirage segment. It's a nice intro to her personality as well as a hint of upcoming confrontation for her with Darque.

Samedi's warrior/worshipper is intense.

Great job Valiant!

Agreed, best Shadowman issue yet. Baron Samedi and Dr. Mirage's introductions left me wanting more...

[manga4life]

Personally, I would rather Shadowman take his time learning how to actually be Shadowman than to jump right in and nail it right off the bat. I've always preferred the slow and steady approach in comic book storytelling to fast paced streamlining.

[Shadowman99]

Personally, I would rather Shadowman take his time learning how to actually be Shadowman than to jump right in and nail it right off the bat. I've always preferred the slow and steady approach in comic book storytelling to fast paced streamlining.

's fair enough, can't argue with personal preference. How do you feel about the pacing of the story so far? Not *too* slow for you?

It's just that for me this thread (at the moment, until we all start talking about tacos again) resonates closely with the 'Rant About Decompression of Comics' thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39473, and even though I think that the writers are cramming as much into Shadowman as they possibly can at the moment with the plotlines, I'm sure they could be getting more character building in for Jack if they'd written the story slightly differently, which I'm sure could move the plot on in its own right done the right way.

(As an example, when Jack met the ghostly Josiah in Deadside when given the choice to become Shadowman or not, it was one of the most talked about parts of the story so far here on the boards, and the plot could have easily moved in a more Jack-oriented direction from there, instead of opening up new plotlines and involving new characters right away like they did.)

[manga4life]

Nah, the pacing since issue #1 has been fine for me. I would say that issue #8 and beyond they should start to put the peddle to the floor for a bit but all in all I'm enjoying the pace of the book and have no arguments with it whatsoever. I didn't like the end of the first arc though, as I've mentioned before I felt the first 2-3 issues were good but felt that the 4th issue was rushed and the writing was a bit cheesy. Luckily Valiant corrected that in the 5th issue which I felt was one of the best books that the company has published since it began in 2012.

[Shadowman99]

...Luckily Valiant corrected that in the 5th issue which I felt was one of the best books that the company has published since it began in 2012.

Awesome praise