Review - Shadowman #1 (2018)

Shadowman #1 (2018) - 

Valiant Entertainment

 

Written by Andy Diggle

Art by Stephan Segovia

Colors by Ulises Arreloa

Letters by Simon Bowland

Cover by Tonci Zonjic

 

What is a normal life exactly?  I guess the answer is different for everyone.  For some it's more simple, and for others, it seems impossible.  Then there is Shadowman, where normal really isn't an option.  Shadowman always seems to be that character that, when he shows up, you know things have reached another level.  Now it's time to put the spotlight back on him in this new solo series from Valiant Entertainment.

 

Obviously it's no spoiler to say we will see Shadowman, but we see someone else who is very familiar with Jack Boniface that I cannot tell you about.  Who she is (and what she is) will matter a great deal in the story going forward.  She actually plays a big role in this story, because without her, there may be no future issues at all.  Jack has to come to terms with a lot, and actually drops a pretty big personal bombshell at one point.  The central theme here seems to be, can he have a normal life?  Can he finally rid himself of the loa that has tormented him?  Since this is only the first issue, of course those answers aren't nearly clear enough right now.  What we do get is our first twist and at least the starting line of what is likely a marathon.

 

Shadowman is kind of a tricky character.  It's hard to say we don't see him enough, because that may be the very thing that makes that character special.  What I do love is that, he will no longer be the secondary or tertiary piece of a larger story.  We finally get to open this character up a bit, and not only explore his past, but discover his present in greater detail.  I feel like Andy Diggle and company are off to a good start.  Those first few pages, even without Shadowman, really set a tone and made me feel like Diggle gets it.  The art team is top notch, as always with Valiant, but I feel like the best is yet to come.  I hate to make this seem so simple, but all I really need is more.  At the same time, I'm not sure I want them to peel the onion.  Whatever the slightly faster equivalent is, that's what I want.  Let's see how well that goes.

 

RATING:  PULL / BUY 

Review - Lucy Dreaming #1

Lucy Dreaming #1 -
Boom! Studios

Written by Max Bemis
Illustrated by Michael Dialynas
Letters by Colin Bell


I hear so many people say that they wish they could go back to the days when they were in school.  I never ran with the popular crowd, so I never understood that sentiment.  Unless you were one of the "cool kids", why would you want to do that?  Sometimes, back then, it was just easier to find an escape.  Enter Lucy and a new story from Max Bemis at Boom! Studios called Lucy Dreaming.

Lucy is a 13 year old girl, but certainly not your average 13 year old girl.  She's her own person, likes her own stuff and doesn't care who likes it.  The only typical teenager aspect she seems to have is what she thinks about her parents.  We find something out about Lucy as we keep reading that I think makes her a very relatable character to a lot of readers.  I won't spoil what that is, but it's a very personal revelation.  If that's not enough, she finds out something else about herself that is far from normal.  Imagine being dropped in the middle of a story, without knowing the beginning.  I won't give away any details, but the cover of this issue should give you some insight into what she is dealing with.  She meets someone that sheds some light on her situation, but that gets cut short.  The first issue ends pretty much how you would expect, and tells you exactly how the next issue will begin.

Lucy is one of those characters that you either relate to, or you know someone who was at least a little bit like her growing up.  Then you pair that with what really felt like a world that was set as a parody.  Bemis adds some humor in there, and the vibe really set the two worlds apart even more than the setting for me.  Dialynas really brings the other world to life, and seemed to use background colors to set the mood of every page.  I may be reading too much into that, but that was my interpretation.  I also like how they portrayed how the world sees Lucy and using the "blog" to tell us how Lucy sees herself.  This first issue really focuses on getting the reader invested in the main character.  The next issue should go a long way to building the bigger story, but for now, this is one that I will definitely be keeping on my list.

 

RATING: PULL / BUY

Review - Eternity Girl #1

Eternity Girl #1 - 

DC's Young Animal

Written by Magdalene Vissagio

Art by Sonny Liew

Colors by Chris Chuckry

No matter who you are, you probably have some sort of stress in your life.  It could be something trivial like not having any clean shirts for work tomorrow or as stressful as losing your job all together.  Now imagine all of that stress, combined with trying to figure out who you really are.  It's time to take a look at the life Eternity Girl from Young Animal.

The story follows a woman named Caroline (or does it), who is/was a hero who has lost her job with her team and is no longer saving the world.  We also find out a lot about her past, how much she has done with her life and what led her to be in this position in the first place.  It's quite difficult, and I certainly don't want to give away any details, but the stress and anxiety level is front and center in this story.  We really see a woman dealing with depression and an identity crisis on a superhuman level.  On top of all of that, towards the end of this book, something from her past comes up and really provides an interesting plot twist.  This leads her to a decision, that she seems to make quite quickly, but only time will tell if she ends up sticking to what she believes is the right solution.

If you have ever suffered from anxiety, depression and/or an identity crisis, this book will definitely hit home with you.  I know that Caroline has a superhero name and persona, but to me, this felt like a very personal story.  She wants to be called by her name, so I feel like I have to honor that even in this review.  When I was reading this story, I just wanted everything to be ok for her.  I love what Vissagio does near the end, and the character she brings in, because it then leads the reader to a conflict.  Do you continue to root for the main character or not, given the end game?  This is a push and pull that I really hope continues.  I will also say, I have never loved Sonny Liew's artwork better than in this book.  The funky vibe brought to each page just suits the story so well, along with the vibrant colors that just round out every emotion.  THIS is the kind of story I have been waiting for from the Young Animal imprint since the beginning.  Not only is this their best story to date, I'm really hoping this is used as an example of where to go with the imprint in the future.  

RATING:  PULL / BUY  

Review - Gideon Falls #1

Gideon Falls #1 - 

Image Comics

 

Written by Jeff Lemire

Art by Andrea Sorrentino

Colors by Dave Stewart

Letters by Steve Wands

 

Small towns, religion and the supernatural have teamed up in the comic book world before.  The combination is often volatile at best, and often uneasy.  That's not the only thing that's going on in Gideon Falls from Jeff Lemire and Image Comics.  Let's find out how two worlds may soon become one.

 

There are two different stories at play here.  The first follows a priest, Father Fred, who is on his way to his new assignment in the small town of Gideon Falls.  We also follow a man named Norton, who lives in the city, but has a strange obsession with the trash in the city.  You definitely get the feeling that something is not right in both instances, but for different reasons.  Right away I felt like something was just off center about the town of Gideon Falls.  Then there is the question of why they needed a new pastor in the first place, which we do get a little bit of information on in this issue.  As for Norton, unlike his setting, he seems to be the one that seems a bit off.  I got the sense that he was on to something, but the how and why were constantly in the back of my mind.  At some point we are introduced to the common denominator in The Black Barn (which isn't a spoiler because it's in the description the Image Comics website.)  What we are left with are almost two entirely separate, and vastly different realizations from both characters.

 

It should be no surprise that this is a character driven story with Jeff Lemire involved.  There was instant intrigue in both settings of this story, and subject matter that just had a familiar but different feel.  Then you bring in the art of Andrea Sorrentino and the stage is completely set.  Visually both scenes had a completely different look early on, yet both felt eerie and unsettling.  I found myself waiting for something to happen on almost every page towards the middle of this book.  By the end I not only felt like I was at the start of a very interesting story, I felt like I had just watched the first episode of a TV series that I knew I was about to get hooked on.  If I am thinking ahead about what will happen in future issues immediately after I am done reading the first one, that is one of the best compliments I can give to any book.  I can't wait to see how these two worlds collide and how everything comes together.

 

RATING: PULL / BUY