The Shadow #1 Comic Book Review

The Shadow #1 Dynamite Entertainment

The Shadow #1 Dynamite Entertainment

The Shadow is just one of those characters that I’ve been waiting years to see a revival of. The most recently released products were simply reprints of the pulp series and before that it was items related to the 1994 film. In 2006 we were given hope that The Shadow would be coming back as it was announced that a new film version of The Shadow was being worked on, but that was six years ago and we still have yet to hear any concrete updates regarding that project.

So last year in August Dynamite Entertainment announced that they would be creating a new comic book series based on The Shadow. Obviously this is a big deal for fans of The Shadow. However up until now we’ve been in the dark on the tone and style of this series.

As The Shadow Fan I’m a little biased here and want everyone in the world to buy this new series no matter its quality. But of course this is a review of the very first issue of the Dynamite Entertainment comic book series, so I’ve got to be fair and balanced.

The book starts off somewhere between 1931 and 1945 with the Japan attacking China. Then we jump over to New York City where The Shadow takes out the bad guys. Later on we do bump into Moe Shrevnitz and of course the lovely Margo Lane. It appears as if there is a romantic relationship between Lamont Cranston and Miss Lane. That’s basically the gist of what I got out of this first comic. This is a part 1 of 4 and with the way the comic book ended I can’t say much in regards to where exactly the story will go from here.

[Click here to see a preview of The Shadow comic book]

The characters do feel right. Cranston is kind of a dick playboy, while Margo is as bossy as ever. The Shadow himself understands how to use his powers to cloud men’s minds as well as when to use his .45 semi-automatic pistols.

This version of The Shadow reminds me of the 80’s DC comic book series. Like that series, this first issue is extremely violent. You’ll see a boat load of blood, decapitated heads, eyes being shot out, etc. The nice thing is that it does set up that The Shadow isn’t just a ruthless killer. He gives people the choice between life and death.

This comic sets up everything in such a way that it can tell cool stories about The Shadow, but this particular issue doesn’t have much plot. Again this is part 1 of 4 so I’m judging an opening act and while that act is good I’m still dying to see what exactly the mystery and adventure is that The Shadow is going to be involved in.

I can’t say that this is a triumphant return, but The Shadow is back and yeah it’s about time.

I’ll try to continue to post further reviews this series so subscribe to StuffWeLike.com to receive those posts.

Author: DaveWeLike

I'm the editor of StuffWeLike.com.

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