The Shadow Now #3

by David Liss and Colton Worley

With The Shadow Now issue three we find Lamont Cranston is still reeling from having his entire organization crumble underneath him by the menacing acts of his old rival, Shiwan Khan. Now The Shadow is trying to stop Khan’s devious plans with no help except his old flame Margo Lane’s granddaughter who is also named Margo.

There are two things that really resonate with this series and that is the concept of a pulp hero like The Shadow fighting crime in the present modern times and that fact that this series is a sort of sequel to the 1994 Shadow movie. After the last two issues were The Shadow being bested by Khan over and over, this issue shows Lamont getting a handle on the situation and finally strategizing to fight back. So far Liss has done an excellent job of pacing this story to keep the readers interest and using the parallels of The Shadow working with Margo Lane’s granddaughter and Khan training his last descendent in the arts to cloud people’s minds.

Colton Worley’s art is very much a big selling point of this mini-series. He is one of those unsung artist that doesn’t get enough shine but his painted style adds a realistic feel to the book but he also does some interesting and unique panel work that some may find slightly similar to J.H. Williams III but not quite as confusing to read. Worley’s art makes this series very fun to read and gives it an engaging feeling like you would get watching a movie.

Liss and Worley work well together, whether it’s this series or their previous work on The Spider’s earlier issues. Keeping this a mini-series was the best idea with The Shadow already having a few titles with him in it another ongoing would be too much.  Just coming in and giving us a fun and straight forward story makes for a pleasant read. If you aren’t familiar with The Shadow then this might not be the best series to jump in at, this series is more for established fans of the character and is just a fun twist on the original The Shadow mythos.