Shadowman #13

By Peter Milligan, Roberto De La Torre and David Baron

This month we get a new creative team on Shadowman, as Peter Milligan and Roberto De La Torre jump into the valiant universe. This issue also begins a new arc, but topping Justin Jordan’s run will not be easy.

Jack Boniface is not in a very good state right now. Dox has died and the Abettors blame Jack for his death. He is a broken man who wants to be healed, so he must take a trip to see a Mambo, but there is a very good possibility that this trip will not give him the answers he needs.

Peter Milligan has done some wonderful work in his career, and it’s good to see him lend his hand to the Valiant Universe. This is a very interesting start to an arc. Milligan gets to show us a side of Jack that we haven’t really seen before, and he does a good job of showing him at his worst. Milligan also introduces us to the cool Mambo, who is doing Sid Vicious proud keeping punk alive. She is a neat character that I hope we will see again. Even though this is more of a horror title, Milligan is making it dark character wise, which will be cool. One of the biggest knocks against Jack Boniface is that he has no personality. Milligan is looking to fix that.

Roberto De La Torre is no stranger to this universe or character, as he’s work on this series before as one of the many fill in artists. He is clearly comfortable with the character, and his gritty art style fits the tone of this issue, and the series. De La Torre does a masterful job on the flashback scenes in this issue. The black and white scenes will be the most memorable from the issue. David Baron should also get credit, his colors on De La Torre’s pencils give this book an extra push toward superiority.

This first issue is off to a wonderful start. Milligan and De La Torre seem to have the chemistry to make this a top notch book, and they are not afraid to take it in a new direction. This issue will raise questions, as well as the status quo for the title moving forward.