The Shadow #1 – Review

By: Garth Ennis (writer), Aaron Campbell (artist), Carlos Lopez (colorist)

The Story: It seems The Shadow isn’t the only one who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, as he is joined by none other than Garth Ennis in a new ongoing series.

The Review: It’s hard not to admire the pulp heroes of old. In the absence of optic blasts that could reduce mountains to powder, or Kryptonian DNA capable of absorbing solar radiation and turning a child into a demigod, the Pulps put themselves in harm’s way and did what they could to fight the Good Fight using the means available to them. They were, at best, Optimized Men, talented individuals that represented the pinnacle of human achievement, but still men and quite capable of being killed in their self-appointed line of duty. And on some level I’ve always identified with that. I think it’s largely why I’ve always preferred reading titles like Batman, Daredevil, and Punisher over more epically-scaled books like Superman, Justice League, and X-Men; the latter don’t deal with the likelihood of death nearly as often as the former, and I’d argue it takes a real Hero to willingly put himself in mortal danger like that and still fight on. This quality is what made the pulp heroes so appealing to me as a kid, so when I first read that Garth Ennis would be redefining one of the great pulp heroes of all time, I was excited to see what the creator of Crossed, Hitman, and Preacher would do with such an icon of the industry. The result, I’m pleased to report, is more than I expected and hugely promising.