Indie Comics Review: Shadecraft #2

by Carl Bryan
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Review: Shadecraft #2

 

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Publisher: Image Comics

Writer:  Joe Henderson

Artist: Lee Garbett, Antonio Fabela

Colors: Antonio Fabela

Letters:  Simon Bowland

Reviewed by: Carl Bryan

Summary

“The shadows are coming from you Zadie” – Angela…the school counselor

Zadie Lu is afraid of her own shadow. She’s a teenager, so she REALLY should have grown out of it by now, right? But something weird is happening in her small town. Zadie could swear the shadows are coming to life.

As if surviving high school wasn’t hard enough, now Zadie has to contend with killer shadow monsters too. On the upside, her own shadow has come to life and is determined to protect her. So that should even things out…right? But what is up with the new school guidance counselor, who seems to know a lot more than she lets on??

From the creative team that brought you the Eisner-nominated SKYWARD, writer JOE HENDERSON (showrunner of Netflix’s Lucifer) and artist LEE GARBETT (Captain Marvel). Join Zadie Lu as she ventures into the shadows to face her fears and discovers a legacy she never knew she had.

Positives

Joe Henderson immediately links Zadie’s comatose brother Ricky to the shadow that is communicating with Zadie.  Family connection as Ricky is not disturbed at all in being a shadow…even when seeing his body in a bed at their home.  However, Ricky has replaced Zadie’s shadow so she has him as a constant companion.  This makes for some great high school fodder in this comic…especially during a guidance counselor meeting.

Henderson provides a pretty strong mystery here on a lot of levels in that Zadie is taking on what could be powers (shades of DC’s Naomi or Marvel’s Ms Marvel).  Either way, Henderson always plays a great long game in his work with high school or college characters in his books.  Coming of age during a crisis is his strength in his scripts!

Positives 2.0

Lee Garbett is a clean artist.  Colors pop and backgrounds are vivid, but to paint a book that has characters as vibrant as Zadie and as dark as the shadows is pure talent.  Colors and shadows are a tough medium to work with!  In making a shadow look both friendly at one point and down right scary in another frame.  This is no Peter Pan shadow effect from Disney.  This takes some time and thought!  Great job!

Negatives

Hear the wind swooshing around and the leaves blowing.  Nothing to see here in this section.  This team is proven with Skyward…love this team and their new book!

Verdict

Henderson and Garbett are on the verge of providing what could be a really premier comic.  There is still time to get issue #1 before this thing gets red hot!    This book is well worth the investment and the cover art keeps getting better and better!

 

5outof5 DC Comics News

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