4001 A.D: Shadowman #1



Written by: Jody Houser and Rafer Roberts

Art by: Robert Gill

Published by Valiant Comics



It's 4001 the town of Gethsemane has been in a centuries long pact with a dead side abandoned outpost known as the Sanctuary which is full of deadside creatures. The Sanctuary provides Gethsemane with power and in return Gethsemane gives them sacrifices that use to fuel both cities. In this issue we meet this seasons three orphans, Kaia, who is our narrator, Kym and a young man Jardon. A city leader Drub Tarley has the human population riled up and is plotting to steal the power source and keep it for their own use. We get to the Deadside and see the village in the Sanctuary meet various so called monsters, and then it all hits the fan.

This book is very well paced, I love the story with all its turns. The awesome thing with these 4001 one-shot books, is that the writers and artists get to do a lot of world building and this issue is no exception. There's some of the established Shadowman lore with the Dead side, the loa, but everything else is a new concept. Taking a group of characters and getting me hooked on their story over a single issue, that's what Houser and Roberts have done here. The only bad thing is that we may not get anything after this as it's a one shot. I want more of this story and I hope we get it. One thing that doesn't feature is the title character. In fact the closest character to Shadowman is female. If you bought this thinking you were going to get Jack Boniface, the Shadowman, you will be disappointed, but perhaps it's good that this story isn't saddled with that heavy baggage. This is a great book that stands on it's own. I can't say what my favourite part of the book is because it was the very last panel, and I think that's what got me excited to read what's next more then anything else. So hopefully we get more!



The art fits the story pretty well. I enjoy the pages in the Dead Side. The Loa that features in it looks really cool with the black and purple. We also get some crazy monsters in this one including an awesome scene with a Dodo! I love the colour in the book. The art was great.



This book would be an enjoyable book that I would love even if it didn't tie into 4001 AD or the Valiant universe it's self. I've loved everything that has come out for this summer event, and this book kept the ball rolling. I wish this was an ongoing, but I will take this issue over the previous Shadowman series. Read this one!

