Off the heels of Jack Boniface’s epic battle with Master Darque we get more origin story of Nicodemo and Sandria Darque plus the birth of Shadowman which is an epic story itself.

Official description from VALIANT:
Straight out of the pages of Shadowman #0 – the secret origin all Shadowmen, past and present, stands revealed and unveil the next macabre chapter in the lives of Nicodemo and Sandria Darque! Long ago, in the antebellum South, Master Darque’s evil spawned the one thing that could stop him: the Shadowman.

Writer Justin Jordan picks up on his tale of the Darque siblings from issue #0 and leads us down a dark and lonesome road. After destroying their father for his manipulation during their upbringing Sandria starts to understand her brother’s destructive power and his twisted obsession. We flashback to the Civil War after Sandria has fled from her brother and her desire to right some wrongs and to find her place in the world. Jordan details her struggle for acceptance and fear others have of her power. He also adeptly connects the reader to her pain and heartbreak as she fights for redemption.

Nicodemo’s subsequent hunt for a sister, he thought enslaved, quickly turns to anger, betrayal and destruction. Nico’s warped sense of love for his sister is quite unnerving and beautifully contrast against Sandria and Marius Boniface’s growing romance. He perfectly sucks you in to Sandria’s struggle to escape her brother’s evil and surrendering to a love she’s feels is more of convenience but it’s something she also desperately needs. After the brutally painful panels prior to Shadowman’s birth, he is revealed as more of a product of pure love and less a product of that pain and tragedy.

Roberto De La Torre’s art is strikingly good here. He is always top notch in his work but he is excelling with issue #10. The mixture of magic, history and horror is a thing of beauty in his hands as is the balance of subtlety and splash. Simple images become complex creations and he adds just the right amount of pop to keep the story’s pace moving.

This is an origin story, which can often be simplistic and pedestrian, but this is an intriguing and engaging piece of storytelling which solidly stands on it’s own. This sets the stage nicely for Shadowman’s next story arc and this issue alone is all you need to know it’s going to be a doozy. Shadowman is underrated but it’s value is through the roof. Don’t pass on this title. It’s one of the best supernatural tales comics has to offer.

5/5