Comics Review - - SHADOWMAN: END TIMES

SHADOWMAN: END TIMES by Peter Milligan, writer and Valentine De Landro, artist. (Valiant Entertainment, September 2014) Trade paperback, 104 pages.  ISBN #1939346371 / 9781939346377 

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

The end times are now! Master storyteller Peter Milligan is pushing Shadowman to the edge - but can Jack Boniface survive the plunge? 

Jack thought he'd finally fixed his life and the source of his dark power. But when a figure from the past emerges with a troubling revelation about his destiny, the new Shadowman will plummet into an abyss far darker than any demon. Make no mistake, doom is coming for Shadowman! 

Collecting: Shadowman: End Times 1-3 

 

My Four-Star review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     In my opinion, Shadowman is one of the most under-utilized and under-developed characters in the Valiant universe. Peter Milligan dives deep into his mental state, writes a solid, short psychological profile with plenty of traumatic conflicts (not physical, but of the soul-searching type). He gets to the root of what makes the character more interesting to me, explores it, resolves some of that inner turmoil (not necessarily in a good way, though) and sets a new direction for future stories with a cliffhanger ending. 

     What surprised me even more than that ending was the number of unfavorable reviews (one or two stars) here on Goodreads, with very few ratings of three stars or higher. This series definitely struck the wrong chord with fans of Shadowman. I'm guessing that this was just too much of a departure from what came before, and really upset the applecart. 

     While I'm a fan of the character, I have not been following his infrequent mini-series with various writers. The last Shadowman series that impressed me as much as SHADOWMAN: END TIMES was the limited run by Garth Ennis during the short-lived Acclaim ownership of Valiant. In fact, I'm so out of touch with what's been going on with this character that I did not read this 2014 series until now. I read this in the individual monthly issues, which I bought on their initial release, and then decided to wait until things concluded before reading them.

      I'll risk the ire of other reviewers by concluding that this is one of my all-time favorite Shadowman stories.