Valiant Entertainment is headed back to the shadows next year.
The independent publisher has announced plans to relaunch its supernatural property Shadowman with a new comic book series beginning in March, written by The Losers and Green Arrow: Year One’s Andy Diggle.
The new series follows in the footsteps of Valiant’s current X-O Manowar comic book, both in terms of launch date — X-O launched in March of this year — and format, with the title based around three-issue storylines with a rotating team of artists. Illustrating the first storyline, “Fear of the Dark,” will be Stephen Segovia. (Given that X-O Manowar was the top-selling independent publisher launch of the year, it’s unsurprising that Valiant is looking to repeat the formula.)
Shadowman debuted in 1992, co-created by Steve Englehart, former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and artist Mike Manley. Set, in part, in New Orleans, the series revolves around Jack Boniface, a musician who discovers that his family has a connection to an alternate dimension called the Deadside. A mix of voodoo lore and comic book logic, the property is also being developed as a movie by director Reginald Hudlin.
The new comic book series will be “a story about stepping out of the shadows and embracing the light,” Diggle explained in a statement from the publisher. “Trying to move on from your own mistakes and be a better man. Of course, it's not easy. As Shadowman, Jack will never fully be able to escape his own demons. It's about learning to live with them. And as he comes to a better understanding of himself and his family's legacy, he'll discover whole new worlds and new powers he never even imagined he had.”
Shadowman No. 1 will be in comic book stores and available digitally March 28.
