Shadowland (Review)

Writer: Andy Diggle

Artist: Billy Tan
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Collects: Shadowland #1-5; X-Men: Curse of the Mutants Spotlight

As I understand it, Shadowland was conceived as a street-level equivalent to big, cosmic, universe-threatening comic book Events, and was born out of Andy Diggle's run on Daredevil in which the Man Without Fear became the leader of the Hand, an ancient alliance of powerful ninja. Daredevil thought he could turn the Hand towards good, but things didn't quite turn out that way.

I'm not entirely sure if the "mini-Event" label is accurate. On the one hand, Shadowland did not have the same "everything must change!" impact that most Big Events have. On the other, it was nice just to read a good story for the sake of reading a good story. On the third hand, while many may decry the unrealistic plot points -- the Hand buys Hell's Kitchen and turns it into a fortress, complete with dungeon -- this is proportionally equal to the much grander scale plots found in regular Events.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Event stories and their overblown connotations aside, the art in Shadowland is stunning. Some chaotic angles maybe, but Billy Tan can capture motion very well and adds a necessary sense of timing to the fight scenes where most of the characters are martial artists. There is also a solidity to his designs that, along with his dramatic layouts, achieves maximum impact.

And the story momentum is equally as solid. There's a clockwork precision to the twists and turns, with each reveal paced accordingly (even those of the Punisher and Wolverine, who are a little overused these days). And Diggle captures each character's voice perfectly, using them tactically in accordance with their own talents and strengths.

But it all seems over far too fast. The fact that Matt Murdock is possessed by the Devil (or something) is revealed to us very early on, which saves us from a cop-out ending, but serves to totally undermine Matt himself. All of the preamble, where Daredevil kills Bullseye, doesn't have the impact it should, and the other characters are too quickly rallied and don't have a clear protagonist.

Although I don't think that Events should always change the status quo, I do feel a little bit empty after Shadowland. As always with post-Event fatigue, I am left wondering if I'll ever remember this story in the future, and just want things to go back to normal. Still, it was a pretty fun read.

Rating: 3/5