It’s been too long out of the spotlight for Valiant’s headlining horror hero, but the arrival of Shadowman #1 isn’t going to be a pleasant surprise for new readers alone. With a new series comes a new mission for Jack Boniface, and existing fans are just as likely to see a brand new Shadowman forged in the coming crucible.
The pitch has always been a simple one for Valiant’s resident defender of the living, dead, and everything in between: as the host of a dark spirit, Jack Boniface walks the streets of New Orleans as a normal human… transforming into the skull-faced warrior Shadowman when the forces of darkness attempt to invade from the Deadside. But in the new Shadowman series from writer Cullen Bunn (Venom) and artist Jon-Davis Hunt (Clean Room), the hero fans know and love is facing a fresh start of his own. The book picks up everything that came before, but with a new threat, a new villain, and even the tease of an evolving Shadowman, brand new readers are being welcomed aboard as well. Screen Rant got the chance to speak with both Bunn and Hunt about what’s in store, and readers can find the full interview and preview pages for Shadowman #1 below.
Screen Rant: The arrival of Shadowman #1 is just the latest launch Valiant fans have gotten to look forward to over the past year or two, so even if your mind is on Shadowman, does that energy of playing your own part in a larger statement about Valiant’s world and its characters enter the picture? Either creatively in storytelling, or just an added bit of excitement knowing you’ll have even more readers waiting for this first issue?
Cullen Bunn: It’s certainly thrilling to be playing in Valiant’s universe, and I stepped into this project wanting to leave an impact on the world of Shadowman, but also in the bigger bigger Valiant universe. And the fact that readers have been waiting for this book, expecting it, would normally be pretty daunting, but I really think we’ve created something that is going to blow them away! I think this book will be both everything Shadowman fans have been hoping for… and nothing like they’re expecting!
Jon-Davis Hunt: It’s very exciting, getting to not just tell a new Shadowman story, but hopefully add something to the lore of his world and the wider Valiant universe too. From the start, Cullen’s script was intentionally intended to provide a wider scope for Shadowman and kind of re-focus and also refresh him, so I’ve tried to do the same from a visual perspective as well. And Valiant have been brilliant at allowing us both to do that.
SR: As we’ve seen so far with the other Valiant relaunches, it feels like the goal here is to give existing fans a new story, but also allow new readers to jump in and know enough to get by. Is that harder when you’re dealing with something as wild and expansive as the Deadside, or easier?
CB: The Deadside could certainly pose some problems, especially for readers who haven’t followed Shadowman before. The way we’re handling it, though, takes a lot of the pressure off. The Deadside is a big part of the story, but there are some new ramifications that allow us to sharpen our focus and introduce (or re-introduce) the Deadside in a measured way. So… existing readers will be getting some new information. New readers will be eased into the mythology of the Deadside in such a way that they won’t be lost. Well, we want a little confusion, but that applies to old and new readers alike. We want them to be a little off guard.
SR: Fans already know that Jack Boniface is a character with his own history, but since this is a relaunch, was there a core part of the character that you wanted to pull to the forefront, or maybe a different side you wanted to strip away or spotlight?
CB: We want readers to understand who Jack is from the very beginning, but we’re not going to dig deep into his origins or anything like that. As you pick up this book, we’ll give you a clear picture of Jack and his responsibilities. His powers are changing a little. They are growing. And that gives us the chance to showcase his abilities to readers in a very clear, concise way. As for the core part of his character, that helps us define the world, Jack, and Shadowman. Jack isn’t an occult expert. He’s a guy who happens to be our supernatural defender. In a lot of ways, despite his responsibilities, he’s an everyman. And we want to play that up as much as possible.
JDH: I think Jack’s personality comes through a lot in this book. Because he isn’t an expert in every facet of the horror of his world, he’s finding out things, along with the reader, as his story unfolds and I think that makes him a much more natural character. He can be shocked, horrified and feel genuine anguish. That makes him really fun to draw, because he’s going through a lot of emotions in each adventure, rather than simply just being kind of ‘stoic and all-knowing’ which can sometimes be the case with more ‘mystical’ characters who tend to be filled with a kind of ‘eldritch wisdom’ that can make them quite un-emotive. In contrast, his powers are maturing, a facet of his character he does understand more, so that’s interesting too. He’s definitely slightly more powerful than he has been in the past, but then the threat level is that much more serious.
SR: This may be a horror book, and a horror story, but you both waste no time in making it clear from the first pages that Shadowman is a superhero, no matter where his power comes from. Was that a deliberate choice to start your new arc – coming out of the gate fists (and scythes) flying?
CB: Absolutely. There are a lot of preconceived notions when you talk about a horror comic. A lot of those notions are way off base. Some are accurate. But this is a horror superhero comic. There are dark, creepy, gory, horrible elements to the tales we’re telling, but I knew there needed to be action and heroics because the Valiant Universe is a realm of heroes. So, there’s always going to be a balance of horror, creepiness, and monster-punching.
JDH: Cullen’s done a fantastic job with the pacing, because he’s managed to get action and suspense into each issue in equal measure, which I think is actually really hard to do. Too much action and you miss that kind of sombre, melancholic note that I think makes really good horror work so well, but without any action, you miss those high-octane beats that ramp up the drama. As an artist, it’s a great book to work on, because I get the best of both worlds, scenes where I can concentrate on mood and emotion and scenes where I get to draw something big and disgusting getting punched in the face!
SR: Adding onto the idea of making the familiar new again, the presence of Baron Samedi won’t surprise existing fans. Only this time, the King of Death is so much fun once he enters the story, I don’t know if anyone will want him to leave. From both a writing and art perspective, he feels like a BIG part of the tone you’re going for with this Shadowman story.
CB: Yes. Samedi is a creepy cat, but he’s the jester who might have just poisoned the king’s wine. He’s a bit of comic relief. He’s a bit of a story vehicle, because he is “in the know” with very powerful sources. And he’s a bit untrustworthy, because he never just comes out and tells Jack anything. I love him as a foil and partner for Shadowman. But, if I were Shadowman, I wouldn’t sip any wine the Baron has poured.
JDH: Baron has become my favorite character to draw. Initially, he was a real challenge, because he is essentially, just a skeleton in a suit, so in terms of facial expressions, he doesn’t really have any. However, after playing around with him a lot, I found I could actually get a huge range of emotion out of him, just through his gestures, mannerisms and playing with the way shadow falls across his face. Its great, because often, he plays it straight and simply deadpans Jack, so his blank expressions works brilliantly. But then in other situations, you get the impression that there is something far, far darker going on. He’s equally the comic relief and the sinister figure in the shadows. For Jack, he can be a frequent irritant, but he’s probably the person who understands Jack’s plight the most, so they play off each other really well.
SR: The first issue doesn’t disappoint in delivering the kind of Hell people would expect from the Deadside, but is already suggesting more nuance then simply “evil demons.” Maybe not demons anyone will be rooting for, but it doesn’t feel like the threat of this book is going to be a monster or two that cross from one plane to the other.
CB: There are definitely monsters coming through from the Deadside. There are also “monsters” who have been influenced by the Deadside. But we didn’t want any of the threats Shadowman faces to be conventional. There are so many different flavors of horror, and we want to explore all of them. Every villain Shadowman faces will, I hope, leave the reader with questions and thoughts. I want the readers to be haunted by the horrors Shadowman encounters.
JDH: Each issue really is its own, dark little tale, but then each one is also rooted into Shadowman’s broader universe. Getting to play around with so many sub-genres of horror is one of the great appeals of this book, particularly from an artistic point of view. And it’s fun to see how a ‘superhero’ essentially deals with each of these horror conceits. It’s a really cool element of the book.
SR: For Jon, I know readers will think they know Shadowman’s ‘costume’ when all they see is a face painted with a skull, but what can you offer into your own look for Jack with this new series? Not only when it comes to his clothing or physical form, but the way his power and weapon interacts with the more mundane world?
JDH: I wanted to (hopefully) leave a mark on Shadowman’s design, but also be respectful of his existing look and the great work of the artists who have drawn him before me, so I tried to take what was already there and kind of ‘refine’ it, in a way that updated him, but in a subtle way. His new power set, which basically focuses on his ability to better utilize and manipulate the shadows around him, was a really cool effect to work on and I think that looks really cool too. I also worked hard on how Jack looks when he’s in ‘civilian’ mode, so I wanted his clothing to say more about his broader character, which is tied to his vocation as a musician, the amount he travels and obviously, his adventures with the occult.
CB: I just want to say how much I love what Jon is doing with the designs of these characters and the designs of these horrible monsters. When I write that a creature has the head of a carrion fly, a coyote, and a vulture, I expect visual craziness. Jon just blasts past craziness into pure horrific lunacy. I love it!
SR: Also Jon, your art feels like a perfect match for the kind of mold-in-the-walls magic of this story, but that feeling of unseen horror, creeping danger, and dissolving barriers is literal, thanks to your pages. Was it your goal to give people anxiety by pulling the gutters and negative space outside the panels into this nightmare, too? Because… mission accomplished.
JDH: Haha, thank you! Yeah, I tried to think about how Jack’s powers would manipulate the world around him, so sometimes that extends outside of the frame. There is a sequence in issue 4 where things get particularly ‘trippy’.
SR: Obviously we don’t want to spoil any of the coming stories, but you have made reference to a new, core villain who will be approaching as Jack works his way through the coming issues. So from both the story and art sides, what can you say about the intention and thinking that went into Shadowman’s next ‘big bad’?
CB: This villain has been brewing in my mind since before I knew I was going to be writing this series. It’s a character who is tied into the very core of Shadowman’s being. And, like the other threats in the book, this character will not be what you expect. But I wanted to create someone who could be a major player in the Valiant Universe, both in the Shadowman book and beyond!
JDH: I’m not saying anything because I am terrible with spoilers!
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Shadowman #1 arrives in your local comic book shop, and will be available digitally on April 28th, 2021.
