Flashback Friday: Shadowman - Protecting Earth from the Deadside
Aug 13, 2021
Valiant does not shy away from edgy characters, some of whom kill or face truly horrifying opponents. One of those tough, dangerous characters is Jack Boniface, the Shadowman.
Jack is a young man from New Orleans who has supernatural abilities from the Shadow Loa, a powerful voodoo spirit that has been passed down through his family line. He can manipulate shadows, use them to bind people or entities, has enhanced strength, can regenerate, and is fearless. His job as Shadowman is to protect the world of the living from the Deadside.
He worked with the Abettors to protect the world from necromancer Master Darque, and other demons and spirits. The crafty Master Darque tricked Jack into serving him in the Deadside until Ninjak and Punk Mambo helped free him.
During the Stalinverse event, Shadowman fought Russian forces in New Orleans to protect his family and friends. He held off the army until superhumans Aric, Son of the Revolution, and Komandar Bloodshot defeated him. Jack was forced to join the Soviet army, then Divinity fixed the world and turned it back to normal.
After what he went through with Darque, Jack and Alyssa Myles started studying the Shadow Loa to learn more about it and how Jack could be freed. This put them in the path of Baron Samedi, the Loa of the dead, who set his minions on Shadowman and Alyssa. Baron Samedi cursed Jack’s Shadow Scythe and killed him.
Instead of going to the afterlife, Jack’s soul traveled back in time where it became attached to other people who had been the Shadow Loa. Jack got to see how his ancestors wielded the power, and became frightened by how far back his soul was traveling. He went so far back to Standing Wolf, a warrior in prehistoric Africa who made a pact with the Loa to become the first Shadowman. Following the revelation, Jack woke up back in his own time.
In the current series, Shadowman has been traveling around the world to figure out how and why the Deadside has been infiltrating our world.
Keep an eye on PREVIEWSworld.com's Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram for more character profiles! And if you're interested in more from Valiant's Shadowman, head to your local comic shop and check out the following.
This article originally appeared in Gemstone Publishing’s e-newsletter Scoop.
The forces of darkness are awakening and they are hungry for life.
Jack Boniface, a.k.a. Shadowman, faces the terrors that tear at the fabric of humanity's world. As the forces of darkness pry open doorways across the nation, the Shadowman will make a cross-country descent into horror... as something far more sinister emerges from the shadows.
From the bestselling master of horror Cullen Bunn (Venom) and bone-chilling artist Jon Davis-Hunt (Clean Room) comes a shocking supernatural odyssey!
Collecting SHADOWMAN (2020) #1-4.
From Valiant legends Bob Hall (Squadron Supreme), Jim Shooter (Secret Wars), David Lapham (Stray Bullets), Steve Englehart (Detective Comics), and more comes the first omnibus collection of the series Comic Bulletin calls "a real classic".
Collecting SHADOWMAN (1992) #0-24, THE SECOND LIFE OF DOCTOR MIRAGE #5, SECRET WEAPONS (1993) #1-2, and DARQUE PASSAGES (1994),
along with 20+ pages of rarely seen art and extras!
For years, Jack Boniface believed that he knew the true story of the Shadowman loa - the true story of the curse inside him. He was wrong. Now, the man once known as Shadowman is returning home to sharpen the weapon within...and unleash a reckoning on the evils of our world that will soon send shockwaves through heaven and hell alike...
Superstar writer Andy Diggle (Green Arrow: Year One, The Losers) joins high-octane artists Stephen Segovia (Action Comics), Shawn Martinbrough (Thief of Thieves), Doug Braithwaite (Justice), and Renato Guedes(Action Comics) to reveal the full scope and power of the Shadowman mythos in an oversized deluxe edition hardcover of the series Nerdist calls "killer"!
Collecting SHADOWMAN (2018) #1-11, and SHADOWMAN/RAE SREMMURD #1, along with more than 20 pages of rarely seen art and extras!
Jack Boniface died last night. The ruthless Tommy Lee Bones and his band of outlaw escapees from the Deadside have come to pass sentence on the citizens of New Orleans one miserable soul at a time...and they've started with the Shadowman! Now, New Orleans needs a new protector, someone with the quick eye, steady hands, and steely nerve needed to kill the dead again. But when the voodoo powers that guide the Shadowman turn to a stone-cold killer with a mysterious past known only as Zero to take up the mask things will turn out deadlier than anyone could possibly have imagined...
Collecting Shadow Man (1997) #1-4, along with Shadowman Presents: Deadside #1-3 and featuring never before seen sketches, designs and process art straight out of the Valiant vaults!
