Valiant’s supernatural hero is making a big time comeback in 2018. Shadowman returns this March in a fresh #1 issue.

Don’t fear your demons… Fight them! Orphaned as a child and raised on the margins of society, Jack Boniface never knew his place in the world. Until he discovered it waiting for him…in a darkness far older than the reign of men…

Unbeknownst to him, Jack was fated to become the next in a long lineage of Shadowmen – mortals bound to violent voodoo spirits of immense power – that could safeguard our world against incursions from realms beyond. For years, he struggled to control the loa’s murderous urges – a battle he eventually lost.

But now, after years of self-imposed exile, 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…

From the shadows

Jack Boniface hasn’t really been around much in the last few years. Debuting in his own book to some acclaim, the character served as the resurrection of a supernatural hero. Shadowman had been around in the original Valiant run, and of course that meant he was due for a revival.

Personally, I loved the first run of this book, and so I’m pretty happy to see its return. There’s a very nice creative team attached as well, with artist Stephen Segovia and writer Andy Diggle taking a crack at the man who can walk on the deadside.

“I love action comics and I love supernatural horror, and with SHADOWMAN I get to write both at the same time. It’s win/win,” Diggle told IGN. “I think Jack Boniface is a character with a lot of untapped potential. He started out as this upbeat, fresh-faced young guy and since then he’s been through Hell and back. He’s carrying a burden of guilt over some bad choices he made and that’s fertile ground for a redemption story.”

Sounds good to me. The horror aspects of the first (revived) Shadowman run was incredibly cool to see in a superhero book, and the special effects were quite good. Sure you can do anything in a comic book, but this one went wild with color and huge effects scenes. I’m hoping this new run will do the same.

Shadowman #1 will arrive on bookshelves this March the 28th, followed by issue #2 about a month later on April 25th.