The Shadow #16
Another solid issue as Shadow makes his move to stop The Light. A villain, if you want to label her as such, who is shrouded with so much mystery that she creates that sense of urgency for Shadow to stop her from getting what she wants. No matter what progress he makes, she is always ahead of him because he knows nothing of her. This is one book that Dynamite has to offer which you can’t pass up. Roberson really knows his pulp stories and you just have to appreciate how it’s laid out as if the more answers he finds, the more questions he’s left to answer.
The idea of good and evil is a center-point of this story that I find was a great approach. Both The Light and Shadow believe in justice, but how they go about it is very different which puts them at odds. Again Roberson created and conflict in interest because whether The Light has good intentions or not, when she masks her “brand” of justice in the same boat as Shadow’s, it gives him a bad image. She is a formidable foe in conviction and that alone makes her very dangerous. I do have to say I am loving the layout of these issues, especially when Timpano blows up images of the characters like The Light to separate panels and other unique techniques.
As per usual, Chris Roberson has given us more to go on when understanding Esclarmonde. You see how her training makes her a match for Shadow. You get an idea of just how devout she is in her belief that she is serving a higher purpose that she’s blinded by even false corruption. Though it’s shaping up to be something predictable concerning her upbringing, you still find interest in waiting for she herself to see that her views of the world are wrong. Basically as the reader you’re waiting for that inevitable train wreck to come and she’s that train wreck.
