The Shadow: Leviathan

The Shadow (Dynamite)

by Simon Spurrier, Dan Watters, Daniel HDR (Artist)

For the better part of a century the Shadow's sinister laughter brought the chill of fear to evil-doers - but in our modern times, the streets of Manhattan have gone largely silent. But he is not forgotten. Not by the people he's saved. Mary Jerez, is one of those people. The Shadow saved her from a horrifying school shooting - Mary knows all too well what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

So when a horribly burnt man - incredibly strong and fierce, despite his terrible injuries-- arrives under her care as a resident at the hospital - she believes she knows who he is, too. Is this mysterious man actually the Shadow - and with Mary's help, will evil-doers again know what it means to fear his terrible justice?

Si Spurrier (X-Force, X-Men: Legacy, Judge Dredd) and Daniel HDR (Superman, Cyborg) bring the pulp icon into modern day in a tale full of deadly intrigue, gun-blazing action, and a study of the nature of evil!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Mystery, Fiction

124 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2018

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first issue started off strong with a burn victim in the hospital listening to an attending physician talk about how The Shadow saved her during a school shooting. But as the story goes on, it devolves into a series of scenes that are all over the place, never coalescing into a coherent story. There are fragments of stories from different time periods going back from the thirties til now, allusions that his helpers live longer lives, something about a Trump presidency that doesn't fit into the story at all, white nationalists dressing up as The Shadow, government conspiracies, mobsters who become presidential advisers. It just becomes a swirling pot of nonsense that some will say is social commentary on American society, but if so that commentary doesn't come across except maybe, racism is bad. This was a disappointment to be sure.

[Tawallah · Rating 1 out of 5]

The description of this graphic novel sounded intriguing. However it failed to live up to its premise. In essence this is a philosophical treatise using Thomas Hobbes’ social contract theory. It attempted to explain American history from the 1920s to present using this thought. Not convinced with this argument to explain societal ills. Or that the writers were able to successfully explain this theory either. The artwork is meant to be dark given the topic and tends to have graphic violence and lots of swearing. Overall, disappointing read.

I received this graphic novel from NetGalley in exchange for an hones review. Thanks to both the authors and Net Galley for this opportunity.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unadulterated $hit. Unhinged political diatribe co-opting the memories of a pulp legend, The Shadow is not the main character and doesn't even appear till 90% of the story is done. Avoid at all costs.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 1 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

It's been awhile since I more than disliked a book; with The Shadow: Leviathan I actively hated this book. I got half way through before I had had enough - this is just the author soapboxing his political and social views rather than a story that reinvents the Shadow in modern times. School shootings, immigration xenophobia, mass murder, Trump whitehouse, crooked politicians, and a medical system where your nurse nicknames you "crispy" because you are burned all over and refers to your privates as your "burnt weiner". This was godawful.

Story: A severely burnt man shows up at a hospital. He is burnt all over but his nurse recognizes his laugh: when she was a high schooler, there was a school shooting and she was saved by the Shadow. But is he the Shadow? They will both try to find out.

First and foremost, from the start I had issues. The first pages feature a nurse bandaging him while babbling incoherently about being a 'namesless scrany latina' at a high school where there was a shooting. She's insulting the patient the whole time while she remembers the Shadow coming in and talking about the shooters being spoiled middle class kids who, through an eroding class system, didn't like that they were losing their specialness and so turned to mass murder at their school to compensate. It was such a facile and stupid explanation for the rash of school shootings today that I was completely flabbergasted. The Shadow is supposed to be able to see into the heart of men - and all he could see was that school shooters are all over privileged middle class entitled idiots? Really? Let's not get into the details that the "scrawny Latina nurse" is Caucasian skinned and blonde. And that the Shadow has no problem gunning down the minors after he stopped them from shooting people.

Don't even get me started about the name dropping of philosopher Thomas Hobbes and his Leviathan book. There are LITERAL pictures of leviathans in the story - except they looked like centipedes and were 'infesting' people. Literal pictures for a metaphorical philosophy from the 18th century. Yeah, that bad.

It gets worse from there - more babbling about crooked politicians in the white house and fear of immigrants. These are important topics but the handling of them is so ridiculously oversimplified and lacking in sophistication that it becomes obvious the author is using the Shadow as a medium to push his own poorly informed opinions. This isn't about the Shadow operating in the modern world; this is about the author's opinions and using the Shadow to justify them - because the Shadow can see into the hearts of men, natch. It's drivel and one has to laugh at an author who thinks using a superhero as a mouthpiece will provide substance and verity to his drivel.

There are so many good titles out there, especially for The Shadow. And they are actually all about the Shadow and not using the character as a mouthpiece. Go find one of those to read and save yourself from this really sad waste of artistic talent. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Norman Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most writers who try to take The Shadow into modern times fail, and this is really no exception. The Shadow is a character of his times and does not easily translate into today's world. Spurrier and Watters try to make some interesting connections between The Shadow's objectivism and how it might fit into or inspire a world filled with bullies and bigots who decry fake news, but the story never developed enough of a through line to make the reader care much about the characters' relationships. There are attempts at showing that The Shadow's brand of justice is no better than that of the terrorists he fights, a connection that is worth exploring, but the tale's need for action pieces tends to dilute this message. The story also does not explain how The Shadow and his aides are able to live extended lifespans.
The art for the first three issues is done by Daniel HDR; the last three are finished by Ricardo Jaime. It's journeyman quality, but not particularly interesting. However, the gorgeous variant covers by Michael Kaluta and Kelley Jones are worth getting this series for.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not pick up The Shadow expecting to get a preachy political (semi) thriller. When I read The Shadow, I want to see a double gun-toting vigilante anti-hero blowing away Nazis, mobsters, and/or strange mystical villains from the Orient. I expect to see 1940's robot men or jet packs, and zeppelins (like on the damn cover the book).
The art was OK, but not interesting.
The best part was the addition of the Cover and Alternate Covers art.
I still do not know what Leviathan is.

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won't lie. I'm ant-Trump. But come on guys, this was so on the nose political and silly to be not funny or entertaining at all. The Shadow is a lot of things, this wasn't one of them.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Shadow: Leviathan' by Simon Spurrier and Dan Watters with art by Daniel HDR is a graphic novel about a mysterious man the world hasn't seen for a while, and the caregiver who may have found him again.

Mary Jerez was saved years ago from a school shooting by The Shadow. Later as a resident in a hospital she is there when a horribly burned man comes in. As she treats him, she starts to suspect that her patient is the mysterious man who saved her.

I liked this story of The Shadow. It manages to tie in to more modern times and not feel contrived. The art is great and there were some nice surprises along the way.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dynamite Entertainment, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of The Shadow and always enjoy his romps. This book is a bit different; it brings Shadow into the 21st century. He's been gone because the world didn't need vigilantism but now he's back but with memory loss after being burnt to a crisp in his latest show-down. Everything is not as it seems though. This book attempts fairly well to be an origin story for those who don't know the Shadow's history. It does a good job of this without going into too much detail, flipping from past to present. The bit about the Leviathan is on the weird side. I wasn't sure if it was real or just a symbol. Decent story; I enjoyed it and the ending leaves us with a bit of darkness around where (or whether) the Shadow will rise again.

[Pop Bop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently, "The Shadow" Knows His 17th Century Political Philosophy

I really like Lamont Cranston and The Shadow of the 1930's and 40's. We battled gangsters, and crooks, and pirates, and black marketeers, and spies, and all other manner of evil hearted men. But as time passed that wasn't enough. The Shadow had to become a conflicted and tormented hero with a dark side. O.K., there's no stopping progress.

Interestingly, as late as 1994 The Shadow was still fighting evil and creatures. In that year, in "The Shadow: In the Coils of Leviathan", we fought a huge, underground, sewer based ravenous creature aptly named Leviathan. Well, that name has popped up again, but this time in an entirely different context. "Leviathan" was the book by Thomas Hobbes, published in 1651, in which Hobbes proposed the idea of the Social Contract. To Hobbes, facing the English Civil War, man's natural state was one of conflict, despair, violence, and fear of death. Life was described, in the most famous phrase from the book, as "poor, nasty, brutish, and short". As a remedy, Hobbes proposed the establishment of a commonwealth through a social contract by which all men gave up some of their freedom in order to be governed by a sovereign, (monarch, or aristocracy, or democratic leader). The figurative symbol of this commonwealth was a gigantic human form made up the bodies of all members, with the sovereign as the head. This image or metaphor was named "Leviathan". That's the Leviathan this graphic novel is referring to.

All of this is the long way around to describing this book. I'm not making this up. At one point half-way through Thomas Hobbes is name checked, and later a character does some monologuing while holding a recognizable original edition of the "Leviathan" book. At that point what is going on becomes clear. "The Shadow" rails about how he was in a sort of retirement because all was well with America's social contract, but now he has come out of the shadows to start again because things have gone wrong, the fabric is fraying, and peace is threatened by the opposition of man against man, and "leviathan", or the body politic, is tortured and restless.

Needless to say this is way beyond fighting 1940's gangsters. The drawing looks like old school Shadow. Some of the full page one-shots are awesome. There is a lot of action and gunplay. Lots of bad guys get shot, but now some of the bad guys are tied to the White House, and lots of the bad guys are stand ins for current political issues and for a general sense of injustice. I'm not sure if despair over our fraying fabric is a good fit for The Shadow, or if the evil in men's hearts can be updated to include unyielding partisanship, ideological blindness, and high level corruption, but that's more or less where I thought this novel ended up. It's all rather ambitious and risky, and I finally decided that if heroes like The Shadow have to be updated, this was probably a pretty worthwhile direction to try.

So, while you might need to brush up a bit on your political theory, this is still The Shadow, and he's still trying to fight evil. It's just that evil has become a lot harder to identify, and justice has become a victim of alternative facts. I don't think I could handle a steady diet of this, and there are points at which I was a little tired of the soapboxing, but in the end I admired the project and retained my high regard for The Shadow.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[David Koziol · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read the Shadow books and graphic novels, listened to the radio show, watched the serial and the 90's movie, and among all of that this is the single worst Shadow story I've ever read. DO NOT BUY.

1. The Shadow stories set in the 2000s are all iffy at best, but making the Shadow topical was a bad idea from the get go. The book can't go 5 pages without taking a very thinly veiled shot at Trump or his supporters. While that might be amusing to all 3 liberal Shadow fans, it ruins the timelessness of the character by making it not a "The Shadow" story but a "The Shadow in the Trump Era" story.

2. The writers didn't understand the character. How do I know they didn't understand the character? Because ever since the Shadow started in 1930, above all, "The Shadow Knows". He doesn't doubt. He doesn't change. He doesn't apologize. He simply IS. The Shadow in this book doesn't have that resolve. And worst of all, they tried to change him for the times. They made him gentler, more agreeable, and more willing to listen to others. As opposed to the stubborn chauvinist bastard he has been for the last 90 years who doesn't listen to anyone. They made him woke because they didn't understand that a vigilante from the 1930s is going to think, act, and talk a certain way. In the Blood and Judgement comic from the 80s, they understood this apect of the character and made it part of the story. But no, Levithan chose instead to change the titular character that has been around longer than Batman.

3. When the book is done preaching to you about how bad Trump is it tries to tell you a story about...something? The book seems to set up some kind of plot involving the occult similar to The Last Illusion but that doesn't happen and apparently all Levithan references are to some political treatise that no one has read? I guess? There is no plot in this book.

4. The zepplin on the cover has nothing to do with the plot whatsoever. 0/10 stars.

5. A new character, Mary Jervez is actually the protagonist in this book. Which is too bad because she's dumb as sand and the only way she advances the plot is by asking other people what's going on but never getting an answer. Also the trend of every chick with the shaved sides pixie cut being an insuffurable CUB continues.

I created an account soley to review-bomb this shitty excuse for a comic.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So you should never judge a book by its cover, and yet artists go to such extremes to produce compelling first looks that the temptation to do so is sometimes irresistible. Such was the case with Shadow Leviathan. I have been reading the Shadow for years and years, including the original pulps, so when I saw a cover of our hero duking it out with some bad guys on a dirigible, how could I resist? Imagine my surprise when I cracked the covers to see this was a tale set in the present day, albeit with some flashbacks. No dirigibles. Rats. And yet...

This is a tale of the Shadow determining if he and his methods have a place in the present day. It is told in retrospective and in contrast. It examines the modern psychology and how it differs and how it is the same to that of nearly 100 years ago. This is a journey of exploration and discovery rather than one of Nazis, secret plans and awesome airships. Sure there is some action and more than a little gun play, but this is an onion being unpeeled to provide a surprize inside. I did not see the ending coming and I certainly enjoyed getting there.

Do I think this is an attempt by the author to cram his political views down our throats? No. Is there some sort of agenda in the story telling? Sure. Most good stories usually have one. It is not subtle and it mirrors our current world and that is what makes the Shadow's journey the more compelling. In a nutshell, if you are looking for an action filled pulp, you will not find it here. If you want a compelling tale of a man trying to determine if he still has worth? Then this will be an entertaining read indeed.

[Genesis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first comic I've read since I was a child.

I despised the references to real current united statian events, what's even the point narratively speaking? I'll tell you: there is not. It's just the writers that instead of writing by inspiration, they vent off, release their resentment, their anger at real life, like an emo kid that cuts hinself.

There is obviously Donald Trump being drawn here. THEY DRAWED HIM IN. The references to U.S.A. issues and non-issues are cringe worthy, or lazy writing, or useless, and stand in the way of what could have being a good story. It also felt like it was written by two people, because at some points the writing was amateur/cringe-like and in others it was fine and in character.

This could have been a 3.5 or 4 stars if it were done with proper writing skills, proper characterization, less abstract/figurative dialog --this is a comic goddammit, not a Tool song--, and an easier to follow narrative. I did not get what Leviathan was. And I blame the comic for that.

Since I consider that this comic has re-readability value --in part for being hard to follow-- I give it 3 stars instead of 2 and a half.

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is certainly an interesting comic, but a bit confusing in places. Nevertheless this story about the Shadow draws on contemporary US politics which I think is a clever way of providing a political perspective on contemporary issues. If you are not really interested in the political aspect of the story, it is still a good graphic novel with a lot of twists and turns.

Lots of fights and action too. The Shadow always strikes me as somewhat of an anti-hero who walks a very thin line between justice and criminality. The bad guys are taken out whether or not the method of doing so is lawful. I am not really a great follower of graphic novels featuring the Shadow but I still enjoyed reading this. The artwork was a bit dark but the Shadow is a character who operates in the darkness and so the darkness of the artwork is in some way to be expected.

All in all I thought this was a good comic to read and fans of the Shadow will probably enjoy this new story.

Copy probided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Kevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Una enorme decepción. El último libro de la Sombra hecho por dynamite y lo vuelven un panfleto en vez de una historia. Demasiadas páginas de diálogo. Entiendo que quiso exponer las ideas de hoy en día a través de un lente filosófico de décadas pasadas, pero tanta iconografía y terminología de hoy en día lo hace un libro que finalmente será enterrado entre los muchos otros cómics de este personaje. En su exposición, se llega a la razón de por qué la Sombra no está presente en la vida actual, diciendo que, como producto de su tiempo, no se puede adaptar a estos.

El dibujo es mediocre y las secuencias no se comparan con los libros de los 70, es más, ni con los libros de hoy. Como obra final de Dynamite, no parece una labor para darle la despedida, sino como venganza contra Condé Nast por retomar la licencia de publicación del personaje. Es triste, ya que es la última vez que veremos a la Sombra en mucho tiempo. Y esto es con lo que nos quedaremos.

[Gareth Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible, terrible story from a writer who appears to have no idea what the character of The Shadow stands for. Pretentious writing trying hard to be deep and meaningful but fails. The Shadow lies burnt to a crisp in a hospital bed (despite him having no less than two agents with medical degrees, but that is by the by) and is identified by , and I wish I was making this up, his "old man's weiner". Turning in his grave? Walter B Gibson is triple summersaulting in his. I can say without hyperbole that The Shadow: Leviathan is the single worst Shadow comic ever published, and yes, I'm including the spandex bedecked skull condom clad Archie Shadow

Avoid this like the plague. For The Shadow done right see Darkhorse The Shadow: In The Coils of Leviathan, DC's excellent series The Shadow Strikes, or better still, check out Sanctum Books beautiful reprints of the pulps

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I've normally disliked any Shadow book I've picked up, for the inherent naffness of the character and his treatment. Which clearly makes this volume the best Shadow book I know of. It's almost got an X-Files element to it, with the deeper malaise in society, shady websites, and wannabe vigilantes galore all featured. It does get rather Pseud's Corner at times, with the title theme especially, but it's a fine book all the same - great artwork and colouring, and strong characters. I wasn't taken by the more up-to-date political references and allusions, but on the whole I'd certainly recommend this - even if, like me, you thought The Shadow kind of blew.

[James Elkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes I like Si Spurrier’s work and sometimes, like this time, I don’t. There are several issues I have with this one, the first being: There’s not enough. Not enough plot development, not enough character development, not enough Shadow, not enough corrupt government conspiracy. There’s not even enough ham-fisted modern progressive ideology driven narrative for me to get angry about, just enough to annoy. This whole thing seems rushed and I honestly expect better; from Spurrier, from the editor, from Dynamite… okay maybe not Dynamite (I’m still pissed about the lack of a final HC in Lone Ranger Vol. 1).

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some books can get so twisted that you are not sure what is going on or which way is up. One of those is The Shadow: Leviathan which postulates The Shadow returning today after a long rest only to find that his past actions have borne a bitter fruit. The evil that he tries to undo is twisted so that his instrument does more evil until it eats itself in the end. But will this be The Shadow's last foray? Only time will tell.

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this Lovecraftian tinged volume.

[Angel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quick impressions: The story feels messy and not always coherent. If they wanted to bring The Shadow into modern times, this was too overwrought to accomplish that. As I stated, I have liked some The Shadow comics, but I am not sure what to make of this mess. The art is good enough, but the story is just incoherent. This could have had potential, but instead it falls flat.

(Full review on my blog)

[Bryan Alaspa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't work for me

I love the character of The Shadow, but this story never worked for me. I just never got into it and then came the ending and...bleh. Also, just a personal thing, if you just got for an adult rating you can actually have swear words in there and it the squiggle letters. That always bugs me.

Didn't feel kike the Shadow. I had no idea what he was talking about half the time. Just didn't work for me.

[Anthony Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for accepting my request.
I had heard good things about this and boy were they right. This is a politically powered comic series with a message worth hearing. The characters are memorable, the story lines are shocking and the art is perfect. A great way of telling a message that needs to be heard. Definitely worth the read.

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un enésimo intento de sincronizar al personaje en el tramado contemporáneo, chocando irremediablemente ante perspectivas más complejas que las presentadas por un personaje aceptado en las lides del crime pulp como juez/jurado y verdugo. Que acabe por convertirse en secundario de su propia miniserie es bastante decir.

[Liz (Quirky Cat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to follow.

[Shawn Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on the Shadow in the modern era. Absolutely gorgeous covers.

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite modernization of the Shadow.

[Etienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The action was good, and it has a lot of it. The illustrations were good as well. The only problems is the big lack of originality. We all have seen or read someting similar. It's entertaining, but nothing new here, and tons of comic like this one out there.

[J.D. DeHart · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the opportunity came up to review a new Shadow book, I was intrigued. Last year, I had more fun than I probably should have been allowed reading the DC Comics Batman/Shadow mashup. This story works with notes a little darker than that one did.

First, there are elements of the story that feel quite fresh and hardhitting. That can be a positive, but it can also be a weight for the reader to encounter. There is a violence to the story, but there is also creativity in bringing The Shadow, a character who often occupies a time that looks and feels like the 1930s and 1940s to today's world.

The art captures the action, the story (though with its darker notes) does what it needs to, and the book is entertaining overall. Of course, my bias is that I love the character, so though the tone was heavier than I expected, I still carry the desire to see more The Shadow in action.

[Alex Sarll]

I was disappointed when I first realised Spurrier wasn't writing this solo, because I was fascinated to see what someone who seems always to write unreliable leads would make of a character who's all about inhuman will and infallible certainty. But it turned out the co-writer, Dan Watters, was the chap behind the rather good Limbo, and between them they've crafted an excellent story which, among other things, focuses on what happens when mere mortals interact with this unstoppable force of judgment. Because of course in an era of social media trends, it makes perfect sense that people should be inspired by the Shadow to mete out justice of their own. And in theory that should be a good thing, until you look at the state of the world, and realise how many people out there think they're righting the balance. And whichever of them you agree with, there are the ones on the other side too, just as firm in their belief that they're taking back control for the righteous and downtrodden. And giving them all the Shadow as an amorphous emblem they can rally behind...well, whatever its other effects, that certainly isn't going to reduce political polarisation, is it?

Still, for all this Must There Be A Shadow? ambivalence, the speech he gives to the school shooters he takes down early on is a thing of utter glory. A rare centre stage appearance, too, because in the story as a whole we don't see much of the great vigilante himself, at least not directly, or if we do he's been brought low for once, recovering from crippling burns in a hospital bed. But is that even him? The story wants us to think so, and there's one absolutely excellent piece of composition from Daniel HDR which supports it...but in a Spurrier comic I never take anything on trust. A nicely knotty read, and a good lens on quite how fucked we've managed to get ourselves, trapped in a hall of media mirrors and special pleading where not even the Shadow knows.

[J. d'Merricksson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A doctor tending a burn victim relates her experience being saved by the enigmatic vigilante known as 'The Shadow’. It is modern day, and the Shadow hasn't been seen in some time. This story jumps time frames, from the Shadow’s original era to present day. Most of it focuses on the Shadow saving a mother and child, and how that child, Worthy Delaney, grows up, and goes wrong.

I love the Shadow. One of the oldest books in my personal collection is an original Shadow pulp novel, tattered and well-loved. Finding those books, and that character, helped me through some tough times. I seem to be partial to anti-hero characters. Sometimes viciousness needs to be combated with viciousness. Sometimes, just sometimes, ends do justify means.

I found this graphic novel so sad though. Bringing the Shadow present day just seems wrong to me for some reason. Despite that, I enjoyed this story thread, and the artwork. It was a great commentary on present day society. I loved that the hospital is the 'Walter B Gibson Hospital’. Nice homage to the creator.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Diamond Book Distributors for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.