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Shadow Doctor #1-5
Shadow Doctor
Years in the making, this is the true story of writer Peter Calloway’s grandfather, Nathaniel Calloway, a Black man who graduated from medical school in the early 1930s. Unable to get work at any Chicago hospital (because he was Black) and unable to secure a loan from a bank to start his own practice (because he was Black), Nathaniel turned to the only other source of money in Prohibition-era the Mafia, run by none other than Al Capone. One of the most profoundly fascinating, startling and significant stories AfterShock has ever published, SHADOW DOCTOR features the artwork of Eisner Award-winner Georges Jeanty (The American Way, X-Tremists) and covers illustrated by the inimitable Mark Chiarello! This volume contains issues #1-5.
129 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 9, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 2, 2022
Unable to get work in white-dominated hospitals, a Black doctor approaches an old acquaintance, Al Capone, for the money to start his own practice and finds himself leveraged into doing backroom surgery for wounded mobsters.
An awesome concept based on the real grandfather of the author is derailed by a script that careens around between time periods, gritty gangster action, and new age spiritualism. Scenes and characters are shoved in with no purpose or payoff and the ending is abrupt and leaves the story feeling incomplete, as if this is the first volume of a series even though it is not marked as such.
An awesome concept based on the real grandfather of the author is derailed by a script that careens around between time periods, gritty gangster action, and new age spiritualism. Scenes and characters are shoved in with no purpose or payoff and the ending is abrupt and leaves the story feeling incomplete, as if this is the first volume of a series even though it is not marked as such.
July 30, 2023
This was such a great read! The history that the author tells about his grandfather is fascinating and illustrated beautifully in this one. You can tell how personal and serious this story has been shared around in his family and I loved being able to see his passion for this story translate to these pages. I really just wished there was more to this one.
February 15, 2022
This is an amazing story--made all the more so because it's true. The illustrations are stunning and it leaves readers at a cliffhanger that makes us eager to find out what happens next.
December 25, 2021
Five issue comic that tells a complete, gripping, and true story? Sign me up. This is what the comic medium is meant for these days, telling graphic tales that can be bold, daring, and messy. The ending wraps up a little quickly in the final issue, but I'm glad it left off where it did and didn't try to fabricate something more climactic. Best new comic I've read from AfterShock, and something everyone should be bringing their attention to!
March 8, 2022
In SHADOW DOCTOR writer Peter Calloway and artist Georges Jeanty craft a disturbing portrait of racial discrimination in Prohibition Era Chicago, based on the real life experiences of Calloway's grandfather - Nathaniel Calloway.
The true story of how Calloway, a gifted young man who obtained a medical degree with high honors, and how he was denied employment at various hospitals and later denied bank loans to set up private practice because of his skin color, is depressing and sad. However, he persevered in spite of discrimination and continued to pursue his goal of becoming a working doctor. In order to accomplish this, he had to compromise and seek the funds from Al Capone's organization (where he helped transport illegal whiskey when he was younger). Circumstances led to his becoming the crime lord's personal physician, removing bullets and bandaging up his employees in the midst of vicious gang wars.
While undeserving of his situation, Nathaniel Calloway was not a perfect person and always regretted the things he felt compelled to do to carry on with his purpose. Peter Calloway does not sugar coat the proceedings or put his grandfather on a pedestal. He reveals all facets of the man, warts and all. That only serves to make the story more believable and compassionate.
Georges Jeanty's art is very fluid, especially the gang fights. He's also very good with facial expressions and body language. Peter Calloway enhances the story with several flashbacks that help define his grandfather's characters. There is also some symbolism in the way that images of snakes (featured in the AMA logo) keep popping up in the background of the story.
The story concludes at a turning point in Calloway's life, a proper place to end his story. Although there is certainly more that could be told about the remaining days of Al Capone before his eventual arrest. However, this is at its' root a story about a black man facing obstacles and finding a way forward rather than a character study of Al Capone. While Calloway later distanced himself from the criminal gang and became an informant, as history shows that was not the event that brought Capone to justice.
The true story of how Calloway, a gifted young man who obtained a medical degree with high honors, and how he was denied employment at various hospitals and later denied bank loans to set up private practice because of his skin color, is depressing and sad. However, he persevered in spite of discrimination and continued to pursue his goal of becoming a working doctor. In order to accomplish this, he had to compromise and seek the funds from Al Capone's organization (where he helped transport illegal whiskey when he was younger). Circumstances led to his becoming the crime lord's personal physician, removing bullets and bandaging up his employees in the midst of vicious gang wars.
While undeserving of his situation, Nathaniel Calloway was not a perfect person and always regretted the things he felt compelled to do to carry on with his purpose. Peter Calloway does not sugar coat the proceedings or put his grandfather on a pedestal. He reveals all facets of the man, warts and all. That only serves to make the story more believable and compassionate.
Georges Jeanty's art is very fluid, especially the gang fights. He's also very good with facial expressions and body language. Peter Calloway enhances the story with several flashbacks that help define his grandfather's characters. There is also some symbolism in the way that images of snakes (featured in the AMA logo) keep popping up in the background of the story.
The story concludes at a turning point in Calloway's life, a proper place to end his story. Although there is certainly more that could be told about the remaining days of Al Capone before his eventual arrest. However, this is at its' root a story about a black man facing obstacles and finding a way forward rather than a character study of Al Capone. While Calloway later distanced himself from the criminal gang and became an informant, as history shows that was not the event that brought Capone to justice.
January 21, 2023
Fascinating story set in 1930s Chicago. A man doing what he understood as the only way to practice medicine as a black man. Interesting moral debate between doing no harm to a patient but knowing your patient will do harm when you save him.
January 25, 2022
Nathaniel Calloway was an emigrant from Alabama to Chicago because of racism. But even after he got his medical degree, he could not get a job or a loan due to the color of his skin. Until he turned to an acquaintance who he had run whiskey for in the past. He got money and office space in return to patching up Al Capone's men. This is a wrenching tale of the toll crime and racism have on folks just trying to do good the best way they can. I will be looking for the next volume in this biography. The artwork does a very nice job of bringing the story into vivid color. Thanks, Aftershock, for the chance to read this tale!
September 27, 2024
Of course the mob, especially Al Capone in Chicago at that time, would want a black doctor that wouldn’t say anything and would be their personal doctor at any whim. Such a great story and it makes it even better it’s a story told from his point of view on his death bed that is passed down through generations. There’s always those stories in family history that sound too good to be true, but maybe sometimes they are true and that’s what makes them fantastic. Art was fine but there were some panels later at the beach that the lines just seemed blurry and out of focus, not sure if that was an artistic choice or not. Just didn’t seem to fit.
February 10, 2024
A good enough story about a prohibition-era black mob doctor. I don't like the art very much, it looks rather hasty, but it serves.
The most interesting thing about the comic is that its events are supposedly true, as recounted by the writer's grandfather, but there are several disputes about that, so I can't really judge it on that merit. There's certainly nothing that seems implausible about the recounting, but like most Aftershock comics, it ends abruptly on one of the most important points of the story.
Not a bad afternoon read, but it won't change your life either.
The most interesting thing about the comic is that its events are supposedly true, as recounted by the writer's grandfather, but there are several disputes about that, so I can't really judge it on that merit. There's certainly nothing that seems implausible about the recounting, but like most Aftershock comics, it ends abruptly on one of the most important points of the story.
Not a bad afternoon read, but it won't change your life either.
April 21, 2022
An intriguing premise drawn from the history of the author's own family.
I can understand why the author would be reticent to embellish the story given the personal connection, but the sparse information he appears to have access to does not flesh out a very compelling tale.
I can understand why the author would be reticent to embellish the story given the personal connection, but the sparse information he appears to have access to does not flesh out a very compelling tale.
April 26, 2026
This collects what is apparently the entire five issue series. I’m not sure if it was originally planned for only five issues or if it was cancelled but in any event, I wish it would have continued. I wouldn’t describe the ending as a cliffhanger but it certainly leaves it open for continuation.
January 25, 2024
I brought this book with me on a family vacation and my dad (who doesn’t read much) finished it in one sitting, and then my partner read it the next day. I finally got to finish it when we got home 😂
I really liked this story and the history presented here… a time and place in our history I honestly don’t think much about (the mafia). I wish there had been more context to the memories that were added in, because I often felt like I was missing something from those pages. If the story had been more cohesive, or if I had understood the reasoning for it not being so, I would have enjoyed it more.
I really liked this story and the history presented here… a time and place in our history I honestly don’t think much about (the mafia). I wish there had been more context to the memories that were added in, because I often felt like I was missing something from those pages. If the story had been more cohesive, or if I had understood the reasoning for it not being so, I would have enjoyed it more.
January 29, 2025
I met Georges Jeanty at Galaxycon in Richmond a few weeks ago and bought the TPB after speaking to him.
It’s a well told story. The story is short (maybe just a tad too short) but it does a good job switching between the current story of the doc working for Capone and his history.
The art is really well done and fits the story really well.
The only thing that bothers me is that this says it is based on real events but there is a Nathaniel Calloway on Wikipedia with most of the same details but shifted into the future by about 20 years. That would make it impossible to have coincided with Capone at all.
Wouldn’t bother me if this was historical fiction. It is still good as that, but I don’t like the idea that it says its real and maybe it’s not.
It’s a well told story. The story is short (maybe just a tad too short) but it does a good job switching between the current story of the doc working for Capone and his history.
The art is really well done and fits the story really well.
The only thing that bothers me is that this says it is based on real events but there is a Nathaniel Calloway on Wikipedia with most of the same details but shifted into the future by about 20 years. That would make it impossible to have coincided with Capone at all.
Wouldn’t bother me if this was historical fiction. It is still good as that, but I don’t like the idea that it says its real and maybe it’s not.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews