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Shadowpact, #Volume 1
Shadowpact, Volume 1: The Pentacle Plot
Collecting the first five issues of the acclaimed new series from Fables writer Bill Willingham! Join Nightmaster, Ragman, Nightshade, Blue Devil, Enchantress and Detective Chimp — the mismatched magical heroes from DC's hit Day of Vengeance— as they face brand-new villains!
Collecting: Shadowpact 1-3, 5-8
Collecting: Shadowpact 1-3, 5-8
158 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
3 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
Bill Willingham
998 books2,830 followersIn the late 1970s to early 1980s he drew fantasy ink pictures for the Dungeons & Dragons Basic and Expert game rulebooks. He first gained attention for his 1980s comic book series Elementals published by Comico, which he both wrote and drew. However, for reasons unknown, the series had trouble maintaining an original schedule, and Willingham's position in the industry remained spotty for many years. He contributed stories to Green Lantern and started his own independent, black-and-white comics series Coventry which lasted only 3 issues. He also produced the pornographic series Ironwood for Eros Comix.
In the late 1990s Willingham reestablished himself as a prolific writer. He produced the 13-issue Pantheon for Lone Star Press and wrote a pair of short novels about the modern adventures of the hero Beowulf, published by the writer's collective, Clockwork Storybook, of which Willingham was a founding member. In the early 2000s he began writing extensively for DC Comics, including the limited series Proposition Player, a pair of limited series about the Greek witch Thessaly from The Sandman, and most notably the popular series Fables
In the late 1990s Willingham reestablished himself as a prolific writer. He produced the 13-issue Pantheon for Lone Star Press and wrote a pair of short novels about the modern adventures of the hero Beowulf, published by the writer's collective, Clockwork Storybook, of which Willingham was a founding member. In the early 2000s he began writing extensively for DC Comics, including the limited series Proposition Player, a pair of limited series about the Greek witch Thessaly from The Sandman, and most notably the popular series Fables
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 17, 2018
There’s three reasons why I picked up this title based only on the cover:
1. Detective Chimp! He’s a monkey that talks! A talking monkey!! Whoo Hoo!!
2. At least two sorcery babes. Makes me want to sign up at the local black arts coven.
3. Me likey the DC magic stuff.
Shadowpact is a collection of some of DC’s magic-endowed super heroes, who not-coincidently fight magic threats to the DC universe.
There’s Blue Devil, who’s a devil who’s, uh, blue. He made some sort of stupid bargain with Satan.
Detective Chimp, the aforementioned talking monkey. OooWee!! Talking monkey!!!
Enchantress, who is sometimes portrayed as a villain (see the movie Suicide Squad), and even though she’s on the side of heroes, she’s still pretty bad ass.
Ragman was on Arrow and he has a creepy, possessed suit of rags that do creepy stuff like give out creepy hugs.
Nightshade is the team teleporter. She can also magnify and shape shadows into forms.
Nightmaster has a magic sword. He’s the team leader and he owns Oblivion, the magic hangout bar.
The Pentacle, sort of Shadowpact’s opposite have taken over the town of Riverrock, Wyoming, surrounded it with a magic dome and are going to sacrifice the townsfolk in order to bring back some sort of game changing evil demon to life.
It’s like the Shirley Jackson story, The Lottery, but not really.
Superman tries to punch the dome, but as every school kid knows, magic is Superman’s daddy.
Batman is unavailable, so The Phantom Stranger creates a doorway with himself and its kick-in-the-family-jewels painful and consequently a one-way ride.
What follows is the obligatory villain/hero square off, as each hero fights their counterpart:
Meanwhile, outside the dome, also-ran magic heroes stand guard.
Rex, the Wonder Dog!! And he talks! A talking doggie!!!
The Thrilla-at-the-Red-Dome plot is resolved nicely…with a catch…
…with the rest of the volume finding our magic-y heroes dealing with a divide-and-conquer strategy.
Bottom Line: Willingham does an effective job with the team concept; building a group out of B-listers – giving them unique voices and crafting a fun, fast-paced story. DC has a fairly large roster of magic-based heroes, and Willingham does well with this as his core group.
Docked ½ star for not including Zatanna in a least one panel. This is a DC magic group and there’s no Zatanna!?! “s’that tihsllub”
1. Detective Chimp! He’s a monkey that talks! A talking monkey!! Whoo Hoo!!
2. At least two sorcery babes. Makes me want to sign up at the local black arts coven.
3. Me likey the DC magic stuff.
Shadowpact is a collection of some of DC’s magic-endowed super heroes, who not-coincidently fight magic threats to the DC universe.
There’s Blue Devil, who’s a devil who’s, uh, blue. He made some sort of stupid bargain with Satan.
Detective Chimp, the aforementioned talking monkey. OooWee!! Talking monkey!!!
Enchantress, who is sometimes portrayed as a villain (see the movie Suicide Squad), and even though she’s on the side of heroes, she’s still pretty bad ass.
Ragman was on Arrow and he has a creepy, possessed suit of rags that do creepy stuff like give out creepy hugs.
Nightshade is the team teleporter. She can also magnify and shape shadows into forms.
Nightmaster has a magic sword. He’s the team leader and he owns Oblivion, the magic hangout bar.
The Pentacle, sort of Shadowpact’s opposite have taken over the town of Riverrock, Wyoming, surrounded it with a magic dome and are going to sacrifice the townsfolk in order to bring back some sort of game changing evil demon to life.
It’s like the Shirley Jackson story, The Lottery, but not really.
Superman tries to punch the dome, but as every school kid knows, magic is Superman’s daddy.
Batman is unavailable, so The Phantom Stranger creates a doorway with himself and its kick-in-the-family-jewels painful and consequently a one-way ride.
What follows is the obligatory villain/hero square off, as each hero fights their counterpart:
Meanwhile, outside the dome, also-ran magic heroes stand guard.
Rex, the Wonder Dog!! And he talks! A talking doggie!!!
The Thrilla-at-the-Red-Dome plot is resolved nicely…with a catch…
…with the rest of the volume finding our magic-y heroes dealing with a divide-and-conquer strategy.
Bottom Line: Willingham does an effective job with the team concept; building a group out of B-listers – giving them unique voices and crafting a fun, fast-paced story. DC has a fairly large roster of magic-based heroes, and Willingham does well with this as his core group.
Docked ½ star for not including Zatanna in a least one panel. This is a DC magic group and there’s no Zatanna!?! “s’that tihsllub”
November 1, 2025
One of the underappreciated gems of the long log of DC stories. This is a must read for fans of Detective Chimp, which I am, and for fans of James Tynion IV's run on JLD!
June 17, 2019
Since reading Justice League Dark, Vol. 1: The Last Age of Magic and Wonder Woman & Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour I really wanted to go back into the DC comics catalog and get the back story on how many of the characters introduced in the hit series know each other. I was surprise to learn about a little DC comics team known as, The Shadowpact. This series was released in 2005. So this is a pre-flashpoint comic book. A Pre-flashpoint series that is good who knew this was possible? I have said it many times but I feel DC does it's magical universe a bit better than the Marvel fare. Shadowpact at its core is not that different from the Justice League Dark series. Basically we have a magical enemy that is to much for the Justice league to handle so the Shadowpact is called in to handle the problem. The team members we follow in this first volume consists of Detective Chimp, Nightmaster, Enchantress, Nightshade, Ragman, & Blue Devil. This first arc I felt was a bit generic concerning the plot but Bill Willingham does a good job establishing the team's personalities and relationships. The artwork is good on some panels and bit clunky in others but moves the story along nicely. I was pleasantly surprise by a Batman the Animated series character's appearance in this book. I also found the inclusion of Ragman in the book was a bonus seeing how I had only been exposed to the character from the CW series, Arrow. I think fans of the Justice League Dark series should check this book out. I thought it was a lot of fun and easily explained the magic side of the DCU. I will definitely be checking out the second volume soon.
January 23, 2012
Despite it's many obstacles, this was actually a good book.
October 23, 2021
This is one of those big, fat, "WTF?!" moments. I almost universally love Willingham's work, and the first two issues do build up to something (apart from the A-list superheroes apparently not giving a flying fuck for this "ancient evil" that the Phantom Stranger refers to), but then... nothing. It's as if he gave up on his own plot.
You get these really nasty villains, get riled and want to see them get pounded to pulp and the resolution is one of the laziest things I've seen in comics. One guy switches sides "just because", the rest are summarily defeated with barely an effort (whereas there was ample room given for when they defeated Shadowpact) and the whole thing is resolved in mater-of-fact fashion.
And as you are geared to see the ramifications of the team losing a year of their lives, the artist changes to this bad '90s Image dreg, with a small reprieve when Tom Derenick takes over for an issue.
And then there's the trainwreck named Kid Karnevil, and I quote from Comic Vine: "Karnevil has no powers, but is a ruthless and sadistic killer. He is an expert in many kinds of torture." Why? Why is such a throwaway character included in a coalition of mystic villains?! Just because Detective Chimp (note, a genius, talking chimp) is included in Shadowpact?
This was a surprisingly disappointing volume and it only gets 2 stars for the truly enjoyable first two issues.
You get these really nasty villains, get riled and want to see them get pounded to pulp and the resolution is one of the laziest things I've seen in comics. One guy switches sides "just because", the rest are summarily defeated with barely an effort (whereas there was ample room given for when they defeated Shadowpact) and the whole thing is resolved in mater-of-fact fashion.
And as you are geared to see the ramifications of the team losing a year of their lives, the artist changes to this bad '90s Image dreg, with a small reprieve when Tom Derenick takes over for an issue.
And then there's the trainwreck named Kid Karnevil, and I quote from Comic Vine: "Karnevil has no powers, but is a ruthless and sadistic killer. He is an expert in many kinds of torture." Why? Why is such a throwaway character included in a coalition of mystic villains?! Just because Detective Chimp (note, a genius, talking chimp) is included in Shadowpact?
This was a surprisingly disappointing volume and it only gets 2 stars for the truly enjoyable first two issues.
April 16, 2018
What a relief to discover that Shadowpact: The Pentacle Plot is a million times better than Darkness and Light. Oddly enough, the questions I had in that volume were answered in this volume. Ragman, it turns out, is not only an incredibly interesting character, but also a Jew. Who knew? His costume is a quilt of the souls of those who have committed unforgivable crimes. By becoming part of the suit and suffering by taking the pain from the wearer, they are able to atone as they would not in the afterlife.
September 15, 2016
An ok story but with quite an engaging cast. And there were several not well known but talented artists involved.
November 14, 2021
Enjoyed meeting new characters.
February 12, 2011
Good fun. Shadowpact go on their first real superhero case, but lose a year. Insights into the ragman also make this worth reading.
December 22, 2021
I am not that familiar with DC magic world as I am with Marvel but the characters look interesting and I do like the initial storyline with the heroes saving a town held captive by an evil witch and her group. It feels like one of those Lottery stories where the town is slowly being killed off as the villain sacrifice them for her master. I do like they tried to set up an archvillain for the members of Shadowpact but I hope they bring them back as we really did get much focus on that and the fights were to quick. Still nice start.
September 10, 2023
DNF!!
The DC Universe's magical heroes have always come as as unbelievably corny and this is no different. While its from the mid '00s it reads like its from the '80s. The first three issues show no character development whatsoever other than the one of the many antagonists and he's dispatched in seconds. Bill Willingham is a really good writer but not here, plus his art is very basic. Overall, not for me.
The DC Universe's magical heroes have always come as as unbelievably corny and this is no different. While its from the mid '00s it reads like its from the '80s. The first three issues show no character development whatsoever other than the one of the many antagonists and he's dispatched in seconds. Bill Willingham is a really good writer but not here, plus his art is very basic. Overall, not for me.
April 18, 2020
I really love Ragman and so I had to read this. It’s a fun story that’s refreshingly different from your everyday superhero book. I was vaguely familiar with the other members of Shadowpact before reading this but it was still very good. I’ll be reading the next volume.
March 28, 2021
A neat idea but not one I feel the need to read another volume of. I��ll always root for the C-list superheroes, but other than Ragman the other members of Shadowpact aren’t that interesting.
July 7, 2024
Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Tomo 1/4.
August 23, 2013
Při prvním pohledu by si jeden řekl. Druhořadý superhrdinský komiks. Kdo ale nedá na první pohled, velice záhy zjistí že tohle není tak úplně obyčejná skupina superhrdinů, už jen proto že je píše tvůrce Fables Bill Willingham. Takže přivítejte tým samozvaných magických ochránců a sbírku ideálních neuróz. Magická Enchantress je prvotřídní čarodějka, která má tendnce ale občas zmagořit. Nightshade zase dovede manipulovat temnotou, a protože má poměrně velkou představivost dovede z černé tmy udělat úplně všechno. Ragman je hadrácká verze Spectre, která má trestat zločince a funguje jako takový chodící očistec. Navíc je to žid. Nightmaster James Rook zase jednou objevil ve svém knihkupectví interdimenzionální bar, a tak si ho adoptoval. Zdá se Vám to šílené? Nebojte, bude toho víc. Dalším členem této úderky je Blue Devil. Ohromný modrý pekelník, který uzavřel smlouvu s ďáblem aby se z něj stala filmová hvězda a nikotinem a chlastem zasmrádlý opičák Detective Chimp, který má vždy v rukávu nějakou tu hlášku a je chytrý jako...no jako opice.
To jsou Shadowpact. Kdo po přečtení tohohle malého drobného review ještě váhá, ať se propleskne a Shadowpact vyzkouší (pro lepší pocit doporučuji na rozjezd Day Of Vengeance).
V prvním booku se Shadowpact postaví tajemné skupině Pentacle, která se rozhodne obsadit jedno malebné maloměsto a všechny v něm vesele obětovat čemusi. A protože i Superman a Phantom Stranger se ukážou jako nepříliš úspěšní řešitelé této lapálie, je řada na Shadowpact. Nádherný rozjezd nové série, kterému k dokonalosti chybí jenom málo. A to co mu chybí rozhodně nabere v dalším booku, ale o tom jindy.
To jsou Shadowpact. Kdo po přečtení tohohle malého drobného review ještě váhá, ať se propleskne a Shadowpact vyzkouší (pro lepší pocit doporučuji na rozjezd Day Of Vengeance).
V prvním booku se Shadowpact postaví tajemné skupině Pentacle, která se rozhodne obsadit jedno malebné maloměsto a všechny v něm vesele obětovat čemusi. A protože i Superman a Phantom Stranger se ukážou jako nepříliš úspěšní řešitelé této lapálie, je řada na Shadowpact. Nádherný rozjezd nové série, kterému k dokonalosti chybí jenom málo. A to co mu chybí rozhodně nabere v dalším booku, ale o tom jindy.
March 21, 2016
This was a decent read with some pretty good incite. The characters were pretty well developed especially ragman. His plight was quite interesting and it appears his character was developed from a Catholic perspective seeing that his victims were put in limbo or purgatory with a second chance to redeem themselves. I not a big fan of witches warlocks and magic so this is not a book I will retain in my collection but book still has thought provoking value.
January 8, 2010
A great cast can't save a weak story as the Shadowpact are trapped in a small town held captive by evil, magical forces. The villian team all happen to be made up of evil counterparts of the Shadowpact and the story mostly just fizzles, rather than reaching a solid ending.
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January 5, 2008Part of One Year Later event
February 19, 2010
I just love the way the characters are written in this thing by Willingham.
October 27, 2012
I wanna love everything Bill Willingham does but: meh.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews