The Shadow #3

Written by: Si Spurrier & Dan Watters
Ar by: Daniel HDR
Colours by: Natalia Marques
Published by: Dynamite

We begin this issue of The Shadow as Mary, our intrepid soon to be doctor, begins her search for Myra Reldon, a woman she believes may hold the answers to the burn-victim that she has been treating that she knows is The Shadow. This search, however, is leading her nowhere - it seems Mrs. Reldon has no digital footprint and even trying to find her the “oldschool” way, as Mary puts it, is leading her to dead-ends.

Despite these apparent setbacks, as Mary continues her search, she begins to encounter some pretty unique characters. All this leads to a confrontation with a small group of men who have taken inspiration from the return of The Shadow, but in all the wrong ways. This confrontation provides Mary with her first real lead, when the interesting characters she’s been running into come to her rescue. We find out that they were part of The Shadow’s group all those years ago as younger men and women, adding to the mysteries in the book.

Spurrier and Watters have done a good job of continuing the intrigue in this series, as we aren’t always sure what to trust and what may be coming next. The use of the Shadow as a symbol to be corrupted is a nice allegory to modern-day, real-world issues, where a slew of symbols have been corrupted.

I’ve also enjoyed Spurrier and Watters’ exploration of The Shadow’s past, as Mary keeps finding new ways for her burn-victim to relieve his past and to make some sense to it. These glimpses also provide the reader with a way to better know who this character is, especially those of us who are newer to the character, or haven’t read his stories in years.