DCU Comic Book Reviews

SHADOWPACT #8

The Laws Of Battle

February 2007

Written by Bill Willingham

Pencils by Shawn McManus

Inks by Shawn McManus

Cover by Shawn McManus

Synopsis

While Dr. Gotham and Strega continue to plot against the Shadowpact, the Congregation has been able to disable Ragman, Nightshade, and Blue Devil with their literally blinding ray of light.  When they are put to sleep, Ragman finds himself within his own suit of Rags, being beaten by angry souls for what Rags has done to him.  Luckily he is saved by a soul that has been within the suit of rags for several hundred years.  He agrees to take on Ragman’s blindness, which will be his final act before he can continue to the afterlife.  Meanwhile, the Congregation decide to take Ragman, Nightshade, and Blue Devil to the Oblivion bar to find the rest of Shadowpact.  Inside the bar, however, they fail to realize their powers won’t work.  Now able to see, Ragman defeats the Congregation easily. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Yet another solid issue.  This series has been consistently good from the beginning and I really hope Willingham can continue this for some time.  It is the small little touches that make a lot of the material work, such as Ragman’s grandfather poor choice of new name, or the Congregation thinking Shadowpact are villains and not heroes, and the fact that the Congregation’s powers won’t work inside the bar.  I also found the part describing some of the acts of the souls in the rag suit to be a little disturbing, but I liked it as it shows that those who get picked up Ragman really do deserve their punishment.  Plus, this balanced by the one who is freed, showing that Ragman is doing these people a great service. 

So, next issue we are supposed to get the three laws.  Based on the ending to the previous issue, I though this time we were getting the three laws.  Hopefully next time.  There is a danger of too much build up, of too much anticipation that could cause even the greatest of ideas to fall flat because we have internally built it up to be greater than it could possibly be.  I like Willingham and I like his work, but lets hope he hasn’t shot himself in the foot by waiting too long to unveil these laws. 

Finally I would like to make a plea to DC Comics (not that they are watching or would even heed my suggestion) to stop with the rotating artist and stick with someone.  Thankfully a lot of the artwork is similar so it’s not that bad, but it would still be nice to get a consistent style to the title.  I think it deserves it. 

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