DCU Comic Book Reviews

SHADOWPACT #25

The Burning Age, Part Three of Three

July 2008

Written by Matthew Sturges

Pencils by Phil Winslade

Inks by Phil Winslade

Cover by Phil Winslade

Synopsis

Three teams of Shadowpact, from the past, present, and future, are battling the Sun King and his minions.  Elsewhere, Blue Devil is fighting his brother Jack of Fire.  Blue Devil is able to take the trident from his brother and win the fight, but he can’t kill Jack.  However, Jack kills himself, giving his powers back to Blue Devil, who then joins in the battle against the Sun King.  Meanwhile, Enchantresses realizes that the Sun King is growing in power by siphoning energy all around him.  To defeat them, they need to draw away that energy.  But to do it, they need hundreds of magicians.  So, the future magician of Shadowpact opens a time rift, bringing forth magicians from all over time and together they suck the life from the Sun King and win the battle.  Afterwards, the Phantom Stranger tells the team that this the first time Shadowpact has succeeded.  

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

It is sad to see that this is the last issue of this book, but I think Sturges does a great job in finishing the story so that it ends on such a good, upbeat note.  Having Shadowpact sharing a drink with the Phantom Stranger, who has been the narrator of the book since the beginning, is a great way to end it.  With the team making an appearance in the upcoming Reign in Hell mini-series, we at least have not seen the end to these characters or to the team.  Or, and this is the optimistic side of me, maybe we’ll even see the book return, but a different team based on whatever happens to the status quo.  So, it was nice to see Sturges put the team in a good place. 

Sturges even manages to return Blue Devil to his demonic powers while giving him his soul so that he has the best of both worlds.  Along with Detective Chimp (who gets the news of his very large statue), Blue Devil is probably the most popular character.  It is not surprising that Danny would once more become Blue Devil, but the way it happens, at least, works for me. 

The bit with the Warlock’s Daughter and the future lover-boy seemed out of place in this issue.  Essentially, Struges is introducing a new plot point or new character defining moment in the final issue of the book and it doesn’t quite work. 

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