A Blast from the Past
Having just attended a recent London comic-con, i snapped up the first volume of the Shadowhawk Chronicles seeing as how rare image graphic novels are these days (at least in the U.K). I must say that i was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the story-telling and art-work, whereas the collection provides a copious number of important issues and crossovers (i particularly enjoyed 'Enter: The Savage Dragon'). However, i did have a number of problems with this collection. Most glaring is the fact that the issues are reprinted in black and white rather than colour, a fact that may disappoint newcomers and collectors. Moreover, the writing and dialogue may seem a little dated compared to contemporary comics, though it is refreshing to read an inner monologue expressed in full english compared to Miller and Bendis' often annoying scripting (sorry Miller fans). However, despite these niggles the original shadowhawk story arcs remain interesting whereas Paul Johnstone's origin provides a compelling protagonist for prospective readers. If you stumble across this book buy it, as it is great value for money and arguably one of the better Image/Shadowline titles.