Valiant Entertainment, LLC, brought us to New Orleans with their entry for Free Comic Book Day with "Shadowman: Darque Legacy." Written and drawn by Bob Hall, with Andrew Dalhouse assisting with colors, this story begins 15 years ago when Jack Boniface decided to follow his father one evening to try and find out about Josiah's secret life. He also needed answers as to why his mom left him as a young child. What he saw would leave a lasting nightmarish impression! His dad was fighting some weird looking sea creature while his dad's face turned into a skull-like mask.
Josiah revealed to his son that the amulet he had given him when he was younger was designed to stop him from changing into a skull-face guy like his dad. However, when he got older and was breaking into the music business as a saxophonist, he meets an Abettor who makes him take his amulet off so that he can fulfill his destiny. While his music career takes a hit, Jack finds himself headed for a new adventure.
The issue finishes with a preview of "X-O Manowar: Unconquered," written by Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan, with some crazy artwork by Liam Sharp. This piece explains the origin story of how Aric of Dacia became X-O Manowar by wearing Shanharr, a much needed suit of armor that is alive to free his people that were capture by the Vine. Living on Earth, X-O seeks out a soothsayer for advice about his ability to stop a comet headed for his planet.
There are other surprises in this issue but I didn't need X-O Manowar to convince me to check out some Valiant titles because I was completely sold on Shadowman!
