I loved the first issue of this book. I don’t think I shut up about it for like a week after I read it.
Needless to say, my expectations for the second issue were pretty high. Were they met? Let’s find out…
Death, Only a Complication
Doctor Hyde Perkins, recently returned from burying the body of one Erik LeRoux, finds himself being questioned by the witch Helena Hextress. She considers Erik's death only a “mere complication,” quickly hatching a plan that should allow her to still get her revenge. Turning Perkins into a tiny wooden figurine, just to be safe, she begins to prepare for her spell.
Meanwhile, in the spirit world, Erik and the mysterious Elizabeth are searching for the missing pages of Erik’s life story book. There’s a quiet tension in the air, as Elizabeth is unaware that Erik is the one responsible for her demise, and Erik is unaware that she is actually Helena’s sister.
As Erik and Elizabeth discover more pages of his book, revealing more of his and Katrina’s tale. As they began performing together, it became harder to ignore their feelings for one another. Things became more complicated when Erik met her arranged fiancé, Rupert, but even that didn’t drive them apart. One day, Erik gifted Katrina a beautiful family heirloom, a gold crescent-moon necklace. It was then that Katrina’s father tried to intervene, telling Erik to stay away from his daughter or there would be consequences.
Speaking of consequences, back on Earth, Helena has begun preparations for a spell to bring Erik back to life, so that she can properly get her revenge. Speaking of life and death, Erik and Elizabeth find yet more pages of his book, where they learn that he indeed did not stay away from her – and it cost him his life. However, he was not clad in the mysterious costume he now finds himself in, so he must have been returned to life at some point in his story!
Finding Erik’s grave, Helena begins her spell. In the spirit world, a gigantic, monstrous version of Erik bursts from the ground and swallows him up, leaving the tatters of his book at the feet of the shocked Elizabeth. Rising from his grave, Erik finds himself among the living once more, but this time at the mercy of Helena Hextress…
In the Name of Love
This book is just so darn cool. Go read it.
That’s it. That’s my review.
But seriously, this book is unlike anything else on the shelves right now. The first issue set the world and the players, and now this issue builds it up even further. Helena Hextress has emerged as the clear “villain” of the story, although given what we’ve been learning about him, it’s hard to call Erik a “hero.”
Helena proves fairly quickly that she won’t let anything stand in the way of her getting revenge on Erik for what he did to her sister, even being willing to bring him back from the dead to do so. That’s dedication, folks. You can feel her pain and her grief as she remembers her sister and the last time they spoke, which makes her so much more than a mustache-twirling villain (figuratively speaking, of course).
The love story of Erik and Katrina is nothing new so far, being a tale of an arranged marriage and the man she really wants to be with, but it’s handled so well here. And the reveal that Erik has died at least once before, plus the still-unrevealed truth of what happened to Katrina, mean that there’s still plenty of places for the story to go.
We don’t get to see as much of the spirit world and its inhabitants this time, instead focusing tightly on our main cast. But there’s still a ton of creativity on almost every page, between the twists and turns of the plot, the panel layouts, the colors, all of it. I’m hard-pressed to think of anything about this book that I didn’t like, if I’m being honest.
Magician’s Assistants
The creative team of Daniel Ziegler and Nick Cagnetti is once again at the helm this issue. Both men are responsible for the overall story, while Ziegler handles the scripting and Cagnetti oversees both art and colors. Usually, when I see multiple names on a story credit, I cringe a little bit. In the movies, that generally means that they each took a pass at the script, and then they were all Frankensteined together into the final product. That is not the case here. The story feels very cohesive, and you can tell that both men were on the same page the whole way. The pacing is strong. The way they bounce back and forth between the spirit world with the flashbacks of Erik, and the real world with the quest for revenge of Helena, keeps things interesting.
The scripting by Ziegler is also strong. Everyone has a unique voice and feels like a rounded character. Helena is far more than just the villain of the piece. Erik clearly hides many secrets, both from those around him and also from himself.
There is no denying that the art and colors of Cagnetti are the real stars here, no matter how good the story is. The character designs and panel layouts are varied and well thought out. He actually puts effort into the backgrounds! The spirit world continues to be bright and colorful, with all kinds of things going on around the characters, while the colors of the real world are slightly more subdued. When it comes to the flashbacks of Erik's life, there is a totally different color tone used that gives those sequences a much more classic comic book look. It really makes the Jack Kirby influence in the art style shine through.
I do not often mention lettering because there are only so many ways to say the words were clean and legible, but I do want to mention the work of Ferran Delgado here. Oftentimes with independent books, you end up with a lettering style that is a little rougher and almost like it is handwritten, instead of the more typeface style of the Big Two. Although obviously not at that level of production, the lettering here is very clean. it is more in the style of what you would expect from a mainline Marvel or DC book, which just adds to the overall look of the book.
No Closure, Only Revenge
Although it does not quite hit the heights of the first issue, Spirit of the Shadows #2 is still an exemplary comic book. It tells an interesting story with unpredictable twists and turns, all wrapped up in artwork and colors that are at a whole other level. It is a story where the heroes are not always good people, and the villains are not all bad. Everything is wrapped in shades of gray.
Some of the story beats are a little rote or predictable, but before you can think about being bored, the creators hit you with a twist or turn that flips the whole thing on its head. It is hard to remember that this creative team has very few comic credits to their name. If they are cranking out this level of quality already, just imagine what they will be able to do once they have built up some more experience. We may only be two issues in, and it is only February, but I already know that Spirit of the Shadows is going to be on my list for best books of the year.