Valiant is bringing back Jack Boniface or Shadowman. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Matt Kindt, CEO & Chief Executive Dinesh Shamdasani, Editor-In-Chief Warren Simons, and Doug Braithwaite revealed Shadowman will return to the Valiant Universe in Operation: Deadside, a four-part story arc that will begin with Ninjak #10 in December.
The story will send Ninjak and Punk Mambo into an inter-dimensional world known as Deadside where Shadowman will reemerge. The story arc will be written by current Ninjak writer, Matt Kindt, and will feature artwork from Doug Braithwaite. Brian Reber will color Braithwaite’s art. Trevor Hairsine and Tom Muller will be creating variant covers that will have a special glow-in-the-dark treatment.
Kindt, Shamdasani, and Simons are all very excited to bring Shadowman back to the Valiant Universe. Shamdasani noted, “Shadowman is one of our biggest characters…Not only is he a fascinating character struggling both literally and figuratively between the light and dark sides, but he exists in an incredible mythology inspired by the conventions and iconography of Voodoo.”
Shadowman’s supernatural abilities will be a challenge for Kindt, but he is relishing it despite not being a big fan of supernatural or magical characters. “I’ve been reading a lot of the genre lately and doing a lot of research into ‘real’ magic, and the concepts behind the origins of the basic idea of magic to prepare,” Kindt explains. He hopes the book will appeal to both supernatural enthusiasts as well as non-magic loving readers.
Shamdasani, Kindt, and Simons also unveiled some pretty big spoilers in the interview noting that Ninjak and MI-6 are well aware of Deadside and even have a history together. MI-6 has even sent in agents to Deadside before only to have them massacred. Shamdasani teased Ninjak’s history with Deadside, but did not go into further details. Looks like we will have to wait for the actual story on that piece.
As far as the artwork is considered, Doug Braithwaite believes this will be one of his most challenging projects as well. “I can say that it is one of my most visually exciting stories to date,” Braithwaite mentioned.
Aside from Shadowman, Ninjak, and Punk Mambo the interview also revealed that Master Darque will make an appearance, but not to be overlooked is the actual Deadside location. Matt Kindt details, “The Deadside is a crazy amazing place and is going to be as much a character as anything else in the story.”
This looks to be a really awesome story arc that will continue Valiant’s focus on story and character that is making them one of the best publishers on the market. Will you be picking up Operation: Deadside? What do you expect will happen?