Books & Literature

Graphic Novel Review: The Twilight Zone: The Shadow, by David Avallone

When superhero The Shadow begins to lose his sense compassion, he’s thrust into The Twilight Zone where he has to face himself and rediscover who he is.

Mashing up two iconic shows is an inspirational move by writer David Avallone, who has paired up with artist Dave Acosta to throw The Shadow into The Twilight Zone.

The Shadow is a pulp fiction hero that has crossed over from magazines to radio serial and films, while The Twilight Zone is perhaps the most popular and well-known science fiction anthology series ever to screen on television.

thetwilightzoneshadow200Writing in the style of the television series, Avallone presents four comic books, now combined into this one graphic novel. Each chapter features the traditional voice-over introduction and conclusion, sending The Shadow on a journey of self-discovery through The Twilight Zone.

In the first chapter, Shadow of a Doubt The Shadow works alongside his trusted love interest, Margo Lane, to break up a Nazi party gathering, but when his extreme violence threatens the lives of children and other innocent people, Lane pushes back about his loss of compassion and responsibility. Soon after, The Shadow wakes to find himself in an alternate universe where his secret identity is a doppelganger, forcing him to face himself, quite literally.

Chapter two, The Voice of the Shadow, is a beautifully realised break down of the fourth wall, when The Shadow’s alter ego, Kent Allard, find that he’s an actor in a radio serial called The Shadow, and his memories may just be a blur between fiction and reality.

Birth of the Shadow follows on from the previous chapter, with the hero assuming the body of author Maxwell Grant, where he is forced to write The Shadow’s adventures and take control of his real persona’s life. Facing the fury of Justice, he’s forced to rethink his own sense of the word.

The final chapter, Shadow Boxing, puts The Shadow into the clutches of the Nazi party, where is supernatural adventure comes full circle.

Despite there being four distinct adventures, The Twilight Zone: The Shadow is a single, overarching storyline. There are plenty of messages about identity, justice, and balance that are delivered throughout the graphic novel, but they’re obvious without being heavy handed. Each chapter is full of action and each story is a page-turner. Avallone provides some background to The Shadow through the narrative, putting him into perspective for anyone new to the hero.

The Twilight Zone: The Shadow graphic novel will be released on 18 October 2016.

Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet

Rating out of 10:  8

Published by: Dynamite, distributed by Diamond Book Distributors
Release Date: October 2016
RRP: US$15.99 paperback

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