Solomon Kane: Red Shadows #1
Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: Bruce Jones
Artist: Rahsan Ekedal
Cover Art: Guy Davis, Gregory Manchess with Dave Stewart
It’s been almost a full year since we have last seen our favorite demon slaying Puritan on the stands, but once again darkness has covered the colonial lands and Solomon Kane rides into town with the all new mini-series, Solomon Kane: Red Shadows, out on stands now from Dark Horse.
In this first issue, Kane comes to a crossroads in Torkertown, in which, with an explosive opening page (see bottom of article), he finds himself battling demons and devils amok. Out of this battle he crosses with a mysterious lad who claims no one uses the roads to cross the moor anymore, and wants to take Kane to an old man named Ezra to help. Kane decides to follow, but as things happen, monstrous ghosts appear, tales of murder are told, and Kane solves a mystery that ties it together.
The first issue feels more like a self-contained tale than an intro to a new mini-series, however, it has provided a wonderful reintroduction to the world of Solomon Kane for first time readers and fans alike. Writer Bruce Jones, who worked on The Incredible Hulk, has stepped up to the plate on this mini-series and has begun to weave what may just be Dark Horse’s best written Solomon Kane tale yet. Jones has given fans everything they could have wanted: plenty of monsters, blood shed, and fleshed out characters, all in 22 pages. The moment where he has Kane nearly defeated was a great surprise, and it’s wonderful that Jones has such a talent to make us remember Solomon Kane is still only a human. The art by Rahsan Ekedal comes across the page nicely, although I still personally prefer the art of Mario Guevara on the previous two Dark Horse mini-series. Still, Ekedal knows how to illustrate Jones’s writing to a tee, making the two a fantastic duo for this project. Ekedal’s art has a more polished feel to it than the art in the previous mini-series, giving Kane more of a buff-hero-of-the-week design, and the world he’s in a more gothic fairy tale quality, than just being filled with brooding darkness. He also has some pretty damn cool page layouts.
So who will like it? Damn well everybody. Fans of Solomon Kane will not be disappointed with this excellent tale. People who did not enjoy the previous mini-series will enjoy this fresh look and new writing direction the team at Dark Horse is taking. Also as I mentioned, this issue is great for first time readers, so newbies hop on this one. Highly recommended, on stands now.
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.com
A copy of this comic was provided by Dark Horse for review.
Nice review. I think I need to get this ASAP.
er…really? it was pretty terrible for me. the art is passable at best, but more importantly the dialogue was ridiculously bad. seemed to me like a pretty big and jarring change, Solomon Kane going from being a well-spoken man of few words unless necessary to the one we see here wildly screaming awful exposition to no one in particular. as usual with Bruce Jones, I’ll be passing on any more issues until he’s gone.
Just picked this up and thought it was good. The artwork is defintely serviceable and the dialogue was decent. The only other Kane story I’ve read was back in December, but I don’t remember him being a guy who was very colloquial.
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