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Review: Legend of the Shadow Clan #2

Published Sat, 02 Mar 2013 10:00:58 -0600

Alex Wilson writes;

Aspen started off their "10 for 10" initiative with Legend of the Shadow Clan and the second issue will be hitting shelves on March 6th. Written by David Wohl and featuring the art of Cory Smith, the second issue of the series seems to be coming out on time. As some may have noticed, Aspen has been plagued with late books in the past but it seems they are starting a new with their "10 for 10."

For those who are unaware of Aspen's "10 for 10" consists of Aspen publishing one new title a month for ten months with each first issue costing only $1. There will be five new titles and five returning titles. This project was in celebration of Aspen's ten-year anniversary. As many know, Michael Turner started Aspen but tragically in 2008 Turner passed away. This is Aspen's 5^th year without Turner.

The story of this issue starts off by showing a what seems to be the leader of the Shadow Clan and gives a little bit of background and personality of his character. The first issue of this series was enjoyable but the second issue reads better. Most of this issue is still establishing the series but we see a good progression of story and the personalities of our main characters are flushed out a bit more. In this issue there doesn't seem to be a MAIN character but the family the book centers around is the closest thing.

The pacing is great in this book. It moves at an enjoyable pace even though much of the book is character and story establishment. Wohl does a good job of keeping the story moving but he pushes a lot of story into this issue. I would have preferred if a few of the characters would have been focused on more than others but Wohl seems to want to give equal time to all. We see a few new characters we haven't seen before but mostly they seem mostly supporting cast except for the man who seems to be our main villain.

The dialog falls well with each character. I can distinguish them and Wohl makes dialog flow well without any hick-ups.

Smith does a great job with the art. He captures the characters well while keeping the story moving and understandable. This book is considerably less action packed than the first issue but even though the focus seems to be story, Smith keeps the panels interesting.

The biggest keys to success with this book is keeping it on track and monthly, along with sticking with one single book instead of splitting it up into mini-series as Aspen has done before with many of their books. If Aspen can have an issue come out every month of the year and stick with the single book structure like many of today's comic books, then they have the potential for a fun and successful book. The quality is there but we will see what the future holds for this title.

I'm excited for this series and want to see where it goes. This is a great chance to give Aspen a try if you haven't in the past. This book is fun and exciting, as I said in the first issue review, who doesn't like Ninjas?