Shadowland

Shadowland

by Andy Diggle

It's the battle for the soul of New York! After taking over the Hand, Daredevil attempts to convert the league of merciless ninja assassins into his own private army and begins doling out a darker brand of justice as he transforms Hell's Kitchen into the Shadowland! With his forces now in control of the streets, not even the police are welcome. And in one of the most shocking moments in Marvel history, Daredevil finally gets revenge on archenemy Bullseye! Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage and Iron Fist led a group of heroes to confront their long time ally, but Daredevil isn't feeling diplomatic! It's the ultimate showdown as Marvel's greatest heroes take on Daredevil and his army of Hand assassins - not only for the soul New York, but also the soul of a hero! Collecting SHADOWLAND #1-5 and material from X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS SPOTLIGHT

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

144 pages, Paperback

Published August 23, 2011

About the author

Andy Diggle is a British comic book writer and former editor of 2000 AD. He is best known for his work on The Losers,Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Adam Strange and Silent Dragon at DC Comics and for his run on Thunderbolts and Daredevil after his move to Marvel.

In 2013 Diggle left writing DC's Action Comics and began working with Dynamite Entertainment, writing a paranormal crime series Uncanny. He is also working on another crime series with his wife titled Control that is set to begin publishing in 2014.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Andy Diggle joins the ranks of decent writers who’ve produced a crappy event comic with Shadowpants!

What do you do when Bullseye blows up a tenement block in Hell’s Kitchen? Well, if you’re Daredevil, you put on a black version of your outfit, build a giant Eastern-themed fortress in its place, become head of a ninja cult, establish martial law over your territory, and start raising the dead. Of course. Perfect. Sense.

All Shadowland is is an evil version of Daredevil fighting various Marvel characters - the usual contrived scenario with too much loud dumb action with zero consequences. Though I did laugh when The Punisher showed up, said “Kung-Fu THIS” and unloaded his machine gun into a crowd of ninjas!

Billy Tan’s art is excellent - the black Daredevil outfit does look cool - and what little Bullseye stuff there was was also entertaining. But Shadowland is mostly mindless, predictably dull nonsense.

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shadowland had potential. I'd heard about Daredevil going "bad" and taking over the Hand. I'd always wanted to read that story arc and thus excitedly bought this volume. Well, it is and it isn't "Shadowland". It only collects the Shadowland mini-series, which entails the end of the saga. So I have yet to read the part where all this takes place.

Daredevil has taken over the Hand. In some other volume. But anyways, he's head of the Hand and has built a Shiro ( a Japanese Castle from the 15-16th century) in the middle of Hell's Kitchen. Don't ask how. That's in another volume. But anyways, Daredevil is wearing black and rather more mean.

The heroes on the cover go to talk to him and find there is a lot more going on than assumed. The rest of the story is how these Avengers fought Daredevil and the Hand. Oh and the Kingpin is involved too. Is this a bad story? By no means. Is this a good story? Yeah..probably. Is this the complete Shadowland? Fuck No. It's 5 issues of the ending. Where's the rest of this?

Without context it devolves into a stupid slugfest. But, there must be some potential here or I'd still not be curious. This is a two star volume not for the story, which had potential, but for the dearth of issues in what is billed as the Shadowland collection, which needed the issues leading up to it, and thus makes this story rather silly. Look! Daredevil in black! Daredevil runs the Hand! Ghost Rider! Elektra! But no goddamn background. That's in another volume. But, I'm sure they'll release the "pre-Shadowland" story in another volume...for more money....gee..surprise, surprise, surpirse.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I'm not enough of a Daredevil fangirl to say whether or not this sucked, so I'll just say I was underwhelmed.
I'd heard that this was a BIG EVENT for Murdock, and I can see why, but I'm not sold on the concept.
Demon Possession?
I've never thought of Daredevil as a particularly supernatural character. Religious...maybe. But not necessarily part of the Marvel universe that dealt with the occult much.
Yeah, yeah...The Hand ninjas serve that Beast dude...but still.
Again, I'm not familiar enough with this character to make a true judgment call, so I'm just going off of my (admittedly uneducated) impressions.

Daredevil has taken over the reigns as leader of The Hand, in an effort to use them for good instead of evil.
Road to Hell...Good intentions...Yadda, yadda..
Unbeknownst to him, he's been semi-possessed by The Beast, and when he chooses to kill Bullseye it allows the demon to take full control.

Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, and...a bunch of second string street heroes that I can't recall right now, try to talk some sense into Matt.
But by then, it's too late. He's got Hell's Kitchen completely locked down, and he's planning on spreading his 'kingdom'...everywhere?...not sure.
Electra, some old dude (Master Somebody), and the Punisher show up, and the team comes up with a plan to take take him out.
Also, for some reason, Moon Knight is running around in the background of the story. Does he do anything helpful? Not really.
Ghost Rider gets summoned by Kingpin, who is using an ancient 'magic scroll' that he stole from The Hand.
As with Moon Knight, his appearance doesn't seem all that important in the overall story. But at least he attempts to help out during the Big Showdown.

I honestly didn't really get the reason for this story.
I mean, I understand what happened, and it was sort of entertaining, but I can't say it impressed me.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty cool I guess!

It starts off with Daredevil taking down an enemy and well the heroes thinking he has crossed the line and they confront him only to see he has changed and we find out who it really is and its connections to the Hand so the fight between the Avengers and the forces of the hand and daredevil goes underway with some role of Kingpin and Elektra mixed in and also cool scenes of Matt going berserk and all and the conclusion is predictable but its the ending that has me excited sort of.

Its a good volume with predictable story things and a conclusion which is obvious but I like the execution and the convo between the characters and it feels linear and simple and a very heroic tale and maybe a classic tale of "hero falls from grace" and his rising would be interesting to see otherwise the writing is simple and the art is clean and sets up the future status quo really nicely.

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did anyone actually enjoy this?

This is the text-book definition of why cross-overs are a bad idea. There only reason this existed was to generate more revenue - by forcing fans to purchase more comics than just the Daredevil monthly, and - hopefully - introduce them to other characters.

It was a major shame to see the previous, quality runs go to waste.

[Димитър Цолов · Rating 5 out of 5]

Тук до последно умувах дали ще са 4* или 5*, традиционно имаше здрава пата-кюта и цъфнаха куп знайни и незнайни герои, но все пак, мярнаха се двама силно наши - Наказателя и Призрачния ездач (макар и почти инцидентно), а финалът на историята също ми се понрави.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off I should point out that, like most crossover events, reading only the central mini-series is often not enough to fully enjoy said crossover event. From one chapter to the next, you might feel as if you've missed an important development in the story, one that's happened in a companion mini-series or tie-in. Such is the case with "Shadowland". Sure, the more tie-ins you read, the better, but the absolute minimum you should read along with this book is the Shadowland: Daredevil collection (to which I basically gave the same review). Which is logical, since the event is centered around Daredevil. Ideally, to get the most out of this storyline, one needs to read the first part of "Shadowland", then the first part of the "Shadowland: Daredevil" collection, and then the second part of "Shadowland", then the second part of the "Shadowland: Daredevil", and so on...

For an event that's gotten generally mixed reviews from "professional" reviewers from all corners of the internet, "Shadowland", in my humble opinion, is not nearly as bad as you'd be led to believe. Sure, some of its elements might be seen as unrealistic or implausible, but hey, this is a comic book, people! If you just let yourself go along with the story, you can see it as an interesting development for Daredevil.

Since its re-launch by Kevin Smith, through the Bendis and Brubaker runs, Daredevil's been subjected to one hardship after another, and he's always come out on the other side. He just keeps going. Now even though the aforementioned Bendis and Brubaker runs were phenomenal and destined to become classics, the Daredevil comic book itself had become quite dark and gritty, and somewhere along the way the editorial staff at Marvel comics decided to bring the character back to a traditional, not-so-dark environment. But they couldn't just change the character overnight. Instead, they had to take him to the logical end of the path he'd been on for the last years. Enter Andy Diggle, whose mandate it was to bring about the "end" of the dark days of Daredevil. Daredevil: The Devil's Hand (which I highly recommend to you) was an excellent start to his run and directly precedes the events of "Shadowland".

So, sure, "Shadowland" and the tie-in books may not be up to par with the Bendis and Brubaker runs, but one must keep in mind that, while these two writers pretty much took the character where they wanted him to go, Diggle had been given clear directives by the editors. This usually excellent writer did what he could with what he was given, and that's that. The art by Billy Tan is nice and the covers are supplied by the always excellent John Cassaday. Considering all of this, "Shadowland" turns out to be quite satisfying in its own right - just don't forget to read it alongside Shadowland: Daredevil. 4 stars.

[logankstewart · Rating 1 out of 5]

[Note: This review is identical to my review of Shadowland: Daredevil , as the two are intertwined through a cross-over event.]

To be fair, I was warned. The truly wonderful Volume 2 of Daredevil, spanning from Issue #1 to Issue #512 (which is 132), began in 1998 with a reboot. It lasted for 12 years, and in the majority of those years the story of Matt Murdock was fantastic. Sure, Murdock had a downer life, constantly assaulted and beaten. It was horrible. Tough. But still Matt Murdock pressed on.

When Andy Diggle took over the series at issue 501, there was an immediate shift in the story. Things were already dark, but Diggle took them to a ridiculously level of absurd darkness with little-to-no plausible explanation. The writing quality dropped noticeably, and consequently did the characterization. Art work was passable, but not as good as Lark or Maleev (or any of the others previously). And worst of all was the conclusion. This messy story might have been okay had it been spread out over more issues or handled differently. Instead the cross-over event was wacky and chaotic and I found myself cringing.

To me Daredevil Volume 2 ends at issue #500. Most everything established up to this point is resolved, and while the ending isn't perfect it's magnitudes better than the thing here in Shadowland. If you're reading stories about the Man Without Fear, allow me to recommend the same thing the guy that loaned me these comics: SKIP EVERYTHING AFTER 500. You won't regret it.

[Relstuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is actually a review of the whole Diggle Daredevil run. The publishing of the Shadowland was very poorly done with important parts of the stories split into different collected editions. So just reading the Shadowland event would be unsatisfying as would just reading the Daredevil issues/collection.

Reading the whole thing together (as I did) it's not as bad as everyone says. But it wasn't on the same level as the Bendis or Brubaker material that proceeded Diggle's run either. I've been wanting to read this for years and I'm very glad to have finally read thru it.

[Matty Dub · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very rushed event and that is both good and bad, it’s not exactly a good story so we’re spared further mediocrity but the book also feels like it would’ve benefited from more room to breathe. It doesn’t help that instead on expanding the story in the companion DD book Shadowland spins out of, it stuck to repeating events already seen in this book. Despite the fact that there’s really no reason for it to exist, it’s still mildly entertaining. The art is bad, Philip Tan was a poor choice, letting him do some of the inks was an even poorer choice and while we’re piling up shit on shit, might as well throw Guru fx’ inconsistent color job on there. Oh and Cassaday’s covers are hideous.

[Jaye Berry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very confusing and mid. I only picked this up because the Daredevil run I was reading went into talking about shit that happened in here and I was like wat. Reading this though really didn't give much better context besides damn lots of characters. The giant ass castle in the middle of Hell's Kitchen Daredevil built like what lol.

And I don't know why my boy Moon Knight was on the covers and involved at all when he truly does fuck all?? I loved his narration boxes had lil moons on them so we knew who was narrating. 💀

I hated the art and how he drew women but Daredevil's black suit and horns were cool af.

[Alan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let’s get straight to the point: 'Shadowland' is a mess in every conceivable way. As if the story itself weren’t bad enough (and “bad” it is), Marvel’s trade paperback/collections department has made this nearly unreadable by completely botching its presentation.

For those unfamiliar, 'Shadowland' was one of those annual crossover “events” that the Big Two use to drain our wallets. While it spawned numerous inconsequential spin-offs, one tie-in was absolutely essential: 'Shadowland: Daredevil', which follows the central character of this story. The problem? 'Shadowland' and 'Shadowland: Daredevil' have been collected separately, even though the main event makes little sense without the 'Daredevil' tie-in. To follow the plot without feeling like you’re missing key moments, you’d have to alternate issues between the two books—first an issue of 'Shadowland', then one of 'Daredevil', and so on. I can’t say for certain whether reading them together would actually improve the experience, as I have no intention of subjecting myself to 'Shadowland: Daredevil' after enduring this disaster.

That’s a shame because the basic premise of 'Shadowland' isn’t terrible. If you feel compelled to read this wreck, you’d be wise to first check out 'Daredevil: The Devil’s Hand', which serves as a lead-in and is at least passable. It also helps to have some familiarity with Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker’s 'Daredevil' runs, as Diggle was given the unenviable task of concluding their nine-year arc—one that had seen Daredevil’s life spiral into deeper and deeper despair. The plan was simple: take Matt Murdock to his lowest point, then rebuild him in 'Daredevil: Reborn', giving the next writer a clean slate. The idea was sound; the execution was abysmal.

The book includes an interview with writer Andy Diggle, a respected British writer who had largely avoided superhero comics before this. He explains that Marvel editorial encouraged him to go “bigger, louder, and darker” with Daredevil’s story. It seems this is where the idea of turning 'Shadowland' into a company-wide crossover came from, forcing characters like Spider-Man and Wolverine into the narrative whether they fit or not. But editorial interference isn’t the only culprit here—Diggle himself admits, “Shadowland is a big, colorful superhero fistfight extravaganza, which is what superhero readers want.” That kind of condescending logic—assuming superhero fans just want mindless action—is exactly how disasters like this happen. It’s the same flawed thinking that leads Hollywood executives to believe that audiences will flock to a film as long as it has explosions and attractive women, only to watch it bomb.

And if you need a perfect encapsulation of Shadowland’s lazy storytelling, look no further than the Punisher’s abrupt entrance into the climactic battle. Just as the heroes are about to lose to the evil ninjas, he bursts in out of nowhere, guns blazing, and shouts: “Kung-fu THIS.” If that line alone doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about the quality of this writing, I don’t know what will.

In short, 'Shadowland' is a disaster. It has no redeeming qualities, reads like it was written for an audience of idiots, and embodies everything wrong with the superhero genre at its worst. It crams in as many fights, characters, and one-liners as possible while utterly demolishing Daredevil in the process. Worse still, the shoddy way it was collected suggests that even Marvel editorial didn’t care about it. 'Shadowland' is the absolute nadir of modern superhero comics—avoid it at all costs.

[R. Archer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving this the same review as Daredevil: Shadowland because you know, they couldn’t compile the event and the Daredevil related issues into one.

Loving hearing Matt making Darth Vader speeches out here, genuinely thought he was going to say “I have brought peace, justice, freedom, and security to my new empire” during this arc. Actually, he might as well of. From the silly sith looking robes, telling his mindless ninjas to kill looters he created, choking out a trusted confidant, and “if they’re not with us, they’re against us” and “LIAR! you’ve all been plotting against me!” This was just very. I don’t know. Trope-y? Which normally I don’t even mind, I love basic tropes. I’m easy to entertain. I just couldn’t stop thinking about Revenge of the Sith this entire read.

I think this would’ve been better if we had more understanding of the threat at hand? More buildup and explanation of what was happening to Matt would’ve been good.
Also, Marvel Events often sort of suck because they’re just like “wow, look, demon Daredevil just kicked Ghost Rider’s ***!” or “oh my god, it’s Wolverine!”

I can also see why the whole “Black Sky” concept in Defenders was flimsy: it’s because the concept it’s (probably) based on, Black Flower, is equally as flimsy.

All in all, another “Matt Murdock on the brink of a breakdown” arc in the bag. This man needs a therapist.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

not entirely bad, not very satisfying. Seems a limited-run series forced things to culminate too fast a before we got a chance to see it sink in. While the action was good, the very limited insights into Murdock's descent were frustrating to say the least.

The appearances by high-profile superheroes - out of nowhere, no context or reason why they'd know of or be associated with this storyline - feel like the kind of stunt casting A-list Hollywood guest appearances on flagging TV shows during sweeps week. What, didn't Marvel feel big enough trotting out every martial artist in all of Marvel? Had to have a walk-on (and just as fast walk-off) by Spider-man?

The post-story interview with Diggle makes it clear that Marvel meddled heavily in the stunt casting and number of marvelcharacters traipsing around - and I gotta say, the meddling shows. Diggle is much more edgy and fun than this series allowed him to be.

The art is pretty solid, but what's with the out-of-proportion heads? Kingpin looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie.

[Salman Titas · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Matt Murdock Dared Evil and lost"

For years Daredevil had been a stood strongly against the cult of ninjas called The Hand. So it was very surprising when they approached him, during the Dark Reign, to lead them. Initially refusing, he was forced to take the mantle when The Hand decided to go to Wilson Fisk instead, and when Bullseye blew up an entire block in Hell's Kitchen. Determined to use change their ways and use them for justice, Daredevil decided to become the new leader.

What he failed to understand was that he was not in control at all. Like the Sauron's Ring, The Hand corrupted him from within. Possessed by the Beast, he will slowly eroded, until he committed murder by killing Bullseye. The last step in the journey.

This review will hopefully cover all the tie-ins as well. Here we see Daredevil, now completely corrupted by darkness, fighting against those who he once called friends. This arc contains the arrival of the Daughters of the Shadow, the new Power Man, Daredevil's fall and Moon Knight's brother - the Shadow Knight.

[Gulq · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Shadowland" bietet zum zweiten Mal innerhalb der Reihe einen Einblick in den moralischen Niedergang Daredevils, der immer mehr zur tragischen Figur des Marvel-Universums stilisiert wird - und das auch noch verdammt gut. Seine Absichten mögen von seinem Standpunkt aus berechtigt sein, in den Augen der Freunde, wie z.B. Spider-Man oder Luke Cage, stellt er jedoch mittlerweile eine zu große Bedrohung für das Gemeinwohl dar. Überhaupt sind die Gastauftritte die große Stärke des Bandes, denn obwohl die Geschichte durchaus zu fesseln weiß, unterhalten die Passagen mit Ghost Rider, Iron Fist & Co. einfach besser, als der Hauptplot um den mit sich selbst hadernden blinden Helden. Künstlerisch ist der Band ebenfalls allererste Sahne und die modernen Zeichnungen tragen die Geschichte nahezu perfekt. Ein kleiner Wermutstropfen besteht leider darin, dass man mal wieder "motiviert" wird, die Fortsetzung der Geschichte außerhalb der Sammelreihe zu erwerben (in so fern es einen treibt, unbedingt zu wissen, was noch so passiert und wie die Läuterung des Helden verlaufen wird) .

[Gustavo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cuando leí de qué se trataba Shadowland me sentí muy intrigado por todo el concepto de "Daredevil toma el mando de La Mano y la usa para proteger Hell's Kitchen", es una idea muy interesante. Lamentablemente en este libro es muy desaprovechada y termina convirtiéndose en la vieja trama de superhéroe se vuelve malo, los amigos le piden que cambie, el no quiere cambiar y terminan peleando.

He leído a varios devir que esta historia está incompleta sin la parte de la historia de Daredevil: Shadowland, pero la verdad que después de leer esto no se cuanto podría mejorar, estoy dudando en darle una oportunidad.

Otra historia en la que aparece Moon Knight y no haee absolutamente nada, pero para ser justos, nadie hace nada, porque en este libro no pasa nada, el cambio en Daredevil es explicado de la forma más estúpida posible, por supuesto liberandolo de toda culpa, lo que hace que la misma premisa de la historia sea básicamente una mentira. Que decepción.

[MatiBracchitta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Creía que iba a ser de los pocos en puntuar de esta manera Shadowland, y es que la premisa desde la que parte Diggle es sumamente interesante: Daredevil se hace con el control de La Mano. Es algo que, como fan, siempre vas a querer ver. Solo con el título y la sinopsis ya tenían toda mi atención.

Sin embargo, parece que el ingenio de Diggle se agotó en ese punto. En el interior vemos que el cómic está pobremente desarrollado, las acciones de los personajes no se justifican, hay muchas, muchísimas, conveniencias de guion, personajes que aparecen en un lugar porque sí y cosas por el estilo.

Estuve muy tentado a ponerle tres estrellas, pero la verdad es que no se lo merecen. E incluso de no ser por el arte de Billy Tan, que verdaderamente es genial, creo que me habría hasta planteado si ponerle una sola estrella.

No quiero extenderme demasiado, simplemente decir que es una decepción y que lo mejor es no leerlo y solo quedarnos con lo épica que es la idea principal.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what happened. Two volumes ago, Daredevil is a grade A book with great stories and a complicated character. Come Shadowland, it's a crossover with a bunch of street heroes who have little to do with Matt Murdock, and a character possessed by a demon.
I'm not against these kind of stories, but this one hurts Daredevil as a character. Some of the cameos, like Luke Cage and Iron Fist, make sense while others, like the Punisher and Ghost Rider, are wasted. The end, with Matt dealing with his self-doubt, is decent, but considering how little time we spend actually dealing with Daredevil in this Daredevil story, it's inconsequential. In fact, the only moment that felt like it had real emotion was the beginning with Bullseye, and that's pretty bad.

[Adam Spanos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Andy Diggle writes Matt Murdock completely out of character and takes a giant piss on everything that the preceding writers had built for the character. Filled with interesting ideas poorly executed, too many characters and supernatural BS after almost a decade of Daredevil being Marvel's most grounded and realistic book.

This is a truly heartbreaking missed opportunity that squanders and ruins the Bullseye character for other, more competent writers in the future.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Read with most of the tie-ins as well)
I've avoided this like the plague for years due to it's awful reputation and while it isn't quite as terrible as I expected, it's still a mediocre effort that only has the fact that it's very fun to see some of these characters together going for it. An unfortunate stain on Daredevil's history which is otherwise one of the most consistently good characters Marvel has had for decades.

[J. Griff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story well enough, I stopped reading comics (monthly subscriptions) during the build up for this crossover event. So there were some finer story points I don’t remember.

Andy Diggle’s writing is pretty good & Billy Tan’s art is even better.

[Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might have received this better had it been treated like a kind of what if?/elseworlds story.
It had its moments, but, ugh yeah, not Daredevil. I like Diggle too. I really enjoyed is Hellblazer run and Green Arrow Year One.

[Martin Doychinov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Доволно мрачна история, изследваща идеята с какво е постлан пътят към ада. На сюжетът определено му отиваше поголовната патаклама, а включването на този-онзи известен марвелски персонаж, най-вече за цвят не подразни, както обикновено. Финалът също ми се понрави, а артът е перфе! 5!

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 1 out of 5]

[Ondra Král · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dal jsem si nějaké třetí čtení včetně předchozích sešitů + tie-inů a furt je to strašně strašně špatný.

[Tehanu · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Reading this is like watching a series finale without watching the rest of the season. Kind of pointless including it on the collection.

[FortressOfBookitude · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't take anything seriously that has the Ghost Rider in it.

[Fabi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had potential but lacked explanation…

[Randy Varguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

thought i was reading a fanfic for a sec but it turns out this thing is actually canon, oh boy.