Shadow, The - The Death Of Margo Lane #2

Shadow, The - The Death Of Margo Lane #2
Released by: Dynamite Entertainment
Released on: July 13th, 2016.
Written And Illustrated by: Matt Wagner
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This second issue of this new series, written and illustrated by Matt Wagner, picks up where the first one left off. The Shadow is behind bars, he's addressed as Ying Ko by an emissary of the Red Empress. The Shadow knows how dangerous the Tong empire really is, how like a lot of immigrant groups they were forced to make a living in the criminal underworld to escape the pressures of racial prejudice and a society not quite ready to accept them. They're holding Miss Sullivan for what they hope will be a hefty ransom from a family eager to see her returned unharmed. But just as sure as The Shadow is in the cage, The Shadow is not in the cage. The weed of crime bares bitter fruit, but the Tongs are ready for him. And well armed too, what with that oil drum full of TNT that they're readying.

Meanwhile, Margo Lane sits and waits, just like she always does. She and Shrevie are approached by a pair of thugs. Margo hides, Shrevie gets knocked out. These guys, who speak a foreign tongue, are trouble! But Margo, she knows how to handle herself and she's good with a gun. A few bullets later and she's making sure Shrevie is okay and ready to get him off to safety. She knows that those guys, they were Tongs - and there are a lot more on the way.

As a firefight breaks out and The Shadow uses his cunning array of skills to make his own escape, Margo races towards him knowing full well those twin .45's are going to be blazing like the fires of Hell. The Shadows makes his way out of the warehouse to Shrevie only to learn that Margo has gone in to save him - just as that TNT that was just planted erupts… No one could have survived that. After all, this is called The Death Of Margo Lane for a reason.

If the very idea of Matt Wagner doing another story involving The Shadow wasn't enough in and of itself to get your attention, well, yeah, Margo Lane gets killed in this issue. Or so we, and The Shadow, are led to believe. It's one of those things that, even when spelled out in the title of the book, you just don't expect to see happen. She's almost as iconic as The Shadow himself, she anchors him to the real world, she's his regular dose of sanity and she very often keeps him from plunging head first into the darkness he fights so hard to eliminate. Where things will go from here clearly remains to be seen but Wagner did it - at least for now - he killed Margo.

And of course, he did it in typically beautiful Matt Wagner style. The man's unsurpassed talent for art deco stylings and backgrounds really shines here, while his unique way of bringing the human elements of the story to life is also out in full force. This issue gives us everything we could want out of an entry in The Shadow's chronicles - romance, action, adventure, violence, horror, intrigue and suspense! It looks gorgeous (Brennan Wagner gets his fair share of the credit for his coloring work) and it pulls you in hook, line and sinker.