Advance Review: Shaft #4

writer: David F. Walker / artist: Bilquis Evely / Dynamite Comics If I could applaud Shaft for only one thing, I would have a hard time deciding between pacing and voice. Issue #3 left us with Shaft set free from police custody after catching a few bodies, and used as an unofficial hound dog by the police to track down the murderer of Arletha Havens. The police aren’t as concerned about Arletha necessarily – she was caught in a larger picture – yet they know a hunter when they see one, and releasing John Shaft into the wild would lead them exactly where they want to go. The pace of this comic is the perfect balance of story progression and claiming its identity as an origin story – we’re reading to learn “who is John Shaft?” and Walker’s use of Shaft’s voice lends itself beautifully as a roadmap through the journey. The fourth book in the series continues to follow Shaft on his search for answers with an unlikely motif to accompany his story: The Wizard of Oz.

And it works, because outside of John Shaft, Arletha Havens, Bamma Brooks, Junius Tate, and everyone else, there’s another star character in this book: Harlem, New York. Harlem is as much a character as anyone, with its climate and people and connections. It’s the breath always on his neck, the historic neighborhood that sets the tone for the comic as Shaft navigates the environment that helps mold him. He knows the streets because the streets made him. He knows the players because he grew up with them. And if Dorothy …