‘Shadecraft #1’ Review: High School Drama Turns to Horror

Writer: Joe Henderson / Artist: Lee Garbett / Image Within the first handful of pages of Shadecraft #1, there is a mixture of high school drama and second-hand embarrassment over the aforementioned high school drama, followed by a hard-turn into a fantasy horror series before it all evens out to be an emotionally resonate story about coping with loss and trauma, and while reading the first issue, my interest in the same series went up pretty exponentially that by the end, I was already formulating theories.

Zadie Lu is a protagonist we learn about in quick bursts. In the first four pages alone, we get a full portrait of her personality, her anxiety, and the fact that she is in fact a comic book protagonist because something supernatural is clearly out to get her in the middle of small town in Illinois. Henderson is exceedingly efficient with the character work, and the dialog flows natural and all of the internalized worries in Zadie’s head sound very, very familiar. And then Garbett brings these conversations and scenes to life so beautifully and haunting. This is ultimately a story about shadows cast. Living in the shadow of trauma, of being an outcast in high school, of an older sibling who you think you could never live up too. And Shadecraft’s three-act structure works brilliantly to explore these different topics effectively. The tone and atmosphere build naturally off that once we get to the big reveal, it all feels earned and poignant. Zadie’s a fun protagonist to …