Through the 2010s, Matt Wagner branched out from his more usual stomping grounds at that time of Dark Horse and DC, working for Dynamite. He started working on a number of pulp and pulp-inspired licensed characters such as Green Hornet with Aaron Campbell, The Spirit with Dan Schkade, and The Shadow with Wilfredo Torres.
Most were only for a dozen issues or so, but it was interesting to see Wagner play with pulp and noir tropes, and these characters in particular, as they had fed into the genesis of his own Hunter Rose character decades earlier. Where eventually he even did his own crossover with Grendel vs. The Shadow, a compelling collision of his anti-hero/villain with the pulp icon. All of them worth your time to track down the collections.
But it’s one of the later works during this period that I wanted to point out, where Wagner really put his own mark on The Shadow.
“And…what if this is a trap?”
The Shadow: The Death of Margo Lane is a dark, noir tinged adventure with Wagner handling both writing and art duties, with Brennan Wagner and A Larger World Studios. It basically gives away the biggest plot point in the title as it works to kill off The Shadow’s longtime girlfriend/confidant/agent Margo Lane. Though there’s more to it, as he tries to take down a new player among the criminal underworld, the Red Empress.
A large portion of the story is told through the narration of Margo Lane’s diary. It gives the story a continued voice of a character who is otherwise absent and a framework that we later find out is essentially The Shadow kind of breaking Lane’s confidence. It’s an interesting way to show that he’s not dealing with her death particularly well and that it’s affecting his effectiveness with his other agents and fighting crime. The psychological effect of her death is something that kind of sets this apart from many other stories of The Shadow, adding something beyond the usual cold calculus. And on the craft side, it allows for A Larger World Studios (I believe this is Troy Peteri and Dave Lanphear’s studio, but it doesn’t indicate who from the studio worked on the book) some diary-like narration boxes.
Visually the book is incredible. Nearly 30 years after last week’s The Demon, this book shows the evolution of Matt Wagner’s style. Squared off and refined, an interesting use of shadow, and a different kind of exaggeration. Gone are the big eyes, likely a manga influence. In are grey and red colour washes, spot reds, from Brennan Wagner that give it a moody atmosphere evoking the past. Playing with other noir tropes like an airplane travel map.
“If one can quell all emotion and dispel the veil of personal identity…you can become a living shadow.”
Whether you’re new to The Shadow or a longtime fan, there’s something to enjoy in The Death of Margo Lane by Wagner, Wagner, and A Larger World Studios. It does build on what Wagner and Torres did in their own The Shadow series, but there’s enough context given here that it’s not necessary to have read it.
What you get here is a bleak noir tale working within both pulp and noir traditions with a kind of modern introspection as The Shadow deals with the loss of someone so close to him in a few different ways. With some interesting and devastating twists along the way and gorgeous artwork.
Classic Comic Compendium: The Shadow – The Death of Margo Lane
The Shadow: The Death of Margo Lane
Writer & Artist: Matt Wagner
Colourist: Brennan Wagner
Letterer: A Larger World Studios
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Release Date: June 1 – October 5 2016 (original issues)
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