Evil Lurks In The Shadow Annual

Join Tom Sniegoski and Dennis Calero for a very special Shadow story in The Shadow Annual #1 featuring a cover by Alex Ross. In The Shadow Annual #1, The Shadow is tormented by visions of New York City plagued by living fire-fire in the shape of a Chinese dragon-fire with the potential to spread hungrily to the world.  But what do these visions mean?  The Shadow will peel back the layers of mystery, leading to a confrontation that could very well shake the pillars of Heaven. Who are the waifs of Li-Lung, and what are their connections to Brother Pritchard’s Orphanage for Wayward Children, and to crime boss on the rise, Vincent Ruzzo? Soon, the Shadow will know.

“When I found out that Dynamite had The Shadow license I was ecstatic . . . and when they asked me if I was interested in writing the first annual I just about had a seizure,” says writer Tom Sniegoski.  “First of all, anybody who knows me knows how much I love the pulp characters, and the Shadow is number one on my list of favorites.  I cut my teeth on the whole pulp hero thing in 2009 with my novel, Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory, which won the Best Pulp Novel of 2009 from The Pulp Factory Awards.  Looking back, I feel like that book was a warm up to the main attraction, now I was going to get the chance to write the character that almost all other pulp characters were trying to emulate, now I was going to get the chance to write The Shadow.  To say that I was a little nervous was an understatement.  First I had to come up with an idea for a story with the same kind of punch that the original pulps had, and was as powerful and exciting as Garth Ennis, and Aarron Campbell’s current run.  After some serious thought (and a few tumblers of scotch) I came up with a story idea that everybody seemed to love.  It’s got everything that I’d be looking for in a Shadow story: mysterious locales, organized crime, dreams of an apocalyptic future, blazing Colt 45’s and Thompson Machine Guns, and creepy kids with psychic powers . . . what’s not to love?”

“Tom and I have known each other since he was the main writer on Vampirella back in the ‘90’s,” adds Dynamite Entertainment President and Publisher Nick Barrucci. “With his success in prose, it was hard for him to make time for comics work.  We’re very happy that he was able to work on our first The Shadow Annual.  It’s an awesome tale, and Dennis’ art compliments the story incredibly well.”

Tom Sniegoski has worked for all the big guys in the comic book industry, Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, Cartoon Books, and now Dynamite! Some of the characters Tom has written include Batman, The Punisher, Hellboy, Wolverine, Devil Dinosaur, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and he even wrote the prequel to Jeff Smith’s award winning series Bone, which was called Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails: The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone. His most recent comic book work (written with frequent partner, Christopher Golden) is The Sisterhood, published by Archaia Studios Press. This dynamic duo also worked on the mini-series Talent from Boom Studios which was optioned by Universal Pictures.

Dennis Calero’s work includes Acclaim Comics’ licensed-product titles Sliders and Magic: The Gathering; Moonstone Books’ TV tie-in titles Cisco Kid and Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Platinum Comics’ Cowboys & Aliens; IDW Publishing’s Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch House; and Marvel Comics’ X-Factor, during his tenure on which the title was nominated for the Harvey Award for Best New Series (2006). In 2006, IDW announced that Calero will be one of the cover artists on its six-issue Star Trek: The Next Generation TV tie-in miniseries The Space Between, scheduled for 2007.  Calero drew an arc of Legion of Super-Heroes for DC Comics and his new Marvel series, X-Men: Noir, was released by Marvel in December 2008. X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain was released in 2010. That same year, he drew the Dark Horse Comics relaunch of the former Gold Key and Valiant character, Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom, which was written by Jim Shooter.