Image Comics have announced “Shadecraft,” a new series by “Skyward” collaborators writer Joe Henderson and artist Lee Garbett, with colorist Antonio Fabela, and letterer Simon Bowland. It will follow the fearful teenager Zadie Lu, as she starts to believe that the shadows in her small town are watching and trying to kill her, before uncovering a family legacy she never knew she had.
In an interview with CBR, Henderson described shadows as the “perfect mixture of horror and fun,” citing how “one minute, they seem to come to dangerous life out of the corner of my eye. The next, I’m making silly shadow puppets with my son.” He stated that the “cocktail of genuine scares and playful adventure” of shadows has been infused into the book, with Zadie’s story having the “right emotional heart” for him to finally tell a story about shadows coming to life.
Garbett said the series has a “darker, more ominous tone than ‘Skyward’ without losing that vital heart and warmth that’s so important to us.” He noted that bringing the shadows to life brought “a whole new set of artistic challenges,” and focused on keeping “things as organic as possible, letting the ink move and grow on the paper to find its own form.”
“Shadecraft” #1 is scheduled for release on March 31, 2021. You can check out a preview here.