Starting in July, we’re going to be given the Daredevil/street level event, Shadowland, from the team of Andy Diggle and Billy Tan. Those that have been following Daredevil on a monthly basis no doubt have a large amount of suspense built up for the event, and it appears that even those that haven’t have something to find within Shadowland. While we knew that monthly issues of Daredevil would tie in to the event, we’ve now been updated by Marvel via Newsarama that there will be another tie-in with Shadowland: Blood On The Streets.
Blood On The Streets will focus on some of the smaller street level characters who do not have homes within the Daredevil title, or any title anymore for that matter. It will star Paladin fresh off a stint in Thunderbolts, Misty Knight who was at home in Iron Fist, Shroud, and Silver Sable. The mini will be written by Antony Johnston and will feature arting by Wellinton Aves. For those who are worried about the validity of the tie-in, Johnston provides a litany of reasons to follow the mini – most notably that he himself is working directly with Diggle to co-write the Daredevil books while Diggle focuses on Shadowland. The idea that is being presented in Shadowland is that Daredevil’s actions as the leader of the Hand effects every and all street level characters, and due to Daredevil using the Hand to kill off mobsters rather than bring them to justice, the four characters of this mini are brought together to deal with the situation outside of the main story in Shadowland.
“The plot is very simple; the Hand is killing low-rent mobsters, men everyone knows are crooks, but who haven’t been convicted,” Johnston writes. “Shroud wants to stop this happening, and Misty gets involved because of her ties to Daredevil. Silver Sable and Paladin become involved for their own reasons, and that gets the ball rolling.”
Tie-ins are always tricky, because the idea is to provide a more well-rounded tale that shows how a central story effects a universe. Marvel has been pretty good about it’s tie-ins with Siege, all offering interesting perspectives into the overall tale, and with Shadowland being their next big event after World War Hulks (because apparently no one besides me is paying attention to Doomwar?), the story just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I’m a fan of Paladin, so I will most likely check out this mini if I like what I read in Daredevil while Andy Diggle is focusing on Shadowland.
“If you’re one of the readers that complain that all the same heroes seem to appear in every book,” Rosemann writes, “then here’s your chance to let the decision makers know you want to see more titles that give the unsung characters a chance to prove why they’re so cool.”
Those interested in a couple more art teases, as well as a lengthy write-up which gets more into the ideas behind Blood On The Streets, should check out the article over at Newsarama. And everyone should be adding Shadowland to their monthly pull lists now whether you’ll be getting the tie-in or not.
